We ate here twice this weekend, once for lunch and once for dinner. Excellent fish, especially the crab-stuffed trout. Awesome clam chowder! Great dessert idea:they serve a sample sized truffle mousse cake - just right after a full meal, and the portions are large. We'll definitely be back. read more

I wouldn't even give a star tonight for the service t was the worst I have ever had!! Just so you know for this to make sense my family and I were completely forgotten by our server! We saw him for maybe 5 minutes and that was it! Very disappointed! Food was good but that was it! If anything was good we wouldn't know because we never got anything our drink were empty the whole time and you pay for it to be refilled and that never happened and we asked for our bread refilled when he brought our food out that never happened I could go on we had to keep asking everyone else for stuff because we never were helped tonight!! Don't know if I will come back after this because never been treated so poorly!! read more

Just had a wonderful lunch today. Halibut n fries with a large fresh garden salad. Fresh bread was served with a whipped butter and we ordered an appetizer of coconut shrimp. It was amazing. One of my friends had sesame chicken strips with rice pilaf which she raved about. My other friend had the same as me found it fresh and delicious instead of salad she had coleslaw and said it was excellent. We all really enjoyed the food and experience. read more

I hate to write a negative review but I'm going to. Having said this, there was nothing wrong with the waitress. She was really good, polite, etc. But I orded halibut and prawns. The prawns were really greasy and the halibut just had no flavor. My husband said the same thing about his combination plate. I had the coleslaw and I enjoyed that and their bread. Won't be going back anytime soon. Just no flavor to the food..ugh. read more

Good food, I liked the Lobster and Mozzarella sticks. Good costumer service. The lunch time wait is at least 15 minutes if not a little more. The downside for me is the silver wear wasn't clean, I could clean it even more with a napkin. That for me doesn't make me want to go back. read more

My family and I had lunch lunch their 3/17/13. My wife and mother had the halibut fish and chips,it was so greasy they had to pull the breading off to eat it.My 5yr. old son had the kid's chicken strip meal,it too was greasy and the chicken was over cooked and the broccoli was not cut to size for a child, huge stems way more food then possible to eat.My daughter's calamari was good and my clam chowder was ok, but it was brought to me with everyone else's salad's,so when I finished my lunch their meals were brought leaving me without.One more complaint,the french fries were the worst,way to greasy.Maybe they should check the temperature of their deep fry cooker.This is not the first time we've been disappointed here at the down town McGrath's but it will be the last time we eat at any of their restaurant's. read more

Group of 6 without reservations on Saturday night dinner hour and we were seated right away. I had been here before several times when I was in town but was worried about bringing the group here because of the bad recent reviews. I don't know what their problems were but the service was excellent and the staff friendly. All in the group agreed that their food was top notch. I would recommend this restaurant to anybody read more

Visited Jan 2013. They were very busy, but can't we still expect good things? Our server's head was not quite there, like she wanted to be elsewhere. Barely listening to us and impatient. She recited lists like she was reading, we could not get a word in edgewise. I had to say 'is it my turn now?' a couple of times. We experienced the wrong salad dressings, cold food, having to flag someone down for butter (which was ice cold so we couldn't use it). After she brought food we never saw her again until she slapped the ticket on the table and fled off. Husband left tip though - ooooo read more

I am so sad, this was my favorite place to go when going to the Salem area but I doubt I will return. The table looked like it had not been cleaned since the last customer ate there. The dishes were not served in good order, the appetizer arrived with the salad and bread and the entrees arrived a few minutes later. Consequently nothing was able to be truly enjoyed and nothing was hot! The server was very pleasant and attentive however. My halibut and rice pilaf were good but not as good as I was used to there. Our other order was for a rack of baby back ribs and they were out (it was 12:30 in the afternoon)? I am sorry to say that this place has definitely gone downhill - what has caused this? read more

Today is Monday and I am still thinking about our disappointing meal Friday night. My husband and I both chose the shrimp special that is going on right now. I had the Italiano and he had the Cajun. My shrimp all tasted the same and was dripping in oil. I also got a mound of fettuccine with spaghetti sauce. Not worth the money we paid. My husband didn't even eat all his meal which is not like him! He said the shrimp just wasn't very good he did not touch the fries. I did take a to go box but ended up throwing it out the next day. I really wish that when you order a dinner with a salad they would let you finish your salad before bringing the entre. Also in regard to their bloody Mary's. Never again. This is the second time mine has came with a humongous piece of celery. That sucker was at least 9 inches long! And the tips of it were old and brown. I would at least have trimmed off the old part! Unfortunately I think it will be awhile if ever before we return. read more

I was dead set on Lobster as was my Mother & Little Brother so we decided to try Red Lobster as I'd never been there we decided to check yelp and see what folks had to say about the Salem Red Lobster; it didn't sound good after I read the reviews so we scoped out Mcgrath's Fish House in Salem on Center st. Yelp gave the place excellent reviews so we went there. I called in a reservation at 4:30pm on wednesday Feb.13,2013 and was told that they'd put us in the book. We arrived at 6:27 & was told it'd be about 15 minutes wait; I was a little pissed off as I understood that this is why I made a fucking reservation to begin with but figured what the hell! After about 20 minutes we were seated and the rest was quickly forgotten. We were seated at a clean, roomy, quite table by an AWSOME waiter "CHARLES" who was very professional, prompt, and attentive. If it wasn't for Charles I would not be giving this establishment any "props" but his steller service made the whole experience worth while!!! We ordered sea food won tons & sesame chicken with honey-hot mustard for dipping as appetizers it kicked ass!! Charles brought my mother & Brother each a Long Island Ice Tea that was stiff and made correctly and I had a Strawberry Lemonade (as I was the D.D.) and was thrilled with the fresh berries in the lemonade, Charles kept our glasses topped off frequently. Then came our main course "SURF & TURF" we all 3 ordered Lobster with a 7oz. steak , Garlic Bread, Rice Pilaf and cole slaw all of which came as specified and hot/fresh about 10-15 minutes after our appetizers were finished. The atmosphere was nice,Tranquil, and very family oriented and comfortable & other than a few brief looks of wonderment nobody even fucked with me about smoking and E-Cigarette at my table. The Lobster (although it was my 1st time trying) tasted O.K. but it seemed to be a little overcooked or rubbery in texture but all in all the meal was great!!! I really owe the place a 5th star but the lobster being over cooked & the fact that after I made RSVP 2 hours in advance I still had to wait 20min. well that's why they get 4**** but CHARLES made the meal worth every cent and we shot him a $10.00 tip above the usual 10% read more

I would say it was so-so. I am not a fan of franchise places so I guess I'm not the best judge but it was to be expected. The fish tacos were really bad, not anything like I expected. I had to send them back and then I kind of lost my appetite. Their salads are OK. read more

We were seated promptly but after that everything went downhill. Two servers came to our table and explained one was in training. Codie was the trainer and Ashley the new server. I asked for Johnnie Walker Red and neither knew what that was. The trainer looked at her "cheat sheet" and found it. I then asked if they had Alaskan king crab and again the trainer said she didn't know. She explained herself by saying she had only been there for two months and the menu was extensive. OK. I ordered an appetizer of crab stuffed mushrooms. When they came the presentation was awful. One of the mushrooms was upside down and they were all to one side of the dish. The one that was upside down had no filling in it. The other five were barely filled and we could taste no crab at all. Just onion, celery and cheese. Two of us ordered salads with blue cheese dressing and both came with ranch instead. I ordered the king crab legs which were extremely small and either old or cooked too long because you couldn't even crack them. Instead they were just like rubber and squashed under the cracker rather than cracking. I complained and the manager came and apologized saying he would have the server bring more. The second batch was worse than the first. When the manager came back he said he would adjust the bill. He did by deducting for the mushrooms stuffed with crab that had no crab. At that point I gave up and decided the best thing to do is yelp the experience to others and to never return to a McGraths. read more

My husband and I visited on a Wednesday evening around 6:30 and had to wait almost an hour to be seated even though we later learned there was an entire section of tables not being used. My husband ordered the alder plank salmon which he pronounced wonderful. He also had the cole slaw which he said was good. His salmon came with steamed red potatoes and brocolli. I ordered the crab cakes with rice pilaf and brocolli. We both had the clam chowder and the meal came with sourdough bread and butter. The crab cakes (3 good-sized) were a major disappointment: Too much green and red sweet peppers overwhelmed the crab flavor, although the texture was pleasant. The rice pilaf was weirdly dry and tasted only of sweet peppers. The brocolli was under-done and arrived too cool for the soft butter provided with the bread to melt into it. The clam chowder was really very good, as was the bread. We also ordered dessert: I had the chocolate ganache pie with marionberry sauce and my husband had the NY cheesecake with strawberry sauce. Both were delicious, although the ganache was more like mousse and not the dark, dense consistency ganache usually is. The bill, with coffee for my husband, came to over $40 and, frankly, I don't think it was worth it. I'd rather go to Skipper's, because if we return to McGrath's, I'll be sticking to the deep-fried fish and shrimp, which is less expensive at Skipper's. The service was good: Both the hostess and our waitress were accomodating. My husband tried to get me a glass of water from the bar while we were waiting and was completely ignored by the female bartender who was also acting as a waitress there, so the hostess got it for me. read more

I would love to give a run down of the amazing dishes at McGrath's but the truth is I have found food nirvana with the Parmesan Halibut. I have tried a few other special fresh fish options, but the Parmesan Halibut is the standard against which all other items are measured and, for me, no others compare. It is also the perfect dish for people who don't really like fish that tastes like fish. For non-fish eaters, the McGrath's dinner salad and hot bread alone are almost worth the drive. Best blue cheese dressing ANYWHERE. My son is crazy for the steamer clams and chowder, while my husband, the fisherman and real seafood aficianado, finds the wood-fired salmon a consistently delightful when his own supplies of Kilchis River caught salmon run low. If McGrath's management is watching these, please know he misses the Red Snapper. Service is consistently excellent. We are always greeted by the managers who regularly make the rounds among the tables to inquire on customer satisfaction when things up front aren't too crazy. If it isn't too busy, ask for Charles or Nick for your server. They are both very attentive and great with little special requests :) read more