Food is good with an extensive pub menu. There are many choices for drinks and they are strong. Atmosphere is loud. Love the outside patio addition. Service is good. read more

This place is a kitchen nightmare. Think before you walk in. Gordon Ramsay needs to be called on this pig pen. The trash bin was overflowing in the mens bathroom. The wait was 35 minutes. The wait for food was 2hr. This place is hell. Two separate waitresses told us that the food would be "just out". Took around another 30m each time. They spin lies. When we first came they told us that we'd love it and the original wait would be worth it. What a joke. This was the worst restaurant experience of my life. We ordered medium steak and got it raw. I hope a cow rams whoever works in the kitchen. We need Gordon in this hell. read more

I began to say the Anchor Bar has the best seafood around, but that's not really accurate. They have the best seafood anywhere! To start with, the owners are actual lobster fisherman, so naturally it's going to be exceedingly fresh and exceptionally priced. Their Lobster Rolls are the standard from which all others must be judged. With the Beverly docks right across the street, other fishermen sell the best of their catch to the Anchor. When an item sells out, it's crossed off the menu board. If it's not fresh, it's not at the Anchor. In many other parts of the country, it's impossible to get REAL fried clams. (I wonder how many people think clams are those pre-chewed frozen plastic clam strips?) The Anchor has their own local "Clam Guy" who brings them the sweetest and freshest possible. Far superior to the better known "tourist trap" clam shacks, the Anchor is also less expensive. Yes, the service may take a while, especially on a Friday evening, but it's always worth the wait. Meanwhile, you can have an inexpensive drink and enjoy the very friendly atmosphere. Sitting at the bar to eat is fun and entertaining, but there are a couple of small dining rooms and a large area with pool tables where you can eat too. Located right on the Beverly side of the MA-107 and MA-1A bridge to Salem, the Anchor is easy to find. For me, it's worth the drive up from Boston. I always leave happy and well-fed! P.S.: Don't miss the French Onion Soup! At $3.50 for a big bowl, loaded with melted cheese, it's another delicious bargain! read more

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Food: 5 stars Service: 3 Ambiance: 3.5 - It's a bar/restaurant. Decent place. Overall: 4.5 stars LOBSTER FEAST at a dive bar in the middle of nowhere! 2 lobs for $15.95 in mid-January 2009. Thank you Ellen for bringing us here! And this is my first time giving props to anyone in my reviews. read more

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This is a great place to have some seafood, we were a party of 4, each had 2 drinks and seafood and the bill was only $105. The server was extremely friendly and caring, she kept on checking on us to make sure everything was fine. Is a cash only facility, don't worry there's an atm in the restaurant. The food was delicious and the portions were pretty good, the only con is that the kitchen is very small so we waited like 30 min just to get the appetizers. Highly recommended but don't come starving cause you'll have to wait a little before getting the food. read more

Anchor Pub & Grille - Baked shrimp and scallops with rice pilaf and sweet potato fries. - Seafood Near Me - Beverly, Massachusetts

Very cheap place for lobsters. We ordered twin lobsters, baked clam, clam chowder, steak tip salad, beet. Everything tastes good, read more

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Tossed our meals in the garbage disposal - seriously!! The worst part, attempts to resolve this fell on deaf ears. I take no pleasure in writing this, especially with Covid's negative impact on this industry... but AVOID. read more

Don't know if it's still as good as it used to be but I absolutely loved the Anchor Pub when I lived in Salem several years ago. Believe it was cash only(good, f government) Large cheese pizzas at least back then were 6 dollars and beers were as cheap as a dollar or two. They had some pretty reasonable seafood though I only had it once or twice. In terms of going out and having a good time on a budget, it's a great place. I remember a lot of locals being there every time and sometimes it was hard to have a pool table to yourselves. I was always surprised there was a dining area and never really noticed many people sitting down in it. To me it was a cheap place to go out and have a good time, I hope it has survived for that. I hate how expensive and crowded the area has gotten. read more

I recently ordered two lobster rolls and a clam chowder to go. The lobster rolls were two little hotdog rolls and the "end" rolls at that and contained about 6 bites of lobster and the bottom of each roll was lined with chopped lettuce! Also, the bread (rolls) were on the stale side. The clam chowder was gritty and nothing special to taste. The bill was $50.00. Last time we do business with the Anchor!! read more

I'd have to say everyone here is amazing other than Dana, she commonly complains about the restaurant and talks about leaving to go across the street. This 5 start review is for everyone else but her. I'm sure myself and others would love to know her schedule so she can be avoided! Thank the rest of you for all for hard work lovely drinks and phenomenal cuisine!! read more

Some food items are hit or miss. Things I have liked: twin lobsters(great price for them), lobster roll, fried seafood. Service can be a little slow but they're nice and friendly. Atmosphere is dive bar like - but cheap good seafood and cheap drinks make it a worth a visit. read more

We have been coming here for 20 years but won't be back. The man taking names and seating parties is the rudest person we have ever encountered in the restaurant industry. He needs to go. Four other parties waiting for tables had the same issue with this man. He was rude to everyone. He just didn't care. read more

This was my first time going here but I felt like I had to because so many of my friends rave about it! It is the perfect,quintessential Northshore dive bar when you walk in. All kinds of people in a dimly lit gigantic bar, day drinking like its 5 O'clock everywhere. Friendly happy faces from what I could see. Dining room is fairly small and relaxed. It is Cash only which I didn't k ow but they have an ATM there and it's only a $2 charge to use it. We started with the tomato veggies soup which was old school and good. Tasted like your favorite childhood soup out of a can with yesterday's veggies mixed in which surprisingly was very good. My daughter and I both got lobster rolls which were amazing!! Fresh lobster in hot buttered rolls! Everything we were looking for. Will definitely return soon! read more

Anchor Pub & Grille - Seafood Near Me - Beverly, Massachusetts

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Went here recently on a busy Friday and Saturday. Sat inside on Friday and Outside on Saturday. Decent food, good prices though they have gone up recently which is to be expected. The problem here is the service from the snarky, rude, indifferent bar staff. If you are not a regular don't expect to get any decent service at all. The worst part is at shift change when the bar staff ends up as customers and the non stop chatting from the new shift with them starts. Be prepared to sit with an empty drink until they feel it's time to wait on you. Have been here several times and it's always the same playbook. read more

Great place for breakfast. Terrific prices, the food is solid and the staff nice and friendly. Very homey. Other local places In Beverly and Salem are almost twice the price and really no better. and A staple for Beverly locals. read more

I used to enjoy this restaurant before I was using a service animal and publicly humiliated once when I was to dine alone, so I left. Three months later, I was served burnt fish and chips. The burnt fish event was with my 11 year old g-d child who was approached by a man in a car from her school bus stop and home to enter his car. This is only important to mention because I asked a customer bumming cigarettes to get away from my van and he didn't but did scare my g-d child for a second time in the same day. My party included the 11 year old girl, her mother, and mother's fiance. I took them out to dinner to have a nice fish meal and a SAFE PLACE TO GO. It was a second trauma for the 11 year old, as staff observing their drunk customer bothering us, did nothing. The waitress is the same waitress who publicly humiliated me, excluded me from dinning by constructive exclusion and served me the burnt fish and chips. I have to educate these people, and the Superior Court Case is a cost to them of at least $100k, if I settle. But I would rather appeal for more press and expense for those who are bigoted against disabled elders and little girls. read more

Drinks came in an instant, however I was left starving while waiting for my food. I never received my own napkin, however I did receive my own jar of mayo. I got a fish filet on a "bulkie" and the portion of fried fish was double sized aka premo. Drinks where as you'd expect, strong. read more

Anchor Pub & Grille - Seafood Near Me - Beverly, Massachusetts

Favorite place for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Perfect dive feel with phenomenal fresh seafood and excellent pizza... excellent all food! Great price, great atmosphere, Great Beverly staple. read more

So i heard a waitress spew the F-bomb to another person, i do not know who. The same person kept bumping into my friend not saying "excuse me." We waited about ten minutes for a table,we were not given a wait time by the way.while we were waiting this waitress was rude to my mother and friend. I have diagnosed anxiety and this person is stressing me out,i haven't even started my food and i want to leave. This place is the worst restaurant i have ever been in. I want to leave,on a scale on 1-10 of stress lvl i am an 11.My family and friend can spend money here,but i am not. If i could give it 0 stars i would. read more

Great local spot - don't expect fast service it is part of the experience. Super busy at lunch and dinner. Bartenders make excellent drinks and don't be put off by behavior they treat everyone the same. Great people and conversations. When people visit from out of town I always bring them to Anchor - it's part of the local scene. The food is cheap and the place is always busy. read more

The Anchor is an awesome dive bar with great food. A cheap breakfast that is delicious and completely filling. Friendly staff and great setup. There is a nice bar area and an area to throw darts and play pool. Also it is very clean which is sometimes surprising for a bar and helps create a nice, comfortable environment. read more

Found this place by accident. Went there after reading some recommendations. Prices were reasonable. Food was very good. Not very fancy, but who cares when food and prices are good read more

A friend took my family and I here tonight and the experience was better than the first time I visited, so, an updated review is in order. The bar was very crowded, people were coming and going, it was very busy. We were seated right away by our waiter, he did introduce himself by name, but I forgot it, but I did recall him mentioning that he just returned to work from a hip replacement. The eating room away from the bar is pretty, with large windows and beautiful murals painted on the walls. Pretty nice place. The waiter's service was great, no complaints other than when he brought us fresh drinks, he didn't take away the empty glasses. Only reason it bothered me was because of the size of the square table for four and 8 glasses plus all our food seemed a bit crowded. The food was excellent, which explains why the place was so crowded. I can't say anything in regards to what kind of place it is for drinking at the bar, but people looked like they were having fun, playing pool, etc.. I did ponder over leaving 4 stars instead of 5 is because the place was a bit too loud for my own personal taste and preferences. I had a very difficult time trying to hear my friends conversations with me from the other side of the small table, It was only that loud because the place was jam packed with customers. Every table was full, because the food is good, lol.. so, they do deserve the 5 stars for that, and the wait for our food wasn't unreasonable considering how busy they were, so, 5 stars it is. The menu offered a variety, I chose fried haddock with fries and slaw for $10. Great deal considering the size of the filet I got, and very well cooked. I loved it. read more

Awesome food and great service! Food was fresh and hot! Service was very timely. It's a very busy local spot. Great Beer and nice place to eat and meet with groups of friends. read more

Ok sometimes other timess servers more interested inn their friends. Good food cheap unless it's a seafood. Saw price for steamers went down a little bit, ordered it but alas do did quantity and quality. Took a lot of effort to get attention. Not sure if bad server or new trend. Fried food - you are all set but not always an option. read more

Hey Anchor, great patio, but we're now at the 1.75 hr mark waiting for a burger and a lobster roll. Get some staff!

Always has good food with large quantities, bad thins is they don't take credit cards... odd for this day and age. And if you like playing keno bartenders don't like to man the keno machine they now take credit cards!! read more

Delicious lobsters! The best we had while we were visiting. Busy place, expect a wait. Every time we drove by it looked packed. We got drinks and relaxed until our table was ready. Server was not super great but food was! read more

Our host hustled us off the beach at 3:30 so we could go home, shower and get to The Anchor by 5pm- there were still some people waiting ahead of us! We were seated before very long and five minutes later we had our drinks. My frozen Pina Colada was outstanding. The drinks are huge, good and cheap! Draft pints for $5 or $6? Was I in a time warp? The clam plates were a perfect fry job with a very generous heap of tasty coleslaw. The Stuffed Dove Sole and Baked Haddock were reported to be excellent. The service was brisk but definitely friendly-host squirted ketchup all over his shirt and our waiter, without being asked, brought a glass of club soda and a clean microfiber cloth to clean it up. It was well worth the wait! read more

This place is great!!! Absolutely nothing fancy about it by any means, but the food is delicious with generous portions and super cheap prices! The prices were so low that I was apprehensive ordering some things because I couldn't see how they could possibly make money unless the quality or portions suffered, but I was wrong. Beers were also dirt cheap!!! If you are a first timer, don't let the first impression scare you away. Sit down, grab a bite and just take it all in. You won't be disappointed! read more

This is a hidden gem. Lobstah is such a great value and the menu is always amazing I have eaten here at least twice a month. The steak is amazing. Get there early for the prime rib it sells out super fast. Drinks are always great. It is a cash only business read more

Drinks and amazing clam roll. Friendly place mixes young​ and mature clientele easily. Prices more affordable than many places. read more

Anchor Pub & Grille - So good!! - Seafood Near Me - Beverly, Massachusetts

The staff is friendly! The bar was busy for the Celtics game but we were served quickly and the staff was kind enough to tell us some attractions to see in town regardless of the craziness happening in the bar! The food was really good! Any hiccup was taken care of promptly! read more

Great food, inexpensive prices, super friendly staff. Only issue is finding a seat at the bar because it is so popular. Good spot for darts and pool read more

The whole place smelled like wet dust. No masks required. The food was great, except for the clam chowder taste like it come out of a can. It was not very flavorful or hot. It was cold. The service was great. read more

The baked haddock was amazing. Tom took care of me he was running around like he had 8 hands and took care of us like we were kings. Cocktails were creative and amazing. Exceptional place read more

Anyone that gives this place a bad rating is just a miserable human being. You will not find a cheaper or better dive (w Food) in New England. And I've been to a lot of dives in my day. Atmosphere is terrific, service is sometimes slow - but very worth the wait. Probably because the place is freaking packed every minute of every hour of every day. My family and friends live 40 miles away and come down here At Least once every two weeks just to go to the anchor with me. How they give such generous portions is beyond me? And their drinks are stiff stiff stiff. Haters going to hate - anyone that hates on the anchor is EXACTLY the person the rest of us logical, sensible, regular folks don't want in our joint. Beat it! read more

I moved to Beverly recently and have been really missing my favorite dive bar, The Tam. I miss the laid back vibe. I miss the sweet but surly bartenders. I miss the cavalcade of misfits, drunks, losers, and sweet down to earth people that find their way through the door. Most of all, I miss the community of it all. Having a place where people know your name and are actually happy to see you. I wont say that after 5 visits to the Anchor it is already like the Tam - as clearly, NO BAR can ever replace the Tam - but the Anchor is the Beverly version of the Tam plus really good seafood. The Anchor has cheap beer....good food (so far the pizza was solid and the baked haddock was solid)...and great prices. The staff (much like the customers) are a bit rough around the edges and surly at first glance. But over time, as you get to know them (and they get to know you) things change. They become funny, accommodating, and VERY heavy on the pour if you know what I mean. I have been here for 4+ hours on a numbers of occasions (OK I am a booze bag), and have NEVER spent more than 40 dollars...and that includes the nights I ate a full meal. You wont get lucky here (unless your standards have slipped to somewhere south of the Mendoza line), and this isnt the place to impress your new boss or future mother in law. But if a good solid, down to earth, local North Shore spot is what you are looking for - the Anchor is your kind of place. I will be back. read more

Where to start? Well first off, if you are not from MA and want to drink, not sure you can as there is a sign saying "MA ID'S Only". Wonder what these guys did to earn that privilege? Moving on, it doesn't get much better. No one ever gave us menus, so we ordered off a whiteboard that looked like it was created by a 10 year old. The pressure was on because every few minutes they'd erase one of the entrees as if they were running out of food. We finally flagged the waitstaff. We ordered crab cakes (ok), broiled haddock (garbage), fried clams (adequate), fried flounder (nothing special) and a lobster (good). Sides where unimpressive, especially the french fries. I'd put up with the poor service and crummy decor for a good experience. But it wasn't a good experience at all. There is a 7-11 around the corner, I'll just get some nachos the next time I'm hungry in that neighborhood. read more

How much you will enjoy this place really depends on the type of person you are. This is a proper pub through and through, with really friendly but rough service, a homey frazzled vibe, and lots of men who own pickup trucks. It's old and worn around the edges, and also makes you question the hygiene, but there isn't anything incriminating. In fact, if this is what you are expecting, it's very honest and fun. And the food is dirt cheap with gigantic portions. If you are going for quantity over quality, then it's totally worth it. The lobster roll was super stuffed (although there was a lot of shredded lobster meat) and more than passable. Everything else was kind of meh, including crab cakes, fried clams, and stuffed flounder. The fried onions and french fries were really meh as well. There was little in the way of seasoning or flavor development. In other words, this is a honest to goodness pub. Don't come expecting a gastropub, as there are no pretentions here of trying to make food that's any more interesting than as it is described in the menu. read more