Quality Seafood
130 South International Boardwalk
Redondo Beach
310-374-2382
I heard about the Lobster Festival at the Port of LA this weekend, Sept 15-17 and another Lobster Festival in Redondo Beach next weekend, Sept 22-24. While trying to decide which Lobster Fest to go to, I found that Quality Seafood on the Redondo Beach Pier is offering a $15 lobster dinner for the entire month of September. The Lobster Festivals cost about $8 for admission and $17 for a Maine lobster meal. The admission price includes the live bands and other booths but who cares about that stuff, I just want the lobster. So I decide to go to Quality Seafood.
Quality Seafood is really three to four different sections. One section they sell fried seafood. Another section they sell oysters and clams. Another has the shellfish. The fried section looked good, so I ordered one piece of fried fish, one fried shrimp, and a fish taco for $7.25. The fried items aren't fried to order but allowed to sit under heat lamp. That doesn't make for a crunchy or fresh piece of shrimp or fish. The fried shrimp was pretty bad. The shrimp was very small but it's just covered with tons of batter. The batter was very greasy and nasty tasting. I torn off the extra pieces of batter and just ate the shrimp, which was ok but nothing special. I would much rather have fried shrimp from almost anywhere else. The cocktail sauce is really just ketchup.
The fish was a little better, as there wasn't as much batter but it was soggy and pretty bland. The tartar sauce is packaged and is mostly mayo. Again I would rather go to a H. Salt or Mr. Fish and Chips or The Olde Ship for their fried fish.
The fish taco was actually pretty good, as the spicy salsa and the mild white sauce covered up the taste of the fish. The fish is the same fried fish but is covered with fresh cabbage, a medium spicy salsa, and a white sauce. It's pretty big and I was stuffed after having the fried fish, fried shrimp and fish taco. But I wanted to have at least some of the lobster while it was nice and hot. So I cracked open a claw.
The lobster is steamed and takes about 30 minutes. There are already cooked lobsters served cold but I wanted a freshly steamed lobster. The lobster comes with butter and corn on the cobb. The lobster is pretty good, tender, not too tough but on the salty side. The lobster is steamed in a steamer, not a pot of hot water, so I'm wondering what gave the lobster such a salty taste? The lobster is 1.25lb but the meat is much smaller than the size of the shell, when I cracked opened the claw, I was expecting a huge piece of meat but it was about a third the size of the claw. If you eat there, either bring your own mallets and nut crackers. They require a $3 deposit for their mallets.
Service is pretty damn good and fast. It was crowded there and the outdoor picnic tables can fill up pretty quickly but people also finish quickly. An added bonus they serve beer!!!!
I'm glad I made the trip to Quality Seafood. I know that I would not order the fried items but having crabs and shrimp steamed is the way to go. The crab, including my favorite, Maryland blue crab, looked very good. I wouldn't order the lobster unless it was $15.
