The food was below expectations. No taste, it’s just bland food. This place should be avoided. Waste of money.
Delicious meal with the freshest oysters to start with and then great pasta entrees with spicy red sauce and scallops. With a fun cocktail list, the place is always a favorite of ours.
Service was first fatet (I think her name was Jillian).The tuna steak was excellent, and the calamari, the linguini with clams. The location is also just a bit away from the congestion.
Honestly, just don’t go here. It was expensive and the food wasn’t that good. The only good things were the service and the atmosphere. I ordered the spicy tuna roll and it was okay, not worth the $11.50 they charged. My boyfriend got the calamari and it wasn’t fried correctly; he said the calamari itself was fresh tho. We both got the shrimp scampi and it barely had any flavor; it was like they rationed the scampi sauce and they didn’t cook the pasta enough. This was our last night it Newport and we were really looking forward to some amazing seafood to close out the trip and we were both disappointed.
Scales & Shells was recommended by an employee of our hotel, but they do not accept reservations so we went mid week to avoid the long waits we had been warned of by others. We ordered the calamari and begrudgingly paid extra for the marinara sauce and both were very good. I ordered the linguine with white clam sauce and my husband the linguine with red sauce. I did not care for the sauce on mine and since the portions were huge, we both ate his and brought mine back to the hotel. The wine list was okay. Our waitress was good, but lost points as she never inquired as to why I barely touched my entree. Hmmm. Nothing appealed to us for dessert and so we stopped for coffee and treats closer to where we were staying.
Had dinner here one night and was very satisfied. Our party all had different entrees and all were delicious. The mako shark steak was unbelievable. Only complaint I would have is the app's. $20 for the fried calamari might have been worth it if it was enough but very tiny and to charge for a side of marinara sauce is unheard of. The 2 go hand in hand like pb&j. No need to charge for it. Skip it.
Was scared of covid so sat outside. Calamari was perfectly cooked. And linguini and clam sauce was delicious. 4 drinks with a friend got us to a happy place and the bill was not outrageous. Definite stop in for a date, your night will end the way you want it.
As a seafood
The location is a 10 to 15 minute walk south of the hustle and bustle of the wharfs and tourists. When you walk in and see the open kitchen with all of the menu items and specials on the chalk board you can get the feeling that you will be served a fresh seafood meal. The server was very friendly and answered our many questions with a smile. First the bread comes with butter, salt, pepper, olive oil, parmesan, red pepper flakes and hot sauce so you can customize your dipping plate. We started off with the Sicilian little necks. We were drinking the broth it was so good. Olive oil, white wine, tons of garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes and parmesan. Off the hook. We also split a shrimp scampi over linguine dish. The shrimp were cooked to perfection and yes, more garlic. I took half of the dish and tossed it into the little neck broth.
Excellent food and service. Original and inventive. Ambiance fantastic. Will definitely frequent when we visit Newport