My friend had been dying to go to this place because she heard it was the best place to get the freshest fish. Besides seeing fishnon ice in the front windows the menu was up to any fish eater's delight, from raw to fried. We ordered the Crabettes for an appetizer which comes with a creamy tater sauce. For the entree, I tried the dish with salmon, scallops and shrimp. It was so juicy, savy and delish! it even came with some hushpuppies which was a delightful surprise.
The place had a nautical theme - appropriate considering - with pictures of ships and shoreline on the walls, ship doors with the round windows and huge lamps like what you'd see in a lighthouse. The wait staff was nice but nothing spectacular. Our waiter didn't come by to ask how the food was or if we needed another round of drinks until way too late.
The restaurant is about a block from the Old Town waterfront, on Kings Street. I believe they sell fresh fish caught daily. be sure to check out the homemade ice cream shops nearby for dessert.
I agree with another reviewer with how this place relies on their reputation. Overhyped. You don't get the bang for your buck. You want a po' boy? How about only 4 pieces of shrimp/oyster. Their lobster roll lacks flavor. There was plenty of lobster but it lacked seasoning/fresh lobster all I could taste was the bread. Staff is ok but if you must come here it's definitely a one and done.
Review Source:Good place to come for a beer. Â Or two. Â Or three. Â Â They have skooners (I KNOW I just butchered the spelling). Â But a beer or bloody mary in one of those ginormous glasses is a-ok by me! Â
Food is a hit or miss. Â I usually just stick to appetizers. Â Their version of the lobster roll was absolutely horrible! Â Never again. Â Go to Coastal Flats for a good lobster roll. Â Just stick to the drinks and/or cocktails. Â Good place for happy hour. Â
All in all, a good/fun atmosphere with good waitstaff. Â Never had an issue with the service.
One of the few restaurants in Old Town that does not trick you with classic charm and overly expensive terrible food. Â Normally I would only give this place 3 stars, but the charm, location, and the fact it is one of the better late night places in old town move this up to a 4 star establishment.
Review Source:I frequent this place once a week usually when I am in DC. Â Crab legs are some of the best in the area. Â Thick pieces of meat coming right out of the shell. Â 2lbs is a great price there. Â Substitute the cole slaw for hush puppies. Â They are plain but they are really good... A HUGE plate full.
If you make it for happy hour before 7pm, great prices on oysters on the half shell, clams and they have an awesome buffalo shrimp! Â You wont be disappointed.
And if there are only 2 in your party, ask for a balcony seat in the Spring, Summer and Fall.
As a native I hadn't been here. Â The Chowder is def good. Â The rest is just ok. Â A lot of fried items and I could just tell my seafood salad wasn't that fresh - the crab and shrimp tasted as if it had been frozen and from a bag- and we are in Sept so no reason it is this way. Â
I've had better for example from McCormicks is all. Â Once you know the diff in frozen to fresh you wonder if this place isn't just popular due to the location. Â Prob gets a lot of tourists that don't know better. Â The bar area looked packed but we ate in the dinning area. Â Quick seating and friendly.
My hunny and I have been here twice now and have really enjoyed the food and service. We have tried the fried everything platter which was so good! The fried scallops were my favorite. Also tried the grilled everything which was delicious too! Tried some sort of lobster po boy and it was okay. The hush puppies are to die for! They are pretty reasonably priced for a seafood place. Awesome drink menu. We will definitely come back on date nights!
Review Source:This is a good casual fresh fish restaurant with a bar feel... no frills, but good fresh fish with good service...
We haven't sat at the raw bar, but it does look pretty good; maybe next year...
Usually, we stop in here for 1 meal while we are on our annual visit to Alexandria.
This is in a touristy part of town and there are quite a few touristy type restaurants, but this is worth a try... Â their fish and chips is not bad at all! - much better than last year! :-)
Food is just average nothing noteworthy. Service was not very good aside from the person who was working the door who was friendly and helpful,
The wait staff was like it was a problem you are there. All in all real standard stuff and nothing that made you say wow that's good. We tried I all from chowder, burgers, ribs and fish Taos and nobody was impressed. Beer was cold and good variety if you just want to drink..
Stumbled upon The Fish Market during Alexandria restaurant week. Not many spots were offering decent deals and we got tired of walking around. We decided to give it a try since we were in a mood for seafood and it had 2 outdoor eating spots (patio & balcony).
Outdoor dining was definitely a better option from what I could see. There was a bar on the right side of the restaurant and a dining area to the left. It was pretty dark inside and not very aesthetically pleasing. The weather was just too perfect to eat inside anyways.
The restaurant week deal was a salad, rock fish, and desert, for 35$ Wasn't really a deal to me so we decided to order different dishes. I opted for the fisherman's platter and my girlfriend ordered the crab cakes.
The crab cakes were average at best. I didn't try her sides but she didn't seem excited about them. They were definitely full of crab but not really a decent size for $32.
My fisherman's platter seemed like a better buy. You get a piece of cod, 3 scallops, about 5 fried shrimp, hush puppies, fries, and slaw.
The scallops and hush puppies were DELICIOUS! I will definitely return for a to go order of the hush puppies! The rest of the dish was ok. Nothing special but definitely not bad.
The service was pretty good. It was pretty crowded but we never had to wait long to get drink refills. I wish I would've checked yelp because their lobster pasta looks AMAZING! Maybe next time!
What I spent
1 crab cake dinner
1 fisherman's platter
2 Arnold Palmer's
$68
Everything was very fresh and be careful of the drink you ordered it may be more than you expected as some drinks come I this huge glass. Beer was cold, and recommendation was perfect. Raw clams were fresh, ice cold, and the clams were full. Dinner was cacucci---pasta with shrimp, calamari, clams (2) and muscles....kids portion was perfect and they substituted the fries for a salad, stuffed clam dinner was good, but not very tasty.
Review Source:Enjoyed clam chowder and fish sandwich for a weekday lunch - both excellent! The food was definitely cooked to order and yet only took a few minutes to arrive.
Server was polite and attentive, checking in and refilling drinks. (Amazing what a pleasant surprise good service is!)
I'm definitely interested to come back and try out nightly dinner specials and signature cocktails. I'll be back again!
I've been to this restaurant many, many times and it has been good and very good, but this time I was very disappointed. Â I asked numerous questions about the lobster roll - how much lobster was there, was there too much mayo, was the bread toasted, etc. - and was assured there was plenty of lobster meat. Â What I received looked and tasted like a cheap fake seafood salad from a supermarket, with an ice cold hot dog roll. Â I could not find my waiter (who never checked back with us) so finally returned it after a few bites of the salad to someone else and ordered a crab cake sandwich, which was decent. Â When yet another person dropped off the check and I asked why I was still being charged for the lobster roll, it was because they had "no proof" I returned the lobster roll. Â This was my last visit to my formerly favorite restaurant in Alexandria!
Review Source:The staff is unfriendly, uncooperative, and incompetent. Â The food may be OK but in this economy you can do much better at restaurants more appreciative of your business. Â Especially in old town where there are at least a dozen better places to eat within a blocks walk there is no need to waste your time here.
Review Source:Fish Market is pretty terrible. The poor service to the dreadful paintings on the walls to the tasteless food make it a place to miss.
The only, and I mean only, good experience I had here was the Hush Puppies. For a surprisingly low $1.99 you get a good sized plate of these guys, which are quite tasty.
And on to the bad.
My Salmon BLT came and I realized too late it was served drenched in mayonnaise - on both sides of the bread. Probably 3-4 spoonfuls per sandwich. Absolutely revolting. The salmon itself was fine, if not unseasoned and boring. I'm not sure I'd recommend paying the extra $1.75 for fries, as you get about 15 on your plate. That comes across as a little cheap, not only charging for them but then skimping.
To go with the food was our waiter, who was constantly at the wait station right behind our table. Literally 10 feet away across open floor, and he just faced a corner to cover up his texting or web browsing on his phone. Meanwhile, we were all finished eating loudly clearing our throats for several minutes trying to get his attention.
I'd be skeptical to eat things like shellfish here given the way they treat their food. I've also noticed many of their menu items are described as "fish" with no mention as to what fish. That usually means Pollock, which I can get from the frozen food aisle in stick form.
While the prices weren't bad (at least on the sandwich portion of the menu), it's still not worth coming here for bad food and lousy service.
The fish market needs to put quality before quantity! If you going to serve frozen seafood, do not call your restaurant Fish Market! The calamari was frozen not fresh. The lobster bisque was the consistency of mayo. I have never seen a bisque so thick. The lobster roll was gigantic but it was full of probably two or three days old lobster meat. I would have been happier with half the size with fresh meat. The oyster sandwich was good size and was delicious. The sandwich bread and fries were outstanding. The best part of the night was our server. He was fantastic and was very responsive & attentive. We will give another chance to this place and go back for lunch... But probably will stick to meat entrees... Ironically
Review Source:Fish Market is a nice place to grab a quality seafood place that is better than a Red Lobster but not as good as some kind of upscale seafood or steak house.
The place is interesting on the inside, lots of various paintings of bar scenes. Â The dining area is upstairs so be prepared to walk a couple of flights.
I had basically a fried seafood platter with various fried treats, including shrimp, scallops and fish filet. All were well prepared and seasoned and cooked well. Â The dish also comes with french fries so I was definitely in fried heaven, fries were decent but not fantastic.
I was also able to try the crab legs, decent price for 2 pounds and they were steamed well. Â They weren't the greatest crab legs I have ever had but they were good for the price.
Overall worth a visit if you're in Old Town and are craving some pretty good seafood.
The Fish Market is awesome. Â I was introduced to this place by one of my co-workers and I am very glad.
The Fish market is divided into two seating rooms. Â To the left, you have a more traditional dinner style seating arrangement. Â To the right you have the Anchor bar for individuals looking to relax after work in booths.
The anchor bar has probably one of the best happy hour menu in the area (M-F). Â They serve up 32 oz schooners of cold beer and half priced appetizers. Â
Beers on special: Yuenlings, a pilsner, miller lite, and widmer heffe for $6.75 - $8.50. Â
Appetizer specials: Raw clams, oysters, spiced shrimp, buffalo wings, fried calamari, onion rings, mussels, macho nachos, and buffalo shrimp
For starters, I recommend the Clam Chowder. Â It is very tasty and very creamy. Â I also recommend having the crab cake sandwich with the captain fries (steak style). Â The wings are are tasty and nicely done. Â The restaurant is great but I prefer the Anchor Bar side.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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