big fish dockside

wow! i am at a loss for words for howgoodthis place is. i never knew food could give chills until i had the wild salmon dish! worth every penny, one of
the best places i've tried... ever! i will be back for some more heaven!

pricey, but quaint. $3 oysters is a bit outrageous even in calgary.goodselection of local trout, it's not often you see walleye on the menu -- at $30 a plate. the soft shell crab club is decadent -- at $17. as much as there is to be said for local ingredients you can't tell me the frogs legs aren't frozen, $14 later. but this is calgary and you kind of have to take the cookies when they're passed, even with seafood.

i was very pleased with the service and the first dish i ordered. i had the platter with smoked oysters, mackerel etc. i particularly loved the trout pate...which was surprisingly sweet and pleasant. i then ordered the soft shell crab sandwich. the salad i ordered as the side was laced with a bright and fresh lemony vinaigrette which i would like to bottle and take home. it was great except for the fact that is was incredibly salty. i am definitely a salty vs sweet person but i could not take the saltiness of the crab. perhaps they were just having a bad daywith their batter. as well it was grossly over cooked (see the darkness of my crab compared to other pics) after questionig the saltiness we were given one meal free to apologize for the oversaltes crab. that wasgoodcustomer service. i will go back and try it again.

not verygoodfood. i heard that big fish is suppose to begoodand i thought i'd give it a go by taking my family there. i left sorely disappointed with the food.

i had the fish chowder and a salad. the chowder is just ok. however, the major disappointment is the quality of the main courses. we had the pork chop, sable fish hot pot, alaskan char, and the seafood pot au feu. my pork chop was a nice one inch thick chop in bone and was ok but nothing spectacular. the soup broth of the seafood pot and the sable fish that my wife and my son had was terrible. the fish broth of both dishes had next to no flavour and tasted very sour. my daughter had the alaskan char and the fish was a bit dry as any juice that the fish had was absorbed by the mash potato that the fish rested on. the bill came to $160 for four people. i don't mind the cost as i normally go to more expensive restaurants but the food just don't cut it. i won't be going back.

i heard lots about this place, went and tried it out. i ordered their special entrée for that day. it was lobster and a chicken breast in butter chicken sauce. guess what? there was no lobster in the dish!!!!! i paid $32 for a chicken breast and a scoop of white rice. this place 💩 the 🛏!! i'm not giving it agoodreview!! don't go!! there's more seafood in a mcfish @ mcdonalds! trust me take your money anywhere else but this place. my family all ordered something different, fish tacos, the swordfish & fries and their lasagna!! you would think the prices would reflect the fact that you're eating seafood! ...this place is a big ripoff! take your money to red lobster! trust me, if you choose to eat here after reading this and you have a 💩ty experience, i forewarned you! the service was good!...the food had flavor, but when paying to eat seafood, there should actually be seafood on the plate! sorry big fish, but you're a big fail!

fantastic !! had the lobster lamb burger. it was sogoodiv been dreaming a out it. the crab cakes were very verygoodas well. definitely a must!!

we visited for sunday brunch and tried a few dishes.

our favorite was clam chowder. the soup tasted like very flavorful with no fake flavoring added, it was delicious! it came with chard bread and the bread was amazing. i’d like a little more clam or fish in the soup since it is seafood restaurant, it was mostly soup and not much of clam or even veggies in it in my opinion.

we tried a couple brunch menu, i can’t remember the name of the dish. one was like omelet with prawn with pesto on top. it was ok but the prawn was like very small shrimp. even though it came with hash and a couple piece of bread, the potion wasn’t very big compare to other brunch places.

another one was hash with poached egg on top comes on skillet. my husband did not enjoy the dish, it had a lots of liquid and the overall texture wasn’t very pleasing.

the food wasgoodbut not my favorite brunch place. we will try to visit at dinner time next time.

i so wish this restaurant was in edmonton.  i enjoyed the seafood dishes very much but didn't enjoy the meat dishes as much.  i am sure the meat dishes weren't bad, but in comparison to the seafood, i wish i had spent my money on seafood instead.  

first things first, i came here for sunday brunch and they had mussels.  how wonderful.  mussels for brunch was a seemingly foreign idea until i was blown away by how big and juicy the mussels were.  i wish i came here on a mussels night and just indulge myself.  juicy, full of sea life, and perfectly boiled just for me.  yum.  the soft shell crab sandwich was also very good.  it wasn't as dry as i thought.  there are sauces to dip on the table so that helped a bit too.  the clam chowder was also very good.  i could have had it all to myself but i was sharing it with some friends.  

now, onto the not sogoodthings, the duck i had was rather bland.  the truffle and fried egg on top was a nice touch but i couldn't taste much salt on my food.  maybe i was too spoiled by the seafood or something.  i still finished it but i wish i had ordered a seafood dish instead.  ah well.  live and learn.  maybe they'll improve some day, who knows?

i went to big fish on an early saturday evening. with the amount of positive reviews, i wanted to check the place out. when we arrived, the neighborhood looked pretty sh*tty, but we didn't let that deter us from checking out the restaurant. they have a free private parking lot in the back which was nice.

when we walked in, big fish was empty, probably getting ready for dinner time. we were seated near the window and ordered some oysters for $2.95 each. they were served with house ponzu, caper anchovy mignonette, four-chili cocktail, and tabasco sauce. they were good, but definitely not worth that price.

we then ordered two items from their dockside plates menu; fish tacos with roasted chilies, guacamole, and oven dried tomato mango salsa for $15 and the ginger sweet soy glazed swordfish and prawn skewer on smoked sea salt fries for $21. again, although the food was good, it was overpriced. the swordfish and prawn skewer only had 3 small pieces of fish and 2 shrimps total. the tacos just came with 3 flour tortilla tacos, no sides like beans and rice.

overall, the food wasgoodand we had friendly service. however, it was definitely too much money for what it was. the small skewer didn't have enough meat on it and the tacos didn't warrant a $15 charge when it came with no sides. oysters at $2.95 each was pretty ridiculous as well, so i wished they gave a deal when ordering a dozen or more. i would come back if i wanted quality seafood, but that price would definitely have me second-guessing my decision.

pros:
-private parking lot in the back
-food quality
-friendly service

cons:
-too pricey

very fine seafood restaurant in - of all places! - beef-centric calgary.

the monday oyster special (buy a dozen, get a dozen free) wasgoodvalue for money.  would have liked more choice of oysters and grated horseradish as a garnish, but otherwise an excellent appetizer for 4 people.  we then had very nice main dishes.  everything was fresh and tasty.  does the kitchen get a shipment flown in every day from both coasts? 

nice craft beer selection and wines by the glass.

pleasant ambiance and service.  a rather overwhelming odour of fried fish from the open kitchen, so choose where you sit if this aroma bothers you.

there's a byow without corkage fee (!) on wednesdays, a sunday family-style paella, and a monthly featured national menu.  check their website for dates and details.

all in all, a superior seafood restaurant.

try this delicious food, big fish will not dissapoint.
the moment you sit down in the restaurant it is a pleasant atmosphere. the staff are so kind and curtious waiting on you as if you are the only ones in the restaurant.

the food is reallygoodas well. the mussels in particular are well worth the trip on thier own. the short ribs are one of my many favorites here, fall off the bone tender.

extremely satisfied with the overal expierence at big fish. i will definetly make another trip back!

poor service. will not return.. i am not sure why we deserved such poor service. the tall server we were assigned to did not crack a smile the entire time we were there - seemed upset at us from the get-go. did not check up on our food, nor came by to remove our plates. we only had the pleasure to meet him on three occassions: sitting down, getting our drinks, and getting the cheque. i am glad that there are other employees there who came by to refill our drinks once, and to remove our plates.

we went in, knew what we wanted to order before hand, paid our bill, and left all in 45 minutes. would've been much sooner had the food and the bill been quicker, but that's besides the point. we are as low maintenance as it gets.

at this point, it doesn't matter howgoodor bad the food is. i would never return to a restaurant that made us feel like we weren't welcomed there. would gladly take our money (and encourage others to take theirs) elsewhere. plenty ofgoodrestaurants in the city to choose from (teatro, catch, oeb, una, market, ox & angela, model milk, the list goes on).

i was looking for an occasion to try big fish and really didn’t have one, but i wanted to go anyway – so we did. located right on edmonton trail, you got street parking as an option. the restaurant is a little one, so it is best you make a reservation. i really enjoy eating crab cakes, so i ordered their crab and bay shrimp cakes so i ordered some and they were quite tasty. the taste and texture was really amazing, with the citrus aioli, it was a fantastic pairing. our other started was the seafood chowder which was quite hearty and filled with tons of seafood and flavour. i really liked it as it wasn’t rich or heavy, so it was a reallygoodstarter. i ordered the seafood pot au feu and it was interesting! it looked and smelled amazing and it actually tasted quite good, until i ate a piece of some fish that was in here and it left a terrible after taste in my mouth that i couldn’t get rid of for the rest of the night. i’m not even sure what it was, but i couldn’t finish the fish from t

subpar ingredients. during my first visit, we had delicious east coast oysters. they were perfectly shucked (no shell!) and were extremely flavourful. i ate here again last night and decided to order oysters as they were sogoodthe first time. big mistake as they weren't shucked properly.... every single oyster had little pieces of shell in it! for my main course i ordered the halibut. halibut should be meaty, thick and juicy but i was served a thin, mealy and dry end piece of fish. to make matters worse, it was extremely overcooked. very disappointing considering the price. a restaurant that specializes in fish should not cheap out on the cut it serves! i'd rather pay a few dollars more for a nicer piece of fish.

just not right. my wife and myself decided to go to the big fish for some lunch today while we out doing our saturday excursion . i had eaten there back in november for breakfast and it was average at best , though i'd try another go today for lunch. i had the soft crab sandwich and my wife had the trout on a bun. sorry but big disappointment on both parts , bread was burnt on sandwich and whatever sauce was used was close to rancid. my wife's choice of trout proceeded to give her a 'cleanse' with in a hour. the onlygoodpoint was the yam chips on both dishes. not planning to return with in the next century.