webra Anonymous

Food: 1/5  Vibe: 3/5  Service: 3/5  Value: 3/5  Overall: 2/5

The last time I went to Go Fish was for dinner about a year ago. It was a disappointing meal then (except for the martinis which were actually VERY good), but generally I'm open to giving a restaurant two tries before I write it off forever.

Preface: Go Fish says it is the ONLY award winning, four-star rated New American Seafood and Steak Restaurant and Lounge in North Dallas. It also has been named as one of Dallas' best new restaurants.

Atmosphere: A nice environment for a brunch. Bright, clean and not too noisy. The place was full, but we easily were able to hear each other and have good conversation. The kitchen is in full view from the main dining area, which I always like. I tend to assume that if they know we're watching, they'll do a better job!

Service: Our waitress immediately warned us that two of the scheduled waitstaff were not coming in and that service would be spotty. In spite of having to cover extra tables, she unfortunately turned out to be the best part of our experience by being as gracious and accommodating as was possible in that environment. She was right about the slow service - each course took over 30 minutes to arrive. We saw her quickly bring plates to tables as they came from the kitchen, so the problems apparently originated in the kitchen.

Food: For brunch, you choose from a three-course, fixed-price menu for $17.95. Breadsticks, butter, and some sort of fried potato crisp are also included. Beverages are extra. There were about five different choices each for Starters and Entrees.

For starters, we ordered two Caesar salads, a fruit plate, clam chowder, and two french toasts. The Caesar came in an Indian lentil Pappadam shell with fried eggplant "croutons". The eggplant had almost no flavor and would have probably been better served hot rather than cold. Many of the romaine leaves were wilted and it even had icky wilted black colored leaves throughout. The french toast was made with regular white bread. They were thin, covered with three mushed berries, oversoaked in syrup, cold, and...burnt. The kitchen was nice enough to hide the burnt side, so when I took a bit I was caught off guard. I assumed mine was a fluke and had a bite from my husband's french toast. It was even worse than mine. The waitress apologized and brought out two new plates. When I turned them over, they were also burnt (but at least they were warm!). The fruit plate was small, but standard - no complaints. The clam chowder ended up being the winner. My father said the clams were fresh tasting and not overcooked.

For the entrees, four of us ordered the "Fish Cake" Eggs Benedict, one ordered the veggie and cheese egg white frittata, and one ordered a Champagne-Dill poached salmon dish. For all of us with the Benedict, our eggs were completely hard-boiled. The "fish cake" was very fishy and most of us ended up eating around it. The muffins were soggy and not toasted and the Hollandaise had almost no flavor (I've used dry Hollandaise sauce from a packet that tasted better). The accompanying pan-fried new potatoes were very strange. They weren't crisp but soggy and had zero taste - no salt, no pepper, nothing. The frittata was OK - nothing special. The Salmon dish was the lone winner. It was cooked perfectly.

For the dessert, we were told there was only one choice: a white chocolate Gateau. Basically, this was a white and milk chocolate shell filled with some sort of flavorless white paste of some sort. I'm told it was a white chocolate mousse, but was so dense and flavorless that it reminded me of spackling paste. I had one bite and left the rest. As we were leaving later we saw a flourless chocolate cake being served, so we're guessing it just wasn't ready yet when we were eating.

Note: I kind of feel bad about writing this review since the Brunch we had at Go Fish was for a charity (from what I understand, the owner donated 50% of the tab for each participating table), but I have a unwavering need to warn other Chowhounds of a potentially bad meal. Also, there were other people eating brunch there that day eating the same menu that were not participating in the charity. I applaud the owner for his generosity, but he probably ended up pushing away new business instead of attracting it.

2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )