Fish on the Grill

The quality of the food has gone downhill consistently for the past year while prices increase. No longer the perfect mix of price and quality, but given that even decent seafood is hard to find in San Ramon, we continue going, just not as much.

Some of the reviews need to simmer down. This restaurant is not Crustacean’s in San Francisco nor is it trying to be. It’s also not a Burger King Fish sandwich either. For competitively priced seafood (much cheaper than the lower quality chain Red Lobster), really friendly service, fresh veggies, and tasty fish, this place is really hard to beat. The service is consistently friendly and the place is comfortable. Name a comparable place in the Tri-​Valley area, Danville, or Walnut Creek (except for the other Fish On The Grill in Dublin)? There isn’t any! This place is not a chain. This place is privately held and family owned. I strongly recommend this restaurant– both locations. We love this place!

All I wanted for dinner one night was fried oysters but for some reason it felt like every Cajun place within a 30 minute drive of me was closed on Monday’s so I took a little detour here for some fried oysters and fish tacos.
The restaurant is located in a large plaza with plenty of parking. The interior of the restaurant is small and kind of musty feeling. There were a couple of tables but we opted to take the food home. The service was average. They did their job but weren’t particularly friendly. Honestly they just seemed kind of out of it. I ended up sharing catfish tacos, shrimp tacos, and fried oysters with my friend.
The fried oysters were a decent price for the amount I got. I believe the menu said it was 5 pieces but the oysters were huge and even then I feel like there was more than 5 pieces. However just cause they were big doesn’t mean they tasted good. They were a bit bitter and bland at the same time. The batter had a good texture but otherwise it was underseasoned. (²⁄₅)
The catfish tacos were decent I do wish they grilled their onions longer cause they had a raw edge on them. The seasoning was alright but honestly it tasted of various powdered flavoring and it isn’t much better than what someone could throw together at home. The sauces they provided helped a bit but overall nothing special. (2.5÷5)
The shrimp tacos were very similar. The shrimp was bordering overcooked but the seasoning was a bit better. (³⁄₅) I stole one of my friend’s fries though and that was probably the best item we got.
I would’ve given this place 2 stars but I rounded down a star because both my friend and I got minor food poisoning the next day. It was the only thing we both ate. Overall, the food isn’t good enough for me to warrant risking getting sick again.

I cannot begin to explain the amazing flavors going on here. Exotic and memorable! Kind of sad I live 10 hours away… Lol Sauces, Dressings, and recipes all seem very unique and original! Also our entire order was made right as we ordered it and was amazing from first until last bite! Hospitality was also A+

I love this place! The fish is fresh, the salads are tasty… And this place has the best Brown Rice in the Bay Area… The grilled salmon & mahi mahi are a bit pricey, but you’ll thank yourself if you try either! The fried red snapper is really good too!

I am a taco fanatic and these fish and shrimp tacos met my expectations. Something quick but far better than the normal chain taco shops (Taco Bell, etc) — but not quite taqueria level. We will try some other stuff on the menu but the place does very well in its taco segment.

Issue: be careful when ordering, folks here may speak English well on the surface but in further discussion you’ll encounter issues particularly with comprehension.
I ordered the whitefish cajun style and when asked whether I wanted Cole slaw as a side, I asked if there were other options instead to which she said I could get the pasta. I said sure and she asked «long pasta» or «short pasta». Huh? What are «short pasta» I asked. She had trouble describing them even when I asked whether they were actually ‘short’ in length or looked like penne pasta. I gave up and said I will just keep the Cole slaw.
When my wife came home with the pick up order (Im bed ridden these days) low and behold, the Cole slaw is missing. I called and the same woman answered. When I asked why the Cole slaw was missing, she said I didn’t want it. Huh? I said I wanted to «keep it», do you not recall, I asked and she said… she did. Then she called to someone in the back and told me it was the kitchen person who made the mistake. Yeah right. Then she asked if I wanted to come pick it up. Uh… i dont think i want drve 15 mis to pick up a small condiment-​size cole slaw, so no i said but I wanted her to know my order was not correct. No apology until I asked for it.
As for the food…
Shrimp tacos: lots of bell peppers, oil and onions, in fact overwhelming and pretty much all you taste. There’s really no other flavor. Tastes like a fajita without any distinguishing flavor. Sorry the mayonnaise-​like sauce didn’t cut it for me.
Whitefish cajun style: the cacun flavor was very mild, the saltiness was over-​powering, even though i eat on the salty side. It’s salty enough that you’d have to eat it with the rice and when you do, there’s so much butter in the rice, it kills any trace of the cajun flavor. The rice literally tasted like buttered popcorn.
Fried zucchini: It was crunchy on the outside but no taste on the inside. If they weren’t going to put any flavor to the batter, they should’ve at least provided better dipping sauce than what again tasted like they mayonnaise sauce or maybe the forgot it like my Cole slaw.
Bottom line: for me, definitely not worth the high ratings it’s gotten, particularly given the lacking flavor or saltiness, the mistakes made or the care I’d have to put in to make sure the order is right.

Nothing like as good as it used to be. The fish was rubbery. Very disappointed and we won’t bother driving 40+ miles again, that’s for sure.
I was not impressed to hear the checkout girl telling a potential customer to go somewhere else where they had better seafood. This was after he tried to order calamari and white fish. Not a good thing to do when you have customers sitting there who can hear everything you say.

Small place with a good sized menu. Service was okay, the younger girl seemed uncomfortable and out of place. We stopped in here for lunch and waited around 15 minutes for food — we were shocked at how big the portions were once the food came out though! Shrimp was awesome and my coworker liked her food.
I’d definitely come back when I have a little extra time for lunch and am craving some good fish.

Updated review after a few years. Despite being a huge fan of grilled fish, I haven’t been frequenting Fish on the Grill all that much. One reason is that Senro Sushi next door has some pretty decent grilled salmon and mackerel (Saba) you can have in their Bento combos.
I came here for lunch on the way to Safeway after a long hiatus. I got to the Grilled Red Snapper Cajun Style with Sweet Potato Fries. Fish was cooked well and seasoned well. However, it didn’t have that kick you would expect from Cajun seasoning. They definitely kicked it down a notch. Still, not a bad place for a quick lunch and certainly one of the healthier places for lunch.

Usually when reviews look promising and I’m not as satisfied as reviews are, I tend to believe I just ordered the wrong thing.
This first experience I had there however, was absolutely SO horrible that I need to make a public service announcement about it so no Unilocalers experience what I did.
The interior was musty, the shrimp tacos I ordered were overcooked, over-​seasoned (seriously, the shrimp was 95% cajun powder), the people who worked there were clearly miserable working there and half-​assing it too.
Not worth the 4 stars I see on Unilocal

A great little place for take out!
I bought my son grilled salmon with rice for lunch and he LOVED it. I had a taste myself and it was pretty darn tasty.
For dinner, I decided to go back since I saw they also offered fish and shrimp tacos. Combos where under $ 10! I love that they came with fries and the sauteed bell peppers and onions. The servings were generous for the price.
Surprised that this place isn’t busier. We will definitely be back.

Great, quick seafood shop with quality food. While this may not be the best place to dine-​in, I definitely see myself picking up to-​go orders from here in the near future. I had the salmon tacos combo, which came with fries and a drink. The fries were lightly seasoned, complementing the tacos. My mom had the tilapia with cajun seasoning on rice and really enjoyed that as well. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a quick seafood fix.

I’m super torn on whether or not to give Fish on the Grill 2 stars or 3. I’m ultimately going with 3 because the food really is good. Like, really good. But holy crap, they didn’t not have their stuff together when we went.
We swung by on Sunday evening around 8:10 pm. We originally were going to eat in, but after 40 minutes of waiting and realizing our food was not close to coming out, we asked for them to switch it to to-​go. By the time the food was actually ready, it was after 9 pm.
Now, that’s slow for a place like this. It’s even slow for a 5 star restaurant. I don’t know if something was off, or not working or what, but when I went over to ask them to change it to to-​go, there was three of them back there, huddled around the grill arguing over how to cook something.
I’d like to give them a second chance, because when we got home and opened the food it was so fresh and yummy! I had the grilled salmon, grilled zucchini and brown rice and my husband had the fish tacos and he kept saying in between bites, «horrible wait, awesome food.»
So take it for what it’s worth. I don’t know if the wait time we had was a freak incident, but be prepared to wait. The food is good though. So it might be worth trying.

It’s great to see this business doing so well, expand their menu with too many choices but just the right number of choices. The food is so fresh and healthy for you.
I hear another Fish on the Grill will be opening in Dublin soon at the Hacienda Crossing complex.

We ordered:
deep fried oysters — 5 pcs of good-​sized oyster which wasn’t as succulent but maybe the oysters were not as fresh? the cocktail sauce that accompanied it was good too while the tartar sauce was just ok.
tacos — ordered the mani-​mahi and shrimp. The mani-​mahi was so bland that I had to put salt and pepper. The shrimp was bordering bland. Try at your own risk.
white fish and calamari with sweet potato fries — the white fish was so good! the sweet potato fries were probably not the best complement to this dish (we chose this over regular fries) but we liked it on its own. the calamari was ok — either overcooked or not that fresh.

Food: I ordered the grilled salmon, and it was really good. It was $ 11, but it could easily have contended with an expensive salmon dish at a high end restaurant. It was served on a nice bed of rice with a side of coleslaw, both of which were good. The gentleman who took my order said the salmon was one of the most popular grilled options, and I tasted why. They have a nice variety of fish to choose from though, including halibut and Chilean sea bass (market price).
Service: you order at a counter and pick up your food. No table service, except they bring you your food when it’s ready; you have to get your own drinks. They grill the fish for you after ordering, so plan to wait 10 minutes or so for your food to cook.
Atmosphere: it’s in a strip mall, and it’s small inside with only about 10 tables. Many of the tables are along a wall in a rather narrow hallway, so it feels a bit cramped. They do have additional tables outside on the sidewalk. If it had a nicer atmosphere, I would have given it 5 stars, because the fish was just plain great, and it’s a fantastic value.

Ordered the halibut with garlic butter sauce & brown rice.
Order took about 12 minutes. Garlic butter sauce is tasty– maybe a tad runny but still very flavorful. My order came with two little containers. The brown rice was cooked well. I’m not generally a fan of coleslaw but it was pretty good here. Not too sweet or overdosed with mayo.
Overall good eats!

I’d give this place * * * * on many levels including service and pricing. Where it becomes average and A-​OK are the other areas such as food variety, quality, and seating.
This $ 10 entrée (average price per entrée is $ 10 – 15) for fresh fish is prevalent in So Cal for those familiar with California Fish Grill, Malibu Fish Grill, FishBonz Grill, Blue Salt Grill, etc. which offers a variety of fresh fishes for that same price range.
I get a sense that Fish on the Grill is a good place with noble efforts, but maybe due to a lack of volume and foot traffic for patrons, they can’t have every fish option available nor maybe even not all of the fish are fresh (possibly frozen) as the inventory turnover I can only imagine isn’t that consistent, so it’s hard to operate a business model like this.
The food nonetheless is cooked to order, and tastes fresh and delicious.
The grilled zucchini is good, I didn’t try the fried zucchini, but tend to like the grilled version best of all.
There is an up charge (additional fee) for converting white rice to brown rice.
The place is small with seating for about two dozen people inside and a few tables outside, but no table bigger than for 4, so harder to accommodate larger groups dining it.
It’s counter service ordering, ‘tho they bring the food to your table to you.
The parking is easy, it’s in San Ramon, which is kinda a Nor Cal suburbia people live at or pass though, but nobody goes to visit per se.

What a pleasant surprise this place turned out to be.
I had a craving for seafood and we happened to be in the area, so this was a perfect choice for lunch. Though I was actually jonesing for fish & chips, I ended up ordering the White Fish sandwich, which came with fries and a drink. The fish was super tender and flavorful. The fries are shoestring, so not the steak fries you would traditionally get. Nonetheless, the fries were cooked perfectly, just enough crispiness on the outside. Maybe it was because the fryer had just heated up and the oil was still «fresh».
We also ordered Tilapia tacos, two per order. Very hearty and the flavors were on point. And lastly, the BBQ Ribs (¼ rack) served with coleslaw and fries.
Staff was friendly. Location is in a shopping complex that houses Safeway and CVS, two doors down from Game Stop. Interior is tiny, which I imagine calls for more of to-​go, in-​and-​out crowd. There are at least two tables that allow for parties between 2 – 4 inside, and a few more tables on the outside.
All in all, a great experience. We’ll definitely be back for more!