Pop's Clam Shell — Restaurant in Alton

As a former Executive Chef I was pretty disappointed with service. We called to ask what they do in the case of handicap persons who could not stand in long lines and the person he quite frankly didn't care. This is a huge sign of disrespect to whom have physical health issues and really should be reported to the proper agency for lack of accommodations towards the handicap. The comes the food the test of take out is how well it travels and unfortunately it doesn't travel well, the allow for the food to continue to steam itself the way it is packaged. Thus, over cooking the food. They also had inconsistent cooking on the food as some was darker than the other, this usually means one of two things old oil, the temperature of the fryer is too high. Or they are not allowing the temperature of the fryer to rebound. They also appear to cook chicken in the same oil as you could not tell the difference but by texture. This is not proper cooking procedure at all in commercial kitchens. This actually could cause cross contamination in the foods as well. The scallops were rubbery, haddock and chicken were dry, and French fries limp. When looking at the paper bag I could tell only shook the food not letting it rest for sixty seconds for the oil to r drain off. The whole belly clams were extremely chewy as well. I quite frankly will never return to this place as they disrespect people and the food. When you get food like that the fish killed was in vein and no respect for it's life or for those who harvested it for us to eat. Although, I give this review the way I do, it is up to you if you like quality...

Sad to give this place 2 stars. I was so excited to eat here after seeing the other reviews but I don't think it's fair to feed into a reputation that they don't deserve. First off.. $30 for a MOUNTAIN of food. They really don't give you much in choice of portion size. So when all you choose from are "big" and "bigger", you're going to have a much lighter wallet than you arrived with. It's not fair that they force you to buy way more than you'd like to. Especially if their menu is difficult to understand when ordering. Service itself was friendly. Teens and college age kids were enthusiastic and hospitable. But the food sadly wasn't worth the hype (or the big price tag). The whole belly clams were 30% clam, 70% batter. They weren't fried enough and left the batter slightly doughy and not crunchy. There was so much batter caked onto the clams you couldn't even taste them. Gross! The fries were decent. The Cole slaw tasted rancid and was served at room temperature (no thanks). No drink came with the meal. It would have been $5 or more to add it to my order. Overall, not impressed and really disappointed. Hopefully they make some changes to their food. Seems like a really nice place but don't be fooled like I was. You're better off...

Very nice count to help, very quick turnaround on the order and when speaking with the kids that were cooking they were very courteous and kind. Kind I need a little extra ice, they help me. I split the seafood platter. It was delicious. We had a seafood platter, iced tea, medium, and onion hearts and the bill came out to like 49.75. couldn't finish it 🙂 . Alton Bayview from the picnic table was stunning. However, I wish they had some free standing chairs as not only myself who used to came, but there's two elderly women that were having a hard time singing the picture table. That's the only issue I practically had. Also, the scallops are delicious as part of the fisherman's platter but it was mostly like little fish ball. So when I thought I was eating a scallop, it was a piece of fish, not haddock or cod. The shrimps were jumbo and they were delicious and I cannot believe how many clams they actually put on the seafood platter. Kudos to the quality of the majority of the planet was awesome. Definitely would come again. Also, if you can put a few little umbrellas out on your picnic tables that'd be great. I ended up getting a sunburn and we sat there for half an hour. Again, the staff was top...