Bailey’s Seafood Restaurant

I love good seafood. So, I was really excited to go to Baileys Seafood Restaurant on Pine Point Road in Scarborough. What a letdown. Bailey’s is one of the quintessential Main seafood places where you order at a window, wait for your number to be called and pick up the food and take it to your table. It was off-hours and off-season, so there wasn’t any line. I was a bit taken back by the prices. It was quite a bit more expensive than other restaurants of the same ilk in the area, for example, the Haddock dinner at Bailey’s is $4 more than at Ken’s and $3 more than at the Clambake (both are also along Pine Point Road in Scarborough). I thought, “Well if it is rally good, it’s okay.”

My wife and I ordered onion rings as an appetizer, then I ordered the Haddock dinner and my wife ordered the baked stuffed scallops. The dinners had an option for baked potato, something the other restaurants in the area don’t have, so I opted for that. We were told the scallops would take about 20 minutes and we replied that was okay. We wanted to order a couple drinks but were told the upstairs bar was closed. We could, however, order beer or wine; so, we ordered a couple wines.

The wines were mini-bottles - a good label at a reasonable price. A few minutes later, they called our number to let us know the onion rings were ready. They were awful – really greasy – I mean, puddle-at-the-bottom-of-the-box, greasy. We ate some from the top, but the one on the bottom, laying in the grease, couldn’t be salvaged. A few minutes later, she called our number again and I picked up our dinners.

It was very disheartening. The haddock had a weird breading that didn’t bind with the fish and the two pieces fit on the plate without any problem. The baked potato was just that. No oil or salt on the skin, which would have been nice. The coleslaw was very good, but the fish was among the worst I’ve ever had. The breading was not particularly good and the fish inside was dry and way overcooked. The scallops my wife received were even worse. They were rubbery pucks of sandy, gritty, scallops. The "stuffing" for the scallops were soggy Ritz crackers and her order of fries was as expected, bland frozen fries. Overall, the scallops were not what I’d expect for $22 take-away.

We ordered a couple more wines, ‘cause enough wine can make most anything taste better.

Service was okay. The order taker was pleasant and was quick to get extra sour cream and butter when we requested it.

Rating

• Ambiance: 2
• Food: 2 (Everything except the coleslaw was below expectations.
• Service: 2 (Order taker was friendly but no table service.)
• Price: 2 (Dinner averaged $20 per person for take-a-way w/o drinks)
• Value: 1 (High price, bad food – We will not return.)

I can’t imagine ever going back to Bailey’s Seafood Restaurant. There are just too many other options in the area.

[I’m sorry I didn’t have my camera with and couldn’t take photos of the food.]