Legal Sea Foods - Reagan National Airport — Restaurant in Washington

I have been a long time fan of Legal Sea Foods, all the way back in the 90s when there were a local Boston, MA small seafood restaurant chain, and before they expanded their restaurants (and contracted again). The minimalistic, almost Puritanical decor, and emphasis on simply prepared seafood, New England dishes were some of my favorite features. That is why it hurts a little to review their DCA (Washington Reagan Airport) property, because it seems not to be what it used to be before. Last Sunday I landed in DCA, and as I was exiting, I saw Legal Sea Foods. This particular restaurant has been in the DCA Terminal for many years, and I have eaten there before. It used to have a raw bar (now, sadly not operational). The chairs at the bar are in horrible condition, their seating torn by tears of use. As soon as I sat someone came to ask me for my drink order, and I asked for an Albariño white wine. The server dissapeared for 10-15 minutes (how long can it take to serve a glass of wine?), and brought the glass. No offer of water, no cutlery. A menu had been left by a previous client, and I picked it up and chose a clam chowder soup and a lobster roll with coleslaw. After another 10-15 min pause, she appeared again with a cup of chowder (a coffee cup for the soup). In olden days, you could choose between a cup and a bowl of soup, clam (New England) chowder or red (Manhattan). Now is just a coffee cup of chowder, for $16.00. She dissapeared again into some remote restaurant bowel. The soup was delicious, but lukewarm. After another time break, she showed up with the lobster sandwich. The sandwich was buttery, warm and delicious and the roll was properly toasted on the sides. The coleslaw was thin and forgettable (used to be creamy and rich). I was dissapointed by the food, but much more so by the slow-as-molasses service, filled with mysterious pauses and dissappearances. After dropping the sandwich, she never returned. Originally, I had contemplated also ordering a Boston cream pie, but I did not out of desperation. I had to ask another server for the check. My experience was dissapointing, because of the inefficient service, the dated and torn decor (the pics of the bar and it's yellow chairs posted somewhere else here are from many years ago) and the high prices (the clam chowder portion was miniscule, and the lobster roll, although delicious and generous, was overpriced)...

The clam chowder and crab cakes are always good. Even if the crab cake was a bit salty, I enjoyed the saltwater taste of the fibrous clam chunky pieces. Most of this small cake is fresh crab meat and costs $26 so mindfully taste every bite. The crab cakes came with a side salad and it was fresh. The clam chowder is always consistent at all the Legal Seafood locations in the US with a rich creamy flavor and some clam pieces (I wish they put more clam pieces personally since it costs $11.50 for a standard 8 oz mug full of soup). The atmosphere is not too loud while it’s at the airport. The most noise you will hear is the din of patrons tapping at the bar while drinking and eating. You will also hear pop music at this place which is loud enough but personally a bit loud for me while trying to enjoy Netflix while eating and waiting for a flight. This Legal Seafoods location is also contained in the area with other stores and not amidst gates where you typically hear flight staff calling boarding info on the loudspeaker. Thus it’s nice and not loud. At the last hour I changed my 5 to 3 stars bc the waiter basically stood above me to wait for me to drink my drink and eat my last bite of crab cake to give me a stare to take away my 1 cup and 1 plate and 1 fork and 1 spoon (they already took away all the other plates I left on the side as I knew the kitchen closed and I get it they have to wash dishes … I used to waitress). I understand they closed officially by a few min but there were 2-3 other people who were older men in gray suits sitting with their drinks and not being rushed w a male waiter standing and breathing on top of them to finish their last sips to take away their drink ware and dishes…they were not staff as staff were cleaning up. If I were the only person I get it…This waiter left a bad taste in my mouth so basically I will never return to this Legal Seafoods. I have been a waitress and as the staff are cleaning up and closing out for at least 1-2 hours after closing, it doesn’t feel good when someone stands above you to take away the 2 dishes. 🙄. I have never had that happen to me in any food establishment. I definitely did not expect that from this high priced place with what I...

I fly through national quite a bit and this has been one of my favorite places to sit at within the airport. However, I can’t believe the experience I just had.

I was walking through and was planning on stopping in at legal seafoods to grab a meal. And I unexpectedly saw friends who were sitting at a table! They were waiting for a flight.

They had time so I was like awesome, I’ll join you. And the hostess then said, you can’t pull up a chair there. Okay then, can we sit at this 4 top table right behind. No. (Keep in mind, there was no one waiting.) I said, but I’m going to order food. Hostess says but they’ve already paid the bill.

At this point, it’s super awkward. One friend says my flights soon so I’ll leave and you can have my spot. Great, I’ll sit down. And then the hostess says, ma’am, you can’t do that. But, I want to order food, I say. The response is, you can sit at the bar. (There’s still no one else waiting for a table. The place is half empty.

At this point, my friend says we’ll just go to the lounge. So we leave, and as I leave I say, “I guess you don’t want me here.” And the hostess and the waitress who are congregating at the front say, “we clearly don’t.” And then snicker amongst themselves.

I’ll never...