Victoria Seafood Restaurant

Posted On March 27, 2019

2 Stars

 1029 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215

(617) 783-5111

https://www.victoriaseafoodallston.com/

December 22, 2018

About 6 PM.  Mama Foodie and I, together with 4 guest critics arrived at Victoria Seafood in Boston, MA.  We arrived and were seated promptly, although in a very cramped table by the window.  It took a while before they could even bring us water.  Then, once we got water, I drank mine too fast.  Meanwhile, we ordered Hot and Sour Soup for 4, One egg drop soup and one chicken and corn soup, beef teriyaki, fish in lemon sauce, bok choi, kung pao chicken, cashew chicken, pepper beef, beef with mushrooms and eggplant in garlic sauce, and beef lo mein with only carrots and broccoli.  It wasn’t the best Chinese food on earth.

The website says: “At Victoria Seafood Restaurant we offer meals of excellent quality and invite you to try our delicious food.  The key to our success is simple: providing quality consistent food that taste great every single time. We pride ourselves on serving our customers delicious genuine dishes like: Chinese, Asian.  Eat delicious food. Grab a drink. But most of all, relax! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support.”  I am sure me, Mama Foodie, and all of our guest critics can agree that the food was not as delicious as the restaurant claims.  It is impossible to relax with it being so loud, and the food was not actually consistent.

Big Baby Says:

Service: 1   Atmosphere: 2    Cleanliness: 3  Food: 6

Average Score: 3

I am going to make three points.  First point.  This does not qualify as a restaurant.  A restaurant is a kitchen with a dining room attached to it and a bathroom that is actually usable; and, in my opinion, it must have waiters that will remember what you ordered.  This non-restaurant is just a kitchen with a dining room attached and a bathroom.  It qualifies as a Chinese kitchen.  Second point:  The bathroom looked so unclean that if I had been paying attention before I peed, I would have decided to go out and pee outside.  Third point:  Buttercup, the guest critic, did not get her food until after we had finished our meals. The food wasn’t bad but wasn’t great either.  The beef teriyaki was excellent.  The beef lo mein was disappointing because it was way too salty.  The egg drop soup wasn’t bad, but normally when I go to a Chinese restaurant, the egg drop soup looks different.  The spring roll wasn’t very good.  It was too crunchy on the outside and too soft on the inside. 

The service was some of the worst I have ever had in a restaurant.  Once I finished my water, they didn’t come back for a longgggg time to refill water.  They never did ask us how our food was.

The atmosphere was Toooooooooo loud.  It was so loud that if someone walked in and played a horn blast in your ear, you would have a hard time hearing them.  The appearance wasn’t bad, although it was hard to see the dining room from where we were sitting.

I don’t get why it is so popular.  Bottom line point, if you don’t want to read the rest: It Stank!

Mama Foodie Says:

Atmosphere: 2 Cleanliness: 3     Service: 2             Food:7

Average Score: 3.5

I have eaten at Victoria Seafood before.  In most cases, it has been adequate.  Nothing special, but with food that was warm and tasty, perfect for a cold night.  This visit was entirely different.  Upon entering, we were asked, in a very condescending way, if we had made a reservation.  We had not.  In fact, in the many years that we have been going there, we had never once made a reservation.  We were seated at a round table near the window.  The seating area was much too small for our party.  We were served water and tea very promptly, and our order was taken without much of a delay.  The soups came out in a timely manner, and they were very good.  That was where things started to go wrong.  Most of the entrees were served, with the exception of the fish dish for the member of our party who does not eat meat.  When this was brought to our waiter’s attention, he said he would deal with it.  By the time the missing entree showed up, the rest of us were already finished with our meals.

Overall, the restaurant had a run-down appearance.  Minimal decorations, and tables that are much too close together. 

I think Victoria Seafood would be better for take out than for dining in, but I would give it the pass.

Buttercup says:

Atmosphere: 4  Cleanliness: 5     Service: 3             Food: 7

Average Score: 5

Several orders were very late in coming.  Did they have to catch the fish?! The atmosphere was very noisy.  Victoria Seafood has good food and nice presentation.  The portions were very generous.  I was disappointed that there were no fortune cookies to complete the dining experience.

Auntie Venom says:

Atmosphere: 4  Cleanliness: 5     Service: 3             Food: 7

Average Score: 5

I have been here before, so my expectations regarding atmosphere were not high.  The bathrooms could have been cleaner, but the waiter was attentive about removing empty dishes.  I wish I had ordered what Mama Foodie did!  Her entrée was great, mine just okay, but generous portions, so we all got to try whatever we wanted.

Fidel Gastro says:

Atmosphere: 4 Cleanliness: 4     Service: 5             Food: 7

Average Score: 5

Atmosphere: Tired décor and poor acoustics.

Cleanliness: Table adequately clean.  Lavatory, not so much.

Service: 8/10 of our order arrived in a timely fashion.

Food: Tasty dishes and plentiful portions.

Dirk Dagger Says:

Atmosphere: 3  Cleanliness: 3     Service: 3 Food: 5

Average Score: 3.5

I wanted to like this place. I’ve eaten here a few times over the years, and have some fond memories of meals enjoyed here. Regrettably, this restaurant seems to have fallen into a tired dinginess with lackadaisical service to boot. The food also seemed tired, the spicy dishes lacking the expected zing of piquant Chinese food. For instance, the hot and sour soup had nice favors which blended well, but lacked the sharpness and afterburn of truly memorable soups. Other dishes were rather average, with moments of goodness which promised more than arrived at our table. The kung pao chicken had a sad, soggy quality to it with flat flavors punctuated by the occasional chili pepper to liven it up.

The restaurant’s acoustics were awful, and it did not help that our party was parked in Siberia in the most remote corner of the restaurant by the front window: abandoned in our role as live mannequins. Flagging down the service took deliberate efforts just short of firing flares, and one entrée was delayed for an unforgivable amount of time. As for the restrooms, go somewhere else. Having enjoyed authentic Chinese food in Victoria City, sadly this joint is literally and figuratively the other side of the world.