Change is inevitable. In the restaurant business it’s quite frequent. Two years ago, I reviewed The Harbor Bite, which moved into the location at the corner of Avenue U and Columbia in south Seaside after Goose Hollow at the Cove had moved out. Now the business is U Street Pub & Eatery.

It’s got a lot more in common with Harbor Bite than Harbor Bite had with Goose Hollow, even starting off with a similar menu and slowly changing it from there. I first visited U Street last winter when they were still pretty new. Since then, the prices have gone up, and my favorite dish of the menu, the Mermaid’s Purse, is now gone. Although the building’s previous inhabitants didn’t have a fryer, it was probably a good business move to have fish and chips, because where else in Seaside are you going to find such fare?

Several of the sandwiches are the same, most of the decor is as I remember, but the pleasant atmosphere is decidedly more family friendly now. Even though the place stays open later and calls itself a pub, it’s not uncommon to encounter children running about, playing and shouting, but that’s just part of summer in a tourist town. Maybe next year I’ll take a couple of months off.

For the most part the food was good, at times great. I ignored the usual bar appetizers in favor of the unusual. Mini Burritos ($5.75) were something I’d never seen before, so I needed to try them. Nothing really new though. Just imagine the cheapest burritos you can buy – the ones that come a dozen to a package, aren’t individually wrapped (likely stuck together), and available in three exciting flavors: beef and bean, bean and cheese, and red-hot beef.

Take the beef and bean, shrink it down to the size of a Zippo and fry it until the filling starts seeping out of the holes like cheese sticks. That’s it. Steer clear.

The other oddball appetizer was the deep-fried macaroni and cheese ($5.95). I actually had this one time somewhere else, but wanted to see if it was any better at U Street. The good news is that it is better. The bad news is that it’s still not good. I might rethink that after a couple of pints, but I’m not going to bother to find out.

As I mentioned, many of the sandwiches are the same. The Very Veggie ($7.95) is exactly the same. A thick vegan sandwich with hummus, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts and too much red onion, one picky vegetarian guest was happy to see this on the menu, though we all agreed it could do with little more hummus and maybe some avocado.

The Ben Franklin ($9.95) is a turkey sandwich with sweet cream cheese, sprouts and tomato. Everyone liked it. Where the Harbor Bite served caperberries in lieu of a side pickle, it’s pepperoncinis at U Street. That’s fine, just give me something brined and green.

The French Dip and Swiss sandwich ($9.25) was on the small side, and the dipping jus was just straight beef base and water. Very salty considering the sliced roast beef is already dipped in it when the sandwich is put together.

The Union Town ($8.95) is U Street’s hot pastrami “Reuben” style sandwich when you add the sauerkraut (50 cents). It’s a bit of a mess, but tasty. The Surf Burger ($7.50) is a delicious handmade patty (which I really appreciate) on a sesame bun. For an additional 75 cents, you can add bacon, cheddar, Swiss or provolone. Like several sandwiches, it’s served with beer-battered steak fries, which everyone seemed to enjoy. Cold sandwiches are accompanied by kettle chips.

I made a dig at the fish and chips earlier, but I must admit that they really are good at U Street. The batter is crisp without being too greasy, and the fish is perfectly done inside, still very moist. The tartar sauce is totally average, but what did I expect? And I often complain about every restaurant around here serving chowder, but U Street’s is really, really good. I’d put it in my top five out of every place I’ve been in the past three years. After the first taste, I played it really cool, not mentioning to any of my guests just how good it was. No one inquired, so in the end, I didn’t have to share.

I’ll often mention in this column how I liked something so much that I’ll return for it in the future. While I mean it at the time of writing, I rarely do return to places for that one amazing dish. But this time I really do mean it. The chowder is that good.

I can also recommend the steamer clams and mussels ($12.95 per pound), served either in a spicy pepper sauce (not really that spicy, though) or a more traditional garlic, white wine and butter sauce. Both bivalves and both preparations are delicious.

The U Street’s service is good, when not harried. This time of year, the place will fill up, and the weather is such that if you’re forced to make do with the ample outdoor seating, it’s usually not too uncomfortable.

I really miss the Mermaid’s Purse. It was a dish that set the place apart from the usual seafood offered up locally.

I know seafood is expensive and risky to have on the menu when it doesn’t sell. I can see not bringing back the more expensive salmon, but the cod used in fish and chips could easily play a second part on the menu, giving guests a more healthy option and bringing in the many customers who, like me, were sad to see the purse go.