Oh, f.i.s.h….. I wanted to love you. I really thought I was going to. In the end, I liked you. It’s not you, it’s me… wait, where was I?
f.i.s.h. (Fox Island Seafood House) is the waterfront restaurant in Port Chester that’s notoriously hard to find, and as the restaurant group and I found out, has notoriously sucky parking. We must have come at the heart of the dinner rush because the cars were backing up like the end scene of Field of Dreams. The poor valet was running around trying to direct the logjam and grab everyone’s keys.
I walked into the restaurant, saw the rest of the group, and we hung out at the bar for a few minutes. After 10 of the 12 had arrived, I told the hostess we were ready to be seated. She looked up and said, “I can’t seat you until your entire party arrives.” Thanks, nice to be here! I know, I know, restaurants constantly get screwed by inconsiderate groups who are late or don’t show up for reservations (Frank Bruni explains both sides of this thorny issue much better than I can). But seeing how this was the start of my f.i.s.h. experience, a smile and a “Hi, welcome to f.i.s.h.!” would have been nice before being fed the company line. To be fair, the hostess did sit seat us after I explained that we were practically all there.
One thing you need to know about f.i.s.h.— it’s l.o.u.d.
The restaurant’s all glass, wood floors and hard surfaces, so there’s zero sound absorption. I felt like I was yelling the entire night— and trying to talk to people at the end of the table? Forget about it.
But enough about noise, let’s talk food. The group ordered dishes like steamers (delicious), lobster rolls and paella. Karen got the linguine with white clam sauce. It looked excellent.
I ordered one of the specials, wood roasted whole bronzini with fingerling potatoes and Greek salad.
The bronzini probably should have been yanked out of the oven a few minutes sooner. The meat under the backbone was tender and perfectly cooked (the best spot was right behind the head), but the meat above the backbone was overdone and dry. And for something that was “wood roasted”, the fish was curiously lacking any wood flavor. The fingerling potatoes were under-seasoned (next time I’m smuggling in Bacon Salt). But I loved the goat cheese on the Greek salad.
For dessert, key lime cheesecake.
Very good— less dense than regular cheesecake and appropriately tart. I was kind of hoping for a bigger serving, though.
The food was solid, if not spectacular. But the night was filled with little missteps in service. First we had to ask the waitress three times to bring extra bread. Then Karen’s clam linguine came with chili flakes even though she had specifically asked that they be left out. And finally, for some weird reason, the waitress only asked half the table if we wanted dessert, while ignoring the other half. I didn’t even realize this until Heike brought it up later. Sorry Heike! Had I known, I would have given you some cheesecake!
So there it is. f.i.s.h. and I didn’t fall in love, and we’re definitely not soulmates. But I’ll give it a second chance. Maybe we can be friends.
GRADE: B
f.i.s.h.
102 Fox Island Rd.
Port Chester, NY 10573
914-939-4227
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