Seafood Kingz set to expand dine-in
options for customers in St. Albans
Couple and business partners Darryl and Catrina Lelie stand in front of their restaurant, Seafood Kingz in St. Alban’s.
Photos: Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 14-20, 2020 3
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
For the past year, Seafood
Kingz in St. Albans has been
serving up seafood dishes
with a touch of soul food.
From steamed crab legs
and lobster to fresh fish
and shrimp, Seafood Kingz
offers a variety of menu options
for customers. Its soul
food choices include rice and
beans, macaroni and cheese,
potato salad, collard greens,
steamed broccoli, cabbage
and banana pudding. The
restaurant also offers a special
catering menu for events
and parties as well.
The family-owned business
was established in September
2019 at 205-41 Linden
Blvd., by couple Darryl
Lelie and his wife, Catrina.
Although business has been
good, they say, it can be better.
“
Most of our business is
takeout — it’s GrubHub or
UberEats — and we’re trying
to build up the sit-down situation,”
Catrina said. “We get
some customers, but not as
many as we would like.”
In an effort to attract
more customers to dine in,
the Lelie’s are working on
new flyers to distribute, obtaining
a beer and wine license
to serve drinks, and
wing and $7 lunch specials.
Their outreach also includes
social media platforms such
as Facebook and Instagram.
It’s not the first time the
couple has experienced owning
and operating a business.
Darryl, a longtime cook, has
been in the restaurant business
since 2005. Prior to
moving to Queens from the
Bronx, he owned a spot in
an industrial area that was
mostly takeout.
“That wasn’t a place
where you would expect
people to walk by given that
there was an expressway
nearby, so we had to go and
get the money making deliveries
to Harlem and the
neighborhood, GrubHub was
our biggest supporter and it
was really pushing our numbers
up,” Darryl said.
After wanting to expand
to include seating for dining,
Darryl decided to close
up and move to Queens. If all
goes well, the Lelie’s hope to
open up another location in
the Bronx. Darry’s ultimate
goal he says, is to have a restaurant
on City Island someday.
“We almost had a space
there and we would have
been the first black business
up there, but one of the investors
pulled out on the day
of signing,” Darryl said.
Since moving into the
neighborhood of St. Alban’s,
the couple has received a
warm welcome from residents
who say they appreciate
the business.
Sitting at a table enjoying
a meal of steamed fish with
potato salad on the side,
Curtis Coleman said he’s a
frequent customer at Seafood
Kingz.
“I think their meals are
delicious,” Coleman said.
“That’s why I come back.
Once a week I come in to eat
here.”
According to Catrina,
another customer
had said
they’re del
i g h t e d
to see a
b l ackowned
b u s i -
n e s s
in the
neighborhood.
“She came
back later and ordered some
fish and chips and was on her
merry way. We get a warm
embrace from the neighborhood,”
Catrina said.
Looking forward, the
Lelies are keeping faith that
the family-owned business
stays afloat. For Darryl, it’s
a business that he would like
to pass on to his current and
future family making sure
they’re all well taken care
of.
“This was his dream from
way back when. Through all
of the nay-sayers
and all of the
f a i lu r e s ,
he’s gotten
right back
up and
star ted
all over
a g a i n ,
and that’s
an inspiration
to his
kids,” Catrina said.
“Although you fail, you have to
get up and start all over again
and he’s foreseen what he wanted
to do and went on and did it.
He’s going to do no matter what
to make sure his family and future
family is taken care of.”
Loyal customer Curtis Coleman grabes a bite.
/QNS.COM
