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Restaurant Review: Sam’s Seafood

First a little background. Originally opened in 1923, Sam’s Seafood was just a regular seafood restaurant until is was given a Polynesian makeover (photos here) in the 60’s launching it in worldwide tiki lore. Over the next 40 years Sam’s continued on as a main stay of Sunset Beach, though it is noted that in the late 80’s and 90’s Sam’s had gone downhill becoming run down and feeling like nothing more than a shitty Ihop. Then in 2006 Sam’s Seafood closed and was to be torn down and it’s land turned into retail space and condos. But due to permit and zoning complications, the owner who sought to tear down Sam’s sold it to a local restauranter (Tsunami Sushi, just down the street), who began a year long renovation of the restaurant. Currently the front dining rooms, the bar, patio, and a dance floor are now open for business.

Given that I have been driving by Sam’s for almost 3 years now to and from work every day, when me and the Almost Wife saw that Sam’s was being restored we eagerly awaited it’s re-opening. On Saturday night we decided to give it a go and though we had built up the restaurant in our heads pretty good by then, Sam’s did a decent job living up to our expectations. We made reservations for 7pm (reservations are recommended) and got there and were seated right away, leaving us no time to adequately check out the bar.

Sam’s menu is pretty small with about 4 or 5 seafood dishes (Salmon, Halibut, Jumbo Shrimp, and Ahi), and at least one or two pork, beef, and chicken dishes (hey we’re Pescetarians so we didn’t pay much attention to those other dishes). They had quite a few appetizers (note; for this week at least, mention to the OC Weekly to your server when ordering an appetizer to get it for free), we had the Ahi Tacos…they were delicious.

For our entres, I had the seared Ahi garnished noodles, cherry tomatos, and cucumber, while AW had the Halibut with mashed potatoes (she liked her’s but was a little disappointed with the mashed potatoes, she said they needed something more). My dish, the Ahi, was good but not great. Temperature seemed to be the issue of the night. The Ahi was not quite hot enough (a tad above room temp) and the noodles were either not cold enough or not hot enough (I’m not sure what the chef was going for). Though I must say the noodles with the Ahi was quite a good combination regardless of temperature, one I haven’t had before. Here is a pic I didn’t take of the Ahi dish.

For desert, yes AW loves desert so we always at the very least contemplate the desert menu, we had the Saskatoon Berry pie, and here is where temperature problems struck again. The pie was not cooked long enough, the crust was sloggy and the inside was barely warmed through, plus the Saskatoon Berry is not that flavorful. Note to owner if you read this, drop this item from the menu.

Prices range from $22 - $28 for entres and $8 - $10 for appetizers. I don’t remember how much drinks were, I had two hefeweizens, but I don’t think they were on the cheap side.

Anyways, overall we were pretty satisfied with our meal and can excuse some of meal’s faults due to the restaurant re-opening only a week ago.

Music connection: 311 shot their music video for “Love Song” at Sam’s in February 2004 (source Music Video Wire).

Sam’s Seafood: 16278 South Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92649 | Ph: 562.592.1321