Tommy's Clam Shack — Restaurant in Warwick

These small family-run “clam shacks” are found all over New England. Occasionally you’ll stumble upon one serving transcendent fried seafood, and sometimes you’ll find one that’s horrible. Tommy’s is “middle-of-the-road.” I like that you can get some of the cheapest prepared seafood in town here on Tommy’s value-oriented menu, as it should be for the no-frills experience you’ll find here.

Tommy’s Lobster Roll features a genuinely good mildly-flavored lobster salad, and can be ordered “half-size,” which is still a substantial amount of lobster stuffed into a buttered and toasted top-split hot dog roll. The whole-bellied Fried Clams I would also recommend – they are best obviously straight out of the fryer, their golden craggy surfaces still glistening with oil, with the contrasting textures of crunchy batter, taut abductor muscles, and of course the scorching hot liquefied bellies that explode in your mouth and coat your tongue with pure ocean – these are as good as you’ll have in New England at this type of establishment.

I wish I could also sing the praise of the Clam Chowder, which I disliked on account of it being made with what I presume to be chicken broth. I am okay with such culinary tricks when they’re pulled off in a way that elevates the dish, but this really did just taste like regular clam chowder but with chicken stock instead of the natural clam juices, which is all that’s really needed. Also, I’m not sure I enjoyed the Clam Cakes (typically a favorite of mine at these types of places), which were browned to the point of almost being burnt and tough to bite into.

I also disliked that they did not serve beverages at the order window, and only at a cash-only soda machine which means that even though they accept credit cards, you’ll need to bring cash if you want a beverage. The final quibble I had with my visit here is that the order counter experience was not good: I literally waited like 3-4 minutes in front of a young lady who was sorting quarters and other change or whatever in the cash register before she took my order. I understand that this is a mom and pop restaurant that specializes in cheap seafood and not award-winning service, but c’mon man.

Overall, I’d eat here again for the fried clams and the lobster roll if I were in the immediate area, but this is not an experience...

Awesome! Worth the 2 hour drive!!! I admit the place don't look like much. Seating is outside either at picnic tables under a tent or for nice days, out in the open (the tables do have umbrellas). So fine dining it is not but what it is, is the best seafood around. The atmospeare is what you make it and of course casual. The people who work there are top notch. The owner was there and even came to everyone's table and asked how they liked it. We had scallops and he told us where and when the scallops came from. (You should see their lobster rolls!!!) He took pride in the food served and rightfully so. I was shocked to be given a clam cake while I waited for our order to cook. After eating it, I was sorry I didn't order some since they were so good. I figured if I was still hungry after our meal I would order some for the ride home but couldn't fit another bite. Even their coleslaw was fantastic; very tasty and sweet. Drinks you buy out of the soda machines ( variety of soda, iced tea, water, and even Gatorade ). Bathroom is around the side and consists of a single port-a-potty. Unfortunately it is not handicap accessible since it has no ramp and not big enough for a wheelchair. (It is completely possible that there is another place for the handicapped to go, I didn't see it or ask.) The only negative I have to say for sure is about their hours since they have no set hour to close. Apparently, on slow days they will close early and their is no phone to call them to ask if they are going to be open before spending 2 hours of traveling to get there and possibly finding out the hard way that they are closed. I really hope they fix this issue because as I said before, they are...

It's not the best seafood in New England.

My wife has been in search of a really good stuffed clam or "stuffy," and Tommy's is not it. The "Portuguese stuffy" tasted pretty much like stove top stuffing marinated in Frank's Hot Sauce, then stuffed into a clamshell and baked until hot. On an older menu shown on the Google site, it looks like they may have had a different stuff clam at some point, but it was apparently no longer available.

I got the seafood platter, which is eclipsed by the half dozen other seafood and / or clam platters I've had while traveling through New England. The whole clam bellies were very small and more like clam strips. The scallops, while tasty, we're also very small. I was eating more bread than scallop. The shrimp reminded me of the kind on Chinese buffets where they take a shrimp and smash it as flat and as thin as possible and then coat it with a lot of breading. Speaking of breading, while the fried fish was a very nice size piece of fish, the fish itself had no taste, and thankfully, the mounds of breading pretty much just fell off of it.

The coleslaw was not memorable and neither were the french fries. The pre-packaged Ken's tarter sauce Is a slap in the face to seafood purest. What did Tommy do before Ken came along??! Shame on you! Make your own tartar sauce!

My advice is if you want really good clams, make the drive to the Ipswich clam box. If you want a really good seafood platter, drive the few extra miles to Woodman's in Essex. We are still in search of a really...