Flying Fish Restaurant

It’s been years since I ate at Flying Fish, therefore today’s lunch was met with some anticipation. When this restaurant first opened back in the late-90’s, it was the place I always brought visiting family and friends to due to its great food and service. Boy, have the years not been kind to Flying Fish.

I arrived at 11:30 am, when the restaurant opened, but was met by staff who acted like we had intruded upon their opening routine. In fact, the manager or whomever this person was looked at us and said something to the effect that we would have to wait as they were still trying to open.

Well then why have your opening time as 11:30 am? If you need more time to get your act together (which was clearly the case with these folks), then maybe you should move your start time back to Noon. There’s nothing worse than arriving at a restaurant and being received like you are an interruption to their routine.

When finally seated, we were escorted to a crammed, corner table for two, passing a number of open tables (we were the only ones in the restaurant). I had to ask if we could sit at a table nearby that offered a more comfortable setting. It was unbelievable the treatment this guy provided.

Unfortunately, the lunch I had did not meet the bar. It was a far cry from the Flying Fish standard I once enjoyed. I ordered the halibut fish and chips, which arrived sodden with grease, crumbling from the saturation of oil that had permeated everything. The only consolation was a decent side dish of cole slaw that offered a nice bit of spice.

What a disappoint from start to finish, in terms of quality of service and food.

We had a delicious pre-Valentines dinner there. It was lovely.

granted, it was 25for$25 @ lunch time but still. the mexican bass was so overcooked it tasted like dry chicken. the seafood hotpot was also way overcooked but also managed to have half-cooked rice underneath. the only things worth eating were the appetizers.

One of my three favorite Seattle restaurants.