Saint John Restaurant Tips by bricks

Restaurant Name: BILLY'S SEAFOOD MARKET

Easily the worst seafood experience I had in the Maritime Provinces, perhaps the worst ever. Unfortunately, Billy's Seafood Company was mentioned in most of the travel guides I read. My meal was overpriced and overcooked. We had tried to get a table before a comedy act the night before, but they were very busy, so we stopped after a trip up the coast...I truly wish we hadn't. The hyper waiter couldn't answer a simple question... what do you have for beer??..so we ended up with run of the mill pisswater beer. I'm not sure they served anything better. I ordered the Deep Sea platter and was looking forward to a fine meal, instead I got mostly french fries that were so overcooked as to be inedible, clams that were anything but "juicy" as advertised, and haddock fried inches away from incineration. The only redeeming feature of the meal was the Digby scallops which must have been cooked separately...they were quite nice. It was evident to me that the fryolator oil was past its sell by date, it's too bad the cook didn't notice.

My companion's meal, while digestible, was a disappointment. She found that the garlic in her seafood dish so overpowered the lobster, it might as well have been pollock.

I am from the New England seacoast and my meal would have been a hanging offense at home. Really, fried clams shouldn't snap like potato chips! I know now that I should have complained, instead of gamely trying to find something good about the meal...it doesn't always pay to be as polite as Canadians.

The irony is that the evening before we had a perfectly nice meal, complete with scallops and microbrewed beer at Tapps, a brewpub a block away. We spent a 3rd of the price of Billy's Seafood and actually enjoyed our meal. And our feet touched the floor. What's with the chairs anyway, Billy?


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Theme: Seafood
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$21-30  » Currency Converter
Address: SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA