Kelly’s Seafood

If you’re in the area (northeast phila) and you’re looking for seafood, stop by this place. The entrees are good with better than normal sized portions. Not much to right home about, but they have a large menu. Some places in the area only offered friend seafood. This place has it all so you can go the healthy way if you desire. Old throwback restaurant with a bunch of character.

The food was something I could have gotten in a typical diner.
Nothing special.
I watched an older woman customer treat a young server very badly and later found out the girl was fired over (the surely exaggerated) complaint. Being a server myself I find this was entirely out of line and very unprofessional to cost a young girl her job over a rude customer. For all that woman knew that girl was working to put herself through school and if the owners and management were decent people this would not have happened.

My Family has been going to Kelly’s since the 1950’s as it was my late grandparents favorite restaurant. Tonight while dining a few bones were found in the broiled flounder. When waitress came back from informing the cooks, the feedback I received was-It’s a filet and it happens. I was quite appalled with how unprofessionally it handled nor did a manager come over. I highly recommend not ordering the scallops as they had a strong fishy taste and the mac & cheese had no taste. Due to the unprofessionalism and poor quality of food I definitely don’t see a future for my return which is unfortunate as I have many family memories at Kelly’s.

I met the family here. After having read the reviews, I probably would not have driven this far otherwise. I’m glad that I went!
The décor needs some updating. Not that I believe in fashion, but some of the furniture was too well worn.
The ambiance was just right. Not loud, but not a funeral parlor.
Service was excellent.
We were there at 7 PM on the dot for the all you can eat king crab legs. Unfortunately my minor condition forbids me from eating too much seafood. But after watching 3 of my dining companions, I really wanted to have the same thing :(
The waitress was great. I can’t even count how many plates of crab legs she brought out. VERY little waiting for the next plate.
Me? I had an appetizer of fried calamari, which was cooked perfectly. I mean, these things were CRISPY. But… they were just a little bland. And the accompanying sauce was somewhat bland as well.
My entrée was excellent, a fried combo platter.
Sweet Jeezus, I’m salivating, just thinking about it. I couldn’t even eat it all. Maybe I had too much of the appetizer, or too much of the bread. But I have to say that my entire meal was excellent.
Prices…hmmm. I think they were just a tad high. Yes, it was quality food, but the menu is not that exceptional.
I am definitely a fan of this place, and I would not hesitate to go back. If I lived closer, I think I’d be a regular.

We live in Center City, but we make a special trip to Kelly’s because of the good food.
We usually sit at the bar, and Cathy is great. She makes a nice drink, is friendly and attentive.
I don’t understand some of the other reviews because we have always had a good meal here.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would because it is just terrible all around! The service was subpar and I wouldn’t feel the food to my dog. Clams casino were salty and mushy and the pick n peel shrimp were overcooked. How does a seafood place mess up pick n peel shrimp?! I would prefer a McDonald’s fish fillet over the shrimp and crab cake sandwich I ordered. My boyfriend ordered his burger medium rare and it came out well done. It was blatantly obvious the waitress didn’t wanna be there. I’m still puzzled as to how this place has been in business for so long! By far one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had! Do yourself a favor and go to one of the many other seafood options in the area!

This is a great place! I’ve been here a few times with the family and we’ve never had a bad meal. There are so many options on the menu and they are all good. If you love seafood, this is the place. I love the shrimp sampler. And the combo meal with crab legs is unbelievable.
The value here is just amazing. You get a huge meal with salad/​soup, sides, and you don’t break the bank like you will at one of the places downtown. Service is top notch and they just seem to care that you are having a great time and experience.
You can go to a chain and get crap, or go downtown (although I’d put the food here up against anything I’ve had there) and spend your whole paycheck. Or you could go here and get a great seafod dinner and a great experience. Side note: you will be leaving with take home. If I have any complaint it’s that they put too much food in front of you, but it’s all so good, I didn’t mind.
Definitely a thumbs up from me.

Me and my hubby love Kellys. We have never had a bad meal, but what makes it extra special are the bartenders, Cathy and Chris. We go there for lunch everyday because both bartenders make u feel welcome and the service is outstanding. We never have to wait for a drink or food. The service industry needs more bartenders like Cathy and Chris.

I ate here last Saturday. I have lived by this place for five years and never went my friend’s family picked it. It was the worst food I ever bought. I am not sure why I thought buying seafood at a seafood place was a good idea. I would have done better by buying the chicken parm sandwich with fries like my friend did. I ordered what I thought was mac & cheese, it tasted like it was out of a box of kraft. The pickled beets were not even made they were out of a jar and my fried scallops were burnt. Nothing in this place is homemade it just seems like it is made out of jar or frozen. Also a few hours later I regretted eating there even more. I have cut a lot of processed food out of my diet and honestly I rather just buy scallops and made my own meal it would have been cheaper and better for my system. Never will go back no wonder it was so dead.

Been around Bustleton over 50 years and a good family restaurant with good early bird specials

Well, it’s a joint that’s been here since before I grew up in This neighborhood in the 70’s. A decent neighborhood dive, no offense intended, love great dives, but never an outstanding seafood restaurant. Comfortable bar, nice folks. Half price appetizers 4 to 7 made it interesting. Had steamed clams, and clams casino. Both were good, not great. Warm not hot, thrown out too quickly with no care. With that said, comfy spot from the old neighborhood, friendly locals and staff, apps at half price (a surprise didn’t know that coming in), I enjoyed and will be back. More attention to food quality, it would be such a great spot. 8 bucks for above mentioned apps.

Service was great but my food was burnt and tasted like cardboard. Previous experiences were good but with all other options available in the area I won’t go there again.

We live in Jenkintown and went to Kelly’s for the first time. Our food was tremendous and one of the best seafood platters we have had in long time.
Unfortunately the service was not up to par. Our server was no where to be found, never could get a glass of water, and I had to ask the hostess for a spoon to eat my desert and stir my coffee. Overall I would give 5 stars for the food and 1 star for service.

My husband, brother, sister in-​law and myself all had the misfortune of dining at Kelly’s for a funeral luncheon. We were a large party. And I understand that it can be difficult serving a large party all at once. However, we did have a reservation. So one would assume they would be prepared for our party.
When we sat down, every water glass was beyond filthy. I searched for clean glasses on other tables and had no luck. So we just cleaned them with the napkins on the table because we couldn’t flag down a server. After 30 minutes, we finally were served beverages. And then for some unknown reason, everyone in the party got served soup except for our table. This was about 1 hour in… Then after flagging down the waitress, we were handed ONE cup of soup for the table. By this time, the other people had already been served their salads and meals. As people finished their meals, we stared at our empty glasses that had never been filled from the FIRST time. By this time we were starving. We were tired and emotional from being at a funeral. Someone in our party complained and they acted like they didn’t know what happened. We still didn’t get our meals for another 20 minutes and 2 of us STILL didn’t get salads. Furthermore, we didn’t get drink refills either. They apologized and gave us a basket of bread with no butter for our troubles.
The crab cakes that were supposed to be so good were mediocre at best… mostly filler. The green beans were cold. The twice baked potato was cold too. I finally was able to get an orange juice that came out tasting like grapefruit juice…(meaning spoiled).
And to top it all off, I wanted to splash some cold water on my face in the restroom. And there were no paper towels. This was at 2pm during the week.
Perhaps we had awful service because they knew that the tip was included in the party? I don’t know. My husband and I usually tip 20% or more. They did apologize to us as we left. However, we will NEVER be back.
In short, DO NOT go to this place unless you want terrible service, dirty glasses, mediocre food and old age home décor.

I’ve been here for the all you can eat crabs, and I had my rehearsal dinner here. Both occasions were up to par for me. I didn’t have any issue with the crabs being too dry. The service was great, they kept coming without prompting. For our rehearsal dinner, we had 24 people in attendance. All of the food came out together, it was delicious, it wasn’t overpriced, we had enough people attending to our party that no one had empty glasses or an abundance of empty plates stacked in front of them. The food we had was good. I guess it depends on your taste and what you order. The décor is a bit dated and the seating is a bit crowded when there are a lot of people present, but other than that I’ve had nothing but positive experiences.

The fact that Kelly’s was completely dead on a Friday in Lent should have told me everything I needed to know. But $ 180 later for four all you can eat crab legs, I learned the lesson. The crabs are not good. Small and way too dry. I usually don’t use the drawn butter, but I had to here just to get them down. Lesson learned my friends! Next time I want crab legs, straight to Chickie’s I will go.

Really mediocre food, at best. The Clams Casino was mostly pulverized clams, I suppose and mushy, Lots of bread crumbs and soggy. Bacon was in there somewhere, You could taste and not see. Not good at all. The lobster was over cooked. Lobster should be tender and suculent, not tough and rubbery. The vegtables were from a can. Not that great. If you love Seafood – avoid this place. This is HOW NOT to do seafood.

Me and my husband came for lunch the waiter was so nice and helped us out being as though it was our first time here. The price was reasonable and most of the food was delicious. We ordered buffalo wings which was wing zing and it didn’t have any buffalo sauce on then at all??? The Mac and cheese was horrible and nasty. Their bacon cheeseburger chicken Parm and fried shrimp was amazing. I can’t wait to go back.

Went on Sunday because I had an old Groupon that was going to expire if I didn’t go. My wife had been here a previous time although I’ve never been. Our Groupon was for dinner and despite it being near lunch time (about 3PM or so) we just had to order off the dinner menu to use it.
The wait staff there was nice and courteous. She was fairly attentive but not overbearing but not the greatest in the world. The food, however, matches the décor and crowd there. It appears to be mostly seniors and fairly empty and the food matched the status-​quo for the crowd: uninspired, bland and tasteless.
We got the calamari as an appetizer and could immediately tell they were frozen. They were pretty bland and tasteless, even the batter didn’t have much flavor. There was a nice spot of oil/​grease underneath when we were finished but they were OK for the price. We got a larger portion that expected as well.
The scallops in my wife’s alfredo were undercooked and raw. Unfortuantely she didn’t notice until after dinner and ended up getting a stomach ache from them. The chicken I had was pretty good but nothing you’d expect from the $ 17 entrée price.
My mashed potatoes had a strange taste to them. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it almost seemed like it was made with soured milk or old potatoes. I had them sent back and got a baked potato which was OK. The «macaroni & cheese» was tasteless and bland. A better descriptor would be «cheese colored pasta», as it tasted like plain boiled noodles with no semblance of cheese.
We didn’t do much complaining as the bill came to just $ 3 with the groupon but I’d be upset if I had paid the full $ 45 bill.

Kelly All-​you-​can-​eat Crab Legs 7 – 9 on Fridays!
Any other day, they are out! It’s pretty bad. How can you say you are a seafood place and run out of crab legs?
This place just okay. The pricing is good, service is pretty good, of course after finding out what they actually have.