Update March 2007 - It appears that this restaurant has gone out of business.

Name Of Establishment	The Seafood House
Address:	1639 Pacheco Blvd. Los Banos Calif.
Phone Number:	209-826-1975
Website:	Unknown
Prices:	Moderate - High
Date Of Review:	March 18, 2006
Check out the Official Merced County Health Inspection of this Restaurant - If that link isn't working try this link (note: these links are slow to load)
Our Overall Numeric Rating
Summation Opinion: Has potential but needs kinks worked out - especially with the service and decor.

On March 18, 2006 we decided to give The Seafood House (the place with the big orange man-sized shrimp sculpture out front) on Pacheco Blvd. in Los Banos a try. While the food was pretty good, the service and the atmosphere didn't meet the same level of quality. We left there feeling satisfied from our dinner, but not with the over-all experience.

When you walk into the Seafood House, there are two corridors; one leading to the left and the other to the right. To the right is the fish market portion of the restaurant that at the time of our visit did not look like it was completely developed yet. Once building is complete, I imagine it might be a nice alternative place in town to buy fresh fish and other seafood for a home-cooked dinner.

To the left there is the dining area. It's not a "fancy" looking place. Actually it sort of reminds me of a medium-class, older diner. Plants are set up on half walls and there is a mix of booths and tables.

We were seated in a comfortable booth in the very far left corner where we immediately noticed we were nearly sharing the space with a large, dirty-gray cobweb dangling from the walls and ceiling. As we looked around we noticed that some of the light fixtures near us had light bulbs that weren't working or were missing. The general need to overhaul the interior was apparent in numerous other little ways. I wasn't impressed. This lack of "perfection: extended to the men's restroom as well. It looked like it needed a scrubbing pretty badly.

The whole feel of the place is one that is "unfinished" or "old". It could use some paint, new carpet and new finish on the dividing walls.

We were given our menus and our server took the order for our drinks (sodas which were perfectly mixed) and brought out a plate of cold, but soft French bread and little foil wrapped pats of butter-margarine mix. We were not given separate plates for our bread, so we just took our slices off of the main little plate. It would have been a nice touch to have the bread in a basket, to have it warmed and to have somewhere to set it down other than the plate from which it came. Some might even go so far as to say that being forced to share a community plate is on this side of impolite.

We browsed the menus and listened to our server tell us about the specials. There is a nice variety of seafood along with several cuts or types of steak. The prices are high; some of the appetizers range in the eight or so dollar range -nearly the price of a meal! We expected it to be on the expensive side though and we took our time trying to decide which meals to sample because so many of them sounded terrific! I decided I would order the breaded and deep fried shrimp and halibut combination for $13.95. The menu offers combo plates so you can order your favorite deep fried items such as halibut, cod, shrimp, clams and so on. With the combos you get fries and coleslaw.

My husband ordered the cowboy steak, which comes with sautéed vegetables, garlic bread and rosemary potatoes. He asked for a substitution of a baked potato instead of the rosemary potatoes and was told that we would have to pay an additional dollar for a baked potato. When he asked why we were informed that was because "otherwise everyone would want [baked potatoes] and they (our waitress seemed to allude to the staff in the back) would yell at her" (our server).

We both were a bit incredulous at this... who ever heard of a steak place that charged extra money for a simple baked potato? Frankly our opinion of this extra charge was quite negative. Not only was it annoying but it also struck us as being a bit 'cheap'. The steak portion of the meal already cost $16.95 and it really should have been offered with an alternative to mashed potatoes that had extra seasoning that we would have found unappealing. On top of that, to be told that the reason there was an extra charge was that if they did not charge extra "everyone would want [potatoes]" (so?!?) and that the [management] would "yell" at a waitress for asking for a reasonable substitution seemed quite inappropriate. We like it when restaurants go the extra mile and make small, reasonable customizations without charge. The Seafood House declined us this simple nicety and thereby lost a better review.

We decided to pay the extra buck for the baked potato and looked forward to a nice dinner despite the 'introduction' so far.

When our dinners arrived they were on large plates and looked quite delicious. My deep-fried items had a delicious breading on them (tasted a little reminiscent of beer batter), with the shrimp cooked perfectly and the halibut tender and a little moist. The coleslaw was tasty but a little dry and the fries were cooked up just right. I asked for a side of ranch and it was some of the best ranch dressing I've had in town.

My husband's cowboy steak was cooked just as he'd ordered it, with some sort of mushroom sauce on top. He said he could do without the sauce and I had to agree after I tried a bite. He thought the steak was just "O.K." and he expressed disappointment when he opined how this town still really needs a top-notch "steak house". His baked potato was cooked perfectly and came to us wrapped in foil with small containers of sour cream and melted butter. The garlic bread was typical of a restaurant but good.

While the seafood was good and the steak was okay, we must report that our opinion of the service was less than glowing. Our waitress was a young woman who we guess in her early twenties. Her earlier comments are noted above and while that was inappropriate enough, we also found her lack of attentiveness to be another downfall. Glasses of soda stood empty for longer than reasonable periods and trying to flag her down was not met with great success. Her manner was slightly abrupt; she was awkward giving out the specials of the day and she just didn't "take care" of us in the way that we would have expected for a restaurant at this price point.

At the end of our meal we were offered a terrific variety of delicious sounding deserts but the very generous main course portions meant that we had stuffed ourselves a bit too full to partake in the tempting deserts.

Overall, our experience at the Seafood House was a mix of both good and bad. The food was close to excellent for my meal and I'd like to try some of the other items on the menu like their seafood fettuccine. My husband wasn't thrilled with his steak; he thought that it was just "O.K." He wasn't necessarily unhappy with it, just not thrilled. The side items were good, in his opinion. The environment, atmosphere, and service were less than appealing and in our opinion detracted from the dining experience.

We recommend The Seafood House for the seafood, but would think twice about going there for a dinner that needs to be really "special" like an anniversary or birthday. The price certainly reflects a much finer establishment and we hope that the Seafood House will improve those aspects that are "less than fine"

Specific Opinions By Reviewer One
Overall Rating :
Food:
Service:	See above
Decor:	Pretty dated looking in places
Price/Value:	Extra charge for baked potato instead of mashed at a steak place?!?!
Bathroom Cleanliness:
Romance Factor:
Family Friendliness:

Specific Opinions By Reviewer Two
Overall Rating :	Has potential to be much more
Food:
Service:	Inattentive and negative
Decor:	Cobwebs don't do it for me
Price/Value:	Rated lower because of service and decor
Bathroom Cleanliness:
Romance Factor:	Has potential
Family Friendliness:

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Merced County Health Food Facility Inspections Site

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