Al's Seafood — Restaurant in North Hampton

For years my friends, family, and I have eaten at Al's and bought fish there. Always a 5 ... or at least a 4 ....experience. Today, my lunch was a marginal 3. The fish and chips were good, though I am not used to having my fish come in chunks. The English fish and chip shops of my childhood never wrapped such things in their heavy waxed paper and newspaper. The fish chunks were good, as were the "chips." We ordered onion rings which we had enjoyed the week before. Onion chunks arrived at the table. ( it was a chunky meal.) We returned the chunks for the rings we were ordered. The onion rings were dark and heavy with grease....old grease. Ugh.

What was markedly poor was the service. I waitressed during high school and college. I gave and I expect good service. I also tip well. Our food came promptly. Our diet coke and beer did not. Drinks were asked for twice. Then glasses. My glass never came. I drank beer from cans in college, but do not decades later. Ice for the coke finally arrived. I ended up putting my can of beer in my purse as I have glasses at home.

The flies were also really pesky as we ate our meal at an inside booth. We steadily swatted.

I expect this was an off day at Al's as I have not had such an experience there before. The owners should train waitresses and have enough on hand for outside and inside customers. The lunch crowd was not overwhelming. Screens must be closed at ordering windows when payments are not being handled. And old grease is unacceptable. If I have another similar experience at Al's, I will not be eager to return.

Including my $5.00 dollar donation to the window tip jar, i paid over $33.00 for an average-sized fish and chip plate, an order of heavily greased, over-fried onion rings, and a can of beer without a glass. Not...

We had a rough experience for the first time in probably a dozen visits over the years. We called ahead and were told they don't take reservations. We went anyway which is on us! We ordered in 3 groups with other customers between us. Again, on us. They offered us a 6 top and said they would have another table clear when another 6 top, who just got their food, were done. At that pont there were multiple other tables free so we asked one of the people working if we could seperate and put half of our party at one of the empty tables. After all, they don't do reservations, so its not like the tables are spoken for. She said sure and we all sat down and waited for our number to be called. About 5 minutes after sitting down, the person running the order counter came over and explained that SHE didn't tell us we could have a second table and that only 6 of our party could remain inside. Now there was a heat advisory that day and no shade to be had outside so we left our small children and 74yo parents inside and we went outside to the 96 degree heat while between 2 and 4 tables REMAINED EMPTY THE WHOLE TIME WE WERE OUTSIDE. As someone who has worked in customer service essentially my whole life, this was BAD customer service. One of the employees told us we could take the 2nd table, any good manager would realize they needed to take care of the customer in this situation and err on the side of not alienating people. But they sent us outside instead. Once we were finally allowed inside we got our food ate as quickly as possible and left. On the way out I noticed one of the tables had a hand written sign on it: RESERVED. There are plenty of seafood restaurants on par with Al's. Go somewhere they appreciate their customers and...

We made a special trip to Al's Seafood because it was rated high and we weren't disappointed. Part of Al's Fish and Seafood Market, the restaurant is the left bldg. You order on a big billboard at a counter then you exit to the right and enter the main dining area where they serve your food fresh. Really easy to order.

We ordered a cup of clam chowder, hot lobster roll and clam strips and fries. Chowder came first piping hot which is exactly how a chowder should be. Arguably some of the best chowder I've ever had in my life! You can really taste the fresh clams without them overwhelming the chowder. Nice chunks of potatoes, spiced and salted just right. Lobster roll was perfection. A gratuitous amount of fresh lobster in melted butter all heaped on a nicely toasted roll. Perfect amount of butter so as it didn't soak into the roll. Similarly to the clam chowder, the clam strips we're fresh as if they were just caught today. Nice side of crispy fries and a good slaw rounded out the lunch time meal. An honorable mention- -their tartar sauce was just awesome! Well balanced tangy/creamy deliciousness. We were actually full but kept eating the fries for that reason.

The only nitpick things are that it's expensive (just seems to be the trend these days) and the clam strips could have been cooked a little bit longer. But that's more my preference. I like very crispy clam strips. Does not take away from the high rating. Final note--Staff were friendly, helpful and checked on us frequently.

I HIGHLY recommend stopping in for lunch or dinner at Al's Seafood for an all-round fantastic...