Legal Sea Foods

Coming from the Philippines, sea food has always been a big part of my diet. Shrimp, lobster, clams, oysters, anemone, sea cucumber, all types of fish...you name it, I eat it. Legal Sea Foods has always been my mainstay sea food restaurant in New York and now that I am here in Florida, I am happy to go here from time to time, when my cravings and budget are in alignment.

Their menu is a food haven for the seafood lovers. I always have a hard time choosing just one dish because everything sounds so good I want to order all of them! The dish I ordered was Cioppino, an Italian dish which consists of lobster, shrimps, clams, calamari, littlenecks, mussels and scrod in a light tomato broth. It is served with a cup of jasmine rice as a balance.

The verdict? The food was awesome. It had the right combination of acidity and saltiness. One would think it would taste heavy because of everything in it, but it tasted light. All the seafood in it was cooked perfectly. The meat was not tough or overcooked and thankfully tasted light and buttery. The jasmine rice was cooked just the way I like it. If a chef adds too much water this type of rice can look like paste.

The servers were friendly and courteous. They were a little busy but would always ask if I need anything and when I asked for cheese they gave me a good portion of parmesan cheese. The ambiance is a mixture of romantic and sports bar with booths and dining tables on one side and a nice bar with huge HD TVs on the other side. For the guys various sport channels are always on.

The price on the other hand is a different matter. For the cioppino dish alone, it costs 27 dollars + tax + tip. Is it worth it for the price? For that time, I would say yes because it was a special occasion and the dish was done so well. I would also recommend the other sea food dishes here based on past visits to this restaurant.

I would definitely recommend coming here if you have money to spare and you want to impress your date and she loves sea food. Keep in mind though, that this is a sea food restaurant ; their specialty deals with the creatures of the sea, not of the land. I would not order a chicken dish here for 18 dollars because it would be a total waste of time and dinner money.