Old Bay Seafood

I finally found a good seafood spot!!! We moved here a year ago and would go all the way to Va Beach for seafood!!! Thank God for Unilocal!!!The food was awesome! The fish taste fresh. Service was nice! Would’ve been nice for a kids menu for smaller portions however, I bought 3 meals for $ 25 and that’s including drinks!!! Can’t beat that!!!

I spent a good amount for the food I purchased here. I ordered the seafood platter, fried oysters for my youngest daughter, and fried shrimp and oysters for my oldest daughter. There was too much breaking on EVERY THING! The fish tasted really fishy which means it was not fresh. The hush puppies were mediocre. I’m from Louisiana so seafood is a staple back home. I thought I could count on the reviews I read here on Unilocal but once again I was deceived and disappointed. I’m starting to believe people who live here in Virginia have a lack of taste buds because this place was awful. I’d never go back. It was a waste of money.

I love this place so much. Im pretty lucky to live right by it. I always order the fried oyster with no cocktail sauce but extra homemade sweet tartar that they make so good. i usually ask to substitute the fries for more hush puppies. Shes always so nice about it. Maybe bc im a frequent flyer there. They also have great shrimp. U cant beat the price. Great owners and the the lady is always friendly to me.

Been by several times so we thought we would stop in. I’m sure glad we did. I nice sized place, clean and neat. The menu was extensive, the service fast and friendly, and the food, wow! I ordered the lunch special of fried fish and shrimp for $ 6.49. The food came fast and was very hot. First let me say the shrimp were the best fried shrimp I have ever eaten. They were big, lightly battered, perfectly cooked, and had a sweet flavor. There were 4 of them in the platter along with 2 large pieces of fish, french fries, 2 hush puppies, coleslaw, tartar sauce, and shrimp cocktail sauce. Included was a drink. All the food was delicious and the portions more than adequate. A revisit is definitely in order. Highly recommended.

All i have to say the food is very good at a reasonable price. And they give big portions. This is my favorite place to go for talapia.

Alway enjoy my meal when I order from here. I usually call my order in and it’s ready to go in 10 mins. The place is nice and clean and never smell like fish (like other small seafood places). The lady who works at the counter (may be the owner) is always nice and polite and she even remembered me when I returned. :-) Good food and affordable prices… You can’t go wrong.

I ordered to go, the food was ready in less than 10 minutes, i had the fish & shrimp entrée which came with fries and everything tasted great and fresh.

We had the Clam Strips dinner and it was delicious! The clams were meaty and fried to perfection. The crinkle cut fries, cole slaw and hush puppies were very tasty as well. The total for our two meals and drinks was $ 17. Order at the counter, pick a table and enjoy the beach décor while eating your meal.

The food was very fresh and well prepared. Great value for the money. Dinner tonight and enough for lunch tomorrow.

Good place to come to get some delicious fried fish. (I sometimes get the shrimp, too). Where else can you go and get a fish/​shrimp combo, fries, cole slaw, delicious hush puppies for only 8 $ and some change?! Well… Right here. The place looks nice, bright, and new inside. The lady who works/​runs/​owns it is super nice, too. Always go there when I’m in the area!

Old Bay Seafood is a little strip mall shop much like your typical Chinese food strip mall take out. It just opened and is at this writing (5÷11÷13) celebrating it’s grand opening. There are a few restaurants in the area with the name Old Bay Seafood. I’m not sure if they’re affiliated but comparing the menu to this one with the one in downtown Suffolk, it appears they’re related in name only. The strip mall unit Old Bay is located in is set off Portsmouth Blvd. West (Rt. 337) exit off I-​664. It is set back off Portsmouth Blvd. and would be easy to miss: There is a 7 – 11 and Burger King at each corner of Starmount — Starmount takes you back to the Lowes and One Life Fitness. Old Bay Seafood is located in a little strip mall building at the back that also contains a Subway and is sandwiched between a Nail Salon and Massage Parlor. It would be easy to miss (their Opening Soon and Now Open banners were the things that caught my eye).
Like many typical Chinese take out places you find in strip malls, the concept is kind of the same here. Old Bay Seafood is one unit, with small tables and chairs, but maybe about as much seating as a typical Subway. There’s a counter with the menu on the wall above (just text, not pictures like your Chinese places) on the left with kitchen area behind. The front area has tables on either side, and the right side goes back further to restrooms with some more tables on that side.
It is not fancy. It is brand new and very clean. It’s a place where you might sit down and have lunch, but there’s no wait-​service — not a place you’d go out to for dinner or anything unless you’re on the road and aren’t taking it back to a nearby hotel (or want to get out of the hotel for a bit), etc.
The menu has: Whiting, Trout, Spot, Croaker, Deviled Crab, Oysters, Scallops, «Sea Legs», Shrimp and Soft Shell Crabs (!). I think they maybe had a Crabcake too. There are various specials and a la carte items. It was dinner time when we came — dinners consisted of Fries, Coleslaw, Hushpuppy, and whatever seafood item you picked. Some specials combine some items together. There were also lunch specials that looked similar — my guess is they’re just smaller portions. Most of the items were fried, shrimp could be steamed, I think they also had Chicken strips. There’s also a refrigerated drink cooler in front of the counter — Water, Arizona Tea (one type), Fanta Orange, kind of a mish-​mash — probably whatever they buy at BJs and stock it with :-)
Now, I am a little leery of eating seafood at places like this. In fact, I’ve never done it. I’ve been to Captain D’s, or Long John Silver’s, but at least they’re chains so if you have a problem… and of course, you know seafood can by iffy.
We got a dozen steamed shrimp (medium size, $ 9.99 lb). We also got the Soft Shell Crab Dinne — I know, crazy at a place like this on a first visit (also $ 9.99 — that was the most expensive dinner, others being 5.99 to 7.99). Ordered. Waited no more than 10 minutes. Styrofoam takeout boxes nicely packed, taped shut to avoid mishaps. Asked for Cocktail, they already included two little containers, but added one more.
Got it home, opened up the box of softshells and gasped — there were TWO and they were BEAUTIFUL. They had shell on, and were not cleaned of the mustard (which is OK but I know some people don’t like that). The shrimp were medium. I shared with my son and actually counted out half for each of us so I know there were 44 nicely spiced, NOT overcooked shrimp.
The shrimp were good. Shrimp are shrimp and as long as they’re not overcooked and rubbery, they’re hard to mess up. These were every bit as good as any I’ve had or made at home. Seemed fresh, tasted fine (I liked the spice). The soft shells were every bit as good, and in fact even better the ones I’ve had at seafood restaurants. Batter had some kind of nice «Asian» type flavor to it — like a tempura, or some soy or sesame or something in it.
Hushpuppy was OK. Basic. Fries were like Ore-​Ida crinkles — undercooked though. We stuck them under the broiler and toasted them up a bit. Cole slaw was in the same little container cocktail sauce came in. Not very much.
So the sides were nothing spectacular and just, at best, basic. The seafood though was way better than I expected (especially the soft shells — I can’t believe 1. they had them and 2. they were so good).
The woman who took our order was Asian as was the visible cook in the back. She called the order back in an Asian language. The menu items were numbered, like «D4» and such — more ties to your typical Chinese take-​out strip mall unit.
But if the food remains at this level after they get up and running (and the prices don’t increase significantly), we will be going back! This is a great way for my family to get good seafood without having to go to a sit-​down restaurant (which we have no good ones close) or cooking it myself (which I do, but can’t always do).
Side note: there is no «market» here.