Costello's Clam Shack — Restaurant in Groton

June-2023: Terrible! Used to be one of our favorite waterfront restaurants. We're locals and will NO longer recommend this place.

Went on a Saturday evening, mid June 2023, at about 5:30pm. It had rained a few hours earlier which meant, they were definitely Not busy. In the 75-plus minutes we were there, the 'order number' only increased by 12... and the food was still terrible! Busy? It was the opposite of 'Slammed'.

Placed the orders. Immediately received the soft drinks.

The primary order: Bowls of chowder and bisque plus two orders of clam fritters (= a dozen).

We immediately sat at a dirty table up-stairs. Grabbed some napkins to wipe down the table. After the crumbs and spillage were wiped from the table, used another set of clean napkins to wipe down the table once more. The napkins still turned Black. Gross! (How about leaving a spray bottle of cleaning fluid up-stairs so your customers can clean their own tables? Or, convince one of your teenage workers to put down their phone long enough to clean some empty tables?)

We waited about 25 minutes. Still no food. Thinking that I missed the pick-up order number call-out, I walked down stairs to check. I see bowls of chowder and lobster bisque on a tray. I give the teenager my order number and she asks the cook about the fritters. The guy behind the counter (new and not grill competent) hands her 1 of 2-orders of fritters. The teenager asks the cook about the second order? "Uh... it'll be a few minutes."

I carry the chowder, bisque and half of our order of fritters up-stairs. I sink a spoon into the lobster bisque. Cold. Not even warm. I ask the other members of our group. Same. The fritters are warm. Bite into them and the clam pieces are like rubber-bands. I grab the food and go down-stairs with it.

The teenagers do not understand how the chowders and bisque are cold. Not warm, cold! Then they check the burners under the chowder and bisque pots. One is not working well. Attention teenagers: Do not pour the damn chowder and bisque until After the fried and grilled food is Done.

A teenager asks the cook if our 2nd order of clam fritters is ready? The cook, with bare hands, picks up a fritter and half-breaks it open: to look inside it. Then he says: 'Done.'

Our one entree item of 'tuna tacos' is also ready. I grab the tray with all the food and walk upstairs. FYI - Order had been placed 40-minutes earlier.

The tuna tacos are ...wait for it... terrible. The slices of tuna had been grilled into such a dark shade of gray that it could qualify as cat food. And... its warm... at best. The greens were fresh.

The second order of fritters was just as over-cooked as the first batch received 15-minutes earlier. Attn teenagers: This is what happens when the deep fryer oil is too cold!

Make no mistake: The teenagers working that night are not to blame. The non-existent Management are totally at fault!

This was my 2nd worst experience at Costello's. I grew up working at a busy waterfront restaurant in RI.

The very troubling part: 11-months ago, others posted reviews just like this.

Management: You've lost a family of locals ! There are much better run establishments just...

We've been here several times. This time an exiting patron stopped us on the way in to say that the food was great, but that a lot of things came cold.

We found this to be true when we ordered scallops w/bacon and mussels. My mussels were cold above the broth (over ⅔ of the portion). I took it back. They offered to put it back into the steamer. Not the right solution, which would be to do a new batch so as not to overcook the mussels. She enjoyed the scallops.

Marty's Mussels are served with baguette AT ABBOTT'S up the road - sister restaurant. Why not here? I suggested that would be better if they could also get the baguettes delivered to Costello's, too.

We purposefully ordered our meal in parts so as to always have hot food to eat (see, above). Also, we love to take our time to enjoy where we are. On this day the temperature back home in the Hartford area was 94, we eventually got chilly sitting in shorts in the shade - so we moved to the sunny tables on the first level.

Second course (she also had already had their lobster bisque - excellent) was (her favorite) clam fritters (a half dozen exquisite balls of doughy deliciousness with plenty of minced clams deep fried to a darkened golden brown), an order of onion rings to share, and calamari for me - all from the fryer. It came out all at the same mostly hot (but not right-out-of-the-fryer hot) temperature. I haven't figured out, yet, how to make that happen.

We also each had (refillable) fountain drinks - soda, iced tea.

The best reason to go, besides the reasonable prices and good food (if you are strategic when ordering and definite in your acceptance of only reasonably hot food when brought to the table) is the wonderful location within a working harbor in an old southern New England town.

This restaurant is B.Y.O.B. (alcohol only).

Between the two of us, we...

What can you say about Costello's. Its right on the water overlooking the marina with spectacular views and atmosphere. Where else do you want go when your in the mood for fresh seafood but right to the coast. This is a very low key establishment you order from a window and they yell out your number when the food is ready. They offer all of your favorites lobster, fish, clams 10 different ways and a ton more. This is a BYOB place so feel free to pack up your cooler and bring it with you. There's a great cost savings with that to offset the cost of the food. Dont get me wrong it's not crazy expensive but still average plates are 25-35 bucks. The quality of food was outstanding as well as the portions as we all struggles to finish our meals. My main gripe was the food was cold. We ordered and waited to hear our number called, bear in mind we intentionally went at a non peak time 330pm to miss lunch and before dinner. We waited for our number to be called and never heard it and went to the pick up area and low and behold there was our food sitting there on the counter and the kids working there saw us staring and haphazardly said our numbers. We walked back to our seats with our food and our steamers were ice cold, delicious but ice cold. 20 bucks for cold steamers, booo. Unfortunately the rest of food was the same luke warm at best. I say this with the most honesty I can provide. Would I try it again 100% I would just watch them like a hawk while preparing to...