Michaels Harborside - Newburyport

Appetizers truffle tater tots and bang bang shrimp are excellent. Also if they have crab Rangoon flatbread on the menu,definitely try it.

Their food is so amazingly good, they good seafood and the service is amazing. i recommend it to people that need to try a new restruant, they have outdoor seating and sir conditioning inside. overall very good play to go out and eat.

Took a drive to the coast and found Michael's at noon on a Sunday with a window table! Had the very good clam chowder and a lobster roll, also great but I forgot to ask for it hot and buttered. Clams were fresh and meaty in the chowder. The lobster roll had huge chunks of claw meat and so much fresh lobster meat in the cold salad filling in a soft buttery NE roll. The service was excellent, even as busy as it was on Sunday brunch time. Parking is easy in the private lot and an overflow lot I took notice of. Views of the river were awesome even in the dead of winter!

We have been living in Newburyport for ten years. We go to Michael's occasionally, and we have been mostly pleased, seeing improvement in food quality over the years until yesterday. We sat at the outdoor bar with a very nice view of the marina. I ordered the Mac Attack flatbread, which roughly shares ingredients with a Big Mac McDonald's burger, I believe. My wife had the grilled chicken sandwich with fries. For drinks, she had a white wine, I had a rum runner, which in the past was a signature drink there. My flatbread was very disappointing. With the ingredients listed, it should have had robust flavors, but it was very bland a waste of calories. My wife found the chicken sandwich to be very tough (even difficult to cut), and the marinade had an unappealing flavor. The fries were excellent, however. Her wine was fine. The rum runner was disappointing. Very weak, and without floater of Myers dark rum listed on the menu. Both dishes were big fails. I wonder if they do quality checks when introducing an item, or periodically to confirm consistency. I can't imagine they would get many repeat orders for that food. There are many excellent choices for restaurants in town, we plan to take an extended vacation from this place.

Once considered a longtime New England staple, Michael's Harborside has turned into a smoke and mirrors type of restaurant. Their lobster rolls are not only overpriced, but extremely misleading withtheir portions. Couldn't even find a lobster claw in my roll and it was extremely skimpy in terms of the amount of meat they give you. Definitely not the same and not worth a visit.