 CLAM KING 791 Second St., Manchester 669-2868 Serving: Monday-Wednesday, 6 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Breakfast served daily until 11 a.m., Monday-Friday; until noon, Friday and Saturday. Cuisine: Seafood Prices: Dinner entrees average $7-$20. Scoring: Our Gourmet and The Dining Companion each grade a restaurant on a scale of 1 to 10 in five categories, for a combined total score of up to 100 points. Visit the Dining section of NewHampshire.com to read previous Our Gourmet reviews listed by town. |
Our Gourmet:In the summer, there’s nothing quite like fried seafood and one recent hot summer day found us at Clam King for just that.
Clam King has an amazing amount of variety — in fact, it’s not just Clam King, it’s also Breakfast King — for eggs and such — and Bakery King — for homemade baked good. In between there are sandwiches and chicken, and oh, yes, Clam King does ice cream, too.
Ambiance: 17 of 20 points
OG: The restaurant is about what you’d expect from a casual seafood restaurant. It’s large, clean and open with big comfy booths as well as tables with umbrellas outside. It’s nothing fancy, but certainly fits the bill when you want a quick bite of something that’s been batter-dipped and fried. Score: 8.
The Dining Companion: The ’50s rock & roll playing on the speakers fit the casual style of Clam King. When you walk in, you are greeted with those old-style menu boards with all type of possibilities and big glass displays with yummy pastries. Nirvana à la Happy Days. Score: 9.
Appetizer: 12/20
OG: Chowder, what else? I chose the seafood chowder ($3.15/cup) that had a mix of several kinds of fish as well as shrimp in a creamy herbed base. It had a nice flavor and texture – not too thick and with plenty of fish. A very nice start. 8.
TDC: I decided to go with the clam chowder ($3.15/cup). Boy, what a disappointment. It was congealed and a bit overly thick. Too bad — I was looking forward to a good chowder. 4.
Entrée: 18/20
OG: This was a tough one. There’s an awful lot from which to choose; everything from lobster dinners, to seafood Newburg to a Fisherman’s platter with haddock, scallops, whole clams, shrimp and onion rings. My choice was a sinful special of fried lobster tails ($13.95) with a side of fries. The fries were cooked crisp to perfection. The whole small lobster tails were deep-fried in a nice light batter. Dipped in butter, these were fantastic. At first it seemed sacrilegious to have a perfectly good whole lobster tail dipped in batter and deep fried, but upon first taste, my doubts quickly disappeared and I was quite glad I had made the choice. 9.
TDC: I decided that I needed the fried clam plate with whole bellies ($14.25). Trying to be at least a little good, I decided to go with the baked potato. The clams were fried well, big, moist and tasty. The baked potato was well cooked through and through and especially tasty topped with a little sour cream. 9.
Dessert: 18/20
OG: All the desserts are homemade and the bakers must be quite busy because there’s an awful lot to choose from. My choice was the lemon meringue pie — another summer favorite ($2.05). It was creamy with little bits of zest — none of that canned pie filling here. The crust was nice and flaky — and sweet too. One word: Yum. 9
TDC: I decided to have a cannoli ($2.89). The shell is made elsewhere, but the cream is all theirs. It was a nice Italian style sweet ricotta that was light and delicious. 9.
Service: 18/20
OG: There’s not a lot to the service: Someone takes your order at the counter, and then delivers it to your table. But the cashier was friendly and pleasant and got our order right. What more could you ask for? 9.
TDC: Service behind the counter was pleasant. When the food was brought to our table, it was brought with a smile, and that in my book goes a long way. 9
Total score: 83/100
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