Flanders Fish Market & Restaurant — Restaurant in East Lyme

We have just moved to the area and when my Mom and Step Dad came into town we stopped here for a late lunch.

When you first walk in you enter the fish market portion of the building. There are plenty of fresh fish options and already prepared foods that you can purchase. The prices are a little steep ($36 a lb for lobster salad for example) but not overwhelming expensive.

We had a party of 6 so we had to wait a few minutes to be seated because there are only a few big tables. Not a big deal at all. The hostess and the ladies working in the market area are great! They let my son touch a lobster and were patient and kind with him.

When we got seated we ordered appetizers. Calamari, calm fritters, and shrimp and swordfish "wings". The calamari was the best calamari that I've ever had. Perfectly cooked and seasoned, the batter was light and airy and there was a hefty portion to share! The clam fritters were underwhelming, you couldn't taste the clam so it was like eating a spongy biscuit. The "wings" had great flavor and we really enjoyed the swordfish. I personally didn't get a shrimp one because there were only 3 in our portion but my family who did get one said they were good!

For entrees our table had a kids fish and chips (the only seafood thing on the kids menu which was weird for a seafood restaurant) fried haddock dinner, wild salmon dinner, lobster roll, and calm strips. We all got creamy chowder as well. The soup was watery, almost like they just added a splash of cream to the clear soup. The celery flavor was a little overwhelming but overall not a terrible soup. The haddock was cooked perfectly and once again had great flavor. The wild salmon left a lot of be desired for the price. For $24 I was expecting a piece of fish that had that great salmon flavor. Unfortunately, that was not what I got. The fries were good however! The lobster roll was big and apperently was great for the price ($20). The calm strips were perfectly fried and the portion size was huge. They were not rubbery at all! Overall the food is a solid 3. Things were hit and miss but the things that were a hit were really good! The quality is definitely there for most of the menu items that we tried.

Where this place earns stars is the service! Everyone we encountered were friendly and helpful. It was so nice to have such lovely service. Overall I think we will be back occasionally to get more calamari and possibly explore the...

First, let me say that I don’t often write reviews unless the food and service at a restaurant is exceedingly good or exceedingly poor. Unfortunately, Flanders Fish Market falls in the exceedingly poor category. We came here because of the 4.4 star overall online Google Reviews rating which did not match the food and service we received.

We called ahead to put our name on the priority list to keep our wait to a minimum. Upon arrival, we checked in with the hostess who found our name and said it would only be a 10-15 minute wait. After more than 20 minutes, we checked in again and were told we were the 2nd in line for the next table. Well, after two more parties were seated, we checked in again, and the hostess and another staff member started whispering to one another. Then we were seated closer to 30 minutes.

We were told who our server would be and that she would be right over in a few minutes. Ten minutes later, we told a passing staff member that we were ready to order and could she please let our server know. We never met our assigned server as someone else came over to take our order. This server was not so friendly and seemed annoyed when we asked two simple questions about items on the menu.

We ordered shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and then one fish ‘n chips (the special for the night) and one shrimp with rice and vegetables. The shrimp in the appetizer seemed very fresh and tasted good. The cocktail sauce was really strong and overdone with horseradish. The smallest amount on the shrimp left a burning sensation in your nose. Our entrees arrived within a reasonable time. The fish ‘n chips coating was thick, heavy and without flavor. The french fries were middle of the road. The shrimp in the second entree were far overdone and hard. The rice and vegetables were tasteless. The food here tastes more like frozen food that has been quickly reheated but served with fresh food prices. There were a lot of customers coming in to order from the fresh fish case to take home and prepare for themselves. That would be the...

Me and my husband went Monday night to celebrate a late Valentines day. Both of us growing up in New England we know a bit about seafood. We get there and the seafood market in front looked barely stocked. It was all fresh but miniscule compared to the seafood counters at local grocery stores or other seafood markets. Looked like they were doing it for a show. They directed us to our table and we were excited for dinner. We order our meal my husband gets the clear clam chowder to start and noticed there was a bit more sand than seemed normal. We know there is going to be a little bit of sand in clam chowder but not quite as much as there was in Flanders chowder. We get our salads and they are very odd, tomatoes lettuce carrots and some red onion. Not the salad we thought we would be getting usually a salad has much more ingredients then that. Fresh but zero effort made in the salad. Dinner was a definite surprise, the portions were extremely small. My husband got the tuna steak and sweet potato fries. His Tuna steak was extremely small and they cooked it to almost well done when he said MEDIUM rare. I get the fish and chips, the fish was ok and I got it with house batter instead of beer batter. Again small portions, I also asked for truffle fries. They were almost burnt and limp and if your going to add truffle oil which is kind of expensive, I would think you would want to make nice golden crispy beautiful fries. Again fresh food but not executed well. Things could be cooked better and give better portions. Especially for the prices $$$ your asking. Plus what's with a dark haired lady walking up and down between the restaurant tables. It gave us a very nervous feeling. Like Flanders was trying to hurry people up and get them out of their restaurant for some odd reason. We were not there late as well, it was only 6:30pm. Strange not a totally welcoming environment. Nobody should be walking between tables while people are eating...