FishBones

I've eaten at FishBones in Lake Mary a few times, and am just not really decided on if I like it or not, I'm very up in the air about it. So we went there on a recent Monday evening.


I guess the first thing was the question "do you have a reservation?" We didn't so right away were informed that it would be a 45-60 minute wait. It just seemed a bit cold, even though there were plenty of empty tables. I know, maybe no waitstaff for them but, well, it just seemed so unsympathetic.  But we were told we could sit at the sushi bar or outside, so we went outside where we quickly spied a table and took it. 


After a bit, a waitress appeared and provided the two of us with one menu. Now, we were sitting across from each other, so the one menu seemed a bit odd. But we managed. 


We each ordered a glass of wine. The wine was just OK, nothing at all special--except the price. For $8 or $9 for a mediocre at best house wine with a decidedly short pour, i felt that they were just trying to make a bundle on me with the drink prices. 

We started with the Bahamian Smoked Fish Dip, and it was very good, both in presentation and in flavor. The smoke was not very strong, but still there, the flavor quite mild. I would have liked a bit more onion in it and/or something to give it just a bit of a crunch--it was very smooth and creamy. But when it was delivered, the runner who plopped it down in front of us should have noticed that we had no plates, no silver, no napkin. Nope, he just plopped it down, job done, mission accomplished. So we had to ask for that. 

Our salads arrived in due time and I will say, they were excellent. The salad was very nice, and tasted very "green" and fresh, not overly dressed. It also was served with a light and warm, very tasty roll. I loved the salad a lot. 

For my main course I had a Chicken and Shrimp. There were some hits and misses here. The shrimp was a bit greasy and one of them was not properly cleaned, the "vein" still evident. They were just OK, but the shrimp sauce was a bit bland, tasting mostly like ketchup and not much else. The orzo was OK, and the mixed vegetables were nice and crispy but did not have any ginger taste that they were supposed to have. The chicken itself was a small piece covered with skin. It was tender and flavorful but a lot of the flavor was in the skin, which i avoided--don't need the calories. Still it was OK.

My friend Tommy had the Pork Chop. Now it was awesome, quite huge, tender, juicy, nearly perfect. It was a huge piece of meat, I can't imagine how anyone could eat the double sized one. It was nicely grilled and had a nice smokey flavor, too. It was maybe the best bite of the night.


Our service was a bit lackadaisical, so at times we went without seeing our server for a while, and at times her or another server were checking on us. A manager did come around once or twice as well.


So, overall, our experience was somewhat uneven, not what I'd expect for a restaurant like this, given the high prices. I'm not sure I'd really go back again. I've had better food and better service for a better price at other places. But what the heck, give it a try and you decide!