Popei's Clam Bar & Seafood Restaurant

Popei’s was the chosen spot to have a celebratory birthday dinner. The restaurant has two entirely different personalities: A lively and popular bar, and a quiet area with tables and booths. There’s an overflow seating area directly behind the bar. The large barn doors do a great job of keeping the bar atmosphere from drowning out the other seating areas. Our waiter promptly greeted us and brought glasses of water for everyone at the table without us having to ask. We ordered the Thai chili calamari and had the option of having the sauce “tossed” on the calamari on the side. We chose to have it tossed but next time would get it on the side since the calamari loses its crispness from marinating in the sauce while at the table. I ordered a penne dish with shrimp in vodka sauce and substituted linguine for the penne. The dish was served in a huge bowl that one of my dining companions could be used a bicycle helmet. The sauce and pasta were great. The one downside was the extremely bland shrimp. In addition to being bland, they ended up overcooking in the bowl. I would actually get this dish again but would ask for the shrimp to be blackened and would move to the surface of the bowl to hopefully stave off additional cooking. One of my companions also ordered a shrimp dish and theirs was equally bland, but the ricotta sauce was great. The dish also contained crab, but it’s finely shredded, so if you’re looking for juicy, tender chunks of crab, this isn’t the dish for you. The Ultimate Chicken Parm received rave reviews. The breading was done well and all of the flavors blended nicely. Speaking of bread, guests receive complimentary garlic bread and it’s warm and tasty. Try not to eat too much if you’re planning on finishing your meal because the portions are Cheesecake Factory sized. This is just my opinion but it would be nice if Popei’s offered lighter portions of their entrees (2/3rds the size) but includes a side salad for the same price as a regular entree. The birthday person received a complimentary slice of cheesecake complete with candle and a Happy Birthday serenade by our waiter and another employee. It wasn’t the best experience, but we’ve eaten here a few times and are pleased with the overall food quality, so we will eat here again.

I've been to Popei's restaurant and the food, service and atmosphere was Great!! But, today I ordered online and unfortunately, my experience was much much different; the scallops were severely under cooked and I had to put them in the oven. However, the scallops still weren't very good!!! The potato and salad were fine tho except there wasn't enough salad dressing!! I was/am very disappointed!!!

We had a reservation for 5. We were seated immediately upon arrival. We were greeted within minutes. The waiter was helpful. We placed an appetizer order of fried calamari, clams casino and godfather clams (they were no longer on the menu but the chef made them anyway.) The calamari was tender, the breading was crispy and although it's fried it wasn't greasy. The 5 entrees ordered were Seafood Sensation, Cold water lobster tail, Broiled Jumbo stuffed shrimp, Stuffed Eggplant and Lobster Salad platter. All the portions were very generous and required 4 doggy bags. Four of the entrees were very good. Although, the lobster salad had too much celery, it had a very generous amount of lobster. The stuffed lobster tail was over cooked. The waiter was made aware he went to the kitchen and came back offering another lobster tail or another entree. They had already eaten the sides and didn't want to try the tail again, so they ordered baked clams which were absolutely delicious. We shared a piece of cake with a banana filling with a Maple Butter cream. It was delicious, large enough for 3 of us to split. The service was exceptional. When we received the check, they had removed the lobster tail entree. The only reason for 4 stars was the lobster tail. We will be back again.