Critic's Review
The first thing I thought of when I heard about this place was 'What a stupid name for a Restaurant". They seem to know this, since the sign says New England Seafood. The reason it's a bad name is that nobody knows what a doughboy is down here (nor does anyone want them), and clam cakes aren't exactly in high demand either.
This place used to be Hickory Sticks BBQ, and they opened pretty quickly, so I expected the place to be pretty much the same. They painted the fencing white, because white picket fences are more New England than black picket fences.
Inside the place has a similar dark to light paint job, and not much else. There is a big logo on the wall.
The point of moving into a place this big is that you can get a liquor license; there's a big empty bar that doesn't seem opened for lunch.
They tried to seat me in the first booth near the entrance but I negotiated for something a big more central.
I'd looked at the menu and decided that there was no good way to try the clam cakes. Clam cakes are basically stuffing with clams, so I had no illusions that trying them would transport me to Cape Cod, but I didn't see any way to order less than 6 of them. They're "sides" are kind of odd here. One problem with their $6.95 lunch special is that you'd be stupid to order anything else; it includes a drink so ordering a regular menu item is like $5 more.
I wanted to try something else, so I ordered a fish sandwich and a cup of New England Clam Chowder. 'That's the White One", I was informed. Good info.
Something I noticed right off was they they didn't even change the sound track; it was all country all the time. Randy Houser, Brad Paisley, Dustin Lynch. They really don't listen to this stuff in Rhode Island.
I purposely didn't order a doughboy, which is fried dough, because to me they're like garlic knots or donut holes; 2 other things I wouldn't pay money for.
The tea and soup came out right away.
The soup was very thick; definitely not some old family recipe. This stuff is loaded with flour. Not very clammy. Great NE Chow-dah is looser and has the taste of the sea. This didn't have any of that.
Not terrible soup, but not as good as Kelly's or even Joe's Crab Shack's version. It's also a very small cup of soup; arguably not worth $4.
While waiting for the food I noticed the "decorations", which consisted of a handful of pictures of New England landmarks.
This looked like it was stretched out from a smaller picture. Pretty low budget decorations. Finally the fish arrived.
The cole slaw didn't look so hot; I tasted it and I was right about it; I didn't like it at all. I prefer mayo in my slaw. The fries were decent. And I guess I was surprised at the fish sandwich; usually it's fish and chips fish on a roll, but these were fingers. "Fish Sticks" we used to call them.
The roll with shredded lettuce was uninteresting so I ended up eating these without the bread. Decent fish. It wasn't clear to me if these were hand-battered or commercial; the round sticks are more difficult to do my hand. Usually hand battered fish is oddly shaped.
Not bad fish sticks but no better than you can get at any number of places around town.
Conclusion
I think these guys have made the same mistake that the Hickory Sticks guys made (which resulted in them having to sell both of their restaurants). This place is just too big and in the wrong location to sell beachside lunch food. This place is like Anglins without the waterfront ambiance and New England tourists and retirees.
This place was a small storefront before they moved here; I think they're being optimistic, particularly when they didn't even bother to consider changing the music.