Legal Sea Foods
“Our family loves steamers and the quality of steamers here is excellent~ fresh and no sand!”
“Sides were exquisite – amazing mash and sautéed spinach – couldn't ask for a better sides selection.”
“Service is impeccable as is the lobster bisque.”
Legal Sea Foods
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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This is the Short Hills mall location. I was expected a bigger bill but since we ate family style it wasn't so bad.
We had a few oysters from Rhode Island and NJ. The oysters from RI were definitely better.
The fried softshell crab special was very good. The crab was stuffed with tons of goodness. We also had fried scallops which were amazingly crispy on the outside yet still juicy on the inside – perfect! Plus a side of fried risotto cake. For a seafood joint they sure use their fryer a lot. Not that I'm complaining. The curry shrimp was a surprisingly good dish. My wife was very much against it but she was pleasantly surprised. She didn't think an American chain would do curry right. I had faith and you should too!
The only weak spot was the seafood casserole. There just wasn't much flavor.
When you are at a shopping mall, you are limited to food options than what is there inside the shopping mall (unless you are willing to leave the mall and go back afterwords). We always enjoy seafood, and they had nice, large menu, so we decided to give it a try. The interesting thing about this restaurant was that, even though it was inside the shopping mall compound, but you have to go outside the building in order to get inside of the restaurant. I am not sure why they made the entrance to be only accessible from outside… I wonder what they do during a stormy day?
The inside was quite large, and made the emptiness much more obvious. But since there were only couple of customers there, it was quiet.
Overall, the food was decent, not great, service was not horrible, and the price was a bit high for the quality and appetizer portion. We did have some food to take home, but mainly just fries and some pieces of fish. Our waitress was nice enough, but it seemed like we were forgotten most of the time. When another table in her section came, she was sitting down with them and chatting. We felt very different treatment there…maybe they were her friends? Who knows, but it was not very professional… The restaurant was very clean and definitely a good place to hang out with a group of friends or family, since they do have the space. As for food, it was nothing really special. Read my full review of this restaurant and food on my food blog, foodlovergirl.
I've been going to Legal since I was in college in Boston years ago. The fish is always fresh and I've never been disappointed though I haven't been to a location in years. While shopping at the mall recently, my boyfriend and I went to this location for lunch. Overall, not much has changed and I was pleased with our experience. This particular location had fairly attentive and quick service and nice spacious seating including extra places to put shopping bags. We got stuck in the back part of the restaurant so had sort of a strange view of the inside of the mall so I'd recommend trying to sit in the front of the restaurant. This location has a huge bar area and appears to have some good happy hour specials for drinks and appetizers.
Prices aren't cheap but the portions of fish and sides are fairly large so you won't be going home hungry. They give warm dinner rolls to start which are soft and crusty – very good. They have a large variety of grilled, fried, baked seafood dishes as well as sandwiches and salads. The menu was fairly big which made it feel a bit more like anytown USA seafood chain.
We split the calamari ($14) for appetizer. A bit too fried for me though you do get a choice of dipping sauce including thai and peppers/garlic. I had the grilled salmon ($18) with a side of brown rice and spinach. Well cooked and seasoned salmon. Brown rice was also excellent though my spinach was a bit too oily and overcooked. My boyfriend got the haddock which was also well cooked and seasoned. Overall, we were both pleased and would certainly recommend the place for some good seafood in the area.
Good food, pretty big portions and kind of expensive. I really wish places like this would serve half the food, even if it's a little more than half the price. That way I wouldn't HAVE to have leftovers or throw half my money away.
The restaurant is located at Short Hills Mall. The entrance is street side, so I believe it is open different hours from the mall. There is a big fish statue outside that you can't miss. I parked on the first level of the garage right across from it on a Saturday afternoon, so I can't imagine parking should be much a problem non-holiday time.
We were seated under a fan that was under a light, so basically while reading the menu, it looked like the light was flickering. Not an ideal design. I got a cup of clam chowder–delicious! Full of clams. We split the fisherman's platter because of previously stated huge portions and still it was more than I could eat. I am glad they split the food onto two plates. I was expecting one plate for the food and smaller plates we could split onto ourselves.
All in all, I enjoyed my meal here and would come back again. The only other LSF in the area is at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus which I have found to be always crowded, so this is the better location of the two.
Peej and I came here for lunch on Friday and were pleasantly surprised. The oysters are fresh tasting and delicious. I had oysters from Canada and Massachusetts. Both were good but liked the ones from Canada better. I had the fish tacos as a lunch entree that were tasty. Peej is unfortunately allergic to shellfish so he ordered the salmon fresh from the market. He enjoyed it. Even their side salad was good…it had a variety of veggies and even some sunflower seeds. Our server, Chris H. was friendly. We sat in a room filled with young children one of whom was crying and he did a nice job of calming her down and trying to talk to her. Will be back especially after some shopping.
Great spot for lunch, sat at the bar and had Calamari Rhode Island style with banana peppers which is a bangin combination. The triple fish tacos were also really good and reminded me of a similar dish I had at Yard House. Legal seafood is a little pricey but the quality of fish is worth it.
Stopped here for a late night dinner after some late night shopping
Ordered the sangria to start – a little too sweet but still very tasty.
I shared the tuna steak with my sweetheart. It was delicious and hearty but the seasoning was a little on the heavy side, I almost wanted to brush it off; but it wasn't possible. The steak was still very good though, don't get me wrong here – I still ate the whole thing. Sides were exquisite – amazing mash and sautéed spinach – couldn't ask for a better sides selection.
We ordered a couple house cab's and they were decent. Overall the service was great and the ambiance is surprisingly great (for a restaurant next to the mall). I'd certainly come back to try more items on the menu – the seafood selection is extensive.
Decent enough seafood at a fairly steep price point.
They want to pretend that they're a high end eatery, but in reality, they're a chain restaurant located in a shopping mall.
They make a heck of a bowl of clam chowder, that much is sure.
As for the rest of the menu, it's good enough. Nothing will wow you, but you'll get a good meal.
It's the type of restaurant I'd go to were I smart enough to make a reservation prior to a day of shopping at the mall, but by no means a destination location.