Since we weren't hungry yet, we continued to a small beach in the town of Moss Beach up the highway a few miles. Moss Beach has a few beach fronts. the one we went to is located in front of a new restaurant; it is a favorite for surfers and extends about a mile long. We enjoyed a visit on the beach; it was about 50 degrees but not too cold. The sun cam out a few times and heated us up. I enjoyed taking pictures with our relatively new camera while my wife played with our ten-month old baby girl in the sand. We stayed for about an hour, packed up, and went back down the highway to Sam's.
When we first drove by around 10:30, Sam's parking lot was empty; but this time around 11:40, it was packed. A young lady was holding the door open and cleaning it as we walked up. There was at least 3 ladies working the front counter seating people. My wife went to them while I sat down at a few chairs waiting to be seated. The first lady had not finished cleaning the door, so there was a cool draft coming into the restaurant. They seated us right away; the young lady who was cleaning the front door finished and then walked us to our table. As we walked to our table, I noticed that the main indoor dining room, which is alongside the bar area, was relatively full. Also, I noticed the main outdoor dining area was partially full. We continued through the bar to two other seating areas. We sat in the back left in a modified outdoor patio area that was fully covered and heated with heat lamps. The area was partially full. The hostess got us a high chair, and we settled in.
We were greeted within 2 minutes. The server was polite. We ordered 2 waters with lemon to start. The area smelled like clam chowder, perfectly delicious smell. We noticed several tables with extra large bowl of chowder (which makes me wonder while writing this why I didn't order the chowder--next time perhaps). She came back with our waters, and we ordered. My wife ordered the Maine Lobster Roll, and I ordered the Fish and Chips. While we were waiting, our area filled up quickly. A medium loaf of bread and butter was served to us within about 5 minutes. The bread was not warm but was tasty; it came served on a cutting board style tray, which was a nice touch I thought. Our food was served about 7 minutes later. Our food was hot, and it was plated well. The Main Lobster was fresh and plain. It came with potato ships and coleslaw. The Fish and Chips was tasty, and it came with fries and coleslaw. Our server the typical two-minute or two-bite check back, and she filled our waters at the appropriate time. We finished in about 25-30 minutes. Our plates we completed removed, and the bill was dropped at my request and then quickly cashed it out. Our server thanked us; but as we were walking out, no one else said any thing. We got in the car and began to go home and noticed that Sam's had people parking down the road and walking a bit to get up to the restaurant.
Now that we told the details, here's our review. We categorized this review into 4 categories: atmosphere, cleanliness, service, and food. For atmosphere, we were expecting something else; but the atmosphere was and cozy. It's well heated, and the tables were not crunched together. Sam's can be a place for semi-formal dining or casual. Sam's was perfectly clean. All the servers were presentable; the tables were set; no food was on the floor. About the only feedback that I can offer here is it would have more appropriate to have the front door clean before the rush. As for service, Sam's was very quick. The restaurant seemed like a well oiled machine. But this is good and bad. Although everything was timely, the service lacked friendliness, not completely but enough to make it noticeable. It would have been nice to here a thank you by the someone at the host stand when we left, and it would have been nice for our server to take just a few extra moments with us and smile or at least make more eye contact.
Sam's food was quality, but it did not meet our expectations. At $22.00, the Marine Lobster Roll should have been excellent. The bread was perfect. The lobster was perfect. But together they were just fresh and plain. A sandwich should have a bite or twang that comes from the meat or a spread. It had neither. If this dish was just lobster with a roll and a butter dip, it would have been perfect. Lobster is fresh and has a great texture and therefore in a sandwich needs a spread to bring out the that bite. If you order this, I would suggest getting a side of aioli or even a garlic-lemon butter for dipping. The Fish and Chips were good. The batter was crunchy, and the fish was cooked perfectly. This is a staple dish in a seafood restaurant like Sam's, and Sam's nailed it on this one. As for the sides, the coleslaw was perfect. However, the fries and chips could have been better. The chips seemed like they were just out of a chip bag. These should have been made fresh if they weren't. The fries were cooked well, and the fry seasoning was really good, but the fries were too thinly sliced. Sam's should get thicker fries but keep the seasoning.
Our rating of Sam's, based on 5 stars, is 4.0 for atmosphere, 5.0 for cleanliness, 3.5 for service, and 3.0 for food. Giving more weight to food and service, we gave an overall rating of our experience at Sam's a 3.5. our of 5.
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