fish house review

My mother grew up in an area of downtown Toronto near where I currently live. Why is this relevant, you might ask? Because sometimes, when Bunny introduces me to a restaurant (he's lived in this city a decade longer than me) or when we find one together and I get excited about it .... she spoils my fun by telling me "oh, I remember that place. I used to eat there thirty years ago".

The first time I went to the Fish House she spoiled my fun just like that. Bunny and I have been here three or four times now, generally when we are already out of the way. Because Fish House is out of the way.

I want to love Fish House. I really do. I love seafood. I love any chance I'm given to eat something from under the sea. So of course I want to love Fish House. Unfortunatey, I don't love it. I like it, quite a bit, but I'm realizing that it really isn't anything that special. It's sort of like an independent Red Lobster.

Bunny and I started the meal off sharing some bacon wrapped scallops (around $10). I love me some scallops. There is nothing like a great scallop, and there are some that I remember fondly years after the fact. These were ok scallops. The scallops themselves were just barely overcooked, and unfortunately the bacon was more chewy than crunchy. A scallop is a scallop though, so it's easy to like. The plating was a bit of a letdown: just four scallops plunked down kind of sad-like on a plain white plate, with a little bit of seafood sauce on the side. Nothing special.

Then they brought out their bread basket, which was rather enjoyable. The bread itself was dense and chewy, and had a hint of a sourdough taste. We demolished it.

For my main, I said screw it, it's my birthday dinner (and I needed some birthday love since I'd ended the day itself in tears) and went for Alaskan Queen Crab Legs ($26). I love me some crab. I also switched up the sides; instead of rice and mixed vegetables I asked for sweet potato mash and beets.

The crab was crab and delightful just in that. There's nothing quite like cracking into crab legs and enjoying the meat inside. So clearly there were no complaints there. The sides were not amazing. I love beets, but mine were unfortunately cold and didn't have anything really going for them. The mash was a little bit odd, on the spicy side which I wasn't quite prepared for. But the crab was lovely!

Bunny opted for a mixed seafood dish ($21) that included crab-stuffed salmon and grilled calamari. His verdict was that it was ok, but nothing special. The calamari rather disappointed him as it was overcooked and he felt like the salmon was alright but he wouldn't order it again. (Although he ordered it last time and thought the same then, tee hee.)

Dessert was blueberry cheesecake for Bunny and coffee for me. I was a little bit unimpressed with their dessert menu: three kinds of cheesecake, apple crumble, creme brulee and nothing chocolate. Who doesn't have chocolate option on their dessert menu? I call bullshit.

So the food? It's like a B -.

What did thrill me was our server. She was amazing. She anticipated our needs, was super sweet to us, and checked in with us just enough. It made me a happy duck.