Harlem Savour of Seafood

Last few times Ive walked by there was a Marshal’s notice stuck on the gate. Its a wrap.

Well, they are closed for good this time. Sadly they didn’t even make a full year. That location is great, but businesses can’t seem to survive there. All of the Unilocal reviewers have pointed out where the problem areas were, so should the owner choose to try again later down the road I hope she looks back to what was written here on Unilocal.Best of luck with your next venture!

Good Day Everyone
The other night, my aunt and i ate at this quaint and lovely eatery in harlem. The fish was fresh and made to order, the mac & cheese to die for, and the drinks were great!!! we will def make this a regular place to eat.

Didn’t make the food when I called in an order. had to wait 40 mins while there were no other customers and no visible reason for a ridiculously long wait time

This place is disgusting. The owner Angela Jacobs is a fraud and a con woman. It won’t be long before she goes out of business. She pretends to be the ultimate woman. In addition to being a fraudulent real estate broker, she wants to get a liquor license for this over priced high blood pressure, high cholesterol take spot. How is that for ghetto fabulous. Harlem do yourself a favor and boycott this over priced take out spot. p. s. my friend told me she found a roach in her food. ewwwwwww

I went by 2 weeks ago because there was a huge sign out front advertising breakfast and a late night menu until 2AM and Harlem has precious few places that offer food after midnight. I spoke with the young lady behind the counter, who was helpful, telling me that they were about to get a liquor license and turn the only row of tables they have into a VIP area. VIP? Why? This is a mom and pop version of Chipotle that serves seafood instead of tacos. A VIP is unnecessary, but hey, whatever floats their boat.
So two nights later I am out and it’s late and my friends want food and since I am the local, I say, let’s go to this new fish spot. We get there and they’re closed.
I wait and go back today… that shrimp po’boy on the menu has been enticing me for two full weeks and as a southern guy who regularly goes to New Orleans, I was super-​excited about getting a shrimp po’boy. I take my friend Kim with me and when we get there, the same lady is behind the counter. She says we can get the shrimp either fried or grilled. Now, at that point, I should have asked, but I let it go, thinking maybe they were trying to have a healthy alternative and proud of them for that.
Big mistake. Huge mistake. Colossal mistake. The saleswoman ignoring Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman mistake. We sit and wait — discussing how they don’t have water for paying customers — and the sandwich comes up. Kim said, off-​handedly, «There better not just be 5 shrimp on my sandwich.» There wasn’t; there were four. On a SHRIMP po’boy. And let’s be clear: the sandwich FILLED the 9×9 styrofoam container they put it in. It was a huge piece of bread with a salad (yes, a salad — lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onions, and shredded cheddar cheese) and FOUR shrimp on it. We’re talking a 20+ bite sandwich. WIth four little shrimp on it. And yet the had the unmitigated gall to call is a SHRIMP po’boy. It was a salad po’boy. Absolute disaster. I picked the shrimp off, ate them, threw away the rest of it and wasted $ 10.37. Two visits in one: the first and the last.

Food-​we had the 5 piece whiting with fries and teh 5 piece catfish with fries. Both were good. Cornmeal batter, light fish, not greasy, and very filling and affordable.
location-​awesome of course there on frederick douglass restaurant row
efficiency-​not so much. I wasn’t sure what was going on behind the counter, but there were some issues with ordering and waiting and food preparation… hopefully those kinks will get worked out. Albeit it was Good Friday that we were there but it didn’t seem like a crazy amount of business that they shouldn’t be able to handle it.
Don’t go if you are impatient and in a hurry, even if you call it in, but do go if you can be patient; the food came out piping hot and the counter person was super friendly.

The décor is so cute, great details on the colour scheme, store design, logo design. Also they are covered in terms of social marketing, and promote through fb, twitter, instagram the like.
If only they pay as much attention to their food!
The menu was confusing, with too many adjectives in front of the actual descriptions. I waited 25 minutes for my shrimp wrap, and it was nothing special with more lettuce than shrimp inside. The service was extremely slow, with 1 person in the kitchen area who moved very slowly, and the owner at the cash did not help out with the food prep. They definitely needs help on how to run a restaurant operation, and even menu development.
It’s disappointing because like the other Unilocalers said, it’s a family owned place, and you can tell they put their heart into it and have franchising ambitions (according to the owner). They are super friendly and just starting out so I feel bad about this review. Still I would be more scathing if this was an established restaurant.

Having so many new restaurants opening in this neighborhood is great because it provides more options. Unfortunately none of them are really hitting the mark quite yet and Harlem Savour of Seafood is no exception.
First the positives; this is a family run joint and you can tell they are really putting their heart into this, they are very very nice and I really want them to succeed. I think they have potential and with a few tweaks they can probably turn this into a winner so I hope they can continue to improve and grow this place. This place is primarily a fish fry, you can get whiting, shrimp, catfish, etc battered in a spicy cornmeal batter and deep fried and they do a pretty good job of the fish which is good because that’s by far the main item on the menu. A little more attention to details would go a long way, making sure those fillets are properly de-​boned for one (nothing worse than getting a little fish bone stuck in your throat) and a little simple seasoning of salt on the fish before putting it in the batter would help too. The tartar sauce was Kraft, they should really make their own and brand it, its super simple to make and it would be a nice selling point for them I think.
Now for the negatives; the sides were pretty grim. I had the collard greens and the mac & cheese, both staples for a proper southern-​style fish fry. The collards had a funny, almost soapy taste and I hadn’t been properly picked over, I found a couple rotting leaves in with the rest which kind of turned me off the whole thing. The mac and cheese was terrible, it was dry as a bone, clumpy, grainy and bland. I love mac & cheese above all other sides so I might be more critical than most but if you’ve ever had proper southern mac & cheese you know its supposed to be creamy and buttery and smooth and flavorful with a nice little crust on top. You could tell this had been made earlier in the day and then just sat in a heating plate all day having the life drained out of it. What they probably should do is perfect that recipe then prepare just enough to do them for lunch and then again at dinner so that it doesn’t sit out and get dry and gross.
I give this place 2 stars for now, I think they can double that with some hard work and attention to detail.