Dockside Seafood House

This restaurant is closed

This is now closed.

This seafood restaurant opened around February 2009, and while it doesn't seem to be anywhere close to a dock, it does offer some very tasty seafood. Start with the fried catfish, with a cornmeal crust that was crisp, while the flesh was deliciously flaky and moist. It came with a bone bowl, too, something that a lot of seafood restaurants don't bother to do. The thick cut of cod was tender and just as fine with a good batter crust.. The seafood was served with a pair of sides (fries, cole slaw, etc.) and some surprisingly yummy hushpuppies, not too sweet with a taste of onion.

The menu has a nice selection of fish including whiting and trout along with shrimp, scallops, clams and crab legs (when we dined there the evening special was crab legs for $17.75). There's a cheaper lunch menu. Dinner entrees ranged from about $9 to $13 for most dishes, and you can get a regular portion or a large one. Desserts are available; we were filled up by the fish and had no room to try them.

The restaurant's interior is nothing special, rather nondescript in fact, but the service was quick and efficient. Because the restaurant is new, not everyone apparently knows about it; we found out when a local librarian recommended it, and we trust librarians. Well worth a stop if you're in or near Hartwell.