One day my mother had a hankering for lobster...in the middle of March. So the whole family and I looked high and low for a good lobster restaurant and found this tourist attraction in Gloucester. It was cloudy and chilly out, so dining outside wasn't an option. The atmosphere was very welcoming: comfy seating, good lighting. Old people? Maybe some, but don't let that ruin your dining experience. The food was very delicious but very EXPENSIVE. A word to the wise: don't go out for lobster when it's not lobster season. We dropped at least $150 easy for a stuffed lobster and two of the steamed lobster clambake entrees. My lobster macaroni and cheese was divine, but not $20 divine for such a small portion. If we ever make the trek up north to this restaurant again, we will go in the summertime when the lobster catch is more plentiful. read more

They have a 5-star dockside location with wonderful views. The menu provides a good assortment of tastes to choose from. We tried the fisherman's platter (the haddock was truly delicious and so moist) and a big, boiled lobster. Pricing was spot-on for what we expected, being in a touristy area. Though, pricing is not outrageous. We went for a late lunch/early dinner, so the place was quite empty and in between staff. But our server was attentive to us. They were also very attentive and accommodating to food allergies one of our party mentioned. This place is a definite recommend. We will be back on our next visit to the Gloucester area. read more

My daughter and I went for lunch and were very pleased. The make the perfect rusty nail and very spicy blood marry. The fried shrimp were perfect as was the fish sandwich. Next time I am in Gloucester I well certainly stop in for seafood. read more

A good.choice today. Enjoyed lobster tails and lobster arincini. My party had lobster pie, seafood mac n cheese and even ribs. They start you off with warm corn bread and butter. Samgria wasnt too strong. We sat on the deck and enjoyed the view.and weather. Parking was easy. The waitress Emily was attentive and provided suggestions. Definetly a relaxing atmosphere. read more

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I understand the changes due to COVID-19. Only outside service at their sister restaurant Blue Collar Lobster available. To be avoided until regular dining at The Gloucester House resumes. Slow, non-attentive service by waitstaff, who are the only personnel allowed to serve beverages. Self-serve fried food at window. By the time a glass of wine was ordered and received, my salad was consumed. Steer clear. read more

My boyfriend and I decided to try this restaurant out for Valentine's day, and I cannot say enough about it! I got the honey glazed salmon with a mixed berry compote and everything was just wonderful and cooked perfectly. Our waitress Jennifer was absolutely amazing, solicitous but not overly so and extremely helpful. My boyfriend got the seafood mac and cheese and he loved it. This is without a doubt our new favorite! If you haven't tried it you are missing out! read more

The clam chowder was made to perfection. I couldn't believe the amount of clams this clam chowder had. It was nice and creamy. Our entrees were decent size and flavorful as well. Prices are reasonable. I will definitely visit again! read more

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This is the first time I have ever written a review. One star is too many! I have not been here for over 20 years despite living in the city! Now I remember why! The menu is the same tourist fare as ever...My meal was so bad I could not eat it Pan Fried Flounder in the worst lemon caper sauce imaginable. Stuffed Clam was very good, but the portion was tiny for the price. 2 or 3 clams at that price would make sense. The service, I hate to say, was worse than the meal. It was slow and we had to ask another server to find our waitress several times. I cannot blame the server as I think she had a big party in another room, but that is not our problem... We ordered drinks before the food arrived and got them as we were finishing up. There are many good places to visit on Cape Ann and the Gloucester House has a great location, but I could not recommend it. read more

This place was pretty crowded and we faced a 45 minute wait for dinner so I thought it had to be good. I was sorely disappointed. We were lucky to get seated on the patio -- even though we didn't ask. It was nice to see the water but it was sort of a more industrial area and not as attractive as other views. The patio chairs were awful iron deals that seemed to have been made to sit way back in them. Not conducive to eating. I hate when restaurants just put out cheap patio furniture! The food, like many said, was expensive for what you get. Entrees that run about $20 are the same quality you'd get for $15 somewhere else. More along the line of quality of the likes of Picadilly Pub or 99 (I actually think I've had much better at Picadilly Pub and they give out ridiculously amazing coupons). Nothing standing out that is terrible about the food but not good either. Lowest point: I was delighted to find that the vegetable of the day was summer squash but it was cooked in such a way to be mushy and just bad. Highest: The bread was delicious and homemade. Our dinners took long and the server brought out more! Service was nice and friendly -- nothing to complain about there. Parking was adjacent and ample, even on a Saturday. My husband and i joked that you really just paid for the close parking with this establishment. Will have to try others in Gloucester. This was our first time there. read more

Nice location. Side of sweet potato fries under cooked and greasy . Waiter must have been new as he did not offer to take them off the bill. read more

Great seating options, and well prepared lobsters. The server attending us was visibly busy, but was trying her best to accommodate our wishes. Had a table with rather abnoxious people next to ours, but their incessant loud chatter and drunken attempts at including us in their conversations didn't hamper our experience. read more

The Gloucester House - Seafood Near Me - Gloucester, Massachusetts

It took the wait staff 25 mins after we ordered to tell me they did not have the swordfish special. I ordered the scallop special. They did give us complimentary clam chowder for the inconvenience. It had a nice flavor, but may have had only 1 or 2 clams-cut up in really small pieces. The scallop special was OK, not a lot of flavor and the scallops were over cooked. My companion had the salmon special which was also over cooked. The best part of the meal was the made in-house sangria. So many other good restaurants in Gloucester, we will not be back. Maybe for a drink. read more

Amazing place! Onion sup is the best I ever tried. Onions are thin cut, a lot of cheese - delicious. Baked haddock is very suggested, especially with mashed potato. The place itself is nice wig a lot parking spots available. read more

We were going whale watching and stopped here for lunch. My husband and I both had haddock tacos and were delighted. The fish was so fresh, and cooked just right. The service was excellent: prompt, friendly and very professional. Hayley was our server and you couldn't do better. The price for our great lunch was very reasonable. I'd recommend this place to anyone traveling to Gloucester. read more

Hmmm, I had such high hopes for this place. Got the seafood Mac n cheese $24 hardly any seafood in it. Daughter got fisherman's platter $32. 2 scallops, a few malnourished looking clams couple shrimp, octopus and small pc of fish. Definitely not worth $32. Won't be going there again read more

No time to write a detailed review so I'll give the highlights. I like the place itself. It's in a good location and decor and ambiance is good. The wait staff was very friendly and down to earth. The food was just ok. I had the lazy man's lobster and not much was done with it. For $35 I expected a bit more. My friend had the stuffed sole I believe, or some stuffed whitefish. That I didn't think was good at all. The gravy they poured all over it overwhelmed the fish and even the crabmeat stuffing. The wine list was not great and the bottle we had was ok. The prices for the wine were ok but the prices for the food were high considering the quality. Overall I'd give it a 4.5/10 if they used a 10 point scale. read more

Ate here last night, please, before making paella consult a cookbook. There's supposed to be saffron in the broth. Also it's not a soup, it's a casserole, more rice, less broth. And hold the salt, this should come from the chorizo sausage (totally absent). If you can only spare 3 mussels make sure they're all open. It said it had lobster, thanks for the claw! Otherwise nice atmosphere,love the lighting, nice staff. read more

I brought my family from Atlantic City and California to The Gloucester House because they have a reputation for having the freshest seafood, right off the fishing boats and a friendly, attentive staff. In fact, before I went inside I spoke with some staff outside and they were very informative about the seafood coming in. We all sat at the bar because we enjoy socializing with locals and the attentiveness of a highly skilled bartender. ( We can also tend to be loud, so a bar area won't disturb dining patrons.) Dave, our very handsome and highly intuitive bartender, was amazing! He guided us through and chose for us the freshest seafood catches and picked the best of the best for 6 hungry and thirsty patrons. He was absolutely divine! We totally enjoyed speaking to Ron, one of the locals who charmed us with history. All in all it was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend going ‼ read more

Found this place just by driving down the road and looked nice enough I pulled over to check out the reviews and noticed pretty polar opposite with really good and really bad and glad I went with my gut. The food was fantastic. The New England clam chowder was so creamy and bacony it was fantastic. Definitely would come back for that alone. I also had the Lobster Pie. It was perfect. The lobster was fresh and cooked perfectly. The crumbs were buttery and yummy. Next time I'm in the area I will definitely come back. read more

I went here for Valentines day because of a lack of planning, and although we had a fun time, the food was terrible. The wait staff was very nice, pleasant, helpful - but the food was bland, the menu not so interesting (especially as someone else mentioned for the non-seafood folks). There is something a bit charming about the campy fisherman decor (I like the giant harpoon). I would not recommend this place to anyone looking to have a good dinner. The prices are too high for what you get. However, it might be a nice place to go on a David-Lynch type date, just for coffee. The lamps on the tables are fantastic, but overall I give this place a thumbs down. read more

The Gloucester House - Outside - Seafood Near Me - Gloucester, Massachusetts

The food was good and we really enjoyed watching the boats. The service was also good and the prices are reasonable for the area! read more

The Gloucester House - Unfortunately it was raining but we still enjoyed watching the boats going in and out! - Seafood Near Me - Gloucester, Massachusetts

I had lunch at the Gloucester House with my girlfriend and her family. We sat at the bar and had a great time!!! Dave was the bartender and he took great care us!!! The Oysters Rockefeller was amazing!!! And, we got a local history lesson from a gentleman that is a member of the first family to settle in Rockport, 10 generation ago! I highly recommend this place for great seafood and local flavor! read more

Awesome food. Lobster roll was amazing and so was the baked clams. Kids menu and food very reasonable. read more

The Gloucester House - Seafood Near Me - Gloucester, Massachusetts

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The restaurant is in the back of the big building seen from the road. It is a small, throwback place that has a generally warm feel. The views of that part of the inner harbor are limited, but still very nice. The wait staff was pleasant as well. For dinner: Baked Haddock with 2x baked potato, rice and broccoli Caesar salad with Blackened Haddock Both were very good. Some of the better prepared fish we had since being in the area. Cooked to the perfect temperature. The rice (I am not usually not a fan) was good. The 2x baked was a little dry, but it was ok. The broccoli, was broccoli. There aren't a great many options in this particular area, especially after 7, but this was a good one. read more

The food was good- not mind blowing for the price. We started with the lobster rangoons which did not have enough filling and were served with a bitter sauce. Not my favorite. We also had the fried shrimp platter which was a solid meal- nothing amazing. And the seafood Mac and cheese which was good and had plenty of seafood. The service was also good at lunchtime on Saturday. No real complaints about this place just not the best seafood I have had in New England. read more

My husband and I made a trip to Gloucester because all things nautical fascinate him and Gloucester is just about the oldest seaport in America. It's been on his list of places to visit. The town itself is super cute and quaint. Back to the actual restaurant....We chose the restaurant The Gloucester House due to the positive reviews from TripAdvisor. We sat on the outside on the deck with a view of docked fishing boats. We had water, a beer, an appetizer - calamari, a cup of soup - clam chowder, Lobster ravioli and Lobster supreme. Our tab ran about $120 including tax and tip which is a bit pricey, but about normal for an upscale seafood restaurant. This was not an upscale seafood restaurant. The calamari was fresh and the batter was light, but it was a bit on the greasy side. The clam chowder was good, but nothing to really celebrate. The Lobster Ravioli which was my main course and a "house special"....was really disappointing. The ravioli itself was really thick and heavy--not at all what I expect a lobster ravioli to be. The sauce was also really thick and looked and heavy which is not what a lobster ravioli sauce should be. It tasted alright, but sat like a lump in my stomach. The Lobster Supreme was pretty good and a bib wasn't necessary. Why might you ask? This lobster dish is one that has been dissected for you. It's 1lb of lobster that has already been worked out of the lobster and combined with shrimp and scallops and stuffed back into the shell of the lobster it once was. I can't remember what the market price of this was but it was somewhere between $45-49 on its own. The service was okay. There were two waitresses working the deck tables and occasionally my water glass was filled when we were able to flag one down. The food came out pretty timely though and I was super hungry at the time so I really appreciated that. What I didn't like most about the experience was when the Whale Watching ship pulled into dock. It was cool watching the boat come in and all those people staring at us like an ad for the restaurant, but along with the boat came the incredibly awful diesel smell and smoke or dirt that it blew up from below. That came all directly at us. Yuck. Also, beware of those seagulls. I think the restaurant actually does this right. They have these Sam Adams umbrellas at the tables. They're there not only to shield you from the sun, but also the seagulls. We got bombed twice during our meal, but we weren't directly hit thanks the the umbrella and thanks to the fact that we sat more towards the restaurant than the outer part of the deck. This just wasn't my kind of place. The food was okay. It wasn't the most horrible, but it only strikes the mediocre cord with me. Pricing is a little high for what you get. Service could have been better, but they were at least nice. If you're visiting town, I wouldn't say to avoid this place altogether. Some people may actually really enjoy it, but for me, I would probably try somewhere else if I'm ever in Gloucester again. read more

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awash with butter the baked haddock is awash with butter and the ratio of fish/breadcrumbs/butter is woefully off base. the service was so so and the lack of vegetable choices [corn on the cob and coleslaw] is sorely lacking. they've been in business for nearly 60 years and it would be a good place to take your grandparents, if they were still alive. hopefully they will update their business model as they have a good location and loads of potential. read more

The Gloucester House - gloucester house entrance - Seafood Near Me - Gloucester, Massachusetts

We were sad that they didn't have any lobster and that is why I am giving them a 3 star review. Fish and chips where very good and service was good. read more

The Gloucester House - Seafood Near Me - Gloucester, Massachusetts

I'm giving my experience a 1 star only because of the hostess. The food was good, not great and I'd come back again for another try if ever I'm back in Gloucester, BUT there is no warmth when you walk in. The hostess was looking at her phone and didn't acknowledge us at all until I asked her if we could be seated and you would have thought I asked for her first born by the look she gave us! She walked us to a nice booth overlooking the harbor, dropped the menus and walked away. Not a word was spoken to us. Watching her interact with other customers, she was not that way. My companion went to the restroom and overheard her talking bad about the customer she was just laughing with and gushing over! The owners might want to rethink who they have as the first face of the restaurant, because that alone was a total turnoff. It was the tall skinny blonde. Such a rude person! read more

We held our rehearsal dinner here. The staff was fantastic and incredibly accommodating. The food was good and the chocolate cake was to die for. I would offer two constructive criticisms -- there were far too many seats for our party, even though we gave them a final number. That meant some families sat down and ended up eating by themselves. Also, the apps ran out and weren't refilled (not a huge deal- they brought out the main course shortly after). Thanks for everything. read more

Meh. I stopped here while visiting Gloucester, expecting that the popularity of the place would mean that some good food was waiting on the inside, but that turned out to not really be the case. Sure, my lunch was ok, but it was incredibly overpriced. My clam strip roll cost almost twice as much as I would pay elsewhere, and it was lacking in flavor and much too chewy. A cup of soup is also $7 and mediocre, while other places nearby have really excellent $4 cups. The whole place also felt a bit kitsch to me. It was raining when we went, so we couldn't eat outside (which looked nicer) but the inside felt like typical phoned-in nautical decor that you would see anywhere but on the shore. Except that's where we were. Avoid it unless you're REALLY itching to go for some reason. There's no shortage of seafood restaurants in the area, and this is not one of the best. read more

I wasn't very impressed. The majority of the seating was on the side of the dock so you're staring at docked fishing boats so no view there. You order your food at the counter when you walk up & they call your number when it's ready, which is pretty quick. Had a lobster roll which was not very good (unfortunate because that's become 1 of my favorite things to eat). But if you want anything from the bar, GOOD LUCK! They had one server who didn't pay much attention when you're trying to flag her down & rarely came out to see if anyone wanted anything. read more

Food was good. But i felt the waitress did not want to wait on me and that she passed me on to a male waiter. My soup, salad and entree, all came out at the same time together. No other patron around me had this happen to them. I could not enjoy my meal, everything was going from hot to cold. Being the only black patron there, i made the best of it, ate and got of this town before dark. Things happen to black folks. Yes, i am playing the race card because it is still in the deck. Will go back go this place. read more

Not good for fried seafood. I was here 2 years ago when they started to go under and now today ordered the fried scallops and fried clam strips the quality is so poor. I can get better fried seafood at inland joints(Groton,MA) read more

This gift shop is right by the wharf at Gloucester Harbor where fishing boats come in to unload and where the whale watch boats go out. The Blue Collar Lobster House is next door. This gift shop includes your typical souvenirs, including "Wicked Tuna" merchandise from the TV series. We purchased a very special shot glass for our travel collection (a whale breeching), We have an extensive collection of shot glasses from all over the world. We had just completed the whale watch and saw many whales and several which breeched very close to our boat. Unfortunately, the shot glass got broken. I called the store to talk about getting a replacement and talked with Dottie. She immediately noted my interest in collecting shot glasses as her dad had done the same thing. She was extremely courteous and helpful and made arrangements for a replacement. We can't thank her enough. This is a very good example of a person who promotes area tourism and business. If you ever visit Gloucester, MA, we highly recommend that you stop in The General Store. read more

Hostess was abrupt, server did not mention specials...til we had decided, and food was just OK. Probably never again.

Always stop in whenever we're in Gloucester. The food is always good, and the service is pretty quick too. Good food, good drinks, and very nice location. read more

Had a wonderful time here with my family! Our bartender, Dave, was amazing! My first time to the area from CA! Dave come out and visit us!

Gloucester house was a great restaurant in the harbor. I feel like it's mainly a tourist spot (speaking as tourist) we went for my dads birthday because he wanted to eat lobster on the harbor. I got the house haddock with twice baked potato and cole slaw and it was great! They also have a gluten free menu which can be hard to find. All in all the place was great the only downsides to our visit our waitress disappeared at times and we were sat next to a rude guest complaining about his food. The guy was being completely rude to the waitresses. Next time I'm in Gloucester I'll def be coming back! read more

Server was inattentive to drink refills. Wasn't asked about how food was. If clam chowder is an example of quality, then the other menu options would not interest me. Should note that I have connections to the lobster and fish business; prices are about 200% of wholesale price. Ridiculous and outrageous. read more