Topsail Steamer Seafood — Restaurant in Surf City

We ordered a The Topsail Clam Bake (Low Tider), it serves 2-3 people. We had leftovers of mostly potatoes, a corn cob & some shrimp & kielbasa. It comes with 2 dozen littleneck clams, 1 lb. peel-and-eat shrimp, 1/2 lb. of kielbasa, corn, red potatoes, onion, homemade seafood seasoning, cocktail sauce, and butter. They also provide a small roll of brown paper for your table (liquid will seep through). $72.00+ tax which comes out to about $26/person if you have 3 people. Pricey (reason for 4 stars) considering you have to cook it, no table service & you have to clean up. But it was an experience we wanted to try. A little disappointed that, for that price, the cocktail sauce isn't homemade.

That being said, the seafood was VERY fresh! I picked it up around 2:00...cute shop. No one was in the front of the shop, so I waited about 5 minutes for someone. There's no bell to get an employee's attention & it's loud in the back, so they wouldn't here me. All the orders are in a small fridge by the register. The young man who helped me was very professional & let me know everything I needed to know about how to cook it. The bucket also comes with directions.

Hubs used a propane stove outside to do the cooking. The bucket lid has a hole in the top to let out steam. The instructions say to put the lid on while cooking but not on too tight...the point is for the steam to only come out of the hole. Don't push the lid on all the way because you will need to open the pot to add the seafood after 20 minutes.

It was all very tasty & easy to do. We added our own garlic toast to the meal. Will we do it again? I don't know...pricey. We've eaten at places that have steam pots with the same ingredients, that is enough for 2 to share, for around $30. BUT I would recommend it for the experience & to splurge at least once while...

This was an excellent experience. Especially on vacation. Nice to be able to get something that is prepped and ready to go for you to cook at will.

My usual experience with boils and steamer type meals, has always been mediocre at best. I was happy to find this was well flavored and had an adequate amount of seasonings included to flavor the whole pot.

You're gonna get messy eating this if you get shrimp or crabs, but that is to be expected. They included a roll of parchment paper to cover our countertop so you can empty the pot contents in traditional fashion. This also makes cleanup very easy.

My one criticism would be the safety of the actual cooking process. The pot they provide is great for it's purpose, but it lacked adequate ventilation for the steam generated. The store had punctured the lid with a single small hole to vent it, but that was no where near enough. The lid quickly popped up at one side and tried to slide off. Wouldn't be a huge deal if the lid had some sort of handle. Not having a handle created a situation where I had to put my hands in the line of fire with the steam as I tried to replace the lid. The steam passes right through towels and oven mitts, so you must be aware of this or you'll easily get burned.

So Topsail Steamer, if you're reading this, give us a handle on top of that lid and maybe a large diameter hole to allow for adequate steam ventilation. If you want some ideas of how to do it without costing a ton, reach out to me. I've got a couple thoughts.

Overall though, give this a try. It's much better than going to a typical beach seafood restaurant. Just be careful in the cooking process and you'll...

Have supported this place since we’ve been coming down to topsail. Was actually excited as they were putting some stores at the Jersey shore where I have a place. Last time we were here was good however they did forget an item but I was fine with that. This time however I ordered online a week ahead of schedule as they asked us to do per Covid protocol. When I went down to pick everything up I was told that they did not have one of the items they had just sold the last one and I had also, stupidly I suppose, ordered a T-shirt to which I was told well there are a few over there if you want to see but I don’t think we have the size you want. So I just told them to put that back onto my credit card. It may seem trivial but when I have to order something a week It’s ants and then when I get down here they actually don’t have the items and especially as I was told the one item was just sold then why am I pre-ordering? I wish them luck maybe they’re growing a little bit too fast as they are all over the Jersey shore and they may be need to refocus on customer service and providing to the customer exactly what they’re ordering. The food is good the process is certainly a ingenious process but needless to say I was very...