BALTIMORE (WJZ)– A seafood powerhouse breathes new life into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Phillips restaurant makes the jump from Harborplace to Power Plant, and the reviews are in.

Kai Jackson has the excitement of opening night.

There are mixed emotions about Phillips moving to the Power Plant. Yet, there is a consensus. Fans of the seafood institution are glad it’s back.

It’s a transformation for Maryland’s iconic Phillips Seafood restaurant. It closed nearly two months ago and moved to the location which used to be the ESPN Zone.

On Friday night, it’s a packed house for the Phillips reopening.

Customer Phyllis Weaver says the food “was excellent. I had the crab cakes. I’m in Maryland. What else are you going to order?”

Phillips spent 30 years serving locals and tourists seafood and other fare at the Light Street Pavilion. Yet, a difference in vision prompted the Phillips family to leave that location.

“Sometimes, a change is good,” said CEO of Phillips Seafood Steve Phillips. “It’s a change good for us. It’s a change good for people around us.”

Just like the crab legs, seafood is king at Phillips. With those famous crab cakes being the most popular.

“I had crab legs and they were better than Texas!” said Ashley Potts of Sulphur Spring, Texas.

And while there are new bars, a more open feel and modern decor in the new space, some things are priceless like a yearbook that Phillips used to give employees.

“They would give employees a yearbook for the year they worked there,” Till Strudwick of Roland Park said. “And mine is from 1970.”

Phillips opened in 1956.

The restaurant considered Friday night to be a “soft” opening. There will be a bigger grand reopening at the end of November.