Fish

Fish recently moved a couple of doors down the street, with a almost completely different type of menu (less items, larger portions, more expensive.) The new décor is nice; however, the ventilation is terrible, and paired with an open kitchen emanating fishy, oily smoke smells, the dining experience was cough-​ridden. The management explained that it was because the ventilation fan was not working properly. But, the food was definitely on par with some of the best seafood I’ve had. Definitely try the skate, it was delightful.
Overall, the food was great, the environment not so great, for the time being.

Some very good aspects to this meal, some quite bad.
Good — the food. The fish was phenomenal. Had the sturgeon, a fish I’d never had previously. Can’t speak specifically as the what else was with it but I really enjoyed the meal, well prepared and presented. Seem to be good size portions as well across the board which at times is an issue in fish-​centric restaurants. I can’t see this kitchen making a dish that wouldn’t be enjoyed. Scallops were awesome as well, but…
The bad — …you only get two for $ 16. Come on. Yeah they were good, it’s Center City, yada yada yada but… come on. Two? Psh. Service was also poor. Why? How can I put this nicely… the waiters all struck me as… a certain type of person. From a certain region of the city. The Northeast perhaps? Mummers? No, no that sounds bad. But I heard one tell the table next to me he was having a rough night because he was just coming off spring break. Everything seemed rushed. Drop the menus, 45 seconds later ask for drinks, 2 minutes later ask for food order. Bothersome at 6PM when no other tables are occupied. Except for the one 8 inches away they felt the need to sit us next to. Sooo…
Also that menu you’ve been lusting over ahead of your trip here? Not up to date. No skate wing, no cobia. But whatever else you get will likely be damn good. No drink list on the website either, but stories of Happy Hours and great cocktails had me excited from Unilocal.Nope, sorry. Just a short but decent wine list left on the table. No cocktails, no beer offered. Keep this in mind.

You’ll love the chicken here! Just kidding… So, Fish has moved twice in the last year. They were on 17^th and Lombard (I think), then moved to the corner of 13^th and Locust. That was my first visit there, and the menu featured a myriad of small plates for sharing. I liked this experience a lot. Alas, Fish moved again, this time just around the corner, and they left the small plate theme behind.
The new Fish is smaller, with a smaller menu featuring starters, entrees, and sides. Apparently the owners are converting the last spot into a gastro-​pub looking to capitalize on the marketing potential that all corners on 13^th between Chestnut and Lombard offer, while gearing Fish for an older crowd (that’s what the server told us). Anyway, I liked old Fish better than new Fish mostly because of the small plates, but you won’t be disappointed with new Fish… so long as you like fish!
We shared everything — started with mackerel and scallops and then moved on to skate and swordfish. The skate was great. The swordfish was a top dish. Maybe I’ll save the rhyming for someone else… anyway, everything was solid.
Dessert was just okay — we had the pumpkin budino and flour-​less chocolate torte. The budino wasn’t very sweet and tasted more like pumpkin pie. The cranberries that came with the torte made the dish, and saved it from ice cream that was way too hard.
Overall, a good place for some good fish. Sit at the bar to watch everything being made!

Really good cocktails.
Great décor and atmosphere.
The food is phenomenal.
We split a bunch of plates and were really happy with everything, especially the
octopus, mahi mahi, and raw tuna salad (although this was tiny).
We came for a friend’s birthday, had a really great meal and great times, the tables are far enough apart that we could have a hilariously inappropriate conversation and crack up uncontrollably without disturbing people, but close enough that you can see how delicious the other people’s food looks.
2 weird things
1. The shellfishy butter. not a fan, but some might like it.
2. Our waitress, being culturally awkward and thanking the busboy in front of us with a very mispronounced, very awkward GRACIAS. um. what?

The food is all fresh and fantastic — it’s just a bit unique that most everything is small plates so you may end up paying more than you think with a bunch of $ 10 – 15 small plates. They also have a number of different oysters, clams, and ceviches, and you can choose among a couple large shared plate options such as a whole fish, lobster boil, or large steak for $ 45 – 55 each but those just seem overpriced and less exciting. When I go out to eat I prefer to try a number of different items rather than sharing just one plate so I’d end up with probably 3 of the small plates to make a dinner which means your total bill will be $ 30 – 40 plus drinks. But the food will be very good.
The wine list is very well chosen, cocktail list is very small, and service is great. I would consider returning the next time I’m in Philly, especially if just looking for a nice appetizer and drink.

The food here was good but this post will focus on the brunch service which was pretty inefficient.
For a group of 5 we got 2 orders of waffles, 1 lump crab Benedict, 1 lobster grilled cheese and 1 omelette. And a side of bacon and potatoes.
The sides of potato and bacon come out first. Fine, but the bacon is cold. Then wait another 5 mins before they bring out the grilled cheese (fully ooey gooey yummy fontina and good balance of lobster).
Pause another minute.
Crab Benedict come next.
Pause another 2 minutes.
Omelette comes out.
Pause, oh, about 5 minutes and waffles finally make their appearance.
Keep in mind that we are fortunately, or unfortunately, well mannered people and wait for everyone to receive their plates before eating.
But wait again! We request syrup, ketchup and butter.
Ketchup is the first to arrive.
Wait 2 minutes.
Syrup arrives!
But only one of the waffle eaters is satisfied. The other needs the butter and syrup together.
Wait another 2 minutes.
Finally after 17 minutes (ok it may be over-​exaggerated by 1 or 2 minutes) but it took that long before we could all finally eat as a group.
The server was nice but just not efficient or considerate about the fact that you serve everyone at the same time for a reason.
Again the food was good but the service was just awkward. And we were one of the first ones there for most of our meal/​waiting time so it’s not like they were slammed with a huge brunch crowd.

I loved this place so much, that I went 2 weeks after my first visit with a larger group.
Aside from ordering some other incredible items such as their scallops and calamari, all five of us ordered the skate wing and all five of us were in heaven. Every single person at the table made sure there was nothing left of the heavenly Parmesan broth.
You did it again Fish… thank you.

What an absolutely delicious experience.
The salmon belly appetizer set the tone, four prettily sliced slabs of fish arriving on a giant colorful block of Himalayan salt. Light and gone far too soon… a perfect start.
We had four of the small-​plate entrees, but I want to start with the best: This skate wing is one of my new favorite dishes in Philadelphia. The skate itself has a thin crispy fried crust and is heavenly soft and buttery on the inside. Beneath the skate is a truffled spaetzle (also available as a side), and when it arrives at the table the bowl is then filled with a shallow layer of a hot parmesan cheese broth. I am not exaggerating when I say that we asked for spoons and ate every bite of that now-​truffled soup once the amazing skate and spaetzle were gone.
When our server saw we loved the broth she realized she hadn’t brought us any bread, and when it arrived it had a little tub of seaweed butter with it. Talk about the perfect bread and butter for a seafood restaurant! Salty and sweet, it was unexpected and fantastic and I want it all the time.
The other dishes we had were similarly successful. The halibut was perfectly cooked, the octopus was excellent, and the miso-​marinated salmon was combined with a teriyaki to take one of my favorite fish preparations in a new direction. Excellent all the way through!
But next time I go I’m not sharing that skate wing.

Jamie & George at the bar were fabulous!
We came for oysters and cocktails. I was a bit disappointed by the Happy Hour oysters, but can’t expect a porch at a corolla price. We did however get the Fire River Osyters and were blown away! they were amazing!
Note to all… Pay the extra for the Fire River oysters — they will knock your socks off!

It took me three visits to Fish to find a five star dish, but oh baby, now I understand.
Let start with visit one. Bartenders almost tripping over themselves. Dollar oysters paced out in such intervals you were lucky to see more than a single serving. Appetizers good but nothing above three stars. Cocktails were adequate. I walked out stunned as I’ve read the reviews and frankly some of my best friends had been raving about this place.
Second visit proved slightly better. Bartenders were now competent but unfortunately ran out of glassware. Cest La Restaurant Biz. Dishes like skate chips and octopus were still good but 3 stars good, not five by any stretch. Oysters were served promptly. I was also annoyed that my cheese plate was simply dumped in front of me without explanation. Having a good background in cheese i knew what everything was, but would the average person? This was very disappointing behaviour.
A note on the oysters, they come pre-​seasoned with a classic mignonet. Now I love mignonet so it was perfect for me, though I would encourage a note on the menu for those that would prefer their oysters ‘undressed’.
Again, my guest and I wandered off wondering what all the hubbub was about.
The facility is easily accessible to handicapped folks and bathrooms are unisex and clean. Note they were cleaner on my third visit than on my third, so apparently staff is becoming more competent. This reflects in the hostess as well, who on my first visit didn’t even see us walk in, but the girl on the third visit not only welcomed us but inquired about our meal.
So finally on the third visit I decided to bring one of my friends who insisted the food was 5 stars and was just as baffled a I was. We started with a nice crudo, good but not great. Other appetizers faired as well but still in the three star range. Oyster service was ramped up and the delicious offerings appeared quickly and were very tasty.
Then we had it. the Skate Wing. Perfectly cooked with a sauce so rich the plate needed to be shared lest a coronary result. This is what people were raving about, this was a five star dish.
So go for the oysters, go for the skate wing, and you will understand the five star reviews. Otherwise, you may be in my club of three-​4 star fandom.

Their «Mignonette» is one of the worst things I’ve ever put into my mouth. They must recycle the red wine vinegar, because the batch I got tasted diluted and absolutely reeked of decades-​old putrid Shallots. As if my Oysters weren’t already enough of a disgrace, adding insult to injury (almost literally), the shells were completely mangled and mutilated, the meat was overwhelmed by a plethora of shards and shrapnel, and the brine was overwhelmingly inundated by the rank flavor of disgusting mud. Out of the 12 Oysters I had, 9 of them were completely shattered. This is unprecedented.
And then there’s the service… Horrendous… Inattentive, ignorant, and intrusive:
(1.) There were 3 bartenders, and although 1 of them was informative and helpful to his patrons, unfortunately he was not my server — all 3 kept huddling up to talk about their negative Unilocal reviews and how ignorant the Unilocal reviewer was — meanwhile all of us sitting at the bar had to wait and wait to get any sort of service.
(2.) When I asked my server what kinds of beer were being offered, he said «2 blondes and a Scotch,» and when I asked him what were the names of the Breweries, he adopted a condescending tone and very impatiently began to try and describe what a Blonde beer was and what a Scotch beer is, and what their differences are. Well, that’s not what I asked. And they’re Ales, not beers. So don’t be a jerk about it. You’re not the only one who knows something about something.
(3.) When I mentioned to my server that my Oysters had been demolished, and in trying to eat them I kept getting lots of little bits stuck in my teeth, that I wasn’t very satisfied, he mockingly and arrogantly said to me «No, that’s Mignonette.» Actually, he mispronounced it, more like «Mean-​un-​ed.» Fancy.
(4.) When 3 people came into the bar, I saw the manager looking around helplessly, so I moved over a stool, no big deal. Meanwhile, the lady next to me was monopolizing four chairs, including herself and all of her various baggage. Five minutes later, when someone else came to the bar and attempted to sit down, the manager ran over to me and asked me if he could move my Messenger bag. Why didn’t he bother the woman next to me, who knows, because she was taking up a lot more space than I was, but he picked up my bag without asking, which I find completely unacceptable. I would have offered to move my bag myself, but I was literally in the middle of chewing and swallowing. Is it not the responsibility of a manager to make sure each and every person in their establishment has an enjoyable experience, the current customers as well as the future customers?
My assessment: GO ELSEWHERE. This place is run by a bunch of amateurs. Completely unprofessional, lacking any business acumen or integrity. The kind of foolish people that would (and did) send me an offensive personal message, in response to my review — rather than trying to resolve the situation.

This is only a review for happy hour.
My friend and I are big fans of the happy hour at Oyster House, so when I realized Fish was another option with cheap oysters, and beer, I suggested we check it out. Ended up having a group of 5, and had no trouble finding seats at the bar at 5:30.
There were several beer options for $ 3, $ 5 house wines, and $ 6 for this scotch and honey cocktail. The Chincoteague oysters were 99 cents. I started with a hefty glass of white and half a dozen oysters. The oysters automatically come with mignonette. I think they should tell you that when you order, because I would have asked for it on the side. They were served without the usual cocktail sauce and horseradish and lemon, but when requested the bartender brought us some small cups of each.
I thought the oysters had a weird after taste, so I didn’t order more. I tried a glass of the red which was good, and again received a nice sized glass, but then a different bartender starting attending to our group and he was much less generous with the drinks. He then proceeded to let us know about how happy hour is bad for business. Thanks for that information.
I really like the space. There’s a lot of room, and it never got crowded, which was refreshing compared to the usual happy hour spots in Rittenhouse. But if I want oysters for $ 1, I’ll probably stick to Oyster House. However, I would like to come back to try Fish for dinner. The food looked amazing, and smelled great.

Happy hour: Alright.
The specials were great. $ 3 for three beers (a scotch ale, a blonde, and yuengling),$ 5 for red and white house wine, and $ 6 for a specialty cocktail that they made up that day, apparently. $ 0.99 oysters.
I’m certainly not a connoisseur of oysters, so these were perfectly fine. I had to ask for cocktail sauce once and horseradish twice before I got it, and they could have been a bit more generous with the portions. Seriously? I have to ask two times to get something that should automatically come with oysters and you bring me a tiny cup? Minus a star.
The blonde beer — some Treehouse brewery or something was really good actually. Not what I expected for a blonde. One of the bartenders was very friendly and certainly made the $ 5 for a glass of wine well worth the price with his pours. When I ordered a glass from another bartender, we noticed he wasn’t pouring the glasses as full. Our group gave him a bit of a hard time, but obviously we were good natured and joking around. He then said that pouring generous glasses of wine was bad for business as was happy hour. No sir, I actually think that YOU are bad for business. The hefty tip we left? Clearly for the other guy. Minus another star.
I do really like the space. The bathrooms are little individual rooms with individual sinks which I really liked. The food that came out all looked good.
I enjoyed my experience here, and will probably be back. However, a couple improvements in serving oysters and attitudes would make this place a top notch happy hour spot.

Once in a while an experience comes along that redefines how I look at things. Just when I think I’ve seen my fair share, tasted a great majority of what Philadelphia has to offer, life (the universe, whatever) throws a new one at me. Fish was that restaurant.
I made reservations nearly 3 weeks in advance just because I knew my parents were coming into town. To preface, they are extremely picky eaters and while they appreciate many of the places I’ve taken them to, I think it’s been difficult for them to feel comfortable at our past dining establishment. From the get-​go, they were psyched and gazed over the menu with wide eyes and pointed out different items they saw like excited children in a candy shop.
We started with 3 Rhode Island oysters. Not only did they have 9 types of oysters that evening, but our waitress knew the flavor profile of each of them. My mom was concerned about eating «very salty» oysters so our waitress recommended the Rhode Island ones, calling them «east coast oysters with a west coast personality» (fresh water). They were spot on.
Our apps for the table were the grilled octopus and the sardines. Our initial reactions were «oohs» and «aahs» as we fell back into our north jersey italian style of trying to force feed each other because everything tasted perfect. «Here you’ve got to try this!» «Did you get the pine nuts with the yogurt?» «These pickled jalapenos are ridiculous!» Yeah, it was a little nuts. Good thing we had an early reservation and were seated in the back of the restaurant.
Mains were the halibut, the swordfish and the skate wing. The skate wing, being one of their menu regulars had leek purée and grated truffle over it. Let me be clear, this was unlike any amount of truffle I had ever seen. The shavings were huge, almost cheese size. My mom asked «what is this black stuff on top?» I, doing my best not to lose it said «that’s black truffle and you’re in for a treat.» Needless to say, I think she enjoyed herself. My dad and I had similar reactions to our entrees and the sharing of food continued.
Dessert was also perfection. A bombolini with rosemary sorbet, grapefruit, pistachios and homemade donut holes. I, I, tear up just thinking about how incredible it was.
With the check, some cilantro marshmallows and passion fruit whiskey mini cookies.
Consider my world rocked.

A nice, intimate restaurant. Great for dates, and a nice, not-​too-​busy Center City location. Service is really good as well.
I was pretty happy w/​the food. We had the octopus & mussels for appetizers. Really liked the octopus because it was grilled. Mussels were great because they had an Asian twist to them, so that was a nice change from the usual preparation of mussels.
My Cobia was really good. The different ingredients/​flavors came together quite well. And I’d never had cobia before — it was a pretty thick fish, and a tasty one.
I also recommend the Warm Chestnut Cake for dessert. It’s a nice finish to the meal.
They offer a full bar w/​a cocktail menu, beer, and wine.

My beau and I swung by Fish on Thursday night on a whim, and it turned out to be a very fortuitous decision. We were seated at a comfy two top against the window. A note to the ladies: the window is drafty; dress accordingly.
The meal started off with a nice, crunchy roll and some butter scented with nori. The butter was deliciously briny — the perfect prelude to a seafood meal. Our starters were the hiramasa crudo and the king crab. Both were nice, light introductions to the menu. A course of the Maine shrimp with hazelnuts, gnudi and orange was a lovely surprise from the kitchen. It was absolutely delicious and definitely something I’d order in the future.
My entrée was the skate wing with spaetzle, parmesan broth and melted leeks. Flakes of black truffle decorated the fish, which was perfectly cooked and easily one of the best skate dishes I’ve had. The spaetzle had a delicious taste and awesomely crunchy (in all the right places) texture. My boyfriend was also very happy with his pastrami-​crusted mahi mahi.
Desserts by Monica Glass are not to be missed. We settled on the bombolini, which was a set of sugar-​dusted doughnuts with dulce de leche sauce and crumbled pistachios. A gingery grapefruit sorbet was served alongside. At the end of the meal, mini green tea macaroons were a delightful little treat. It should also be mentioned that our server was excellent, staying on top of drink refills and anything else we needed.
I love this new incarnation of Fish and look forward to returning.

FINALLY was able to eat dinner at Fish last night, and even after numerous incredible happy hours and extremely high expectations, I left amazed at the experience.
The highlights:
–Salmon Ceviche appetizer: served with a delicious spicy/​mayo sauce and some raw scallop as well. To-​die-​for
–Lobster appetizer: polenta cubes fried in bacon fat. enough said
–My cocktail: sadly I forget the name of it, but it had rhubarb-​infused rum, grapefruit juice, lemon zest & prosecco. Delicious and well-​priced at $ 9
–Streusel dessert: served with awesome pineapple-​ginger ice cream and some super-​tasty rhubarbs.
All the main courses were perfect as well. We had the Tilefish, Soft-​Shell Crab & the Halibut.
The entire night was a 5 star experience. The wait staff is friendly and very knowledgeable and the décor is fitting for the atmosphere. I can only hope to return again soon!

Awesome spot for seafood!
We started with a selection of Raw Oysters. They looked so delicious that I ate a Blue Point despite my shellfish allergy and the risk was worth it.
I started with the Mackerel appetizer which had a generous portion of fish but was a little overly salty and buttery — it was flavor overload. The Maine Cod entrée was fresh and delicious, as well as more substantial than the Salmon (which was also fresh and delicious!). We’ll be back when we need a good seafood fix.

Chef Mike continues to impress, this was my third visit. How does he make fish taste so good? Seriously, even if you prefer red meat, this place makes fish taste more sumptuous than meat. The flavor combinations are extraordinary. One of my favorites in Philly!
The skate was out of this world, so rich and fragrant, you could smell the truffles as the plate approached the table. Octopus and lamb shank were an amazing combination.

I was actually trying to go to Little Fish when I heard it was closed so I was deferred to this location.
I went for their sunday dinner tasting menu. On Sundays only the tasting menu is available so you can’t order from the regular menu… that’s what I was told anyway.
I think they change the menu frequently and I can’t really recall what I got but everything was good. Service was great.
The items on the tasting menu are very small SO if you are a hungry person or have a raging appetite in any way please find you way somewhere else.
But for the price you get small samplings of a few things and call it a day. I got filled up by asking for bread with each item they brought to the table.