Yesterday we had the inclination to try something new that was not too far away from home, so we decided to try Fish Thyme. We had heard good things about it but had never been.
We arrived at about 4:57PM, just before their official opening time which is at 5:00PM. It was rather cold outside and so we saw several people (which looked like other customers waiting) all sitting around the restaurant's fire pit outside, keeping warm. The front door was still locked and my son and wife were cold, so we proceeded to move toward the fire to keep warm until the place opened their doors. We hadn't taken nearly two steps forward when suddenly, what appeared to be the shift manager (also sitting around the fire) looked over at us and told us in a somewhat snarky tone that they were not open yet and that they were having their "line up" meeting. We proceeded to wait until 5:03 before they finally opened the doors to let us in.
At this point, we were not off to the best start in terms of service. It was cold and there was no reason why the doors shouldn't have been opened, at least to allow customers to wait inside for the minute that was remaining. We also didn't appreciate the attitude of being treated like an intruder because what looked like a small group of customers sitting around a fire waiting was actually a staff meeting that was taking place at what should have been opening time by this point. This entire thing was unprofessional, made us uncomfortable, and left a bad taste in our mouth. If we hadn't been on a time crunch that day, we would have left on the spot, but there wasn't time to go find a different place, so we chose to stick it out.
Once they opened the doors, we noticed the inside was very nicely decorated and comfortable. The front door staff was very pleasant. Our waitress too was very nice and so we had no complaints with the actual serving staff.
Dinner was good. We had the calamari appetizer with their home-made Sangria. Both were excellent. My wife had the bruschetta with lobster bisque soup and I had the fish with truffled chips. The bruschetta was very large and the soup was excellent, but the fish and chips, while also very tasty, was rather insubstantial. There are far better places in the area that give larger portions of this particular entree for less money.
I was also a little disappointed to see that the prices posted on their website menu did not match the prices on their actual menu which was more expensive. But this was just a minor irritant that was somewhat exacerbated by the rude introduction we received.
Overall, we like the restaurant for the most part. The food was good enough to come back for and the actual serving staff was polite and efficient. They were a little slow when they got busy, but this is to be expected. Our opinion, however, is that management needs to improve on their own skills first and foremost. Holding meetings outside around a fire when it is cold while making it clear that your customers will have to wait in the cold away from the fire, past opening time, is unacceptable. You can have your meeting inside where it is warm; your customers cannot pass a locked door to get warm. And even if you must have a meeting outside around the fire pit less than one minute before you open, have someone tending the front door when it is cold and don't be rude about it if someone approaches your "private fire meeting" so as to get warm! For this, we give them three stars, which is all for the food quality and servers. One star was removed for poor management customer service and one for price inconsistency.
We'll be back, but we will also be less forgiving next time. read more