Eric S.
Yelp
Oh man, what a hidden jewel!
At a first glance this place doesn't look special, pretty much a hole in the wall. The building looks like it was built in the 1980s and has a diner vibe to it. My first impression of this place was that it was your run of the mill corner pizza place style restaurant. That is, until my friends brought me here.
The first thing that came to my mind when I walked through the door was Kelly's. Yes, the infamous Kelly's Roast Beef (which is a couple miles down the road in Revere). However, unlike Kelly's this seemed more like a family owned restaurant; welcoming and unpretentious. I looked at the menu, and found that it was similar to Kelly's. But that's where the similarities end. This place is *gasp* BETTER than Kelly's!
I couldn't decide between the roast beef or the seafood. So, I decided to get them both. I ordered the Super Roast Beef sandwich, and the Fried Seafood Combination Dinner.
On the roast beef sandwich, I kept it simple. Roast beef with cheese and barbecue sauce on an onion roll. I wanted to find out how their roast beef sandwiches were, so I didn't want to dilute it with toppings. The beef was warm, tender, and flavorful. (Take notes, Kelly's!) I enjoyed it very much! I'd say that it was the second best roast beef sandwich I've ever had. The sandwich came with fries. The fries didn't look very special, but when I took a bite, WOW! The fries were delightfully crispy. I'm around this area all the time, and occasionally have lunch at the Burger King. Burger King's fries are so horrible that I take them to the beach to feed the seagulls. Not at Royal's. Royal's fries are so good that I may never eat at that Burger King across the street again!
The fried seafood combo dinner had clams, scallops, shrimp, haddock and onion rings. The onion rings were good. The batter they use gets crispy and delicious, and the onion gave it a good flavor. The clams were whole belly clams, the largest I've ever seen. They were also DELICIOUS! I loved Kelly's fried clams until I tried these. Sorry, Kelly's, these are better! The shrimp and scallops were also very good, and were decent sized, especially the shrimp. The haddock was good too, but by this time, I was getting full and didn't really want the haddock anymore.
The platter was served in a box, which was convenient to take the leftovers to go, because I couldn't let such delicious food go to waste!
Now I just need to resist the urge to have extravagant lunches when I'm here! (Not that it's expensive, but because I want to order three different things every time I'm here!)