Having been a former resident of St. Clair Shores, I was excited to finally try Fishbones after hearing about it for years.. Unfortunately , the experience was underwhelming at best.
Upon entry, me and my wife were impressed with the ambiance. It's a large, well decorated, classy, comfortable space. We were immediately excited and were fully anticipating a nice dining experience.
We started with drinks. My wife ordered the Paper Airplane cocktail and I ordered a Dewars straight up. My wife's drink was understandably pricier being a cocktail, but my (cheaper brand) scotch ended up being the same price, which was a bit annoying.
We were starving when we arrived. So, we ordered crab cakes to start almost as soon as we received the menu. These were VERY disappointing considering they're $25. The two patties were soggy, flavorless, and very small. They were no bigger than 3 1/2" around and were less than an inch think. They came with a sauce that was clearly just whipped mustard and mayo.. Kinda gross.. I've seriously had better crab cakes from the frozen section at Aldi (not an exaggeration).
As for our entrees, I ordered the Icelandic Cod Fish and Chips and my wife ordered the Crawfish Etouffee. Aside from my cod being sad, small portions, it was just gross. It was soggy, over fried, and aside from tasting like old fry oil, it was flavorless. The small, gross filets we accompanied by a MOUNTAIN of French fries that were okay.. but no better than what you'd get at any other chain restaurant. The amount of fries that came with the meal made it almost seem like they were trying to compensate for the sad amount of fish it came with.. This meal was absolutely not worth $28. I've had better fish and chips at hole-in-the wall diners for less than half the price. My wife's etouffee was definitely the better of the two meals. But again, they were flavorless, small portions that they should not be charging almost $30 for.
Being that the overall meal was wholly disappointing, we decided to cap it off with bread pudding for dessert... Can't really mess up bread pudding right?? WRONG. The bread pudding came out and we were disappointed yet again. They were brought to the table and they immediately looked unappealing. The two small, flat, rubbery bread puddings were both burnt and flavorless yet angain. After one bite, we both decided we'd had enough.
I will say, our server was pleasant and the service was good overall. Nothing bad to say about the wait staff.. However, we will not be returning to Fishbones. We genuinely feel like we'd been ripped off. For an establishment that presents themselves as a classier seafood joint, this was wildly disappointing. Overall, the food was gross and not even close to being worth what we paid for it.
Save yourself the trip and don't waste your money. You'll find better food at a greasy spoon for far less money. read more