Fish Club

[tsquare]

First report from the Fish Club.

Unfortunately, the restaurant, located within the Marriott Hotel, is separated from the waterfront by Alaskan Way and parking along the street. If only the floor could have been raised 3 or 4 feet, the view would have been much improved. The space is fronted with windows and backed by an open kitchen, not really adding energy to the room over the too loud techno music pumped in to the space prior to 9 p.m. No booths, some banquettes, chairs too high for short legged diners. Big blocks of color, hard floor of wood, marble and glass tile inlays. Too many staff wandering around, dressed mostly in black, at times surrounding a neighboring table to deliver 4 soups or salads at once.

Tucked into the corner of the kitchen is an open oven labeled “Todd English Oven Company” or something similar. Unfortunately, no pizzas are delivered from that oven. We did devour a crisp flatbread topped with proscuitto, Gorgonzola, and date spread. House cocktails are generous, tasty, and $9. Wines by the glass run $6 and up. We also cleaned up a fava bean flan, though the color and texture were akin to baby food. It topped a nice mix of cherry tomato halves and rock shrimp, along with olive oil lightly flavored with lavender. A simple bibb lettuce salad was showered with blue cheese.

Copper River Salmon ($24) was well served over fresh pea puree stuffed raviolis. The pasta was too thick and chewy. We had hopes for delicate skins to match the light flavored filling and minty(?) sauce. A whole red snapper ($26) served over creamy rock fish and lemon risotto was platted with grilled tomatoes and radicchio. Leftovers made a nice lunch and dinner snack the next day.

Desserts are fun and tasty combinations of lots of things carefully fashioned and put together. We shared a chocolate terrine with caramelized banana slices and nuts paired with panna cotta atop a cinnamon cookie as well as a butterscotch pudding in a chocolate cookie crust topped with a couple of half dipped sugar cookies.

Verdict? Unclear, ask again later. At least worth trying. If you walk up the exterior public stair to the south of the hotel you can lust after the indoor/outdoor pool on the hotel terrace.

[LEdlund]

Thanks for the review. I'm meeting friends there tonight. I'm disappointed to hear that there is so much space between the restaurant and the water. I have visions of sipping cocktails with a gorgeous view.......

The flatbread sounds fantastic. Too bad about the sides with the copper river salmon. The ravioli sounds good.

[LEdlund]

So we had dinner there last night. Like tsquare says, it is unfortunate to be separated from the water so much. There is really no reason to sit by the window unless you want to watch the traffic on Alaskan Way. Of course maybe if it were sunny, it would have been better.

The bar area is very "tech" looking: brushed aluminum bar with mint green tinted glass accents. My first thought was "antiseptic". Then I smelled bleach. Then the rest of my thoughts were all "antiseptic"! My friends and I had a drink there before moving to the dining room. My martini was good enough, but I wish they had a better gin selection.

Most everything we ate was really quite good. For starters we had: grilled calamari steak. This was nice and tender and served on a bed of soft polenta. The shell on the soft shelled crab was not soft enough for me, but my friends liked it. The only disappointing starter was the bibb lettuce salad with crumbled blue cheese. Only that I was hoping for a lightly dressed salad with some blue cheese crumbles and what I got was a salad dressed with a heavy blue cheese dressing. The crumbles were part of the heavy dressing. I love heavy blue cheese dressing, it just wasn't what I wanted or expected last night.

For entrees we had: boneless oven roasted duck. This had been weighted when cooked and was about an inch thick with a sweet, crispy skin. I had the lobster paella which I was warned was quite spicy (they had been receiving complaints) I took my chances since I love spicy food and was glad I did. The paella was full of shrimp, mussels, clams, white fish, chicken, chorizo and a nice big lobster claw. My favorite entree was the oven roasted whole red snapper which tsquare also had. I normally don't order whole fish in restaurants because I am too lazy to deal with the head/tail and bones. I would gladly deal with it for this fish. The skin appeared to have been rubbed with salt and olive oil and it had been roasted at a high temperature so the skin was crispy and salty and the fish was still moist and flavorful. Yum.

We were too full for dessert....ok, let's be real, nothing piqued our interest enough to convince us to order it.

The place was mostly empty with lots of size zero hostess parading around. The wait and bus staff were pleasant enough. I had a question about a wine on the list so the sommelier was sent over. I asked my question, she looked perplexed, then admitted this was her first day and she wasn't familiar with the wine I was asking about. She suggested I order a different wine.

Will I go back? Probably. I won't meet people there for drinks, but I would go for a meal.

[tsquare]

I have visions of sipping cocktails with a gorgeous view.......

Have you tried Waterfront. Now that's a well positioned restaurant.

Anyway, Nancy Leson reviewed Fish Club in the Times today - she was in full agreement with us! I did go for a drink one night before a concert on the Pier - asked a bartender if Todd English had really been in the week before - he was amazed that I knew who the executive chef / hottie was by name! Even more surprised when I told him I cook from the 3 cookbooks. Some really wonderful recipes - not too difficult either.

[tighe]

... - asked a bartender if Todd English had really been in the week before - he was amazed that I knew who the executive chef / hottie was by name!...

For any of you ladies who are interested, he got divorced not long ago, so he's back on the market.

[Kimo]

A girlfriend and I lunched at the Fish Club last Friday. I ordered the $20.03 prix fixe (fried calamari, entree, creme brulee). The main dish was not memorable (I am racking my brain to remember what I dined on!); my friend ordered the salmon in filo. The front of the house needs major help, at least during lunch. I stopped by for menus a month ago and it took the manager two days to call me back. Not impressed by the server (he kept on saying this is his first week; the restaurant has barely been open and they are on round two re: servers?). I asked simple questions (wild vs. farmed salmon) and he had to go back to the kitchen three times for answers. And, the valets (free parking) lost my car. We expressed that we only had an hour for lunch and we left after one hour, 45 minutes (20 minutes for the lost car). I probably will not return...there are too many other restaurants I want to try! Kimo

[MsRamsey]

I just have to shake my head. Why can they not get their act together??

[ankomochi]

I had a wonderful King Salmon poached in olive oil. The taste was subttle, but nice flavor, not too strong, but slight olive flavor. It went nicely with a glass of Riesling. I loved the bread and whipped butter with garlic. I thought it was a little bit salty, but I could just eat the whipped butter.

[Kimo]

I now remember my not-so-memorable lunch entree--the Fish Club crab cake. I did enjoy the cookies and white chocolate creme brulee for dessert. BTW, the assistant server was great re: giving our party more bread and decaf iced coffee. Kimo.

[Roger McShane]

I dined there in the first week of August. I have a problem with US seafood restaurants such as the Fish Club and Kincaids etc where the restaurants are huge and impersonal.

The service at the Fish Club was clumsy. The quality of the food was 'third league' as far as my expectations were concerned.

We ended up leaving after two very ordinary and unexciting entrees.

We thought that this was just another example of critics being too scared to put their opinions on the line when it comes to criticizing a 'celebrity chef'.

My opinion is that the food is a pale imitation of what you would expect in a cheap restaurant in Nice, France.

I think that if I am in the area again I will just continue to go to La Pichet or Harvest Vine!

[Coop]

Hey help me out here who is this Todd English? The first place I heard of him was on Iron Chef American with William Shatner. While your at it who is Kerry Simon? Somehow I've completly missed out on these guys.