The Clam Box

Came back with my family for dinner on a Wednesday on August 18^th. This was just after driving all the way to Worcester, because their other place was closed! Thanks for updating your piece of shit website! I would be ashamed to own this place! For starters, it is outdated and dirty. This place was dead, all the drinks were flat from the soda machine, and the ice dispenser was broke. Broken tartar sauce dispenser, and out of lettuce. our whole party was unhappy with this place. My fish sandwich was good, and the fries were good. I feel bad for the girl working, she has to explain and make excuses for the owner. The place needs two things; a wrecking ball or a match. In either order.

Worst clam chowder I have ever had. with a name like clam box I expected a superb clam chowder.

I stopped to eat here today for the first time. First it looks a little dirty, rest rooms were clean. I ordered the Fishermans platter. It was edible but they were using the small bay scallops and they were almost tasteless. The fish was very good, shrimp were pretty good all three of them. I would eat here again but I think i would recommend the fish dinner because fish was very good. If you want scallops make sure they are using sea scallops not bay.

The server was nice
Service was slow
The order was wrong (corrected)
The portions were ok
The food was just meh
Bottom line: Go clam digging somewheres else.

The place is mismanaged, dirty, poor service, and fair at best food. We go to the one in ware, and used to go to Worcester and Ri. they were all good.
we will never go back!!!

We were visiting in Auburn late yesterday afternoon and decided that the Clam Box’s righteous lobster rolls would hit the spot for an early dinner. We were there about 5:15 p.m. and should have read the signs: there were only three other customers in the place (but were not yet eating anything) and as soon as we walked in the door, a horrific odor of burnt old grease assaulted us. When we went to order our lobster rolls, we were informed by the teenage counter girl that they had no lobster. No lobster on a Friday during Lent — -REALLY?! So we left and decided to call the Clam Box in Brookfield to see if they had lobster, but we could not get through. We ended up at Spencer House of Pizza. Oh, well. The Auburn Clam Box had better brace itself for really bad times because Ronnie’s, just a minute down Route 12, is opening on April 2^nd, and I’m sure THEY will be mobbed (and have lobster).

Very good service. The food has been very consistent here and the service has been even better. The fish sandwitch is very good and they give out a generous portion of fries with it too. The place in general is very clean inside. When it’s the off season for one of my all time favorite seafood restaurants near by I go here instead if I’m craving fried seafood which I usually don’t but all and all it’s your average fried food joint. The service that I have gotten the past couple of times has been wonderful witch made me add the fourth star but if service kind of sucked I would give this three out of five. So try this place out its very good. I do enjoy dresser hill more.

I will never eat at this claim box ever again. I go to Brookfield all the time and have always been very satisfied however here in auburn the food we got was kid size for the price for adults. I asked the girl working if it was a lunch special she said no that they were running out of food so basically was skimping on our meals. I said how can you do that and charge full price. I told her we want money back as if I’m not getting a full meal you shouldn’t be charging full price. I WILL NEVER BE BACK. Poorly managed! She came back with more fish instead with a disgusted look on her face. Sad as I love the claim box! In Brookfield that is.

I’ve only been here for ice cream once. There was 2 people in front of us and 3 of us and it took us 30 minutes for the 5 of us to get cones or cups of ice cream.

Lots of pluses and minuses with this place. First of all, the only reason I would go here over Ronnie’s is if I didn’t have cash (why Ronnie’s takes cash only I will never know) or if Ronnie’s was packed. The other weekend, Ronnie’s literally had a line around the building (first sunny weekend in Massachusetts in quite some time) … there was no way I was waiting 30 minutes for clams … so I went to the Clam Box instead. There were only 3 other people inside on a Saturday when Ronnie’s literally looked like the line to a rollercoaster at Six Flags. Not a good sign.
The first thing I will say about The Clam Box is that the interior is DISGUSTING. I will repeat that … disgusting. How the board of health allows some of the stuff I saw in there, I will never know. The tables are all covered with a vinyl tablecloth which EVERY SINGLE table’s was ripped exposing the cotton underneath. If food were to soak into this cotton and stay there … let’s just say it would become a petri dish of mold and bacteria. Oddly, there was a back section which was closed off that didn’t have these horrible dirty ripped virus farms on them.
There is a table that has jugs of tartar sauce, ketchup bottles and little cups. The table is filthy and looks like it has an entire day’s worth of dripped mayonaise based tarter sauce and ketchup on it. There were flies landing on all the condiments. Yuck.
Now … for the good.
The prices here are less than Ronnie’s. Even though the place reeks of burned cooking oil, the food actually tasted good. The onion rings were homemade and probably some of the best onion rings I’ve ever had. EVER HAD. So good. The clams were sweet and flavorful and cooked well. The batter did not take away from the taste and the clams weren’t stuck together like at some places that fry clams. I didn’t notice any difference between Clam Box and the more expensive and more popular Ronnie’s. If you are taking out … save the money and get Clam Box.
The clam chowder was a joke. It tasted like milk and dish detergent. It was watery and I don’t think there was an actual clam in the chowder. Raw potaes and cream flavored water. SKIP THE CHOWDER. We all only took one spoonful. It is $ 5 per cup, which is a complete waste of money.
The menu is HUGE. There are SO many (too many?) options. Clam boats, clam rolls, scallops, fish, platters of every combination, size and type. It seriously takes a few minutes just to read through all the options. Ordering is easy and the staff is high school students who are mostly competent and pleasant.
This place will not in any way, shape or form compete with Ronnie’s if they keep the restaurant in such a dumpy condition. At least make an outdoor area with picnic tables or something so people don’t have to eat inside. I would literally rather eat in the bathroom of some restaurants than on these filthy ripped up tables.
In the future, I will be taking my food to go … but based on value, portion size (huge!) and taste … this is a winner. I would be scared to see if the condition of the kitchen matched the restaurant, but as of now … the food is good enough and a good value enough that I will try not to think about that.
Great alternative to Ronnie’s and more convenient.

Stopped in last night for a quick bite to eat after realizing Ronnie’s wasn’t open. Ordered a decent amount of food for about 3 people and waited. They seemed to have nothing in inventory food wise or were «out of this» but items still appeared on the menu. It just seemed a little dysfunctional and I wasn’t overly impressed with my meal for having to deal with all of the issues encountered.

Forget the décor, revel in the food! Got the Daily Special #14: Clam Strips and Scallops Mini-​combo (comes with FF, natch) and added a cup of clam chowder. The chowder was clammy and not gloppy, with nice little chunks of red potatoes. Not over-​herbed, either, which I hate. It was a perfect starter.
Then I started on the mini-​combo. Crisp and not greasy, the clam strips tasted like clams, not coating, and the bay scallops were covered in a lighter batter and moist and juicy. Price was right, too.
If you’re up that way, it’s worth a stop. Delicious!

MMMMMMM is all I can mostly say, two huge lobsters, loster roll, grilled shrimp and burger for Jack, $ 54. Cannot beat that and the flavor of the lobster and meal was just yummy, the staff weere awesome and friendly.

I was really craving fried clams tonight, and I have driven by the clam box several times and wanted to give them a try.
The staff is friendly and the place is clean and neat.
I ordered fried clams w/​belly and the C&C special (clamcakes and chowder). The chowder is really thick, but more of a potato chower than clam chowder. While there were big clams in it, they had no taste and the potatoes were too big and undercooked and it had an overwhelming spice that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The clam cakes were too big as the middles were undercooked and doughy. But the outside of them were flavorful and had big clams in them. Had they been cooked all the way thru they may have been really good.
As for the fried clams, the portion was big. I ordered a ½ pint and I got more like a pint. which was nice… but alas, what they gained in portion they lacked in taste. They were not crispy but doughy and very chewy. And the tarter sauce is way too sweet. it is mayonase and sweet pickle relish. it really turned me off to the clams, so I tried them without it… still wasn’t satisfied with them.
I am really dissappointed to have to give it a low rating, I really wanted to be able to have my clams year round. I may give them a 2^nd chance and try the fish and chips.
but as for their chowda, clam cakes and fried clams… I have to give them a thumbs down.

We’ve been there twice now in two weeks with the family. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The food is always fresh and delicious. Portions of seafood could be a bit bigger for the price; but the other food portions are good.
The ice cream is great also. Fun place and very family friendly!

Great place, the menu is HUGE. They do run out of food some times which is a good thing because this means it’s fresh.
I ordered the lobster roll, it was very good, but its lobster so it’s kind of hard to mess that up, and just about every lobster roll I have had has been good (even D’Angelo’s). The great thing about it was it was on a foot long roll which you don’t see often, my meal came with an order of fries and a drink, not bad for 15 bucks!
My fiancé got the cheese burger, now normal when you order «normal» food from places like this you get some skinny freezer burned patty that’s been smashed to a pulp on some stale bread — not the case! This was a good size burger cooked the way a burger should be cooked with a good side of fries and a drink for a very cheap price. Well worth it!
My fiancés Father got the fish and chips, and let me tell you this piece of fish was massive, it covered the plate and you couldn’t even see the fries (remember the fries are very big portions). He said it was very good, and would order it again!
We all agreed we would be back again this place is A-​OK!

I went to the Clam Box with my gf on Friday, June 15, at 2pm. The place was totally empty except for a senior citizen couple in the booth next to us.
A girl took our order right away. She was very pleasant and knowledgeable about the menu choices. In fact, everyone who worked there was extremely respectful and polite.
I got the clam strip plate and my girlfriend got the haddock plate. I am really not a fish guy, but she let me try some of hers and I liked it a lot – it was very light and flaky.
The clam strip plate was $ 12.95, which is a lot, but I know it’s really expensive for restaurants to buy them, and they have no choice but to pass the costs on to the customer. The clam strips themselves were well worth it – very tasty, and I got a lot of them.
The fries are awesome at the Clam Box, crispy and delicious, and you get plenty of them as well. I’m sure they are horrible for you, but I guess all fries are!
The food took 5 – 10 minutes to come out, but the girl brought it right to us so we didn’t have to get up. I needed some lemons for my clams, and she brought them right over to me with a smile.
The drinks are reasonably priced, and they offer free refills, which is really good while you’re waiting for your food.
The ambience is nothing fancy – just lighthearted and casual, with a nautical theme. I noticed a lobster trap hanging on the wall, along with pictures of lighthouses and so on.
I would recommend the Clam Box to anyone looking for seafood in the Auburn area.

One of a chain of about 5 or 6. This is about the Auburn location.
Although they all may have the same execution of food.
I like Ronnie’s a lot but tried this one recently.
I found the clams while very crispy (could be the sand in them) but they tasted like they had been sitting in mud a long time and tasted literally like mud. They are open 52 wks and maybe it’s a bad the time of the year for clams.
Also tried the hot lobster roll that was absolutely awful. They only use claws which is not so bad but the meat is not fresh, was overly flavored with some sort of paprika sauce. The meat was very tough and very rubbery. In the end, I could not eat it.
I will probably faithful to Ronnie’s for a fresher cleaner tasting clam even though they need to step up to the plate and offer real lemon so I don’t have to go buy one before I go there instead of serving concentrated lemon juice in a pouch. Ok, I will pay 50 cents more if necessary.

This was actually the second time we stopped here. The first time was over the weekend and there was no place to park, so we left. Good for them, bad for us. We tried again during the week for lunch and had much better luck.
Not much for seafood, I had a chicken strips meal. There was plenty of food on my plate, a good value. Mrs B had a foot long hot dog and clam chowder. Other then not preparing the hot dog as ordered, she was very happy with her meal.
We did not have ice cream on this visit, but we will give it a try at some point. They have a pretty big menu and since they are open year round, we will be back again to sample some other items.

Popped in today for a quick lunch at the new Clam Box location. Their menu is huge with something for seafood & landlubber appetites.
I loved that they had $ 6.99 lunch specials — so I chose one. Number 15 is 3 clam cakes, 3 haddock fingers, & a cup of clam chowder.
The clam cakes were more like clam hush puppies. The batter was very heavy on the salt & pepper and a little light on the clams. There were 4 in my order but one was devoid of any clams. The haddock fingers were well cooked & crispy. The clam chowder is thicker than I expected. The new potatoes weren’t cooked entirely — more al dente. I do have to say that there was a ton of large clams within — just wish it had been hotter.
The young ladies behind the counter were friendly & very knowledgeable about the menu, which I appreciated.
The décor is very beachy in color scheme. I can see coming back to try a lobster roll or the bisque. I saw one come out & it looked tasty!
Beer & Wine will be available in September (according to signage inside).
Don’t forget to grab a cone for dessert!