If I could give this place 2.5 stars I would. Why? Here's the breakdown:
Positives:
- we scored a seat on the little balcony, which is perfect for people watching and enjoying the nice weather. Def what brought us in initially.
- while my boo didn't think the waitress checked on us enough I thought it was good. She was friendly and efficient.
Negatives:
- the food! The food was just bad..woof. From the raw dough on the FRIED (yes fried - how is it even possible to come out raw from hot oil) calamari to the lack of flavor in the entrees. While the lobster pasta was generous with the lobster that was the only good thing about it. While the sauce was supposed to be in white wine it was in butter, cream, and some sort of tomato. What happened here? And the Captains - while the fries were good (I mean they're fries - you can't go wrong) the shrimp was overdone and the scallops undercooked. Basically it was a plate of blah fried items.
Our bill came out to $91 for 2 people - what. A waste of money and a waste of a Friday night dinner. Should have gone to the Chard House.
Friday night around 8. Â No wait; we were seated right away. Â Atmosphere was good. Â The bar area seemed bustling but I did not eat there as it was full. Â Service was good not great. Â Waiter was very polite and did recommend some good choices. Â I split a dozen oysters with my father. Â Very, very good. Â The clam chowder was good to excellent but not something I would have to make a special trip back for. Â I ordered the Crab Norfolk. Â I thought it was very good. Â It is basic. Â Blue Crab in a bowl with butter. Â Right in my wheelhouse. Â So it worked out well. Â My dad ordered the Caccuicco. Â Very good in itself. Â They nailed the sauce. Â It was excellent. Â However, the clams, shrimp, and calamari in it was overcooked. Â Overall, I would give a 3.5 out of 5. Â The martinis and mixed drinks we had were very good also.
Review Source:Some items were 5 star. And some items were 1 star. It's a bit hit or miss with the food. But the location is great and we enjoyed sitting outside on the patio and people-watching. That patio can get a little crowded because it is so narrow, but it didn't cause us any issues.
The service was so-so. Our server was nice, but not particularly well-versed in the menu and too hesitate to interrupt our conversation. We were chatting up a major storm, and I noticed a few times where our server kinda hovered and then left. When we needed something, we definitely had to keep an eye out for him and call him over.
The drink list was alright. Ok beer and wine offerings and several cocktail concoctions.
The crab dip was insanely delicious. Easily the best thing I ate here. Loved it! 5 stars. The oysters were average. Nothing particularly noteworthy or different. 3 stars. The crab-stuffed avocados were icky. 1 star. The mussels were good and above average. 4 stars. The clam chowder was decent. 3.5 stars. The seafood salad was average. 3 stars.
Overall, it's a nice spot and one I would bring out-of-towners out and about in Old Town to again. It's a good seafood spot for picky seafood eaters as the menu offers a lot of seafood variety.
This was my first trip back to the Fish Market since there recent remodeling. Stopped in on a lazy Saturday in old town for lunch. The upstairs has been redone, and has a nice balcony with a few tables, unfortunately we were not able to sit out there because of the impending weather. Opting for a booth next to one of the new (almost comical) murals.
My wife got the salmon sandwich and I went with the old town burger. I do not like seafood, but my wife swears that this is the only place where she will eat seafood in old town. She loved her sandwich, although I noticed that for the listed price she only got a sandwich, no side.
 Old town burger was good. Large burger (8oz?) great crusty bun. Old town burger comes prepared with. BBQ, onion ring, tomato, onions, and lettuce. Choice of fries or sweet potato fries, I went with the fries. The fries are steak house cut, the thicker style. Not my favorite but not too bad. I was happy with the service and the food, would like to come back and enjoy lunch on the balcony over looking king st.
4 of us came here for a late night seafood dinner after bar hopping on a Wednesday night. It was our second try eating here because we wanted the atmosphere on the lower level, but previously (a busy 7pm Sat) there was only seating on the upper level (which is nice, but we wanted the bar/music/sports-on-tv vibe).
Everything was great! Scallop dinner was well worth the price! The crab stuffed avocado was YUMMY. Our server was very sweet, and on point with recommendations and knowledge. Everything came out at a good pace.
Fish Market is not touristy--it's a real fun experience and we will be back for another seafood extravaganza :)
NOT a tourist trap! Tourist traps charge a lot of money for the food, and here, I paid a reasonable amount of money for great food, especially given that this restaurant is located in an expensive area!
My husband and I combed yelp and King Street before deciding to eat at the Fish Market. Our decision was shaped by their large menu, fresh seafood selections, and above all, PRICE.
I ordered the salmon BLT for $9 with a side of hush puppies for about $2. The hush puppies were a bit much for me. However, I LOVED my salmon BLT sandwich! The salmon was grilled, which is my preferred preparation for salmon. The bacon was crispy, lettuce and tomato were not screwed up, and the restaurant did a fine job of putting all of those ingredients on ciabatta bread. The sandwich was at least 8 inches long and came with a dill pickle and green olive. I miss this sandwich!
My husband got a cream pasta dish with snow crab, that was also very good. It cost about $21 pre-tax. The portion was large and he was quite full after eating it all. I had a bite of it too and thought the snow crab was well-prepared.
If I lived in the area, I would come back to the Fish Market more frequently as they have daily specials. I do not recall all of them, so here are some: Tuesdays is taco night and Fridays is fish and chips night.
The ambiance of the Fish Market is very brown and wooden. They have first and second floor dining. We should have asked our server if we could eat on the balcony that accommodated three, two-person tables. Our waitress was friendly, although she could have been better at refilling our waters.
Overall, I would frequent the Fish Market if possible.
This is my go-to bar in Old Town. They are not the cheapest and even their happy hour is still kind of expensive. What they do have is half prices oysters durring happy hour. $9 for a dozen locals on the half shell is a hell of a deal.
They have decent food. Their Buffalo Wings and Shrimp are Great. Their Calamari is terrible. The Chowdah is decent. Coming from MD's Eastern Shore, my expectations of quality and fresh seafood is fairly high. It has a good atmosphere. The bartenders and wenches are nice.
Beer selection is decent, although expensive. Happy hour beers are still like $3.50 for a normal and $9 for a schooner (32oz).
Its mainly a tourist trap that has some locals that regular it.
As someone who chooses to watch their caloric intake (for the moment), seafood can create some tough choices because it always seems to taste ten times better when it's fried or slathered in butter! But alas, those options were off the table. Luckily, The Fish Market did not disappoint when it came to healthier options.
I opted for the Seafood Cobb Salad with vinaigrette dressing on the side and it was delicious. My mind told my body not to eat the entire thing but apparently my mouth wasn't listening! It was worth every single calorie I had to sacrifice later that day though!
Great place, great atmosphere, great service so I definitely recommend it!
Touristy. Very touristy. Avoid this place.
The oysters were actually quite good but everything else was just terrible. I tried some of the grilled salmon, which can only be described as excruciatingly dry. I ordered the salad that came with lobster salad (decent), tuna salad (could make it better myself) and shrimp salad (tasted vile and three days old).
I came here with a big group of friends and was delighted to be in their company. I've forgotten who chose the restaurant, so they can all count on their Christmas presents being downgraded this year.
Started with the crab-stuffed avocado. Basically, some cold crab Imperial in a cold avocado. Maybe it's the Texan in me, but I expected a little more thought to go into that. And for $12, it would be nice to think someone actually cooked something instead of imagining my server doing this all in 3 minutes and throwing it on the table in front of me.
My entree was the Skipper's Platter. Edible, barely. First, I asked for my potatoes to be subbed with a salad. There were no potatoes on my plate. I also never received a salad. Because we were a large group, I didn't want to be a pain in the nuggets and ask for the waiter to bring it when he checked on us after serving the entrees. The salmon had zero seasoning, as did the scallops, shrimp and asparagus. Everything might as well have been boiled together, drained and slopped on the plate.
A little effort and some creativity will go a long way for The Fish Market. I won't be returning.
I came here with my boyfriend on a beautiful spring Saturday evening. The line outside The Fish Market was long but to be fair, it moved pretty quickly, and there was a sign that the waiting area is small.
Since my boyfriend and I wanted to sit outside, and he went up to the front of the line to see what the wait was, we were able to get seated pretty quickly, bypassing others in line who preferred indoor seating and waited for a table.
We were shown to our seats outside, a tiny fire escape balcony overlooking King St.
The waiters just extend their heads and hands out because the space is so small. Our waitress was super though. She was friendly and not pushy.
I opted for the grilled mahi mahi sandwich. It was good but not wow! Bf ordered the linguini and clams. It too was ok.
It got chilly during the course of the evening and because the balcony can only hold 8 people, service can be a little slow.
This is my first review on Yelp!
I am proud and glad to say it is being written for the Fish Market. After living in Alexandria for over 10 years, this place has always kept me happy.
The atmosphere, service, and food make this place wonderful!
The crabcakes, seafood salad, and oyster shooters are fantastic!
I would highly reccomend.
For their food prices I would've expected much better service. My fiance recently had double jaw surgery and can only have soft foods. This was the first time out to a restaurant in 7 weeks, we decided on the fish market because fish would be soft enough to swallow without having to chew.
We asked the waiter if he could substitute the roasted potato's for mashed potatoes because he couldn't chew, the waiter said that they didn't offer mashed potatoes, we asked if he could have the chef just mash the roasted potatoes and he said no. We then  asked to talk to the manager & see if an exception could be made (or substitute 2 sides for a bowl of soup) and the manager was so RUDE!!! He told my fiance to mash up his own roasted potatoes with a fork...c'mon seriously?!?! (when i got my order with the roasted potatoes i tried mashing them and bent the fork) Eventually he agreed to have the 2 sides replaced with a soup.. the expression on the managers face was like if we had asked him to donate a kidney.
We were a party of 4 all of us had drinks, had ordered 2 appetizers with an order of 4 entrees on the way. I was very tempted to cancel our food order and go elsewhere because I couldn't stand how bad the customer service from the manager was. Not to mention, the waiter didn't even come back to our table until after our entrees were out (about 30 minutes after the manager came) I had to go to the bar to get my own drinks..
The food and drinks were good, but due to the bad customer service we received I won't be returning.
I visited the FIsh Maket with a group of girlfriends. Â We went on the first nice spring evenings of the season. I expected the wait to be ridiculously long due to that fact. I was pleasantly surprised when we were seated within 5 minutes. Â
The drinks: My friends and I ordered hurricanes. Two of us have Louisiana roots and were quite pleased with the cocktails. I'm not saying they give Pat O'Briens a run for their money, but they are nipping at their heels. I had to tap-out midway through my drink, and I am no lightweight!
The food: I ordered the seafood stew and crabettes. The stew was very good. It had a nice flavor and plenty of seafood. The crabettes were not great. I think the Blue Dolphin has ruined me for all other crab cakes.
The service: The service was meh. No major complaints, but nothing to write home about.
Overall I would truly rate them as 2.5 stars, but will bump up to 3.
Been trying to get into this place all week but didn't feel like waiting on line. Â BUT this place is always worth it anytime. Â We were there last night having a dozen or so raw clams and some beers, delicious.... Â I had the skipper and my buddy had the oyster po'boy. Â We have been going here for at least 4 yrs when in Alexandria and I always have to come here. Â Best seafood restaurant on King Street for the $$$$
Review Source:We walked in the front door and found ourselves in a stairwell, which is actually the right thing I guess haha. Â We were greeted and told them there were 2 of us and then we were told to "go upstairs". Â So we wandered up the uneven stairwell and were greeted by two more doors, which to choose, which to choose... Then someone finally appeared and we told them once again we were a party of two and were finally taken to a table. Â There we sat for the next 10 minutes waiting for someone to come over to take our drink order. (there were 3 other tables with people seated at them that we could see) Â Finally our waiter arrived and apologized, you could tell he had never been told that we had even been sat. Â Now to our order...
App: Â Steamed Shrimp:
     -Fresh, easy to peel, good taste, weird bay leaf/cinnamon boil (tasty but weird, esp when pieces of hard bay leaf get on your peeled shrimp)
Main Course: Fish Tacos and Fish and Chips:
           Â
Fish Tacos:
     - Huge chunks of fish with a great sauce, very good portions (two full tacos)
Fish and Chips:
     - Good taste, yet soggy (its called draining your oil or use a higher temp so it doesn't soak into your batter), cheap fish used...
Overall... the waiter made our experience, he was great... The food was so-so and would go back and try something different and maybe have a different experience.
3 stars bc the food was ok, just had some easy flaws to take care of.
I LOVE their grilled salmon and shrimp salads. This is the first salad I've had in a restaurant where I love every single ingredient they put in my salad. I usually end up picking away at something and there are always leftovers on my plate but not here!
The Salmon and shrimp were both grilled perfectly. Both salads came on a bed of romaine lettuce, baby cherry tomato halves, feta cheese, sweet strawberries and melon, with a side of toasted bread and house vinaigrette dressing. Light/refreshing/delicious at the same time!!
Adding avocado to the salads would be an added bonus :)
My wonderful girlfriend took me here one night as a surprise. I was throughly impressed! Great atmosphere (light was a tad too low), fantastic menu, and amazing servers! I had the fish tacos and I am hard pressed to think of a time I've had a better fish taco outside of California. DELICIOUS!
Review Source:Yeah this place is an institution which is why we went. Â But, Fish Market... what have you done? Â The clam chowder used to have character and unique spices. Â Now, it's just boring. Â The crabbettes were terrible. Â Full of filler. Â Blech. Â The mussels in wine sauce - what that heck was that? Â Wine and butter with oregeno sprinkled on it? Â I will never be back. But, that's probably not a worry to you... it will soon be summer and all the unsuspecting tourists will be back in town.
Review Source:I'm very happy that there is a Fish Market in the area now that sells fresh fish. I have been here couple times since it opened. The price is not the cheapest but the fish are very fresh. They are still expanding. I was told that they will carry seafood soon. My only complain is that the person to cut and clean the fish for you is not always there.I walked away with the cut of the fish I didn't originally want because I didn't feel like waiting.
Review Source:Good enough. The drinks are pretty cheap but nothing very exciting. The oysters are half off and at $10 a dozen, a steal, sort of. The oysters (and I have yet to have them not during happy hour) are kinda small and wimpy. Maybe I'm just used to deep, domed beauties farmed oysters from the bay, but at $10/dozen, you're really getting about 3/4 of a dozen oysters from a lot of other places.
I am loath to give them a three star rating since I do enjoy going out there from time to time, but I mean, it's like eating a whole bag of potato chips or a bucket of ice cream in one sitting. It's real good, but nothing exceptional or something you want to do again, except for some reason, you are compelled to do so every so often.
Complain all you want about my review being apples and oranges, but they serve beer in these giant schooner cups that are... I think 32 oz or so. The quantity is there. The quality is good enough.
Maybe I'll try some of their other stuff and see if my sentiments change.
3.25 stars.
This place is solid - it doesn't disappoint, but it doesn't knock your socks off either. They have a really good Bloody Mary which they stick a sausage in (those of you who are very squeamish when it comes to pork, be forewarned); it's big and not recommended for drivers with a low tolerance for alcohol.
The food here is decent. I usually go for the fisherman's (or admiral's) platter - whichever one is fried and unhealthy! Their fries and coleslaw are pretty standard.
I've been here quite a few times and only ever remember being disappointed once. I'd happily go back, although there are much better options in the neighborhood.
Fun, tasty, fish joint! Â By far the BEST Fried Oyster Po'Boy I've had in Northern Virginia in years... come to think of it - it probably ranks top 10 of what I've had even in the deep south and LA! Really! Just the right amount of breading, oysters were tender and juicy and just the right kind of bread to fully compliment the package! Overall from the dishes around the table - I'm going back. Fun, big, low-key and casual... plus great food!
Review Source:Celebrated my boyfriend's birthday here with about 10-12 of our friends. Very accommodating with great service - excellent for large parties. Food was delicious. Drinks were flowing. I had the lobster pasta and it was ah-mazing! My boyfriend had the filet and crab cake? It was good but he says maybe not $49.95 good.
All in all, we had a great time and would most definitely recommend The Fish Market.
Just went in for some beers and oysters and ended up sticking around (holding off eating) till happy hour (M-F, 4-7 o'clock). Their food happy hour is good with 1/2 price appetizers (including oysters).
Their drink happy hour isn't as great. Drinks are $2.75 for their house brew and $3 for Miller Lite and Yeungling. The good stuff wasn't included in happy hour so that sucks.
Overall the oysters were delicious and shucked/presented well.
Pleasantly surprised. Â We went here last week- my first time, my husband's umpteenth time. Â I was a little taken aback by the weird separation of dining room and bar area, but after that we sat down and were promptly served. Â
The oyster prices were very reasonable for what you get. Â We ordered a half dozen - only because I had never had oysters there, and they were really GOOD! Â For $9 bucks a half dozen, I would go there for just the oysters. Â Granted, they came in a plastic tray with a beer logo - not so spectacular, but hey they were reasonably priced.
I had the lobster bisque and hubby had the chowder. Â I thought the bisque was a bit thick, but it was tasty. Â His chowder was runny looking to me, but still, it tasted good. Â Sometimes though, soups like that make me think they've got the big soup container in the back premade just getting thicker by the hour as it waits to be ladled up. Â Ewwww...... Â ok, but that is my imagination so let me get back to the review.
We shared fish and chips - which was a good thing because after the oysters and soups, we were getting full. Â Fish and chips....well...I've had better, but it was still acceptable. Â That was probably the least favorite of all the things we ate. Â Still, a darn good meal, at a really great price. Â I would DEFINITELY go here again.
You can't miss this Old Town institution. Despite some changes over the years, they've still maintained a solid operation. Fish Market doesn't take reservations, but you can hang out at the bar if there's a wait.
If I'm not going for local oysters and the amazing spiced shrimp, the Oyster Po Boy is where it's at. If you're a Bloody Mary fan, don't miss theirs. The fish bowl is a bit much, so I order a "small".
Pretty casual atmosphere with very minimal decor. Â The lighting was nice and intimate. Â
Food was decent and portions were not bad at all.
Service was good. Â No complaints except that the tables & chairs were a little too close to each other.
The bar features 11 HD TV's, eight great drafts and 27 different bottled beers. Â Happy Hour is Monday through Friday from 4pm -7pm.
Last but not least, this historical building has a very long & interesting history. Â It started off as a storage for ship's cargo, a field hospital (say what?!!!), a meat curing shop, a soft drink factory and finally the Fish Market itself. Â It definitely has come a long way!!
So in the words of the Fish Market saying, go ahead and "Eat fish, drink beer, live longer!!"
Lots of tasty seafood in a casual atmosphere and it's fairly inexpensive. That about sums this place up to a T. My Dad wanted seafood for his 65th birthday dinner, but my parents are not into fine dining or dropping loads of cash on food (even when someone else is paying - they just prefer a casual environment). So this place was really perfect to take them too. The service was great...our server was very attentive and helpful with suggestions, especially on the oysters to try and how much food to order.
For 6 of us, we started with a selection of oysters, crabettes, and spiced shrimp. I'm no oyster aficionado but I thought they were really tasty. The crabettes were little fried crab cakes and really, when are crab cakes not good? The star were the shrimp though. Holy moly they were delish! Seasoned & cooked perfectly. I would actually consider just getting them as my meal next time (but shrimps are my favorite seafood and I could eat em up all day).
I also had the clam chowder and it was really good. Very creamy with lots of chunks of crab. For dinner, my sister & I split the Admiral. It came with shrimp, scallops, salmon, and a crab imperial. I was expecting it to be an overwhelming amount of food but it was actually the perfect amount to split after having had all those apps. I would say if you don't get apps, then it would be a good amount for just one person. The salmon was my favorite - it was flaky, juicy, and well seasoned. I also thought the scallops stood out - cooked just enough to be seared on the outside. The crab imperial was something I'd not had before and it was good - although a little mayo-y for my liking.
Throw in some hush puppies (yum) and sweet potato fries and I was STUFFED at the end of this meal. But I did have just a teeny bit of room for dessert and I would say - get the apple pie!
For the amount of food we got, plus a few drinks, it worked out to like less then $50/person. I think that is a great value for what we got. Next time - I'm getting me one of those fish bowl sized beers too....I didn't see that until the way out :-)
Fish Market is a great place for a casual, tasty meal or to catch a game at the bar. Don't come here expecting fine dining - but DO expect quality seafood in a pub-like atmosphere.
Recommend: Fish Market Pilsner, Oysters, steamed mussels, calamari
--- Can't believe some people are complaining about "run down furniture" etc. Seriously, that's what you're giving ONE star for? Grow up and be an adult with your ratings. What do you want, the Four Seasons?? ---
The food is great, the staff is friendly and attentive, and the prices are great (hello happy hour!). I'll be going back weekly, without a doubt.
I'd give a 3.5 if I could.
The waiter here was quite slow and not very attentive. He had his back to our table the whole time and didn't check much at all if we needed anything, i.e. more water.
I ordered some raw oysters, which I was absolutely dying for. They were $1.60 a piece and they were delicious and tasted of the sea.
My main order was a special that evening. Was supposed to be blackened rockfish, but they ran out and gave me halibut instead. Wahoo I love halibut. It came with roasted potatoes and a side of asparagus. Fish was good, but a bit on the salty side.
I guess it was nothing special overall. Just basic seafood and such. I'd go back if I were in the area.
Got their quarter lb of spiced shrimp for a light dinner. It was delicious; I loved dipping the shrimp into the sauce once I took off the shells.
My boyfriend got the filet of fish (haddock) sandwich, which was very bland. I couldn't even taste the fish.
We got to sit on the tiny balcony upstairs, which was quite cute. Service was a little absent minded.
First off, the food isn't all that great. Â 2ndly, they basically didn't want us to sit down bc we had a stroller. Â Had I know this I would have left but my husband didn't say anything and all I saw was them putting the stroller in a closet. Â The manner in which the guy at the door (apparently he was the manager) flicked his finger to alert us to fold the stroller up should have been reason enough to leave but we were in a good mood and ready to have a good family night out. Â
The biggest problem... my mother gets her seafood stew in a short bowl with raised writing on the side and looks over to the next table where the same bowl is on the ground and a dog is drinking out of it. My mom, now turned off, calls the manager and asks "so dogs eat out of the same dishes that we do?" his response? "Well we sanitize all the dishes". What? That is not cool. I have two dogs of my own and that is not cool.
That coupled with the manager's attitude...U will NEVER find me at this restaurant ever again. Â There are many restaurants to choose from on that strip, choose any other but that one.
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