Avalon Seafood

Good experience. Fried seafood combo was good. Impressed with shrimp, crab cake, scallops, and cole slaw. Good size portion.

I guess I’m not allowed to post zero stars. During the last twelve months I’ve hosted many friends at my home which is here in Avalon and, regretfully, three of them have come down with food poisoning. The last two was a couple who just called me inquiring if anybody else in my house came down il after last weekend. And (fortunately) nobody else did. But these two girl’s last meal was from Avalon Seafood. Everywhere and everything else they consumed over their brief, less than 24 hour stay, was consumed here form meals either shared by others, or they individually dined on meals not common to each other. The other food poisoning case was a year ago when my best friend’s sister came down for an overnight and also ordered from this takeout joint.
Another friend’s girlfriend, a couple years ago, paid $ 40 for a small bag of shrimp one evening just before they closed, only to drive directly to her home (in Ocean City, NJ) only to discover that it had gone rancid by the next morning when she pulled it out of her refrigerator, and had to be discarded.
I realize fish has a very short shelf life. But I’d rather have a seafood place tell me they sold out, because they bought only what they KNEW what they would sell (within safe shelf life expectancy), vs buying what they HOPE to sell, and pushing off fish and shellfish that’s been rinsed off with a hose every couple of hours as it begins to deteriorate.

We went back later in the week and this time, picked up 24 lobsters, crab claws/​shrimp platter and also tried the calamari and fried clams. SO good! Portions were generous and they give you all the accoutrements (i.e., butter, tartar/​cocktail/​mustard sauces, lemons, etc.). Completely worth it.

I love their fried seafood combo! They have a great staff and I must say it’s the freshest seafood on the island.

We ordered 2 lbs. of steamed shrimp, at the exorbitant Jersey Shore price. Drove from Stone Harbor, past two other takeout seafood places to get here, because last year their shrimp were delicious and perfect. We got the shrimp home, and they were overcooked and rubbery. The large ones were (almost) ok, the smaller ones were terrible.
And honestly, we might have been ok if they had handled it better, because we own a business and everyone makes mistakes sometimes. But we called to complain, and the immediate response was indignant. «Best shrimp you can get for the money. Of course they’re not overcooked.» They WERE overcooked. After pushing back a bit, the grudging response was that we could bring them back. Then they hung up, abruptly.
After driving 30 minutes round trip to get these in the first place, the last thing we feel like doing is driving another 30 minutes round trip to get yelled at when we go back, so this gets chalked up to $ 40 worth of lessons-​learned. But this is the last time we buy anything from Avalon Seafood.

Lesson learned. Ordered pickup – I had two people witness my call so I know I ordered everything clearly. First, they only made ONE of the two jumbo lump crab cakes we ordered. Second, when I was asked what side we wanted for the $ 26.95 fried combination platter (which we expected, given the menu description, to share) I repeated the description of the platter back to them to confirm it included the french fries. He said «okay.» When we picked it up, they said they had made the platter WITHOUT any side (and subtracted $ 1.00 from it, at least).
The one jumbo lump crab cake we DID receive was small, but delicious and clearly filler-​free. The linguine with red clam sauce was the only entrée that left any of us feeling full, but was bland. $ 10.95 felt a little steep for four chicken fingers and a handful of french fries, but it was decent.
Our major complaint with Avalon Seafood was the egregious $ 26.95 fried combo platter. To quote the menu, «GENEROUS portions of flounder fillet, shrimp, oyster, crab cake, & scallops served with tarter & cocktail sauce, fried potatoes, cole slaw and lemon wedge.» This «generous» platter barely filled one side of the styrofoam container it came in. The 4 scallops were delicious, two out of the three butterfly shrimp were decent, the flat, small crab cake wasn’t bad (wasn’t good for «generous» or $ 26.95), but the flounder (a local fish!) was very small, thin, dry, and overcooked. The person in our party who ordered it is not a big eater, but she was left hungry.
The prices, poor service (this was not a complicated order!), and subpar food make this a place we will not return to during our annual visits to Avalon. Very sad.

Good broiled shrimp and scallops. I tried the crab fingers, awesome. The cost was on the high side but worth it.

Delicious! Placed a large takeout order for 7 people with a variety of items from scallops to oysters to fried calamari. All the the items were packed well so even after the 10 minute drive back to stone harbor, the chilled entrees remained cold and the hot entrees, hot. Prices were very reasonable and we all were stuffed and happy. Definitely a treat for us after a disastrous first night meal at overpriced and overhyped Quahogs.

0 stars actually. taken out probably 3 dozen LARGE orders over the years and every single one was overpriced and under quality. cold food, missing items, small portions, etc. And the sense that the staff feels like they are doing you a huge favor is really irritating. Do yourself a favor and GO ELSEWHERE.

Was worried about the food and it turned out okay. Seafood Fra Diablo was decent, a hearty red sauce with shrimp, scallops and crab over a huge bed of linguini. Also had the steamed shrimp — half a pound of shrimp and several tablespoons of Old Bay — was tasty. Others had the fried seafood combo which was well, fried. Flounder was not really a hit with the table.
Everything was best hot — as the items cooled the seafood showed signs of being either previously frozen, overcooked, or both.

Solid takeout seafood. We ordered several lobsters, crab cakes, and piles of steamers. All the food was hot at pickup and tasted great.
Prices are reasonable, and they will crack your lobsters for you at no additional cost. Only glitch was they forgot to add one of the lobsters we ordered; after calling they sent a guy out to deliver it. So, they made it right.
If you are looking to eat in and would like someone else to go through the trouble of cooking your lobsters, then this is a solid bet.

Five of us ordered for pickup. I got a tuna steak. It was cooked nicely, a bit rare in the middle and a good consistency. Though the flavor was a bit lacking for some reason. It did come with this delicious mustard dipping sauce though. It’s really pricey, like sit down meal-​style pricey. My tuna steak was around $ 20 or more. Each platter adds a baked potato or fries for a few extra bucks. We were hankering for some seafood and did not want to go out, so it hit the spot. However due to the cost, and the fact that the food was not overwhelmingly amazing, I would probably not frequent this spot.

Really bad experience. We got two appetizers, calamari and muscles. Calamari was clearly frozen and really chewy. Looked like Mrs Pauls. Mussels were so salty that they were uneatable. Had to throw them away.

I agree with Ryan 100%. The food is above average. I am a little bit of a sucker and go there 3 – 4 times every year for as long as I can remember.
7÷6÷2011 review. Food very good. Portions small for the money. But here is the lame part. One small butter for 100 steamed clams. No butter for my lobster dinner. So had to nule my own. One small Tatar and for a shrimp dinner. You would think they would throw extra things like condiments in for 5 – 6 large dinners. Will go again and again but it is not an outstanding value. GreAt for when you don’t want to cook or go out to dinner

Have been to Avalon seafood twice now. The food has been nothing but great, but I’m always hungry when «finished». This means one of two things; either the portions are small or I am a fat man in a thin man’s body.
The scallops are great and the shrimp are even better. A little on the pricey side but I guess that is to be expected in Avalon over the summer. Well worth stopping in if you do not have a big appetite.

The food is pretty good and the people are friendly but the portions are minimal. I’ve had better and more plentiful in my many visits to the Shore. Dropping almost 40 bucks for a couple lunch platters that consist of a smallish potato, a scoop of slaw and about 12 medium sized scallops or 8 medium shrimp just doesn’t cut it. Seems like the portions keep decreasing and the prices just go up. This is probably our 8^th visit to the Shore and perhaps 6^th to Avalon Seafood, and sadly, I think it will be the last.

For us, this is the go to place in the area for quality seafood — either for cooking yourself or their platters. The employees have never steered us wrong with suggestions (type or quantity) and Dan, the prior owner who I understand has sold the place, was always up front making sure things were spot on. The new owners seem to have continued to keep up the quality. The quality is as good as you can get retail, I think.
We have a summer tradition of lobster «fest». All the family gets together one week-​end out of the summer and the house; we do take out lobster platters from here, crab claws, clams, etc., and stuff and drink ourselves in Epicurean delight. Avalon seafood is at the center of that bonding. I’m not sure it would continue to be an annual event if the quality of their «supply» was not as good as what it is.

when talking about seafood, freshness is very important. I give this place a good mark for that. I also think that if you are going to charge the high prices this place charges, flavor should also be a considerarion. I bought several things and there is no doubt I found flavor missing. The clams casino were basically the same you buy frozen at Acme, the crab soup tasted like flour and salt. The crab cakes that were advertised all crabmeat were loaded with mayonaise and extremely bland.
When I asked for red pepper flakes, the youth behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about.
The place advertises it has chefs on staff! They must have not been working when I was there.

Okay, so I worked in a fish market/​restaurant for several years and the experience has taught me a lot in terms of what to buy and more importantly WHAT NOT to buy when it comes to fish. (Never buy from grocery store on a Sunday!!! Just trust me). So, with that said, I am very picky about where my seafood comes from.
Avalon Seafood has a great selection of fresh food from the sea and I do not think twice about it’s ‘authenticity.’ They are also very helpful with recipes and cooking technique… not that I need them.