Kelly's Seafood

I LOVE KELLY'S!I've been a customer since the late 60s so I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this historic eatery. First, the atmosphere is very comfortable... tasteful nautical decor. The food is quite good. They bread and fry better than most any other seafood restaurant in Philly. The grilled salmon is very good. Red bliss potatoes are crispy and wonderfully flavorful. Excellent cole slaw. Great honey mustard dressing. Fried flounder is fabulous. Shrimp fabulous. Cozy bar!Now, the few things they REALLY need to improve: 1) POOR QUALITY ROLLS-- These are quite bad. Dry and flavorless. It's easy to secure excellent bread in a city like Philly with so many great bakeries. Great restaurants have great bread. Kelly's does not.2) HORRENDOUS MUSIC-- Talk about killing the cozy atmosphere. This is a fine seafood restaurant, not a night club. I like most all types of music, including hard rock, but the last thing I want to hear when I eat dinner is noise like "I Love Rock and Roll" by Pat Benetar and "We Didn't Start the Fire" (an excellent tune, but certainly not to accompany your dinner with your family! e g : "Children of Thalidomide... AIDS...Crack... Foreign Debts... Suicide... JFK Blown Away" etc etc etc. Come on, guys... choose some nice mellow music that's actually appropriate for a restaurant of your caliber... music that's relaxing to eat by. You're not running a crappy corner bar.3) HARSH ABOVE TABLE LIGHTING--Switch your harsh lightbulbs that blast light directly into your guests' eyes... replace them with popular half-dome mirrored bulbs--they're $6 a piece on Amazon and last forever. This will make a big difference in the comfort and dining experience. 4) WEAK DESSERT SELECTION--For years, only rice and chocolate pudding or Jell-O. Come on... Kelly's isn't a nursing home. Add a few nice pastries... even for a premium if guests want them over the nursing home standards. A great dinner deserves a great ending... not something you'd expect in an elementary school or memory-care facility.5) NO HORSERADISH/OTC CRACKERS--I love them in seafood houses and miss them in Kelly's.I've always been a fan of Kelly's... and I want them to continue their long success (since 1958!). A few tweaks will put a polish on this gem of a local seafood restaurant.

Food is always delicious! Kathy, Lori & Jeanine are amazing, their service is always on point. Not sure why the low stars but it def is a hidden gem!

I always enjoy their food , went with daughter , she said needs more flavor , service was good will go back again , been going here for years , will be going back for more years. . I had shrimp n scallops with pasta . I enjoyed it , I had left overs to take home . Large potions

Fried Calamari This dish was tough, Had no technical, and no flavor. Was it pig anus.Crab Cakes Was actually crab impereal period period this dish Add the texture of mashed potatoes and no trace of crab. The next dish was shrimp stuff with crab meat. And that too, had the mashed potato Texture with no trace of crab meat. The waitress played dumb.And she took my dish into the kitchen.And she said that the cook found some crab meat.I couldn't find a trace of Crab meat And I kid you not. This lunch was on the twenty second of septemburp, two thousand twenty three, And it could only be described as a disgrace. The cook's other job must be changing tires.

My sister gives a five for her scallop platter, soup, and over all experience. I really enjoyed my food and experience, as well. The only thing I would change is using fresh cut potatoes for the fries but overall very happy with my crab cake platter and soup. Nice restaurant with a bar area, too, for your enjoyment. The wait staff were very nice and friendly and attentive. Check them out!

Good solid food. Great snapper soup. Always consistent in quality. Nice family atmosphere.

Tonight we came here for my mom's birthday dinner. This has been the 3rd time coming here because we LOVED the food. Each time we went we got the same type of food. The waitresses/staff are always so nice! Tonight when we arrived we asked what the veggies were? The waitress said "cream spinach, but would not order it. It's not good at all"! We were taken back but appreciated her honesty. The fried calamari (which we got before and LOVED IT) this time has no taste, rubbery and hard. The claims casino was burnt to the crisp. The salmon we sent back but it was RAW the waitress agreed. The crabcakes had NO crab at all. It only had this raw soup filling inside I had two bites and spit it out. Since my husband sent his salmon back, he ordered the crabcakes, not realizing that I was disgusted by mine. His crab cakes came out within two seconds, which was weird and they were cold, with no crab meat. My mom got the lobster tail. She couldn't even put her knife through it because of how rubbery and hard it was. At this point, we couldn't even complain because we would've had to taken back EVERY single dish we had on the table. The only thing that was good was my mom's birthday dessert. I'm so sorry that this had to happen because it's nice to have a seafood restaurant near by but we will never come back again. I actually feel nauseous driving home.

Ordered few things to go: salmon, chicken Alfredo penne, chicken Marsala and stuffed mushrooms. Stuffed mushrooms turned out to be the highlight of the meal. Rather disappointing with everything else.Salmon came with asparagus that cannot chew through. Chicken Alfredo penne - had barely any chicken in it and it was cut into small pieces. Chicken Marsala: the side of vegetables (mashed potatoes) probably ended up being only 1/8 of a cup of it. Hostess had an attitude almost from the moment I walked in when I tried to place an order and was then passed to a waitress to place a to-go order.Restaurant itself felt very dated with more of a buffet feel than a seafood place. Will NOT go back.

I love Kelly's. It's cozy. The wait staff I've had has been lovely. The portions are generous enough that I've often taken some home to enjoy later. I usually get oysters, because I love oysters, but anything I've had has been good. The different friends I've gone with have all enjoyed their meals no matter what they've ordered. I gave 4 stars because it is a "neighborhood place" rather than a "dining experience" place but a great choice for a meal in the neighborhood!

Food very good, service not always good depending on which waitress you get. I used to be a regular until I got stuck with a waitress who kept calling me "sweetie" and honey" even after I asked her to stop calling me that-she let me know she thought I was being silly. There are a few waitresses there who need additional training in how to properly communicate with customers.