The Fish Club

Terrific! Great cocktails (get the pisco sour!) and service. Fish dishes have complex but complimentary flavours. Small plates mean you can try a fair bit from the menu. Well worth the exploration.

Great cocktails. Super ambiance!

The worst meal I have had in Paris in a long time. The staff was stressed out and awkward. The noise level was unbearable. We arrived at 755 for an 8pm reservations and were told to wait at the bar, where the cocky bartender didn’t seem to want us to be taking up two stools for even 5 minutes. Someone brought a tarama to us which we thought was to make up for the waiting time, but then they came back and took it away — no such luck. When we got our table at the top of the stairs, we asked if we could be seated elsewhere in order to 1) not have a few of only the stairs, the wall and the kitchen below and 2) in order to be more comfortable. The waitress refused and said that the lack of comfort (stools and tiny tables) where ‘part of the concept’. This despite the fact that every single other table was still empty at the time. The electricity went out around 10 times during the meal. The staff was constantly running up and down the stairs, tripping numerous times. The floor and table were we were seated were literally shaking. We had to wait around 30 mins for our check. We finally figured out that the waitress had no record of what we had ordered due to the electrical outages. We helped her fill in the blanks. No apology was made for any of the chaos or waiting time. No gesture was made for the stress. No one even asked what we thought of the food or drinks. No one came to check on us — more food? more drinks? perhaps a bit of bread? We had to flag someone down every time. It was incredibly stressful, the food fine but nothing more, and pricey for what it was. We eat out extremely often and love to support new local business. We also provide information to international clients re: places to go in Paris. We do not plan to return to or recommend Fish Club at any point in the near future.

Très bon accueil et ambiance au top.
Tapas de poissons d’inspiration péruvienne.
Très bon cocktail et les plats sont délicieux mais cher pour ce qu’on a dans l’assiette. On y vient plus pour grignoter et profiter de l’ambiance que pour un vrai dîner.
Service de qualité et dynamique.

Tentative de réservation sur place vraiment compliquée. Ils se mettent à 2 serveurs pour nous expliquer qu’il n’y a plus de réservations possibles mais que l’on peut venir à 20h30 pour dîner. Qu’on pourra avoir une table au bar en terrasse ou dans la salle du bas… Toujours pas compris en quoi la resa n’est pas possible… bien décidés à goûter leur cuisine nous revenons donc à 20h30 et demandons à être assis au bar. Les tables de la salle ressemblent à des tables dînette pour enfants de 5 ans avec des micros tabourets. Je fais 1m95 et 95kg. Complètement inenvisageable. Même chose pour ma petite amie qui elle né fait «que» 1m80… Donc assis au bar nous attendons que quelqu’un daigne s’intéresser à nous… Malheureusement les serveurs semblent nous éviter. Après 45 minutes deux jeunes femmes arrivées après nous en sont à leur deuxième cocktail quand personne n’a encore pris notre commande. Nous le faisons remarquer au chef de rang qui nous envoie un serveur. Celui ci s’enfuit gérer une autre table après avoir répondu à une question. Nous en avions pourtant d’autres ! Le barmaid prend le relais et essaye de rattraper le coup. Seulement voilà il est barmaid et australien. Il connaît donc parfaitement les cocktails mais pas vraiment les plats. Nous continuons donc en anglais mais il né peut pas nous renseigner beaucoup plus malgré toute sa bonne volonté. Après un peu d’attente les plats arrivent… Et c’est là que nous oublions le service vraiment indigne d’une nourriture plus qu’à la hauteur. J’ai mangé pas mal de ceviches dans ma vie mais celui les surpassait tous! Le tamales sont exceptionnels aussi et le risotto de ma petite amie complètement inoubliable. Côté nourriture rien à redire donc. On regrettera aussi que la grosse majorité des vins au verre dépassent les 10e en dehors d’un sauvignon à 6. Bref ce restaurant mériterait à ce que son ergonomie et son service soit à la hauteur de sa nourriture pour être vraiment parfait car cela gâche vraiment une expérience qui pourrait être exceptionnelle !

The best restaurant I’ve been to so far in Paris. We could only have cerviche since we arrived way too early for dinner. The hours were incorrect online so we failed. There were also flatware set out on the table and candles lit inside. But It was a lucky accident since the three ceviches we ordered were all delicious and the cocktails were also quite good.
The waiters were kind to us and didn’t ask us to leave. I didn’t feel that the waiters were rude but efficient and a bit silly. Delicious food, great atmosphere and I would gladly go back.

Food was good, tapas menu. Cocktails were even better. Service was not the best bit still okay. We sat at a table upstairs by the bar that was uncomfortable. Not chairs but short stools.
The table was do low to the ground that I could not fit my knees under it. I felt like I was eating in a children’s playhouse.

L’ouverture de La Cevicheria à quelques centaines de mètres de là oblige à revoir le jugement sur le Fish Club. Certes c’est toujours bon, mais on a vite l’impression d’en avoir fait le tour au bout de la troisième fois… Selon les serveurs l’accueil est irrégulier, dommage j’avais eu un beau coup de cœur à ma première visite.

BOTTOM LINE: Great food, but the wait staff are a bunch of wankers.
Despite the general sentiment that servers in Paris are indifferent at best, or rude at worst, my experiences have generally been the opposite. It probably helped that I dined with individuals who could speak French, but even with my nearly incoherent attempts at it, it was often met with friendly service.
Not this place.
I dined here with Denise S. and won’t rehash the ineptitude, rigidity and superficiality of the whole dining experience from making the reservation to getting the bill (see her review). Suffice to say, I actually really loved the food and décor here, but at this price, in this hood and at this level of service (or lack thereof), there are countless other places that deserve your business instead.

I’m the first person to write an English review, so my review is for people who are not from Paris but who may be interested in checking out this trendy new spot…
I found out about this place from reading several expat blogs and I generally do a lot of research before I travel. So I was really excited to try the Fish Club. The photos looked amazing and in person, the place was indeed very cool with the blue décor and tiny mismatched furniture (though the tiny tables were not practical for balancing several dishes of tapas!). I reserved online a week in advance for 6pm. I know that’s early for Paris, but we wanted to go to the Louvre after for the evening opening. My reservation was confirmed by email.
When we arrived, the pouty server appeared disinterested, fiddling on the laptop and answering a phone call while ‘helping’ us. She said the dining room wasn’t ready (although it looked fine) but she could seat us on the patio (it was freezing!!) for 20 – 30 mins. and then move us inside. But since it was so early, they only have sardines and no other hot dishes. So we left, thought about it, and walked back asking if we can come at 8:30 or 9pm? She says we can only come at 7:30 or 10:00pm. I didn’t understand the reason for the rigid scheduling. I would understand if it’s a formal restaurant with 2 seatings for a set dinner, but this is a Peruvian tapas place! And it was wednesday night, not too crowded. I wondered if she was just trying to get rid of us…
We did come back for 7:30pm (lots of empty tables). The waiter suggested we each order 4 dishes because they are small. Then, although we never asked for it, he sends over the sommelier who proceeds to recommend a 200 euro bottle of wine. In our party of 4, one doesn’t drink much and two wanted beers. So we didn’t go with her wine suggestion and I don’t know if that contributed to them not welcoming us or thinking we’re cheap? I had a pisco sour and it was really good but the service throughout the night left a (pardon the pun) sour taste in our mouths…
The server seemed completely disinterested (I know that people say that’s what servers are like in Paris, but in an entire week of eating out in the city, only the Fish Club lived up to that stereotype). There were long gaps between courses, water was not refilled, they seemed to ignore us when we tried to get their attention. We ordered a cheese plate and it took so long to arrive we regretted not just getting the bill… Throughout, it seemed that they were irritated when we asked for tap water, irritated when we didn’t order 4 dishes per person (we had 8 dishes between 4 plus a cheese plate and were comfortably full), and irritated when we didn’t get dessert. It’s like they didn’t want us there and if we were gonna be there, they wanted to make sure we spend as much money as possible… I’m not sure if it was because we are Canadians or that 2 of my DC’s were over 50 (i.e. do not fit their fashionable/​young bobo target market).
BUT, the food itself was actually excellent! Flavourful and tangy ceviches, shrimp soup, grilled octopus and chorizo, a cheesy spin on patatas bravas… Lots of memorable dishes with great presentation. Too bad the service took away from the overall experience so much.

Le Fish Club, comme son nom l’indique, se spécialise dans les produits de la mer.
Situé à coté du Beef Club (pour ceux qui sont plus viandes rouges) et du Ballroom (le gérant a tout compris), le Fish Club gagne néanmoins un point comparé à son voisin car toutes les places (hormis ceux du comptoir) sont des fauteuils et tables basses. Ambiance cosy donc, on y est allé le soir où le Ballroom organisait une soirée Tiki, du coup les serveurs étaient en chemise hawaïenne et couronnes de fleurs. Impossible de les prendre au sérieux. On m’a dit que c’était plutôt uppé normalement.
Meme en semaine, le restaurant est rempli et sans réservation, on risqué de manger au comptoir (si on a de la chance).
Le restaurant suit en fait des boissons et plats péruviens. ça né vous parle pas? moi non plus. Mais tout ce qu’il faut savoir c’est que c’est très bon!
Et on sait que c’est bon car même lorsqu’on prend des plats dont le nom et la description nous laisse perplexe, on le découvre avec délice; et lorsqu’on prend des plats qui nous parlent quand même un peu, comme le VRAI TARAMA maison, c’est juste un plaisir monstre.
Malheureusement nous n’avons pas gardé de place pour les desserts, étants assez pressés de rejoindre des amis au Ballroom…
Le Fish Club est une bonne surprise.