Darla’s Seafood

I buy fresh crabs and shrimps here and cook them at home! Fresh! Shrimps are 10 a lb. And crabs are 11 for a dozen.

Ordered bufferfly shrimp dinner with baked beans & hush puppies. I like that with the dinners you get to pick your 2 sides instead of being stuck with French fries. Fried seafood with French fries is to much fried in a single meal for me. The hush puppies had a good flavor and just the right amount of crunch. The baked beans were also decent. They really need to thin out their batter. It was so thick that each shrimp had twice as much batter bulk as the actual shrimp inside. Also, being so thick it didn’t cook properly and was slightly gooey inside. You could tell that the shrimp were fresh, but after the first one I started picking off the batter because I just couldn’t take it. Even then I felt that it was way too greasy. Needless to say, I’m not recommending anything fried from here.
This place is definitely a hole in the wall, so don’t come for the scenery. All the seafood was well iced and no fishy smell near the seafood counter, which is a good sign in my book. They said the other side had a sports bar, but I didn’t check it out.

My fiancé and I went to try this spot out today and I would say don’t come out of your way if coming for fried crabs. Too much breading old crab «NOT FRESH» and possibly freezer burnt. The devil crab was very good, but DO NOT get it fried. The staff was very friendly! I would go back, but NOT for fried crab.

Great quality food and the prices weren’t too bad! I love the shrimp! Ask for the secret battered fries! It’s a must for a Portsmouth trip. Plus the cashier isn’t too bad on the eyes ;)

A fiend at work brought some of their food in and it was a smell you couldn’t help but ask about what she was was eating and where from! Then I took a bite of the fresh cooked to order fried shrimp and I was hooked. Ordering the «ES#7» 7 pieces of fried shrimp with sauce. There was a 10 min wait with 3 people ahead of me but still good timing. It’s owned and run by a Filipino family so they also have Filipino dishes.

I only tried the fried deviled crab, which was an interesting experience. I didn’t know what to expect with that… but here goes… they take a crab-​shaped foil dish (like a small, shallow bowl) and fill it with crab meat– then coat the meat and the back side of the dish with tempura type batter and deep fry the whole thing. You then eat the crust off the back of the dish and the main part with the meat with some hot sauce. Very strange but also very good– It’s worth a try if you’ve never had this before.

Good Locals Only spot…
Cook is slow as molasses, but they got some great Calamari, and the chicken wings were a good value. You’ll need to bring your own sauce though for the wings as they only have one flavor, and it’s bland!

I’ve had better but I have definitely had worse. Darla’s is a lone outpost of fried fishery in this strip of Portsmouth. Overall a pretty good place. The deviled crab was really solid and the seasoning was tasty. Butterfly shrimp were good but have a little bit too high of a batter to shrimp ratio. Fries were crisp and all the food came out piping hot. The Cole slaw was a surprise winner and had raisins in it which were an unexpected and pleasant addition. Overall well worth going if you are in the area or just enjoy dive-​y fish stands in less than savory parts of town.
They also sell fresh crabs based on availability and have other items for sale too: batter mixes, hot sauce, candy?
what darla lacks in pleasant scenery it more than makes up for in a solid product — worth checking out.