Lobster Claw — Restaurant in North Reading

The first thing I’ll say about the place is to prepare yourself for a hefty meal.

Atmosphere: My family and I were looking for a lobster place and we found this local place. When we entered, ye atmosphere was great, it was welcoming, lots of good furniture, and you can even see inside the kitchen.

Service: Service was okay, I understand that some of the people at the register couldn’t understand our order, but it was alright. The food came surprisingly fast which was great, it took about 10 minutes.

Food: When I first looked at the price of the food, it was surprising. Almost 30 dollars for 6 ounces for a lobster, but I did not realize the sides they gave as well. They gave us a lobster roll (with butter) and gave us a side of fries and coleslaw, also we got the popcorn shrimp and the clam chowder. Number 1: The lobster The lobster was okay. Nothing that fully exploded in my mind, but it was fresh and good. Unfortunately the butter was cold so it was kind of underwhelming, if it was hot then it would be much better, 8.1/10

Number 2: Fries Fries was surprisingly full of flavor, it was really good. Crispy, Crunchy, and not that dry too. Very well executed. 8.6/10

Number 3: Popcorn Shrimp The popcorn shrimp was okay. I could tell that it was fresh but the crispness was lacking and it was a bit soggy. Overall it was okay taste. 7.6/10

Number: Clam Chowder Clam chowder was decently good. Good flavor, they provided crackers, and the flavor is what you would expect from a regular clam chowder. 7.3/10

Overall...

Classic greasy seafood restaurant close to home. Oct 2018 update: Not sure what's going on, but lately fried items like Clam Strips, Haddock and Shrimp seem second rate. Haddock seems like it's mostly tails and the Clam Strips could probably be renamed "Popcorn Clams". The shrimp is just not the type of fried butterfly shrimp you'd expect from a place like this. The drink machine didn't work and even the French-fries were disappointing -- burnt and greasy leftovers. Our first bad experience was on a Saturday during the rush and we thought maybe they were just overwhelmed earlier and we were getting the scraps. Then we tried going on a Friday around 4pm and the quality hadn't improved. My family and I went here on a fairly regular basis and I'm sorry to see this decline. It's otherwise a very clean, well-lit, basic fried seafood place. I'll try it again someday in a few months to see if things have picked up, but I couldn't recommend them at present. I've had delicious meals here in the past and the staff is always very nice so I felt I owed them at least three stars, but it's probably not what I'd give their food based on my...

My wife and I were in the North Reading, MA area today, and we stopped in the Lobster Claw for lunch. The first red flag was the woman that took our order had a bit of an attitude when my wife asked for her fries to be hot and lightly cooked. Then when I ordered the clam chowder, the woman asked if I wanted a cup size, and I said no, a pint and she looked at me as if I was strange. So we both ordered the fried haddock sandwich. When it was ready to be picked up at the counter my wife brought it to the table and there was no tartar sauce. So my wife went up to the counter and asked for tartar sauce and she was given an attitude by one of the workers. So my wife came back to the table with the tatar sauce, and we began to eat. I started with the chowder and it had plenty of clams, but it was so salty that it wasn't palatable. The fried haddock was so greasy that it left my mouth a grease slick. I was not impressed with this place and would never advise anyone to eat there. Very...