Close Harbour Seafood

I had the baked sea bass with cauliflower and spinach. Out of this world delicious! This place knows how to do seafood.

Kaylie was our server. Everything was awesome, had the scallops w/​seasonal risotto, calamari, shrimp cocktail. Will be going back again soon!

Great dinner Saturday night! Our meals where delicious… Also Bill Close was his gracious self, greeting in meeting all of his customers thanks Bill will be back soon! Also loved the cream puffs nice touch! }

I made a last-​minute, Friday night reservation for eight, and they accommodated us! Waitstaff was friendly and helpful, and food was – well, I’ve never seen so many cleaned plates in my life. Great seafood, and don’t miss the giant lobster pound out back. Mr. Close was in evidence and took interest in our satisfaction.
Don’t miss this place if you’re in the area, but bring your own booze.

Close Harbour is probably one of my favorite places to go out. Truly a diamond in the rough.
First off, the atmosphere is great, it’s a tiny little place but it’s very well decorated.
The service is always great, and the owner is a charming old guy who makes his rounds saying hello to everyone.
And the food? Phenomenal. Some of the best risotto I’ve ever had, great scallops, limited menu that changes weekly with the freshest ingredients and you can also order anything from the market counter and have it cooked to suit. Great fried seafood for the kids as well, and it’s a BYOB, which I love.

Outstanding lobster, totally fresh. The Rhode Island clam chowder is unusual and outstanding.

If you want seafood in Southington your options are limited. This place has good/​average fried food but the prices are a bit high. I ordered fried shrimp and for $ 13.00 I got 5 average sized shrimp. Yes it was good but really 13.00 for 5 shrimp, no cole slaw or fries included. I wouldn’t travel out if my to go here but since my parents live close by I’m sure I will be back. Oh one big plus is they serve Avery’s Soda! The soda will set you back $ 2.50 but well worth it.

The food is great here. We used to buy from the market years ago. I had the chowder and steamed mussels they were both very good! It’s BYOB but they do charge a cork fee of $ 5. It was lunch time so we didn’t so that but I wanted to share incase others were curious. There is a package store in the plaza incase you forget your own :). The only negative thing is the waitress was not very pleasant. She acted as if we were inconveniencing her to ask for her to wait on us. We’ve been here before with a pleasant waiter so I won’t let it deter me from coming back just hoping for a better waitress next time.

Great place to sit down or take out. Fresh fish market and restaurant fresh tasty food. Don’t forget it Bob bring a bottle of wine and sit outside.

I cannot and will not speak to the restaurant service, I come here for the raw seafood.
Everything looks excellent, fresh, lively, the prepared stuff even (like stuffed clams, I cant speak to that, but I would…)
I ALWAYS get the scallops, always fresh, always tasty and not mutantly huge. Also the cod loins, ALWAYS cook up well always tasty.
Recently tuna seems has to come into season, I have a $ 20 tuna steak waiting for me in my fridge… That”s dinner tomorrow, but from the look of it it was –almost– sushi grade, not quite the right shade of red.

We waited about an hour to get our food. The lobster bisque just tasted like cream with maybe four pieces of lobster. I ordered the fried cod. They served me and another person flounder. The fish was very undercooked the center looked raw. Even if it had been cooked it was all sub par.

I dined here last night with a childhood friend. I needed a fried seafood fix and was totally impressed that in the center of CT at the end of a strip mall you could get this quality! We both ordered the fried combo plates, I had the calamari, shrimp and scallops. It was cooked to perfection, the scallops and shrimp were so sweet and delicious! The calamari was tender and nothing was over breaded, the tartar sauce was homemade as well. I just wish that prior to my arrival I knew there was no alcohol served, however you are allowed to bring your own for a $ 5 «corking» fee which I will do the next time I visit! This place is awesome! A must stop for even purchasing the freshest seafood to bring home!

Stopped in this afternoon for a late lunch. First time here, place was moderately busy around 2pm on a Sunday. Service was a bit «disjointed» in the beginning, but once we got our appetizers, things ran more smoothly. We shared a Nick’s Calamari — thought it was good, tasty. My fiancée also ordered a bowl of the NE clam chowder — we thought that was excellent (I had a few spoonfuls).
For our meals, I had the Fried Maine Sea Scallops (see my pic). Very good & tasty. My fiancée had the Hot buttered Lobster Roll. For $ 15.99, wasn’t really worth the price, it was OK. They could have put in a bit more lobster for that price. Also, had a side order of parmesan truffle fries (very good) and a small container of coleslaw. The coleslaw was totally flavorless, had to be the worst coleslaw we’ve ever had. I question why it is even on the menu, don’t they realize how it tastes ?
Overall though, Close Harbour serves some fresh & good tasting Seafood. We will be back.

We ordered a pound of lobster here to take home to my wife who inhales the stuff given any opportunity. The staff were friendly both in person and over the phone and helped us as soon as we walked through the door. The entire place smells clean when you walk in with no trace of fishy-​ness. And the case has some of the most spectacular looking seafood you’ll ever see. The swordfish and I would have gotten intimate, were this not the last day of my trip. The only thing preventing a five-​star is that I think the prices were a little high for seafood in New England. I guess quality costs a little more.

Had the lobster roll which was so delicious I ate it in under a min it seems like :-) perhaps that’s my only gripe… it seems like it was a bit small for the price. The shrimp cocktail was certainly top notch. Nice enough little place and all the seafood was well presented and super fresh.

When you want a large choice in your fresh seafood purchase in the area, this is a great place to go. My husband is a big fan of their lobster rolls.

I have bought food and eaten here several times and this is by far the best and most fresh seafood in the area. The seafood from the market has always been amazing and the restaurant has always been good but has definitely improved over time. They also recently got a new chef who is phenomenal.
The last time we were there they had just gotten fresh tuna (yum!) and we asked the chef to make us an appetizer with it (even though it wasn’t on the menu– they are so accommodating). He crusted the fish with sesame and poppy seeds, seared it perfectly and gave us some wasabi on the side.
You also can’t go wrong with their hot buttered lobster roll. They have tanks in the back and get their lobsters straight from the docks in Maine so you know the lobster is fresh. The only reason not to try this is because once you do you will never want to try anything else.
Finally, for years my family has been getting their huge butterflied shrimp for any and every type of gathering. Everyplace we bring this everyone raves how good they are. However, be warned– the word has gotten out about these and if you try to get some during a holiday plan/​call ahead! There are often lines out the door waiting for these amazing shrimp.
Overall, this is a place you definitely want to try if you like a relaxed atmosphere and fresh seafood. Did I mention it’s BYOB? How you can beat that.

Excellent fresh seafood. Relaxed atmosphere, great service.

Disappointingly mediocre, that about sums it up.
We made reservations for good friday, as seafood usually comes to mind and last year’s trip to the Blue Lobster was a fail.
We arrived at 7:05 for our 7:15 reservation and checked in, a table wasn’t ready so we were told to wait, which was fine. I took the time to peruse the market cases. Everything looked very fresh so I was excited to start my meal.
My wife & kids decided to use the bathroom without telling me, and when i turned around I thought they got seated, so I asked the man at the hostess stand, and he was confused. He pawed over the list of reservations, then I helped him by pointing my name out, and he said, «You’re checking in? Are you all here?» I replied, «I checked in 15 minutes ago». 5 minutes later we were sat. Not sure what that fiasco was about, but it worked out in the end.
My wife and I looked over the menu and settled on some dishes to split.
First up was the round of appetizers… crab cakes (2 for $ 12), lobster cakes (3 for $ 3) & clam cakes (3 for $ 3). NE Chowder ($ 5) & Lobster Bisque ($ 6). The Chowder was spot on, no complaints. The bisque was overpowered by the taste of sherry. The crab cakes were good, very little filler, almost all crab, but could have used some more time in the fry pan, there was no sear or crust at all. The clam & lobster cakes were both underwhelming, bland, no seasoning, and 1 wasn’t cooked all the way through and still had raw batter in the middle.
We got a fried combo platter ($ 22 w/​fries & cole slaw) for dinner, apparently fried seafood is what they do well, but its simple and hard to screw up.
The calamari, clam strips & scallops were all lightly breaded, but not very well as it fell off almost as soon as it got to the table.
Fries were sub-​standard, straight from the food service bag. Not sure why you wouldn’t hand cut fries if everything else is made fresh. Coleslaw was bland, flavorless and disappointing.
I ordered the Seared Scallops with Black Truffle Risotto. Scallops were cooked perfectly and very delicious, risotto was a hot mess.
The risotto was like the «kitchen sink», chef said lets throw everything in here we have and see how it turns out. There were shitake mushrooms, butternut squash, and a couple more ingredients that I couldn’t make out. The one flavor that was completely absent was black truffle. At $ 23, they weren’t using fresh truffles, and if there is one thing that can completely kill a dish, its truffle oil. Using a deft hand the chef must have added the tiniest touch, because I couldn’t taste it all.
At the end of our meal we cut into the last scallop and it was blushing. Now I know it’s safe to eat, but when you’ve been served pristine white scallops all night, and you get one thats orange/​pink in color, its a bit of a turn off.
I sent it back only to get a lesson in scallops from the head waitress, or maybe she was the manager, i didn’t care to ask. She told me the color was from the scallops diet, which in fact it’s not.
A blushing scallop is pretty much a scallop that needs a tampon (
), and that’s not appetizing.
Overall I just didn’t feel the value was there, or the finesse. $ 92 w/​tax & tip and I was feeling strong buyers remorse by the time i got to the parking lot.
Even though the fried seafood was delicious, unless I have a coupon or special, this place isn’t worth a return trip.

We again took advantage of a special available to members of the restaurant’s VIP mail club. The latest special was a ½ pound of fried haddock for $ 5.99 or a full pound for $ 9.99, dine in or takeout. We chose the full pound for takeout with a side of french fries, but it proved to be too much food for just the two of us. The fish was perfectly done, grease free, but the fries were right out of the freezer case and an accompanying small side dish of coleslaw was tasteless. Tip — the restaurant is BYOB with a $ 5 corkage fee.