Harbor Seafood

Restaurant Review

Anecdotes & Analysis

It stands to reason that a seafood restaurant allied with a retail fish and shellfish market will likely serve fresher, better seafood than a restaurant without such a connection. It also works for the retail side: fish that hasn't sold in a day or two is still fresh enough to be cooked and served without any significant problems. It's only been in recent years that this symbiosis has become common, But the Harbor has been at it for quite some time, accumulating enough plaudits for it to be the best place the eat seafood in Kenner.

Why It's Essential

Harbor Seafood is the restaurant arm of Fisherman's Cove, an excellent fresh seafood market next door. This brings an unusually large selection of fish to the Harbor's menu, at attractive prices. They cover all the ground that a good neighborhood seafood restaurants would be expected to, from boiled crawfish, crabs and shrimp in season to poor boys to excellent grilled fish platters. The place is packed almost all the time.

Backstory

Harbor opened in the mid-1980s, and slowly but steadily attracted a crowd that includes not only Kennerites but a rather substantial number of people who have a long break between flights and want to eat one more New Orleans meal. The restaurant is close to the airport, and the seafood market next door offers to pack seafood for the flight--a major draw for those who live in places without the rich seafood availability we have here.

Dining Room

The building looks like a warehouse, and the undersize dining room is only slightly less utilitarian. Nobody cares about that, because getting a table here is a victory unto itself. It's almost always busy, a fact that dictates the frantic state of the service. That does not seem to affect the food, whose consistency across the board is impressive. A line outside is not uncommon, especially on Fridays. The amount of space given to the bar looks lavish until you notice that most of the people sitting there are eating, not drinking.

For Best Results

Dine in the middle of the afternoon, avoiding weekends and Lent--unless you don't mind standing around waiting for a table. The grilled fish is better than the fried, but the fried is very good.