The Clam Box

Just stopped here at dinner time on a saturday. All the lights were on but it was closed with no explanation of why. There wasn’t a closed sign on the door or anything. An employee looked at us through the window and made no indication to us that they weren’t open and just let us walk up and try the locked door during inclimate weather. Rude.

I love coming to this place, in over 10 years they have never let me down! Their seafood is always so fresh and their employees are always so polite. I love their smores ice cream, best flavor around! I even make my way there on Sunday mornings through the winter for their all you can eat brunch buffet, their prime rib is out of this world!

Love it. Great Fried Seafood. Loved the mini platter. Definitely a place you need to stop for good local food and service. It’s nice to see places like this thriving. We should all support local family businesses. Keep up the great job.

Writing this review as I’m indulging on a clam dinner plate with broccoli cream. The place looks humble but food is divine. Yummy.

I’m usually pretty fair in my reviews, and try to air on the side of generous with my stars. Only until your business gives me a reason not to…
This place is legitimately a D U M P. Every surface of this place is dirty and uninviting. For a seafood place, the smell of the dirty oil and dumpsters is the last thing anyone should have to deal with when eating.
Ice cream is way over priced and lackluster.
The food is mediocre fried seafood. These places are a dime a dozen. The «kids» working here don’t seem to care one way or another, so neither do I.
At least wipe down the tables once in a while.
Two stars.

Lost its charm food ha not been of the same quality things were over fried not the same as it was

If it was possible to give this place a negative star review I would… We went there tonight for dinner. My daughter and I ordered two hamburg dinners @ $ 9 each. Average price but I have had better burgers at McDonalds! My burger was dry and hard to swallow without LOTS of ketchup. My son had the oversized fish and chips, that was ok at best ($ 13). My wife had clam fritters & chowder which was $ 9 and she enjoyed the fritters and the chowder was ok but the potatoes where not completely cooked. We also ordered a pint of sea scallops. The total bill was $ 65 which means «market price» for a pint of sea scallops was an UNBELIEVABLE $ 25!!! We waited over 45 minutes to get our food after ordering… When we were done we headed off to get ice cream. Since they advertised free soft serve after 8 on Fridays and Saturdays, we thought why not… Why not? Well because they «ran out» at 8:05… This place was just one disappointment after another right until the very end! We will
NEVER go back there and I hope all who read this will consider not going too!

I brought my sister here for an early dinner on Tuesday to celebrate her birthday (belated, it was in July but we were unable to go then). Arrived at about 5:30 and snatched the one and only picnic table on their outside deck that had an umbrella. We have no idea why they have only one now (there used to be about 5 or 6 tables, all with umbrellas, now there are only 4 tables in total). Sis ordered the extra-​long lobster roll and a small order of onion rings. I ordered a combo dinner plate (the menu claims that you can choose any 2 items from the fried dinner selections and they come with fries and slaw for $ 18.99). Whole belly fried clams and fried sea scallops were my plate selections. Well, when I went to pay for our order, I noticed that they tacked on surcharges of $ 4.00 for the clams and $ 1.00 for the sea scallops to the plate price of $ 18.99 (making the cost $ 24.00 — a bit high, I thought, for a clam shack such as this). The girl at the counter never mentioned to me that there would be extra charges for certain items and I thought this pretty shabby. I would have ordered this just the same, but would have appreciated being told about it. After paying, we proceeded to get our drinks at the self-​serve fountain indoors and then went to sit and wait for our food at our table. We waited for our food for more than 30 minutes. We thought this was ridiculous as the restaurant wasn’t very busy at the time, only a handful of other diners sitting inside. We have never waited this long.
My sister’s lobster roll and onion rings were great, as has always been the case in the past, and my combo plate was fantastic, especially the tender, sweet and succulent fried sea scallops. I was glad I chose what I did despite the surcharges (yes, I shared will Sis). Again, we were too full to sample any ice cream after devouring our meals.
We will return to the Clam Box (especially for the lobster rolls), but think that next time we have a hankering for seafood, we may try Howard’s Drive-​In a little way down Route 9 West in West Brookfield. We’ll be comparing Howard’s to the Clam Box.

Way over priced for what you get. $ 27. for a Whole belly Clam Plate. I travel all over New England and have never paid that much for a Fishermans Platter let alone just clams that were just average at best. Their Fish Sandwich was good tho and the Chicken sandwich was also good. We had a Clam (whole belly) plate, two fish sandwiches and a chicken sandwich with 3 sodas and we split an onion ring and the bill was over $ 70. Would never complain if it was great but it was not even close to being great. Not enough competition out in the country I guess.

In line with other reviews of late, we have seen a steady decline in this place. It used to be one of our favorite places to come but the prices keep going up and the quality keeps going down. The staff is cheerful but the place is filthy. The dining area floor appeared to have been mopped with grease instead soap and water. We got a kids hotdog meal which was fine (they were out of Kraft Mac n cheese?), a whole belly clam dinner and a sea scallop dinner. My husband and I split the whole bellies because the scallops were disgusting– they had «warned» us that the sea scallops were «wet» meaning they’d be soft not firm but they tasted as if they had been sitting in dirty water for a long time. We were going to get ice creams afterwards since the baby got a free one with dinner but their soft serve machine was broken. Sadly, we won’t be back. I can think of better places to blow $ 60.

EH. We waited in an un-​air conditioned foyer for fifteen minutes to put in our order. Went inside and waited another twenty minutes for our fried food. I had half of my plate finished before the tarter sauce dispenser was refilled. You’d think they’d have one prepared ahead of time… not as if you are NOT going to use it. The place is «rustic’ or well worn in but was okay. I think, for the money, we will try someplace else before we come back here. Food was good. I saw some huge fried platters being brought out.

Low quality fried foods, dirty restaurant and bad ice cream make me never want to come back again.
I went one night with my family just looking for some junky food to pig out on but was extremely disappointed. I ordered the normal sized lobstah roll and it was so tiny and slightly over cooked. Fries and onion rings were clearly frozen and not fresh at all. My mother got the clam bellies and they were gross and didn’t taste like they were cleaned. My brother got clam strips and those were actually good. For desert I got a soft served chocolate ice cream and it tasted off.
As for the actual restaurant, every table was dirty. Staff was helpful and cheerful despite the place being full of teenagers and not one adult in sight. Beer is cheap because you need to be drunk in order to stomach this food.

Cute little place for seafood. Lobster roll was pretty good although the bun was a bit dry, and the clams were a bit too crunchy and dry. Not the best clam hut I’ve been to in New England (there’s one in Portland on the water that’s excellent, and Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery is also solid), but not bad for western Boston suburbs.

Ok, I’m not originally a new Englander and so I get excited about these sorts of places… And this one delivers on the goods. I ordered the fisherman’s platter and couldn’t finish, even the seafood, even though I tried. The batter was light and crunchy. I liked how crisp and delicate it was. Wow, yes, I am addicted to seafood platters and yes, this one was completely delicious.
The building and interior have a lot of kitsch value. I would say, def worth driving out of your way for… And this is the first clam shack that I’ve seen which has outdoor seating and an interior with a bar and TVs playing sports.
Am glad that I went although I’ll have to eat vegan for a week to help my digestion out.

My wife and I went there for dinner last night. We each ordered the fish and chips, and also a dozen clam cakes. The bill was over $ 44. When I called a waitress over to clean our table (it was disgusting), I told her that the menu board said fish and chips was $ 8.99 and $ 12.99 for the extra large portion. We were charged $ 12.99 each. She said to ask for the «regular size». I told her that they really should ask people which size they want when they order. After paying the $ 12.99, my order of fish had hardly any fish in it. What a ripoff. Oh, the clam cakes were good, plenty of clams in them. Also, the furniture is falling apart. The seats in the booths are not even attached to the base. We have gone here for a long time, but have seen the place go downhill fast in the last few years. It’s time to find a new place.

Really good fried seafood selection. The beer was $ 5 a pitcher. The place is clean and the staff friendly. Good seafood spot!

We just moved here from AZ and we’ve only tried a few places for whole clam bellies. For the price, their whole clam bellies is worth it plus it’s close to home. The year round availability is nice too! The deal on the large hot dogs are great if you’re still hungry. Friendly people.

I’ve been here twice, once very disappointed the other time it was OK.
I got the scallops which were seriously over cooked, greasy and a poor value. Quincy shore has the best seafood. makes the clam box look sad.
On my second visit I got the cod sandwich. Generous portion (!), it looked great until I took a bite and I could tell had been in the deep freeze for a while =dry really dry (the fish that is). One shouldn’t have to rely on condiments to make the fish good.
OK, nothing special!

I live in Los Angeles now but every year in the Summer when I travel back home to Massachusetts… One of the first things I do is head to The Clam Box and get a Lobster Roll (overflowing with meat, A+), and a Fried Oyster plate.
Then I go back the next day and order the same damn thing.
It’s quality seafood (at regular prices) from a small town in New England. Can’t beat it.

As far as seafood goes in MA, I only get clam strips, hence the Clam Strip Contest vs. «Howards Drive-​In.»
I’d call the clam strips about perfect size, say two to three strips per clam, sit inside, so «some» A/​C, the most bizarre bathroom setup I have EVER seen, beer (but good luck getting any), and the exact same batter as Howards… another eh?