I’ve driven past Seven Seas Seafoods on Lorain Avenue in West Park literally countless times and inexplicably never stopped in. I’ve had seafood that was purchased from there and cooked by others but never ventured inside for a look. Well, since it was Friday during Lent, and I’m a Catholic of admittedly inconsistent adherence, well, I finally did myself the favor and went inside.

There are a number of really enticing options and you can check out the menu below. They have meals to go as well as a bevy of fresh fish you can take home to cook yourself or peruse the stacked frozen fish selection. They even have pre-made, frozen chowder: New England, Manhattan, or Cleveland style. In the end, I went with the cod meal, which includes fries, cole slaw, a roll and some tartar sauce. As a bonus, I treated myself to a bowl of clam chowder as well.

The fish itself was really first-rate. Despite being fried it was incredibly moist and you get a decent serving size. The fries and cole slaw were standard and I definitely ate them. It’s tough to mess up clam chowder, and though Seven Seas didn’t disappoint, well once you’ve had clam chowder from Union Oyster House in Boston, everything else is just par for the course.

The best part of the meal was the tartar sauce. It was the creamiest tartar sauce I ever had. Robust without that overly tartary taste some places will have.

The staff was friendly and efficient, especially given the aforementioned Friday during Lent (and in West Park seemingly 1 out of every 2 people is either Catholic, was at some point Catholic, or their family was once Catholic). The clientele were all in a good mood and one gentleman was kind enough to give me tips on how best to cook catfish to make sure it doesn’t get too dry. The pieces can be neither too big, nor too small.

The best compliment I can probably give is to say that I’ll be going back. And after you go, I think you might too.

15725 Lorain Ave.
Cleveland