Legal Sea Foods - Framingham — Restaurant in Framingham

I'm not a fussy eater and I don't like to complain about food. I don't mind spending a "pretty penny" to enjoy a special meal in a fine restaurant. I'm a born-n-bred New Englander that loves his seafood.

We went to Legal Seafood last night to reconnect with some old friends. We won't be rendez-vous-ing at Legal's ever again.

The service was poor. The prices exorbitant. The food of disappointing quality. The restaurant noisy.

I don't mind spending a good deal of money for a nice meal - but last night we spent a good deal of money for something totally mediocre.

Among us we ordered: fried calamari and steamers for appetizers to share; a cup of clam chowder; a crab cake entree; a lobster Florentine; and cioppino.

The steamers were good. Cooked properly and still piping hot when served. The calamari was very greasy (to the point that oil was in puddles on the plate when we were done) and cold. Cold and greasy isn't very appealing in my book.

I ordered the clam chowder because it's been so many years since I've had a good one - and Legal's is supposed to be top shelf. Well - it wasn't. Potatoes were plentiful in it - clams were not. And there was virtually no flavor to it. When ordering I thought: $6.95 is a bit pricey for a cup of chowder, but I really wanted it. Result: $6.95 is very pricey for a totally mediocre cup of chowder.

My husband ordered the crab cake with salad. For $18.95 he got one good-sized crab cake with a salad. That's a lot for a single crab cake. It's even more for a very over-cooked and, therefore, very dry crab cake.

One of our friends ordered the Lobster Florentine - lobster with a creamy spinach Florentine sauce. What she got was a baked-stuffed lobster with no sign of the advertised spinach, cream, and cheese. We asked our waitress if this was correct and she said it should have the spinach in it. She went to the kitchen and came back and said that all the plates they were preparing in the kitchen looked just like it. That simply left us confused. They were not serving what was described on the menu. Our friend was disappointed - but the lobster was cooked correctly, and she did enjoy it. $34.95

Our other friend and I had the cioppino. The broth had a really nice flavor - but the seafood, with the exception of the mussels, was all seriously over-cooked. The half of the lobster tail was so over-cooked that it was a struggle to get it out of the shell (I've eaten more lobsters than I can count - and so it wasn't a "user error") and it was dry and hard. The scallops were cooked to the point of being rubbery - as were the shrimp. If appropriately cooked, I would say the dish should be priced at $24-26. It cost $32.95. That's a lot of money for rubbery seafood in a tasty broth.

The drinks were good. But even on the fluids they fell down - I couldn't get my water glass refilled. Refills on water were never offered - and when asked, she said she'd get me some - but it never materialized. Not a federal offense, but it just fits in quite perfectly with the totally mediocre experience. It's not that hard to get water right.

Decades ago Legal Seafood came into being as THE authoritative seafood restaurant. In those days it really was a treat to go to. They have apparently laid back on their laurels and the good name they've built up over time. But, they no longer deserve it. It was ridiculously expensive for what we got.

The best thing I ate last night was the strawberry shortcake for desert. It was perfect. Too bad we weren't at a bakery instead of a seafood restaurant - because the dessert was the star of the evening, and not a single bite of seafood made runner-up.

I won't ever go to a Legal Seafood again. They should change their tag line from "If it isn't fresh, it isn't Legal" to "if it's Legal,...

We've been coming here for years with with both our family as well as with my customers, but this is our last visit. The past few times we've visited we've encountered various issues regarding the food. Overall it's declined in quality, but one particularly bad experience was having found a half of a tooth pick inside of my crab cake, only after I had taken a bite and stabbed myself with it unfortunately. This last visit however really turned us off from coming back. We went for what was both my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary and my daughters 3rd birthday. After having waited to place our order for 45 minutes, which is not the most fun experience with 2 young children, the waiter then unprompted proceeded to ask if we wanted to talk with the manager. We told him that we just wanted to place our order and if we could do that we'd be set. After finally placing our order he proceed to ignore our table while spending quite a bit of time talking at other tables. Not once did he stop by to fill our waters (which was unpleasant given how spicy my dish was) or ask if we needed anything. He didn't even serve us the food or check to see if everything was good or if we needed anything. Finally he swung by as the sides were wrong on at least 2 of the dishes and had to be hastily corrected, leaving some unpleasantly undercooked. About 15 minutes after we had already finished eating, I was finally able to flag him down to get a water and ask him for the check. He then proceeded to swing by our table saying he'd be right back multiple times as he got drinks for other customers but never came. It would be one things if he was just simply swamped, but there were times he would spend several minutes at other tables chatting while we waited to try and get his attention, only for him to run off without even looking at us so we didn't get the chance to grab him. I ended up sending the rest of the family home after we had been waiting 20 minutes with my CC in the check waiting to be charged. When he saw us leaving he came to say goodbye and we told him we were still waiting on the to-go desserts and to pay the check. For some reason he hyper fixated on the desserts instead of the check and ran off, but at this point we just wanted to leave. We had gotten there around 4pm and it was already after 6pm at this point and the kids were hitting a wall with their patience, as were we at this point. Finally a different server came over with our to-go desserts and we begged her to take the check so we could leave. Thankfully she took it and helped us out. Needless to say this was not the experience we were hoping for on these special occasions, especially when dropping well over $400 at an establishment. I was embarrassed to take my family here and quite frankly saddened by the drop in the quality of service and food (some of which was left unfinished and unwanted). If one or the other was exceptional, we would have been ok. But this was just an extremely poor showing on their part. Our server needs better training on how to manage their time as well as...

I was hesitant on writing this review for a few weeks so here it is: Bias Opinion from someone who used to know the “old” legal seafood.

I’ve lived in Framingham my whole life and legal seafood used to be my favorite restaurant in town before it got sold in 2020. It used to be family owned and the menu was amazing! They used to have the best option for food and you would get your money’s worth. The menu used to be so unique and there was no other restaurant like legal seafood.

I stopped going in 2022 a few years after they got sold to PPX Hospitality Brands and I noticed they weren’t the best anymore. Not in Framingham, chestnut or seaport. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, it’s just not as good as before. If you think it’s good now, it used to be better! It’s just a regular basic seafood restaurant just like every other, nothing unique about it anymore.

I decided to give them another chance for lunch on a Sunday a few weeks ago after years of not going there. I was not happy, instantly regretted it as soon as I got my appetizer. The server was great though she was very nice and on top of it.

They used to have this pop corn shrimp with buffalo and blue cheese on the side it was my favorite, they removed it for some time and added it back. Now they mix the shrimp with popcorn and there’s barely any shrimp in there and no buffalo sauce on the side, it was super cheap and seems like they add the popcorn there just to add some filling, which was upsetting. My entrée was delicious, which was the blackened salmon with mashed potato and broccoli. Since I ordered an appetizer and a salad, I got pretty full and was going to take it home to eat it for dinner.

This is honestly what upset me the most: I paid my check and I forgot my to go container on the table, which was full, literally took two bites. I walked out, sat in the car and came right back, literally five minutes after I left, they tossed out my food. I’ve worked at a restaurant industry for seven years and anytime anyone ever left the food, I would at least hold it for 20 minutes or so. People at times do forget their food. Yes, I understand most of them maybe don’t come back, but it’s really Inconsiderate for someone to throw $50 worth of food in the trash after 5 minutes! It was my fault for forgetting it there but for five minutes to me was SO inconsiderate. It did bother me for a few hours, and I eventually got over it. But personally, I will never go to legal seafood again. They used to be amazing and now they’re just OK.

Yes, they do have good quality fish and new menu with lunch options etc but it’s not as good as before. Getting my food thrown in the trash, was the nail in the...