On a Wednesday night, Nov 18Th, at 8:30 a friend and I randomly walked into the Detroit Fish Market. No one was at the host stand to greet us but a waitress promptly walked over and seated us. The restaurant had your typical seafood vibe with a huge impressive mural of a swordfish. The place was mostly empty and there wasn't any music playing over the p.a. system which kind of made it an uncomfortable atmosphere. Our waiter seemed uninterested and ready to go home from the look on his face. I asked the waiter if they normally play music in the restaurant and he replied with a simple "yes" and walked away. Jokingly I called the restaurant to request music the phone rang several times before anyone picked up so I asked if they were open and the person that answered said "NO" with no other explanation and hung up.
The wine list had many nice options. I decided I was going to make this a quick meal because like i said the place and the staff didn't seem very inviting. Instead of a ordering a bottle of wine, I simply asked asked for a glass of pinot noir and although there were a couple types of pinot noir's by the glass on the menu, the waiter just went ahead and decided for me. the wine was tasty and smooth but I cant tell you what brand it was.
My friend and I had a taste for raw oysters but sorry, no can do at the seafood restaurant. Oyster Rockefeller was our only option so we went with the calamari. The menu offered calamari two ways; Italian style or DFM (Detroit Fish Market) style. We went ahead and ordered the DFM calamari thinking maybe this place would put a new spin on this cephalopod... WRONG! Although cooked well, it came fried with a side of buffalo sauce and blue cheese, and tasted like a chicken wing.
On to our entries... I ordered Perch Piccata and my friend ordered the feature on the menu -Grilled BBQ Salmon. The food came promptly out of the kitchen and my Perch looked appetising. there were several small filet's on a bed of jasmin rice. The fish was cooked well and tasty but the rice underneath was mush and completely over cooked. There was nothing else on the plate so it was just one big note of fish, which after a few bites became completely boring. My friend, as I said, had the Salmon which had beautiful grill marks, and cooked well. The order came with fried sweet potatos. Of course I had a bit of the Salmon which was very tasty and seasoned with a very nice BBQ sauce. However,The fried sweet potato's were doused with the cliche' cinnamon and sugar, and far too much of it.
On to DESSERT , my friend and I shared the chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream . How can you go wrong with warm chocolate? It was just that, you can't go wrong with warm chocolate. Even though it was over cooked, and there wasn't any lava to spread around on the plate, it was still pretty good.
My experience at the DFM wasn't "great" and at times uncomfortable, However, I'm going to give this place another try. Typically, this new restaurant is open till 11pm, and I truly feel that the waiter and the staff were tired from having such a slow night. I hope this place gets it together because it is defiantly in a great location with a lot of potential.
Till next time DFM,
D.F.E.
