Legal Sea Foods - Park Square — Restaurant in Boston

Myself and several of my friends went to the Legal Sea Food on Park Plaza. We were on a trip to Boston from Buffalo, and I suggested we eat at one of Legal's locations because of previous recommendations from family and because of my desire for local seafood. It was also very close to our hotel. I was not disappointed.

The place looked nice inside, somewhat more upscale than I had expected. Despite our large group, we were seated on a Friday night between 7 and 8 within 20 minutes.

Our waiter, Justin D., was very knowledgeable about both the drink and food menu, and gave a few of my friends some helpful recommendations and opinions upon ordering. He was very personable and friendly, and did a fantastic job throughout our stay despite the fact that we were somewhat underdressed, perhaps a bit loud, and that we stuck around much longer than we should have.

I had a Cisco Whale's Tale to drink, a cup of New England clam chowder to start, and fried New England clams for dinner. My friends had various things from chowder to bisque, fish and shellfish, and plenty of wine (most of which came as recommendations from our waiter). My friends seemed very satisfied (a few of them who were not accustomed to seafood spoke highly of what they tried), and frankly I was in heaven. It has been four days since we ate there and I'm already pining to go back and have more. Superb food, a decent selection of beer, and a very large selection of wine that varies in price.

Some of my party ordered dessert and appeared to enjoy it. I have little to say as I didn't have anything after dinner.

We requested separate checks when we first sat down, but there was some unfortunate mix-ups in a couple of the checks. Some items were switched around and one or two drinks mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Justin did his best to rectify the problem, and after a while everyone was paying for exactly what they ordered, I believe.

I'd recommend this Legal location to anyone who finds themselves in downtown Boston who appreciates or would like to try good seafood, or for anyone who wants some good wine from a wide selection in a nice-looking restaurant and bar. It is very conveniently placed near...

My family, party size of 8, were staying in Boston over Memorial Day weekend and this was the worst food experience we had the entire trip.

I must preface that there are two parts to this review: a service aspect and a food aspect.

Food wise- it is not worth spending your money to eat what they gave us. Presentation was out of this world. Serving kids popcorn chicken inside a popcorn bucket- uh YES!!!! How cool?! Not worth it though in the long run. Everyone in our party except the 7 year old didn’t like the food. The steak was supposed to be rare, the fish was fishy and dry, and no one’s plate really tasted all that good. It looked good, but just wasn’t good for the amount of money spent or the caliber in which the restaurant marketed.

Ambiance wise, the place we were seated felt like a private corner and the place is decorated nicely.

Service wise- it could have been better…. The waitress did NOT ask us if the checks were seperste and then complained when we asked for the check to be separate. Now I try to give my servers a little extra grace, but even if you’re having a bad day- you shouldn’t take it out on your customers. Our waters were also running out and my family probably would have ordered more drinks if she would have checked in more often. My grace to that is the woman was obviously very busy tending to other people which is why we decided to just do one check at our own inconvenience to spare her.

Final thoughts: I wouldn’t eat here simply because the food is expensive but isn’t tasty, but hey at least the place...

Legal Seafoods has jumped the shark. For an entire generation, my wife and I have considered Legals - a venerable Boston institution - to be a gold-standard safe bet for a pleasant evening out with consistently good food. Sadly, those days are clearly over.

A year ago, we took beloved family to the Legal Harborside outlet for a special holiday evening out, and were, frankly, mildly disappointed in the menu and several of our dishes, but we were willing to chalk it up to a bad night. Nope.

Tonight we made reservations at the Park Square location, and were looking forward to a good meal and solid service for a quiet night out. We went 0 for 2. The service was borderline surly from the hostess to our young male server (one had the sense they're nice young people who simply haven't been trained in the basics of hospitality. Shame on you, Legal).

And the food? Deeply mediocre. My wife ordered grilled salmon, with some specific instructions (rare, with crisped skin, something that she LEARNED to love at Legal)... It was rare, but not remotely crisp. To be fair, she said it was flavorful, if not exactly what she asked for. I went with the "angry" fish and chips. Angry? Hardly. Mildly vexed at best. Bland, slightly mushy flavorless white fish, with a thin, flavorless crust, on a bed of bland, slightly soggy fries. Really disappointing.

It gives me no pleasure to write this, as we've enjoyed Legal dozens of times over the years, but we're officially done. You can find much better options all...