Conrad's Drive-in Restaurant

835 Massachusetts Ave.

Lunenburg

Tel: 978-582-6115

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Summer brings with it a whole new way of eating out - at roadside stands and dairy bars, if you can find them. A recent trip out along the local byways brought my husband and me to Conrad's Drive-In Restaurant in Lunenburg. It was the ice cream sign that caught our eye - "Howard's Ice Cream" - but the menu enticed us to stay for lunch.

There was a lot to choose from, with an emphasis on seafood, priced anywhere from $4.95 for solo English-style fish (no chips) to "market price" for clams and lobsters. They do offer a limited menu of "Landlover's Fare," offered with or without fries (cheaper without the fries, of course), with prices between $1.75 and $7.65. Those not partial to seafood can choose from chicken fingers, chicken breast sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs and even grilled cheese sandwiches. It wouldn't be a respectable drive-in restaurant without offering fried onion rings, and it does, along with sides of French fries, dill pickles and coleslaw - all good summer eating.

With summer in the air, and a sea breeze blowing off to the east somewhere, we had our sights set on the clam rolls - with fries, and onion rings. My husband ordered the strips, for $7.89, and I got the whole clams, for $8.95 ("market" at the time). We weren't disappointed. The clams and rings had a light, crisp, delicious breading. They were delicious, and my only disappointment was that there weren't more clams in the roll. We ate our lunch at one of the picnic tables under the pines, and enjoyed the light breeze.

In addition to summery entrees, Conrad's offers a variety of "fun foods" - fried dough, ice cream cones, sundaes, banana splits, snow-cones, ice cream sodas, smoothies, orange freeze, floats, blasts and frappes - all reasonably priced. Their soft-serve ice cream is homemade; their hard ice cream is a retail brand - Howard's - which is creamy and delicious. Servings are generous.

For people with a yen for seafood, but who would rather cook it themselves, Conrad's also has a fish market - whose motto is "From the boat to the throat." Fish is brought in daily - from right off the boats in New Bedford.

Conrad's provides a very satisfying summer eat-out experience - one we hope to repeat before season's end.

- The Mangia Maven

A restaurant critic from Bolton who dines anonymously to give readers an unbiased opinion of dining experiences in the area.

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SUMMARY: (Perfect score=5)

Overall rating: 4

Price ($$$$$): $

Ambience: 3.5

Quality of food: 4

Service: 3.5

Handicapped accessible? Yes

Credit cards accepted? Yes

Hours of operation: Wednesday to Friday 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday 12 to 9 p.m., Sunday 12 to 8 p.m.