Kimball Farm Seafood & Grill Shack

great fried clams, great environment. country store petting zoo bumper cars whats not to like. of course we finished at the ice cream stand. I had a coffee frappé which was to die for. all in all nothing to complain about. only reason only four stars– five stars a reserved for The Clam Box in Ipswich, and Farnhams in Essex. ok so I am a northshore clam snob…

My friend and I went to Kimball’s and ate at the Grill & Seafood Shack. I ordered a grilled cheese, chips and a bottled water, $ 9.79. The quality was so much lower than McDonald’s I was shocked. Why was the food so bad? Because the entire stand is run by bumbling teenagers who can’t even cook a grilled cheese sandwich without screwing it up! Any idiot with a spatula can make a good grilled cheese, but not at Kimball’s, oh nooo. I waited 10 minutes for a grilled cheese that wasn’t even cooked halfway through. There wasn’t any butter on the bread and the cheese was barely melted. It was worse than school cafeteria food. Keep in mind that I waited 10 minutes for that sandwich and there weren’t even other customers waiting in line!
If I had ordered the seafood platter for $ 30.00, how on earth would those kids have managed to properly cook it if they can’t even make a grilled cheese?
The group of tweens working at the place just stood around doing nothing and ignoring the fact there was an order to be filled. The putrid cherry on top was when my number finally got called, the girl behind the counter shoved the plate to me and didn’t make any effort to be friendly, she barked out my number, I’ve never had such unfriendly service.
Come on Kimball, we’re paying restaurant prices to eat outside and be swarmed by flies, at least hire adults to run your facilities, don’t cheap out on us. Will NOT being returning.

Nope.
I have been coming here forever and had a good time… Not this time, 09÷19÷15. You can expect the long lines but this is the usual. The three of us ordered and headed off to be seated. I wanted to sit outside and not inside the tent because of the loud live music that seems always present making it hard to talk to my guests. I waited for a table to open up but Carolyn and Linda, my roommates, we’re getting tired of waiting and dripping ice cream. We had talked about getting some fried seafood earlier at well. So I walked my guests to find a table inside the live music tent and sat down. Immediately my head started pounding to the music. I looked at Linda and told her to get up and watch for me outside every few minutes as I got up, ice cream in hand, and make my way to the outside tables. I stood outside scanning the tables for any sign of a group of people to leave and invade their table. Not much luck but I was persistent. I noted that people were more aggressive then I was having taken a seat with strangers then flagging their party to join them, wow. Obviously the music tent was not in high demand as there were open tables in the tent. Finally the table directly in front of me opened. I jumped at it and sat down. In seconds I saw Linda and flagged her to join me. They did. I thought all was fine. I saved my guests from the music tent and got out to the open area. Within minutes, here comes the smell. Not just the horses, and goats, and chickens, but the very strong stink of burning fry oil. That’s right, every few minutes, every few minutes, every few minutes, HUGE clouds of burning grease was bellowing out from the food area, and S*T*I*N*K! So much for food. FLIES, yeah you get flies but not like this. It was an invasion. Flies everywhere. I was counting flies on the table, then scanning the neighboring tables. Wow flies and more flies. A commercial for RAID. Other smells, it was a breezy day and they have farm animals. Understood but not like this day. It smelled rich, fresh, and rank. Looking around for the source of the excessive offensive odor I eyed the chickens, the rooster, the goat, the horses… There it is, the horses. People would pay to ride the horses and the kid walking the horse and rider would stop in front of the picnic tables, of all places, the horse would lift its tail and piss and crap to your pleasure. Right there right in front of you. I looked at the kid walking the horse, he was grinning. Wow, really? He did this several times always stopping the horse at the dinner tables. Taxes and taxacopia… Expect to pay 6.025% Mass meal tax AND a 7.5% local tax on top of that.

I would go out of my way and drive all the way here if I lived in Boston. The Haddock and Scallop were really good. Top it off with the choc choc truffle homemade ice cream for dessert!

Pros
Good food
Plenty of seating
Awesome ice cream
Good variety of stuff to do
Very clean
Cons
Parking is tight
Very expensive for what you get
Service is mostly high school kids who seem to hate it
I definitely recommend checking this place out if you haven’t. It’s cool.

A terrific way to spend a summer evening; the huge portion ice creams are perfect to share (and delicious until you get ¾ of the way through it, at which point it just becomes a struggle). Really, sharing is the best way to get a diversity of flavors because the ice cream, while good, is sufficiently portioned that even a small is quite a task. I was also glad that their pistachio ice cream a. was not a ridiculous green color because that’s just not how pistachios are, and b. had a healthy portion of nut mixed in; I hate it when the fillings in ice cream are too sparse
The clam strip sandwich was only alright, but the tables and tents and lighting makes it a very very relaxing place to just relax, and chill with friends and family. Rumor has it the lobster roll is also decent, but I have not personally had that.

Have been wanting to go to Kimball for YEARS, so yesterday we were sitting around & decided to go check it out, It happened to be 95 degrees out, but we figured if we dont go now it will be another 5 years before we got there…
Soo off we went & got there much faster than anticipated (35 mins at 3pm from Everett)…
Plenty of parking all around but we lucked out right in front of the Ice Cream… We started off at the Arcade, it was nice — there were several games Not a ton of Big ADULT games perse, but there was more than enough to spend an hour or so. We then walked up to the Bumper Boats, there was NO ONE there so we had to wait on that. It was really hot so we didnt want to golf. Walked down got some dinner, Burger — Hot Dog & Water $ 21… But it was really good water! LOL, No really the burger was good &Hot Dog was GINORMOUS. They all come with Chips, Cole Slaw or Potato Salad & A GIANT slice of Watermelon.
We then walked over for some Ice Cream which like all the other reviews state, IS HUGE. The Kiddie is serious big enough for 2 adults. and then the cup size doesnt change as you go up the Scoops do, so Imagine HUGE scoops in a tiny cup on a 95′ day, YEAH just like that, Dripping everywhere!!!
I walked in the store while the boys all got Ice cream, Its a cute little place for little knick knacks or baked goods…
Will def take a trip back soon maybe with other friends so we can guarantee a few people to Bumper Boat!

There are so many different reviews for Kimball Farm, I’m not sure if this iteration is the best place to write a review, but hopefully it’ll get moved if need be. I’ve been coming here for a few years now, dropping in whenever I’m within about a 30 mile radius for a reliably generous and excellent lobster roll. I prefer my lobster roll with just meat, a bit of mayo, a leaf of lettuce and a buttery bun, and that’s exactly what Kimball Farms delivers. Fries are fine — onion rings are probably a bit better, but I’m a fry addict. Though the lines and the subsequent wait for food it always a bit longer than I want it to be, we always find seating and are always happy with the experience.

Mini golf. Bumperr boats. Arcade. BUT MOST IMORTANT FANTASTIC SEAFOOD
Fresh and lots of it on yr paper plate. Outdoor table as well as a large tent for rainy days.
Homemade ice cream.
A LOCAL FAV. Can be very crowded.
SO drop someone off to stand in the food line and then find a parking place if necessary.