Connie and Ted's ---- for the fans out there, why's it so great?

I was here for dineLA last week. Overall, a disappointment. We started with fried calamari; it was pale, gummy and an ungenerous portion. We had the crab louis, which was oddly served in a schooner glass that was impossible to eat well from. The crab was shredded in a way that made you curious if it had been re-purposed from some other function.
From the dineLA menu, I had the 3 chowders, which were quite nice. Followed with the battered cod sandwich, which could not have been more bland or boring. The fries that were served with it were not good; undercooked. At the end, the Whoppie Pie was kinda nice. The decor was very appealing, but I won’t return.

Was this lunch or dinner? I ask b/c I went last wk and our menu (dinner) had totally different choices (and was quite tasty). Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. :frowning:

They have a wild and aquacultured species in NZ and quite a different taste between the two. Down in NZ they have a season for the wild, the locals call them Bluff Oysters.

I like the fact that Connie & Ted’s is one of the few places that serve my favorite Island Creek oysters from Duxbury, MA.

Lunch.

Bob-Brooks, count me in as another who has been disappointed in Connie and Ted’s. We have been there twice, once for dinner and once for lunch. Completely agree with your assessment of the fried calamari. Our overall experience was that this was a wildly over-rated restaurant which was over-hyped due to the Providence connection. Nothing we had was remarkable. Fishing With Dynamite is so much better. Just wish it were closer to the westside. Service at FWD is also very sweet…C&T’s is definitely not sweet.

Fishing With Dynamite serves great NZ oysters during the non “R” Months.

Whenever I read unfavorable reviews about Connie & Ted’s I scan down to what the person ate and am never surprised. What C&T excels at is New England style preparations: fried clams, chowders, lobster rolls & such. People going to C&T expecting Southern California or even Southern Italian style seafood always seem to be disappointed. In New England they use squid/calamari as bait. It’s a shame C&T can’t do better in that dept. But for people who like or miss Cape Cod style seafood it’s the closest we get in L.A. Oh and they happen to have great Oysters from the Pacific NW .

P.S. On a non-New England note, Spoon University just voted the C&T Blondie “best ice cream dessert” in California. It’s wicked good!

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I like your style of response. I also have to wonder how a place with such a reputable pedigree wouldn’t excel at every dish they offer at C&T. Bait or not - if they offer it on the menu, shouldn’t the quality and execution be on par with the rest of the menu items? Just seems weird.

It is weird. In fact, because of the mixed reviews we didn’t go to until this year. I assumed it would be another disappointing attempt at New England seafood. After we went I started to pay closer attention to the details of negative reviews and found a pattern. I can’t think of any other restaurants like that.

At C&T, you could play with your food, and put together something like this

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Very nice

I like C&T because they serve NE style clam stuff - steamers, fried clam sandwjch, fried clam plate, lobster rolls, and especially their oyster special at Happy Hour, 6 oysters for 10 bucks. Unfortunately it’s Chef’s Choice for the oysters, all the same, but still 6 for 10 bucks, WOW. I always go at Happy Hour time, Mon - Thurs 4 to 7 PM, must sit at the oyster bar for this deal. I’m there at least once a month, and it satisfies my cravings. I"m a lover of the pan roasts at the Oyster Bar at GCT in NYC. Too bad I can’t find that out here.

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Pan roast = ritters steam kettle, Costa Mesa.

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That’s actually a different kettle of fish (or, rather, shrimp, clams, crab, chicken or lobster) than the pan roast served at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, which, as the name implies, has oysters (though you can also order it with other seafood, if you prefer) and uses a cream rather than tomato base and has toast instead of rice in the middle of the bowl. For the Ritter’s style of (noon-oyster) pan roast, in O.C., I think Kettlebar in the District is somewhat better than Ritter’s.

I learned something today

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Me too. I didn’t even know what a pan roast was and certainly didn’t expect to see a bowl of soup - seems great btw. It shows, even in New England food can be regional. Like the different styles of Southern BBQ.

Right there with you on GCT Oyster Bar and the pan roasts. I would love for the C&T folks to make a version, as I agree that their oysters and general Northeastern seafood dishes are consistently good, so they might do that well.

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My favorite roast is the Ipswich Clam pan roast (with bellies). That and a nice glass of cold beer is a great lunch.

Does anybody know of any places in the OC that has steamers? Bluewater Grill has a steamer full of clams but not sure this is the same thing.