Sit right back and you'll hear a tale - a tale of a fateful fish! Follow along...
Not much of a seafood fan, I was originally introduced to this fast-casual restaurant location about 15 years ago - agreeing to meet a friend for a meal there because she said they had chicken options. Thankfully, she was a generous person who let me try a bite of her Swai, and I was sold, coming back and bringing my family for meals on the regular. Sadly, as a regular, we noticed the service to be consistently inconsistent - unfriendly staff, uneven delivery of orders from the kitchen to the table (once, my whole family finished their meals before my Swai wrap made it out of the kitchen!) and not-so-clean spaces. We gave them a few chances, but eventually, removed this spot from our rotation.
When the Culver City location - which is actually closer - opened, they had a different menu and it seemed our favorite items were no longer on it. So we really didn't visit there, either. And then came 2020, and as we all know, the industry has changed significantly.
So... while bouncing around a last minute "let's get dinner, but the rotation feels old," I said to the fam "Let's check the menu and give Fish Grill another try!" And glad we did.
The most recent menu updates have fresh and zesty items that also hit as being similar to old favorites. And though Culver City is still closer, we decided to return to El Segundo.
Off the top, you could tell the space was clean and actively being kept up with sweeping and table clearing. Two very large screens replace human ordering, though there was a human helper to answer questions, and a backup human cashier to help to expedite the growing line. Brought mom, who 15 years and a lot of technology after first introduction to this location, is 79 and was not comfortable with screen ordering, but knowing a human could help if she comes back without her tech team is helpful. The human also came in handy to answer questions about the menu that were not obvious to answer (what ingredients need to be deleted from the honey citrus bowls so that they are not "spicy"? That would be the Ponzu)... tech aside, ordering was easy. The kitchen was fully staffed on this Friday evening and working hard to keep orders together. We had enough time to get settled at a table and fill our fountain beverages, and our name was called. Yes - you now pick your order up from the counter. But - at least our entire order was ready to go together!
The plating of each entree was higher level than most fast casual spots. This was definitely not your sterile Panera white!
Bro ordered the Triple Shrimp plate, and really enjoyed the different textures of the shrimp prepared. Mom ordered the fried Swai tacos. Though she enjoyed it, she did comment that there seemed to be more batter than fish in many of her bites. I ordered the Honey Citrus Shrimp and LOVED it! Of course, without the ponzu, it was sweet, and tangy. The shrimp was fried before it was completely coated. I ordered with slightly healthier brown rice and avocado. It was a chef's kiss meal to me. We also ordered a side of garlic toast. Actually, I'm not sure that I would call it toast as it was grilled but soft. It was covered in Parmesan. Though very good, I would have liked it to be more toasty.
Very noticeably, the team was generous with requests for extra sauces - you must try the Tartar and Garlic sauces! And a nice touch was that the Raspberry Iced Tea had apparently run out, and when the new brew was in place, the manager walked around to each table to let them know there was fresh tea available if they were interested.
The team was busy hustling, but took the time to be friendly. This was the experience that should have been years ago!
So, at the moment I'm leaving 3 stars for all these positive points. I'm reserving the last 2 stars to come back and see if this is the new consistency, or if this really delightful visit just happened to be a fluke. And though I do eat a little more seafood now than I was willing to 15 years ago, I actually can't wait to try the Chicken version of the Honey Citrus bowl I enjoyed - and who knows, maybe I'll boldly try it with the (spicy) ponzu! read more