I am always on the lookout for lists of best chowder. I found one that included two chowders I really like, so when it included Kelly’s Roast Beef, I figured we would give it a shot. After all, Kelly’s is a New England classic, so they should have good chowder.
Cup $6.95 Pint $10.45 Quart $16.75
Clams
There are a fair amount of clams here and big pieces of clam.
Cream and Consistency
The chowder has the consistency of water. They use light cream but it tastes more like skim milk.
Potatoes
Plenty of potatoes, evenly cut, but not much flavor.
Garnish
Traditional oyster crackers.
Everything Else
The chowder is made with clams, onions, potatoes, butter, and light cream, but there is an off taste in it that we can’t put our finger on.
Not Chowder
We tried the fried shrimp and they were awful, poorly cooked with a gummy batter. We gave up on the roast beef sandwiches years ago. The fried fish sandwich was ok and so were the chicken fingers.
The Verdict
I won’t shame this list, but I can’t imagine a city where this would be a top ten chowder, let alone one in New England. Canned chowder from the grocery store is better than this. The broth was so thin and off tasting that we gave up once we ate the clams and potatoes. This was the fifteenth chowder we tried and by far the worst. It’s the only one so far that we didn’t finish. Our recommendation is don’t go to Kelly’s.
Kelly’s Roast Beef
multiple locations including:
595 Broadway
Saugus, MA
Concord Culinary Lyceum 
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