I went there today for lunch. I've been for dinner several times and a little known fact is that Legal Seafood will make anything offered on the dinner menu for lunch as well, you just have to ask. Thought that was cool because I really love the Everything Tuna they have on the dinner menu. I wound up choosing Greek Mediterranean Salmon instead though and it was good. I have to say, though, probably the BEST thing about LS is the ROLLS! They are so delicious. The service can be hit or miss because they get very busy, but it is still worth it occasionally for the awesome tuna and rolls.

I love fresh seafood, but this place always has a long wait and is very small. I feel this Legal Seafood overspices/adds a lot of extra toppings to their fresh fish. Good mojitos, though.I used to eat at the one in Boston in the late 1980s and their food was better.

If your heart can take this, Legal Sea Foods' crab cakes are really decadent. They are full bodied flavoured and contains large chunks of crab meat (rather than the flaky parts). Although it tastes great, I tend to struggle through the second cake...that's when I can feel my heart pumping real fast from the richness of the ingredients!

I would suggest sharing this main course with your dining partner or doggy bagging the remainder rather than to give it a miss as it is definitely worth a try.

I've visited Legal Seafood many times when in Boston. Not only the downtown facility, but also the branch at Burlington Mall. Always great. So now with travel to Washington DC, I was excited to find a Legal Seafood not only by the MCI Centre, but also in Crystal City.

My visits to the MCI Centre Legal Seafood were also very good, but what a disappointment the Crystal City Legal Seafood was.

I went there on a Saturday evening (17:00, actually) and was one of the first tables to be seated. I waited for about 15 minutes before a waiter came for a drink order. (I was just off a plane from Europe and needed a beer.) Once we connected, however, service was very good.

I ordered the fried seafood platter – always a winner at other Legal Seafoods. Being a Carolina boy from the beach – one of the best places for fried seafood – the fried platter is my litmus test for a seafood restaurant: fresh seafood, very lightly battered. To avoid items low in seafood and high in batter, I asked for a substitution of anything in place of the clams and explained why. I was brought a heaping plate of fried seafood. There were two things wrong with it. First, it didn't smell like seafood. It smelled like oil and batter. And not just oil – it smelled like old oil. I used the tartar sauce to deal with that. Second, while it was a heaping plate, a very generous portion of the "seafood" were squid tentacles (rather than squid rings). Extremely low in seafood, very high on batter. And strangely, not very much fish. Also, as I finished the meal I noticed that there were pieces of very small unrecognizable fried items with lots of batter. It reminded me of a seafood "McDonalds" where items are fried ahead of time and kept warm in a holding bin. When the bin is finished, all the remnants of fried items remain in the bottom. So I left the batter potion of the meal to one side and it became one third of the serving. (The shrimp were nice size, however).

The other negative comment I would give on the food was the serving of broccoli. Legal Seafood gets good points for offering something healthy in place of fried potatoes. In this case, there was a choice between broccoli, snow peas and something else. I went for the broccoli. It was a generous portion, but the presentation was abysmal. One very large chuck of green on a side plate. There was so much that could have been done with that. Serve it in smaller pieces, put something on it, and make it more presentable. Presentation of food is as important as taste.

The manager did make the rounds that night soliciting feedback and I gave him my comments (showing him the huge amount of batter that was left). He was, of course, apologetic and indicated to speak with the kitchen. He offered a free desert which I declined. I wasn't feeling so well by that point. The bill arrived 30 seconds after he left my table - I guess that they had enough of me by that time.

In fairness to Legal Seafood, I went back a few nights later (Legal Seafood being one of my favourite restaurants), and ordered the same meal around the same time. It smelled better (more like seafood). I mentioned my previous experience and I was spared the tentacles. I went with the snow peas (they had a sauce was would have a better presentation). The meal was better, but I wouldn't go back. I'll stick with Boston. (Even the Legal Seafood at the Boston Airport was better.)