Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 February 2013 10:55

Restaurants - Seafood Restaurants

Harbor Seafood

Kenner: 3203 Williams Blvd. 504-443-6454. Map.
Very Casual
AE MC V
Website

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
The best casual seafood restaurant in Kenner is the restaurant arm of an excellent fresh seafood market, Fisherman's Cove, right next door. This brings an unusually large selection of fish to the Harbor's menu, at attractive prices. They cover all the ground that a good neighborhood seafood restaurants would be expected to, from boiled crawfish, crabs and shrimp in season to poor boys to excellent grilled fish platters. The place is packed almost all the time,

WHAT'S GOOD
A restaurant with such good access to fresh seafood and a crowd that keeps the kitchen moving can almost not help but be at least reasonably good. But they know how to cook back there. Especially good are the grilled and blackened fish, which rely largely on the freshness of the fish.

BACKSTORY
Harbor opened in the mid-1980s, and slowly but steadily attracted a crowd that includes not only Kennerites but a rather substantial number of people who have a long break between flights and want to eat one more New Orleans meal. The restaurant is close to the airport, and the seafood market next door offers to pack seafood for the flight--a major draw for those who live in places without the rich seafood availability we have here.

DINING ROOM
The building looks like a warehouse, and the undersize dining room is only slightly less utilitarian. Nobody cares about that, because getting a table here is a victory unto itself. It's almost always packed, a fact that dictates the frantic state of the service. That does not, however, seem to affect the food, whose consistency across the board is reliable. A line outside is not uncommon, especially on Fridays.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Starters
Oysters on the half shell
Boiled shrimp, crawfish, and crabs in season
Fried or blackened alligator
Fried or blackened calamari
Fried crab fingers
Stuffed artichoke
Seafood-stuffed mushrooms
Seafood gumbo
Turtle soup
Artichoke oyster soup
Shrimp and corn chowder
Caesar salad with blackened shrimp or tuna
Seafood salad
Entrees
Stuffed bell pepper
Grilled or blackened fish
Fried shrimp, oyster, catfish, or soft shell crab platters
Shrimp, oyster, or catfish poor boy
Soft-shell crab poor boy
Roast beef poor boy
Desserts
Bread pudding
Bourbon pecan pie
"Chocolate Beyond reason" (an intense chocolate cake)

FOR BEST RESULTS
Dine in the middle of the afternoon, avoiding weekends and Lent--unless you don't mind standing around waiting for a table. The grilled fish is better than the fried, but the fried is very good.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
They need to either expand the dining room or move it to a bigger building with more parking.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

• Dining Environment -1
• Consistency +2
• Service -1
• Value +2
• Attitude +1
• Wine and Bar
• Hipness
• Local Color +1

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

• Open Sunday lunch and dinner
• Open Monday lunch and dinner
• Open all afternoon
• Oyster bar
• Unusually large servings
• Good for children
• Easy, nearby parking
• No reservations