CAMDEN'S,

A real family restaurant makes you feel you've dropped in on a friend's parents and been asked to stay for dinner. Camden's, at Old Mountain Lanes, is like that. To the traditional attractions of cheap eats and large portions, this restaurant throws in an adjoining bowling alley. You come to a place like this for Betty Crocker, not Johanne Killeen. The appetizers are mainly bar fare, from chili skins ($5.95) to nachos ($4.95) -- you know that the fried calamari ($5.95) will be traditionally fried rather than sautéed. That said, the teriyaki chicken wings ($4.95/six,-$7.95/12) were quite good, juicy and with the marinade reduced enough to stick rather than frustratingly slide off. Johnnie ordered the signature clam chowder ($2.75 and $3.75) and I recalled from prior visits that I'd be jealous -- it's as rich and tasty as the creamy version gets, and generous with the active-ingredient. For main dishes, the coffeehouse raison d'être -- fish & chips -- is available here, of course. For $8.95 you get a couple of pieces of flounder, fresh from Point Judith, with a thin, breadcrumb crust so it's not greasy. When you're done, you can get seconds. You heard me. Consider yourself an honorary local: if you know to ask, you can get seconds. And that goes for the other fried seafood as well, from scallops ($11.95) to whole-belly clams ($14.95). But since this wasn't the coffee shop end of the place, there were steaks and chops and a couple of chicken offerings. In the home-cooking ambience that Camden's tries to maintain, they also serve roast turkey dinner ($9.95) "with all the fixin's!" as the menu declares.

Full review.