Best shorts & sandals places? Best dressy casual? (No shirt and tie recommendations needed!) Thanks so much!

I LOVE The Barnacle-141 Front Street. It's casual; local folks; DIRECTLY ON THE OCEAN--it's great. Love their clam chowder. Ususally go for lunch or late afternoon cocktails, etc. Has @ 10 person bar area in addition to the restaurant.

The locals seem to rave about the chowder at the Barnacle. I didn't think it was anything special, chowderwise, but I still second the choice of the Barnacle for a casual place.

For you dressy casual place, consider The Landing. www.thelandingrestaurant.com

Thanks for the recommendations, guys! Appreciate it very much ... any ideas for Salem restaurants???

No clue about Salem restaurants. But I'd recommend posting at www.chowhound.com. The folks over there should be able to help you out.

Okay, did The Barnacle last night, and liked the local atmosphere, but would be cautious about what I ordered next time. Excellent clam chowder and lobster bisque and garden salad. The "stuffed shrimp" (shrimp baked in a nest of buttery crumbs) was okay for what it was, not what I call stuffed shrimp, and the fried clams were good except for the under-cooked, gooey clumps in there (would not get again.) Their "famous" onion rings would have been terrific if they'd been salted when they came out of the fryer hot. The fries were very good ... but the bread was not. I would not hurry back. Next, we'll try The Landing ...

The Landing??? TWO THUMBS UP!!! Just had lunch there, and it was yummy. Excellent garden salad with blue cheese dressing, fantastic clam chowder with grilled corn and big chunks of potato, and my DH loved the fried fish sandwich. Very nice atmosphere inside, and out on the water, where we ate. Would go back in a hurry!

A 20 something LA foodie, who spent her formative years as a resident of the town, recommends Pellino

In Salem, you could try Finz at Pickering Wharf. I've had a couple good lunches there and it's on the water.

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. I want to mention that we ate at Stromberg's on the water in Salem last week, and when we walked in, it smelled, for all the world, like a nursing ward/huge urinal ... the whole place! I was thankful when the seafood came so we could no longer smell it (others with me would not have wanted to leave.) The food was okay ... can't remember what I got at the moment. Guess it wasn't too memorable ...

You deserve good sport of the year award!! Why would your companions not have wanted to leave a place with such an objectionable odor? Seems hard to think of eating in a place that smells bad!!

socialworker, men apparently have no sense of smell!

On to another restaurant ... yesterday, Gloucester House in Gloucester. Wonderful in every way as usual. The lobster bisque is superb (but give us some CHUNKS of lobster), clam chowder the best, fried seafood perfect. Had a delicious Greek style pasta dish, my son a breaded Italian steak. I guess Rachel would say "YUMMO!"

Have not tried anymore Marblehead restaurants yet ...

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