The Blount Clam Shack and Soup Bar

I came from out of town and I was bouncing around places in Rhode Island for some photo opportunities. I wanted to eat outside by the water so I had my iPhone/​Google tell me where to go. It was easy to get to and there’s off street parking which I was able to get to. There were a lot of cars. You stand in line and there’s menus posted on the way to the trailers/​shacks where you place your order. I ordered the bowl of New England Clam Chowder and a small lobster roll with one side (clam cake) with a cup of white wine. It came with coleslaw. They give you a tin can with a number on it. Then you go find a place to eat. I sat in the back by the water because I wanted to do a video of the sunset. Not too long after I got setup a young lady came with my dinner. I noticed that there was live entertainment, a guitarist. The music wasn’t too loud not too disturbing which was good. I took a video of the sunset and had dinner. The food was good and the atmosphere was entertaining.
While the clouds move along and cover what’s left of the afternoon sun, I sat in an Adirondack Chair where my dinner was sitting on a single table in front of me. I chomped on my lobster roll and slurping my soup. The guitarist strums his guitar fumbling a bit but nobody noticed because the day is in tune with his song. As the clouds move along to cover the sun, you can see how the darkness brought light to the camera whereas imaginary shadows from sun fooled it before.
I enjoyed my time at Blount Clam Shack. I could think of maybe one side food item I found disappointing but, I ate it anyway so I’m deducting one star.

Wow yum yum yum, I was wondering what’s husband was thinking brining us to a food truck for dinner but between the beautiful view the speed the photo came out and how wonderful the food was it has easily become one of my favorite. The kids menu was also very good’

Finally made it to the Clam Shack this evening and was very pleased. The atmosphere is great and I thought one would have to travel to Pt Judith to find picnic tables sitting on crushed shells. The staff were all very welcoming and helpful. What immediately hit me was how clean and pristine everything was. The location attracts folks from the bike path, those who arrive by boat and walkers with dogs like me. The red chowder was outstanding. Plenty of quahogs and I liked the large carrots. The clam cakes were very good but have to say not as good as another Warren spot known for their clam cakes. I am looking forward to going again for either the lobster roll or fish and chips!

I love the all u can eat soup bar and the lobster roll is delicious! The clam cakes were lacking flavor compared to others I’ve had, and the prices are a little high but that’s the area I’d imagine.

I love the soups, the crab cakes, stuffies and I’ve had some decent pieces of fish here. The chowder is excellent. And this place definitely fulfills a niche that we don’t have many of in PVD: of an inexpensive «clam-​shack» type restaurant that there are lots of down in Newport and the South County, but less in the city.
So I want to love it, but the hours are baffling to me. How is this place in business if it’s open 4 hrs in the middle of the day, and never on weekends? I think I would actually go here relatively often if they had normal restaurant hours. They’re in an area near some other restaurants, near downtown PVD, have a good atmosphere and dining area, fresh seafood and they’re never open for dinner or weekends? It makes no sense.

The food is solid, clam shack style sea food. It’s a lot of greasy and fried, but the clam chowder is excellent and you can get it in a bread bowl! I don’t know why I thrill at a bread bowl so much – must be a perfect marriage of my love of bread and my hatred of waste.
The real downside to this place are the hours. 11am-​3pm M-​Th and 11am-​8pm Friday. CLOSED Saturday and Sunday. I have to say – what the hell? How are they going to stay in business with those hours? Even if I worked in the neighborhood, this is not the kind of food you can really eat for lunch and then expect to go back to work and be a productive human being (like I said: greasy). They’ve been open for quite a while now, and I’m not 100% how I’ve actually managed to go there twice, but it must have been on a Friday both times.
All the staff I’ve dealt with have been super friendly and helpful – in a way that makes you feel like they must be making a liveable wage, or maybe they’re just well-​rested. Seriously, baffling. I would love to grab a lobster roll and sit outside on a summer Saturday, but I guess I just can’t, and that bums me out.
p. s. as other reviewers have pointed out – don’t get the clam cakes. They’re just salty, giant hush puppies.

Being a Marylander, I was determined to try some authentic New England clam chowder! My boyfriend and I chose this place because of their high Unilocal ratings and I can see why!
Begin lactose intolerant I was worried I couldn’t enjoy any of the clam soups but I really happy to see they had a red broth option which was delicious! My boyfriend had the creamy clam chowder and lobster bisque which I tried bites of and loved them. I also heard the lobster roll was good so I tried that and WOW! Huge chunks of lobster with very little filler. That and the homemade onion rings alongside my soup was more food than I could handle; they have hefty portion sizes.
As an out of towner, I recommend this place for a little taste of New England for sure :)

Okay, sure, the clams are great, the fried fish is blah, unless you like Haddock; which I hate. If it were Cod, then we would be talking. Chowder is wonderful and their soups are wonderful as well. But, that is not why you go here. What. Robert, you are nuts. True, but if you want to know a little secret, quit rolling your eyes at me. It is the burger. Yeh, I said it. The burger! Hay, that is why I am here; to try the things you wont and let you know that you should so that some day you can say you did. And you will probably palm it off as some great discovery of your own, and that is okay. So now you know.

Great, friendly service and delicious clam chowder… what’s not to like? The platter for 2 is more like a platter for 3. The seafood was incredible, especially the clams and scallops. I highly recommend the red chowder!

Stopped in for lunch on my way north. It was neither good nor bad. I had a cup of NE Clam Chowder, which was fine. Bit watery (but I understand that is the RI way), and I would have like more clams and less potatoes, but that’s just me. The clam cake was a fried ball of dough with one clam in it. The cole slaw was the tastiest bit. Oh well. It was a good road trip lunch, beating out fast food joints, but nothing to write home about.

This is authentic, delicious clam chowder! It’s definitely not a formal place by any means but does the job when you’re craving some good ol’ New England seafood fare. The folks there were extremely nice and prices were reasonable. I also loved reading about the history of the Blount Family; it’s great to see the business still thriving in some way. Would definitely go back again!

I might have caught the clam shack on a bad day, but I was not wowed by the food earlier this week. I ordered the fish rueben. I received a really large piece of haddock that was very well-​cooked on a hamburger bun. The bun fell apart and the cheese melted to the bun. The slaw was okay, but it tasted like it came from a bucket. The fries were cold. Very cold. For $ 12 I could get something better put together.
I arrived just after peak lunch time (1 pm). There were about 5 or 6 people sitting at the counter and people were sitting at only three tables. I was surprised at how few people were there. I ordered at the counter and then received my food in a very short amount of time. However, like I said, the fries were cold, making me think that they do not cook the fries fresh after the order is placed.
I will probably give Blount another shot, but this first experience was not great.

Too much deliciousness in a bite to be believed. The clam balls dunked in the clam chowder… heaven. Lobster roll was also very good. Huge chunks of lobster with just the right amount of dressing.
And I must mention the setting in the park. So «New England» (I’m from Texas). It was charming next to the merry-​go-​round.

Came here as a farewell lunch before dropping my sister off at Johnson and Wales and ended up veryyy happy!
This was my first ever lobster roll and boy was I loving it! Delicious sweet chunks of lobster and a buttered roll, yum what more could you ask for? My dad got clam strips they were good but the lobster roll was where it was at! They also had a soup bar which looked good! Also free parking! Come here and getcha lobsta roll people!

Stopped at Blount on my annual voyage north to Cape Cod! I ordered the giant lobster roll… massive chunks of lobster on a buttery toasted bun… awesome! We picked up some frozen clam chowder to take with us! Great place!

Blount’s is a pretty standard lunch place, and nothing to really write home about. I ordered a cup of the clam chowder after a recommendation from the woman behind the counter that she «despises lobster bisque in general» (ok, how is your personal opinion of the bisque helpful when I ask which one is better?). I like my soup piping hot, so I was a bit disappointed when it was delivered to me luke-​warm. The chowder didn’t taste anything different than a Campbell’s chunky soup version.
I also ordered the lobster roll, and was glad when it wasn’t smothered in butter or mayonnaise. The sandwiches are served on toasted white bread, which was a nice touch. The scallop roll, on the other hand, was completing underwhelming. Four grilled, naked scallops on the same toasted white bread, with no seasoning or sauce. What are you supposed to do with that?
I do like how they give you several options for sides — fruit, chips, fries, or a clam cake. I wasn’t sure what a clam cake was, so I decided to try it. What came out with my lobster roll was what resembled a hush puppy — do northerners call a hush puppy a clam cake? Where was the clam? Why is a ball considered a ‘cake’? Also, it was super salty and they gave you tartar sauce to dip the clam cake/​hush puppy in.

The staff was very helpful in explaining the menu items and some offers they had while we were there. Clam cakes are just like zeppoles with pieces of clam baked inside. They were good, but mostly dough. The clam chowder was good and came in a nice sized soup bowl. Good place for a quick, cheap eat.

It was a chilly, wet day in mid October and the only thing on my mind was HOT SOUP for lunch! Wallah… I zipped down to The Soup Bar and was greeted by my choice of 6 different soups (I got the bottomless soup bar) and bread for less than $ 6. The soups ranged from veggie to meats and seafood and creamy to clear and even tomato based. Lots of options, all delicious, not fancy — just hot, yummy soup!
They also have a clam shack type of thing going on (and I’ve enjoyed other Blount fried clam shacks before, they’re good) but this trip was about the soup!

I’m not sure how to feel about Blount Clam Shack, at least when it comes to the soups. Blount is a big factory for soups and even supplies to Panera & Legal Sea Foods (including the hailed Legal clam chowder). And that’s great that a local company can do such big business, don’t get me wrong.
They have their own locations to sell soups under their own brand, but it’s still made in the factory & trucked in. I’m not impressed with going to a place that is specifically a soup & chowder place and getting essentially, canned soup. Since factory packaged soup lasts for a very long time, you don’t know when that Blount soup was made. As a comparison, Iggy’s comes right out and says that they make their chowders fresh daily. Blount’s soups are good, probably the best pre-​made soups you can buy. They are not overly salty and don’t have MSG. But I’m not going to SOUP RESTAURANT to eat «good canned soup».
Given that they don’t make the soup at the location, I’m dubious about whether the seafood options are truly fresh or just frozen & refried. Notice that the website for the clam shack conspicuously doesn’t advertise «fresh fish».

I might be obsessed…
My father works in the seafood industry and Blount is a product that has been on our dinner table for years now. Usually the big bags of their frozen lobster bisque is a staple at Christmas Eve. It’s a Panera-​type place that specializes in seafood… and soup!
We were greeted with a good size menu of various fresh seafood and the option for a soup bar (you can exclusively get the soup bar or add it to your regular meal for a nominal price). The only thing I wish Blount offered was some more grilled/​broiled seafood options… most of everything seemed to be fried. Everything tasted amazing but sometimes I want a nice grilled fish sandwich instead of deep fried. You name it, they got it at this Clam Shack.
The soup bar was full of variety… the roasted tomato bisque was like a marinara you could dip bread it… delish! They had plenty of non-​seafood options so you theoretically could bring a friend here who wasn’t a totally huge fan of fare from the sea.
It’s perfect for a quick bite, lunch break at work, very casual and cheap dinner, etc. Parking… good luck given it’s in the Knowledge Dist but it’s in close proximity to other restaurants if you want to grab a drink afterwards.

I had a stuffie! Thank you Providence Unilocalers for Blounts. True New England Clam Shack with food worth the trip.
The interior with it’s blue and white ribbed booths looks «real retro» not the «wannabe» retro we see so often.
The tree of us chowed down on:
Giannt stuffed lobster roll w/​fries, clole slaw
NE Clam chowda
Main Lobster bisque
A Stuffie
Onion ringsThursday clam sandy special wifries & slaw
Soda
Total $ 63
Love me some Blounts– The stuffie is a stuffed clam w/​chourico– I am guessing this is a NE version of chorizo– TASTY! The clam sandwich special on Thursday was the deal at $ 9.95 w/​lots of fried clams on the «freshest» clam roll. Great fries, AMAZIN” onion rings again thanks to local Unilocalers. Chowders were quite good, especially the clam w/​large pieces of clams. Lots of juicy lobster on that great buttered lobster roll heated on the flattop. Cain tartar sauce must be a RI thing and for packaged tartar– it was good. Comphy, booths, great food and value. We all thouroughly enjoyed this true NE esperience.

As a connoisseur of clams (a clamoisseur?) I must say Blount’s is a nice touch of Legal Sea Food but with excellent service and better prices/​specials.
I saw it pop up on Unilocal as a hot new restaurant and I was like «wait…a clam shack in Providence?! I must investigate…(Batman voice)»
Blount’s is pretty darn good, guys. The soup bar alone has daily rotating 5 soups and I had one of their best (Southwestern Corn Chowder). It wasn’t too heavy that you couldn’t go for a 2^nd. or 3^rd cup but it was full of hearty flavor.
Their clam cakes w/​chourico are one of the best clams cakes I have ever had and trust me I have eaten my fair share of them.
Word to the wise, when you walk in it might look confusing but you order first and then they give you a number. The waitstaff will bring the food right to your table, pretty easy huh?
I am itching to come back to Blount’s for one of their fried clam meal options (like I said… clamoisseur).
The Jewelry District (Knowledge District) needs more great restaurants like Rick’s Roadhouse and I can say Blount’s Clam Shack is one hell of a great addition.