I think this place is overrated. I came here with my girlfriend for drinks and some oh-so needed sushi about a month ago. We both heard good things about this place from other people, so we were excited. We ordered regular Calamari and it was so bland...there wasn't any seasoning. It comes with a wasabi mayo dipping sauce that tasted like straight mayo. The sushi wasn't anything spectacular at all...the philly rolls were salty and their special rolls were not anything special. I've had better sushi and Calamari at other places for half the price.
To sum it up, we did not leave impressed or raving about the food.
I feel I can't give Flying Fish a 100% accurate review because I've only had drinks at the bar downstairs.. but... I'm going to give it a whirl!
Drinks: Mixed drinks were tasty and I feel like I got my money's worth. There's a decent beer selection if you prefer the suds.
Service: In the beginning when the bar was less packed, service was great. As the evening wore on and it became busier, it tapered off... but it wasn't impossible to get a drink so I'm not complaining too loudly.
Atmosphere: Sushi restaurant meets bar meets karaoke restaurant. It was pretty amusing to watch drunk people do karaoke, but if I was trying to have a dinner nearby (as some were) I'm not sure I would have found it entertaining. My point being -- if you go for a late dinner, be sure to sit upstairs.
Came in off King street excited to try a penne past dish I saw in the menu on the window. Blonde haired server took forever to reach our table although the restaurant was not busy. When placing our order I told her I wanted the penne dish to which she immediately told me they had "never" had. I went outside......took a picture of the menu and showed her to which she assured me she would go ask the chef. When she came back after another ten minutes, she told me they could not make the dish. I asked if they could make something similar with a sauce they used on another entree. To everything I said she rudely insisted no. To this she did not even proceed to recommend a single dish or make amends. I work in the restaurant business and have never known a place to be so unaccommodating. Â I am quite certain she did not even ask the chef in the first place.
Flying Fish needs extreme work on customer service.
When it comes to the food and sushi, I've definately had better. Â
First time I've come here was actually on a first date. Â Let's just say that I had more fun talking and cracking jokes with the bartender than the actual date itself. Â My date tried to "take control" and order everything for me. Â Whatever dude, no one messes with me and my food. Â But I let it be. Â Food wise the bread was probably the best thing that night. Â Date guy started off by ordering some tuna appetizer. Â I don't think it was fresh tuna because I was greeted by a strong fishy smell when the appetizer came. Â Fresh tuna should not have that pungent fishy smell. Â You know it was probably old. Â "Mmmm. Â This stuff is the shit!" Â says date dude. Â Yeah ok, knock yourself out. Â
He then orders a plethora of sushi rolls. Â Yay! Â My favorite. Â I wasn't too impressed. Â It was the generic california, spicy tuna, etc rolls. Â Since date dude comes here "all the time" I assumed he would know the menu and their specialty rolls. Â The generic rolls were ok. Â Nothing special. Â I kinda wish I would have tried their specialty rolls. Â The table next to us got these ginormous beautiful delicious looking rolls. Â Oh well.
Thank you Mr Bartender for entertaining me the whole night. Â You certainly acted more like my date that night than Mr Date Dude. Â I think you made date dude a little jealous. Â
Came back a few months later with some girl friends of mine. Â This time not for the food, but for the drinks. Â And the bread. Â Mr Bartender does make some yummy cocktails. Â Heard about the karaoke. Â Next time I think I'll come back for that. Â I heard it was uber fun.
The chef had a bad day when I visited this establishment. Every chefs has their bad days and the day I visit was it! We ordered steamed mussels and crab cake balls. The crab cake balls was good but I can't say the same for the mussels. The mussels was rubbery, bland, it needed some salt, and it was very dry. It looks like it was steamed in a microwave. The bread that came with it was hard as a rock. As for me entree, I ordered seared tuna sushi (not sure exactly the correct name but it was recommended by the waitress). The tuna was over cooked which made it tough to chew. I didn't even finish my meal because the taste was horrible. My brother had the mahi mahi and that was also dry. It appears that the fish wasn't fresh at all. It disappoints me when a Japanese restaurant is serving old fish. I would not recommend this place nor would I return here. I gave them a 2 star because they have us $20 off of the bill since it was happy hour.
Review Source:Flying Fish Restaurant was the first place my wife and I ate at after moving to Alexandria this year. Â Although it was OK, I regret not listening to all my fellow Yelpers w/ their 3-star rating.
When we first walked in, we immediately debated whether we should leave. Â My wife and I are Sushi/Sashimi fanatics ... but the pungent fish odor radiating throughout the restaurant was not a good first impression. Â Fresh fish that hasn't been cursed by the fish funk does not smell like that! Â As we were about to walk out, we heard the words "happy hour", so ... for some reason ... we decided to stay.
The food was fine, but it obviously was not fresh. Â The service was fine, but it was not as friendly and efficient as we are used to seeing at Sushi places.
The good news is ... at least my wife and I learned something about each other. Â If one of us decides to walk away from each other for whatever reason, all we have to do is say those three magic words: Â "it's happy hour"!
Local restaurants get another level of love/hate when it comes to how you feel about your eating and dining experience. Â With that, I hate giving local places, especially ones that have been around for a long time, poor or average ratings. Â However, when it's meh, what can you do?
The host station service was a turd-tastic experience. Â It was not crowded at all but I got the inevitable "Do you have a reservation?" question. Â When I said no, the dude painfully gazed about the establishment as to find the smelliest place to put us. Â I said we'd be fine at the bar which still apparently pained him. Â Oh well.
The sushi guys were great but the wait staff was a little challenged with drinks and orders. Â The food was ok but nothing special and not able to overcome the below par service. I don't think I'd ever go back.
Good and fresh tasting sushi. Â I haven't tried any of the other entrees, but can't go wrong with the sushi. Â Last time I was there, they had a decent white wine for something like $11 / bottle. Â The server was very friendly and helpful. Â The atmosphere is cool. Â Kind of trendy in a throwback kind of way.
Review Source:I've gone here sporadically within the past couple of years...each time I'm still very happy with the sushi and staff. I have a vegetarian friend that is picky and we've gone here a few times together and both luv it! The staff is super nice and always willing to work with your palette to create something if your not satisfied with the menu options. For a foodie that is always a plus! Great for a date night or with friends.
Review Source:Came here after several deee-lish libations at PX. Â Needless to say my mind is a little foggy. Â I do remember being able to smoke downstairs! Â Hummm... cute and funny bartenders. Â Although I'm not a huge roll fan (I prefer sashimi), I could have had more of the Lollipop sushi rolls. Â Can't remember the name of the cocktail I order. Â I have a pic! Â It's served with a candied hibiscus flower... made it look sorta like an alien cocktail. Â
So, I remember bits and pieces... all good though!
Cheers!
On Sunday, I had completely forgotten that it was Cinco de Mayo. I didn't remember until I showed up at The Flying Fish in Old Town Alexandria... to have sushi! Yeah, so appropriate right? I did have a Corona in honor of the day that, for most Americans, is the day/holiday of drinking Mexican beers and eating tacos. We'll just really look for any reason to party won't we? We are a melting pot of cultures and societies, so why not celebrate them all!
At any rate, I'm here to tell you about my experience with service and food. It wasn't busy in there, but I did find the service a little bit slow to start with. Our waitress was very friendly and helpful, especially when it came to getting orders in at the end of happy hour. She was great after that first few minutes and was on top of us whenever we needed something, but not overly on top of us.
The Sushi was quite delicious overall. I also tried a little ceviche for the first time. I found it to be too limey for me, but I'd try it again. I never would have eaten something like that or hell... like raw fish sushi either. It is a time of life to experiment and learn new things, though.
The Sushi:
Mackerel- This was actually some of the best Mackerel I have yet had.
Salmon Roe- I just tried a tiny piece and I couldn't handle it, yuck ocean taste, but to those that like it, it was enjoyable.
White Tuna- I found the texture pleasant and the flavor light.
Shrimp Tempura- This was not the best shrimp tempura I've had, I found it lacking in flavor that I am used to such things having.
Salmon roll- I'm not a huge salmon fan, so I am starting at a disadvantage with this roll. The avocado was a nice mix to the salmon, but I wouldn't get it on my own.
Unagi- The sauce was a little stronger than I'm used to and it wasn't quite as awesome tasting as other places, but not bad.
Finally, I would gladly go again and order more yummy sushi. Otani in Chantilly has better deals on Sushi and you get a free salad and soup too, so I think it probably has the better offer in the end.
If there were an option for negative stars, this place would be deserving. I was skeptical after seeing other negative Yelp reviews, but my colleagues were already inside, which left me little choice. I ordered the seafood platter - worst food I have had in recent memory. The lone shrimp I tried was rubbery and tasted awful, I chocked it down, resisting the option of spitting it out due to the company I was with. Shells in the crab, cold food, awful shrimp...the only bright spot, the water was clean and fresh tasting, unlike the food. Oh, and the best part...the person next to me discovered similar results with shells in his crab, but found another tasty object...a nice long human hair! Ahhh, yum!
Review Source:love the sushi here - been craving it since my first visit and back already! Â I did see it looks like they have great calimari too...need to try it if I can muster up the will power to order anything other than sushi :)
The hubs isn't a fan of sushi so the menu works well for us too b/c they have a great steak and crab cake dish he loves - fantastic little spo in Old Town.
Pub crawling, with a coworker, we made Flying Fish's basement bar a stop.
Locals tell me this place can get packed, especially during karaoke (and I generally dislike karaoke - not in theory, but in ear-paining practice)... but it was sparsely populated the night we were down.
It's a pretty young crowd down there -- seemed to be the spot to get hit on by drunk college age girls. Â It's also an industry hangout because their newest manager gives good discounts to employees of nearby establishments (so we were told by at least two different patrons).
Cruddy beer and wine selection, mediocre liquor selection (though stiff pours), but a friendly staff and comfy low barstools. Â It was just...... eh... it was alright for a drink or two...
So the ambiance of this place was great. Neat fish tanks everywhere, good vibe music playing in the background, well lit, cool tile everywhere. Â
The menu was diverse and they had great seasonal sushi specials, as well as awesome happy hour specials on practically everything.
The service was the only thing that was kind of "meh". Our waiter was a bit distracted and didn't really seem all that interested in being there. We had two different people spill things on us before we got our meal, but no harm no foul. What was odd, was when we let the woman at the front know about the service, all she said was "I'll make a note of it".......right.
Not a bad place to go to, price was definitely reasonable and food was super tasty.
My boyfriend and me had been walking up and down King Street for some good Italian food but every damn place was closed! We usually start our dinner night at about 9 so it was disappointing to move on and look for a decent place that was actually open after 9:30pm. I found this place in Google, with 10pm close time so we rushed in and seated quickly. Our waitress, Kate, was super friendly and politely informed us the kitchen closes in 15 minutes. You don't got to tell me twice honey! Ordered the clam chowder and crab pasta (on her recommendation!) while my boyfriend got a steak with ponzu sauce and Dijon mashed. I guess the kitchen staff was hell bent on getting out on time because the food literally came out 5 minutes later. The chowder was tasty and the crab was good, just not what I was looking for in terms of flavor. It had some basil kind of flavor to it and it was a bit bland but I did enjoy it. My boyfriend really liked his steak and he loves it rare and boy did they leave it rare.
Even though I felt like a total ahole waltzing in the place 20 minutes before the end of dinner, Kate was super friendly and didn't skip a beat. She told us to take our time even when one of the kitchen people starting breathing down her neck for accepting us so late. Overall everything came to about 60 bucks. We were told the downstairs portion doesn't close till 1am but we aren't much drinkers so we skipped out on that part.
Would I come back? Probably. Just not not so late.
The star rating is mainly for the servers here!
That said this is what happened tonight:
Around 7:30pm I go down to the bar and order 3 rolls of sushi (basic stuff) and a beer. They open a tab. Half hour later I go back to the bar asking if food is going to take longer. nothing! One hour has gone by, I ask them again where's the sushi I ordered. The lady bartender says, I just checked, nothing is ready yet. She says 5 more minutes. After I ask her another time, she says that it has been given to someone else accidentally. I said I want to cancel it, b/c I'm hungry and I want to close my tab and  go elsewhere. She gets mad - screams at me and says "its canceled, okay its canceled!!!" Whoa!
I didn't mean to make the lady mad but come on, an hour for sushi??? I walk upstarts as I am leaving, I run in to the manager and he says I'll get you sushi! I said okay, as I really wanted sushi tonight for dinner!
I got the spicy tuna roll and a tuna avocado roll and eel sashimi. All the food was worth the whole ordeal. It was fresh, tasted really good and I'd go back there for more. But I Â despite the wait staff.
Warning: as I was waiting at the sushi bar for my food, I did realize the freshly made sushi sits there a bit longer than I think it should, and I have read other reviews about room temp sushi, which is bad!!! So I'd pay attention to that. The wait stuff upstairs needs to check if the food is ready more often or come up with a better way to  deal with the order ticketing system.
The manager did tell me my dinner was on the house, which was very sweet of him, he didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it. If you go here, go for the great sushi with a side of patience, an alcoholic beverage in hand and a friend to chill with till the servers figure out the whole ordering system and bring you your food!!
Do not expect fast service here, and the servers are not really happy or doesn't really want to know how you are doing or how your food way, really! They don't care. They all look like they don't really want to be there! Sad, I know!
Their happy hour is a great one!
I have been to the Flying Fish twice before, once for dinner, once for drinks, the third time was absolutely the charm.
After dinner across the street last night, we stumbled into the downstairs bar for "one more drink". Three 90s rap and two old timey country songs later - oh and about 10 drinks between the five of us - I had one of my best Friday nights in recent memory. I echo Stanley S.'s sentiments, the Flying Fish has the best public karaoke in all of Alexandria. Freddie's in Crystal City is probably the next best, but a far, far second.
The Flying Fish DJ is sheer heaven, engaging and approachable, doing whatever possible to make your song selection work. The crowd was extremely friendly and excited, I actually had a background band sing along - on the floor with me - for all three of my numbers! My friends practically needed a cane to pull me off the floor. Â
Instead of leaving karaoke feeling like an embarrassed American Idol cast off, I left feeling like I deserved a Sony Records contract (as long as my background band could sign on with me).
Thanks Flying Fish! Just what the doctor ordered this 37 year old working girl - a friendly place to show off her little known 90s rap skills.
Disclaimer: I have no idea how good the food is.
What I do know, is that they have the best public karaoke in all of Alexandria. Freddie's in Crystal City is probably the next best thing in the area. Personally, I prefer private rooms because you get more singing time & it's less embarrassing, because my singing makes paint peel. Luckily, the DJ is super friendly and will do everything in his power to make your song selection work. After going there a few times he even knows some of our names. Not only that but if you are a fan of Gangnam Style, it's usually played at least once a night.
Don't know how the crowds are on Tuesdays-Thursdays, but on Fridays they are pretty sweet. You've got a good diversity in the crowd too which helps the song selection (country, old school rat-pack stuff, rock, rap, pop, etc etc).
Interesting sushi experience. Extensive sushi menu with a lot of signature maki rolls (I do wish they had more descriptions though). The sushi chefs are Hispanic and because of this, there is an obvious influence in the creative rolls. Â We had one that included cilantro and a very thinly sliced piece of lime, SO DELICIOUS.
I highly recommend and will be back.
*** KARAOKE REVIEW ***
Sorry to disappoint but I do not have an entertaining video clip to include in this review. . Wah wah :-P
I do not go out in Alexandria much but this time my friend BEGGED on hands and knees for me to go out luring me with sushi, late night happy hour and karaoke. Â What can I say, I cannot resist a good crooning session and really she had me at sushi!!!
Street parking was reasonable, I parked about a block away and sauntered over to the restaurant. Â The ground floor is an actual sit down restaurant but the basement is where all the action at!! Â Head on down folks, all good things happen in the basement :-)
My personal complaint about this place is that they allow smoking. . . I am not a fan of that at all, yuck yuck hack hack hack. Â I know, it's a me thing.
That said, it's a pretty good karaoke bar with LOTS of ppl willing to sing (even the DJ), tips appreciated but not required, great selection of songs, awesome sound system (must be the basement effect).
Sushi is decent, take a good hard look at your surroundings and adjust your expectations accordingly. Â Surprised right?!?! Â As I alluded to above, they have a late night happy hour . . What what?!?! Â Yup, after 10.30.
If you are impatient and demand your food and drinks the moment the idea pops in your head, sit at the bar. . . Service can be slow at some the surrounding satelite tables. Â If you have a big group and you must sit at a table, then get off your lazy butt and walk over to the bar to order. Â They get busy, it's understandable.
(^o^) 0 ~~ Clock strikes upon the hour and the sun begins to fade. . . . ~~~
l   l  /
If you can't tell, that's my attempt at someone with a microphone and singing. . . I think it's pretty good if I may say so myself :-)
Excellent late night spot! Â I like the speak-easy feel of the area down in the basement, though I'm still confused as to why some nights it's smoking and other nights it's not-- whatever though, I just wish I knew for sure.
Drinks can be a little pricey, but well worth it for the atmosphere!
Went for Happy Hour. Â It's not a bad spot. Â Felt the sushi was decent. Â I just wasn't impressed with their HH specials. Â Half price Miller Lite...thanks.
For me, this place has nice window dressing, kind of why I wanted to step inside the first place. Â But once inside, the place didn't have much appeal for me or my wife. Â They have a downstairs bar and I think they allow smoking down there. Â But we stayed upstairs and shared some nigiri and a specialty roll they had. Â Again, not bad.
As far as places, I think there's nicer, more interesting sushi spots the further you go down to the river. Â For me it was just a try-it-once kind of outing, now I don't need to try it again.
I really wanted to like this place, however I won't be returning.
First of all, I made a reservation using yelp! It was a Friday night after all, except when we arrived and said we had a reservation the hostess gave me such a weird look and made me feel a bit stupid for even making a reservation.
We were seated in a back room with a fish tank, the fish tank was cool.
Server was a bit odd, couldn't tell if she was being sassy or rude.
My boyfriend had the miso soup, had one sip and put it to the side. Yikes!
There  were some strange garlic sticks with wasabi sauce to dip in, those were also dreadful.
We ordered a couple maki rolls of . Â Spicy tuna roll- this was not actually spicy. Very Blah
We had a tiger roll, which consisted of Spicy combo of seafood, topped with avocado, ebi and eel sauce. Â This was my boyfriend's favorite part of the night.
We had another spicy tuna roll that had some kind of weird mayo in it, that was very gross.
He had a chinese beer that was so so, and I had the white peach passion drink which tasted so watered down.
Since it's so close to my house in old town I wanted to love this as my new sushi hot spot, but it was honestly a bad experience.
Meh.
This review is for sushi at the upstairs bar on a Tuesday night. I really feel like I could have gotten sushi of equal or better quality at Bumblefish (yes, you read that correctly) around the corner.
The sushi at Whole Foods is waaaay better than this. Really. Â I just got two pieces of salmon sashimi and a tempura roll to try this place out. Eh. I didn't finish it.
The salmon was thin and starting to dry out. The tempura had obviously been pre-fried. Gross. I paid $25 for a lame roll, meh sushi, and so-so edamame.
Not going back. There is a reason why Asian Bistro next door had a bunch of people in there, and this place was empty.
Why wasn't this place better?
Dropped in for some happy hour drinks and sushi a month or so ago, and I really wish that I had just turned around and left.
First and foremost, my number 1 rule about sushi places is that if the place smells fishy, then leave. Instead, I opted to continue over to the bar past the hostess that was too busy to greet us because she was on a personal call.
The bartender was very nice, but watching her make my drink was painful: most of the ice from the shaker went into the glass, so she used a knife to take the ice (and vodka) out a chunk at a time.
We ordered the King Street Roll to see how the sushi was, and the smell that greeted us initially gave the right impression. Not fresh, and it tasted similar to what I'd expect if grabbing sushi from a grocery store.
The other oddball thing that caught me was the video playing on the TV at the bar. It was a video about the bar and restaurant... Who does that? We're already there; you don't need to sell us... maybe have sports, news, or even QVC on.
I haven't checked out the Speakeasy... not sure if I will after my upstairs experience.
If you want good sushi, head closer to the water for Momo or Ichiban House.
Went to the downstairs bar for the $1 sushi happy hour (5-7 daily). Â The space was sketchy, tacky and dirty... Â I imagine people get wasted for the karaoke nights which seem to be a main attraction. Â There's no class here.
They only had 5-6 nigiri for the special, and I ordered 10 pieces total from them. Â The fish was good and fresh, decent for a dollar, although they were cut too thin and long like a sheet. Â The rice was disappointing. Â It was too sweet and also too tightly packed like rice balls.
Drink specials are only Miller Lite. Â A tall Kirin was $7:( Â The bartender Jennifer was super nice though.
Temple is still the champion of $1 sushi HH.
Great food, terrible service. Â That about sums up Flying Fish for me.
On a recent Saturday night, my friend and I wandered in because we had been wanting to give the place a try. Â We were able to snag a seat in the bar area even though the place was pretty crowded.
Menu looked great and there was a nice sushi selection. Â My friend and I decided to start with some calamari. Â You have your choice of three different ways - regular, spicy firecracker, and something with a red sauce and chorizo. Â We chose the spicy firecracker which was basically buffalo style calamari. Â It was delicious. Â Perfectly tender calamari, nice and crispy even with the sauce. Â We snarfed that up.
The, for dinner, I had the Devil Roll from the sushi menu and a bowl of lobster bisque. Â The devil roll was HUGE, and pretty yummy. Â Although I guess I could have done without the big stem of lettuce. Â The sauces were quite good, although I tend to stick with the basic soy mixed with wasabi. Â The lobster bisque was great - warm and thick and nicely flavored with a hint of sherry. Â My friend had the Clam Chowder and frisee salad. Â Both of her plates were cleaned and she loved the chowder. Â So the food was a hit.
The service. Â NOT a hit. Â Our waiter said all of two words to us. Â Oh, with the exception of when he had to come back to ask my friend what she had ordered. Â Dude, maybe if you'd write stuff down, or at the very least pay attention to us instead of winking and making jokes with the hostess, you wouldn't have to come back. Â He was surly and didn't once thank us for patronizing the restaurant. Â All of our food came out at the exact same time and seeing as we had a little table of two, we were completely crowded with bowls and plates and it was a mess. Â And it took about 25 minutes for them to acknowledge that we were done and to come clean off all the darn plates from the table.
I'm kind of torn about the rating I'm giving this place. Â I have decided on three stars. Â The food was just fantastic. Â I would like to hope that if our service had been "on" that this would have been a 4 or 5 star review. Â I think I will give Flying Fish one more chance sometime to see if their service was just a fluke or the norm.
Good Sushi. Â And, it's one of the few places that's open past midnight to get food in Old Town. Â So, it's a great place to end a bar crawl and when you have a sushi craving. Â
The Crunchy Roll is excellent after having a couple beers in the local haunts.
They apparently have Karaoke here as well in their downstairs bar. Â I've never tried it out, but it always sounds like people are having a good time down there!
Could this place be any worse? It's an insult to my sushi senses. I brought my mom here for lunch because mama love her sushi. Now I am probably out of the will.
Miso- Me sick
Service - What service?
Fish- Chicken of the sea?
I'd heard so much buzz about this relatively new place. Our waiter was completely absent-minded and unfamiliar with sushi. The fish had THAT smell. You know, the one where everyone looks around to see who'll actually be the first to put it in their mouth. Maybe we just had a one-time freak bad experience, but for close to $100 for lunch for three, I'm not willing to give them another shot.
I know they have what they call a "speakeasy" club at night. Maybe that's why people like it.... never been. the concept of sushi joint/speakeasy is kind of interesting; however, if I want speakeasy, I'll go to PX up the street.
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