Kelly's Roast Beef

My fiance and I have been on weekend culinary journies lately, with the latest one in Boston. He took me to Kelly's Roast Beef, which is a chain that claimed to have invented the original roast beef sandwich. It is set up like a fast food joint - you order from an overhead menu at the counter; food is served on paper plates and plastic trays, and you eat with plastic utensils. The only difference is that they bring you the food to your table when it's ready.




I don't eat red meat, but my fiance said their roast beef sandwich was just okay. Perhaps his expectations were high because food in New York, we believe, is generally better than Boston. However, fine dining in Boston is pretty comparable to New York.

Other than roast beef sandwiches, Kelly's also specializes in seafood. So I had to try a lobster roll. Kelly's claim that each roll is stacked with the meat of 2 lobsters. The truth? The meat was piled pretty high...so it is believable. In terms of taste, it was missing the fresh lobster taste (I had read somewhere that their lobster meat was frozen.) But hey, what can you expect from a chain? What was good though, was that the amount of mayonnaise was just right, and the bun (a bit over buttered for my taste) was very nicely toasted - it didn't get soggy at all within the 20 minutes of consumption. If you're into low carb, Kelly's offers lobster salads.

A well-stuffed lobster roll, which came with a bag of chips and a pickle

We also ordered a clam plate, which came with fried clams, fries and onion rings. The clams were sizable and not overly chewy, and the onion rings were pretty good. I heard their clam roll wasn't bad either.

A quite sizable fried clam from Kelly's fried clam plate

My overall verdict? If you're in Boston and have a craving for lobster rolls and fried clams, it's not a bad choice for a quick fix. But if you're in New York and would like a quality experience, go to Mary's Fish Camp or Pearl Oyster Bar.