London Lennie's

Category: Restaurants, Cafes, Bars

Seafood

ZAGAT Review:

Food: 21
Cost: $40

“Delicious fresh fish” at “fair prices” “and plenty of it” are what made this “big”, “bustling”, nearly 50-year-old Rego Park seafooder an “institution”, though “long waits” for a table are also notorious; “so-so service” and decor in need of a “freshen-up” don’t deter devotees.

*****

NEW YORK MAGAZINE Review:

Opened in 1959 by Leonard Barnes, a former English Merchant Marine, this 180-seat seafood restaurant creates an inviting mood via soft lighting, dark wood tones and cushioned booths—as well as some bubbling lobster tanks. The chefs’ daily trips to the fish market guarantees an ever-changing menu of deftly executed specials. A multi-tiered Shellfish Castle is designed for big groups craving lobster, clams, crab, and oysters. The velvety New England clam chowder is more a thick, creamy stew than your average watery broth, and the Whole Flounder Imperial, cooked in a delicate cream sauce, enfolds jumbo shrimp and tender lump crabmeat. — Aaron Rasmussen

*****

NEW YORK TIMES BLURB:

This perpetually packed seafood house is an oversize mom-and-pop operation with the visual trappings of a prosperous chain restaurant: a sparkling tile floor, polished wood walls, prints of palace guards, a retail fish counter and a neon-crowned bar. The menu changes daily. Dinner might begin with steamed mussels in white wine and garlic; fried calamari served with a tomato sauce; salmon gravlax paired with wasabi cream, or a selection of fresh clams and oysters on the half shell from the raw bar. For main courses, the daily catch might include sauteed halibut topped with dried tomato pesto and grilled corn salsa; horseradish-crusted sea bass with a port wine and shallot sauce; seared lemonfish accompanied by mixed greens and dressed with a vinaigrette, and pan-roasted monkfish set over seashell pasta tossed in basil oil. (7/12/91; Article: 2/9/92)