fishbones

good food, but not inexpensive. ate for my first time at fish bones last night. the food was good, the service outstanding.

we started with a bahamian fish dip appetizer. nice smoky flavor, very good.

for dinner i had the mixed grill: a grilled piece of grouper, nicely done; a piece salmon grilled to perfection, and the scampishrimpand scallops. the scallops andshrimpwere cooked just right. the scampi was just average, thought. and i had one or two pieces ofshrimpthat were not properly dressed--that is, some shell that should have been removed had not been. i found this lack of attention to this detail to be a bit annoying.

dinner was accompanied by some mixed veggies and some orzo. the mixed veggies were ok, maybe a bit overcooked. the orzo though was downright pasty. definitnely undercooked, or not cooked right.

the service we received from brandon was outstanding. he was very attentive to all our needs, checked back often, and explained everything to us in great detail. rarely have i had service that good.

so, overall, service was tops! grilled fish was excellent. scampi was just ok, nothing special. orzo was not very good. a mixed experience, but i'd eat here again....brandon won me over on that point.

so, its my 23rd wedding anniversary, and my husband and i decide to go to a place that we have gone to several times in the past in lake mary. such a total disappointment. first of all its a tuesday night and we think certainly getting a table before 6pm for 2 people shouldnt be that difficult. we arrive there about 5:45 empty tables galore. we are informed by that everything is booked up until 8pm.  ok, i understand that, wow. maybe its busy during the week. 
we are told by the hostess desk that should we desire to stay we can go find a seat by the noisy bar, which there is one table available with patrons yelling back and forth to be heard., or either the outside bar, or go find another restaurant.  so we decided to sit outside, its  low 50's tonight which is ok since the restaurant has the heater fans blowing.
the highlight of my anniversary dinner was our very nice waiter.   the food was terrible and in the past it had always been awesome. we ordered the filet which was maybe  a 4 out of a 10 since it was just barely warm, theshrimpthat came with it was raw. i had to send that back. the salad was soggy. not good at all. the bread was delicious. (only good thing served) 
the kicker of the evening was when we left at 7:45.  all those empty tables when we walked in were still vacant.   thats terrible service and i can say that because we are former restaurant owners.  
in the past 6 mos, i have recommended many times. not now.  i doubt ill ever visit again. ill tell friends to take their $160.00 for a dinner for 2 and go to ruth chris or another restaurant.

good experience.  took fedex edm team.  had the chilean sea bass.  ahi tuna,shrimpcocktail and sampler app.  ambience was good.  next time need to eat on the patio

delicious menu. i have eaten at fishbones a few times and have really enjoyed it. their stuffed scallops andshrimpentree is excellent. the atmosphere is always terrific. their bar area is also very nice. this restaurant is very convenient to get to as well, right off of i-4 area between state road 46 and lake mary blvd exits.

terrible experience. stop!! dont waste your time and money!! this is nothing more than a glorified red lobster! dined on 7/10/2013 for my husbands birthday. following is our impression of our dining experience:

ambience/decor: fail! - felt like we were walking into a banquet hall.
food: fail!
lobster bisque - worst we have ever had - predominantely tasted like flour.
salads with goat cheese dressing - just ok.
stuffed black grouper ($40 dish) - horrible, fish was not cooked through, just awful from presentation of the dish to taste. really you dare serve this for $40?
aged steak; meh definately not worth the money.

manager offered to bring me another entree (so i waited while my husband continued eating his dinner alone) - i requested the stuffedshrimpand scallops but that is not what i received. i was too disgusted to even let her know that this was the wrong dish. i was given what i think was theshrimpand scallop scampi - i've had better at a fridays!

during this time our waitress simply disappeared - we sat with our dirty dishes in front of us for over 15 minutes.

if you want a great meal and great service try terramia brick oven pizza in the same strip mall - great service and great food. wish i had taken my husband to terramia for his birthday,

good first time out. my husband and i ate at fishbones with my in-laws last night (first time for all 4 of us), and we enjoyed our experience as well as the food. some of us had the caesar salad to start, others had the specialty salad-- both very good, tasted very fresh. we also enjoyed the blue chips as a starter. the cheese/garlic bread was very tasty, too. my husband and i split the 10 oz filet and he added the blackened shrimp; i added asparagus with bearnaise sauce. *excellent* steak! best i've had in a long time; husband enjoyed theshrimpvery much, and i thought the asparagus was very well prepared, although the tough ends were left on, which i found odd. we shared the chocolate cake for dessert, which had a beautiful crumb; and the drizzle of mildly coconut flavored sugar glaze rounded it out beautifully.

not as good as expected. it was probably my fault i had a poor experience. i decided the mixed grill (sea food) sounded best and ordered it despite the waitress warning me that it was not one of the better options. i did not enjoy the fish,shrimpor scallops and i usually love all of it! as appetizers, the clam chowder was really good and the florida gator was really good. probably won't be back, but if i do, i won't order the mixed grill.

best service in a long, long time. my husband requested this restaurant for his borthday dinner, and that was fine by me, since i haven't had a bad experience here. but wow! the experience was awesome.

we arrived, two adults and two small children, at 8:30 on a friday night. i was expecting a bit of a wait, but was suprised that i was seated within 5 minutes. our server immediately greeted us and brought us water.

the food was good. i ordered the corvina fish grilled ($30), and my husband ordered the indian unicorn fish in a wasabi/mirin sauce ($38). both were delicious, with the unicorn fish standing out. my kids ordered the calamari ($8) as an entree and the friedshrimpkids meal($6). my daughter didn't like the calamari because it was spicy, but i was impressed with the tender preparation. my son devoured theshrimplike it was going out of style.

the best part of the experience was our server, dennis. he was everything that i expect with service. he was attentive but not oppresive. he had great suggestions and interacted wonderfully with my children. i was extremely impressed with his quality of service and could see him serving at any fine dining restaurant. what a wonderful dinner.

happy hour bliss. my husband originates from orlando and introduced me to fishbones about 2 years ago. now everytime we go back down to visit we have to make it over for happy hour. i can not findshrimplike they have there any where else, the oysters are amazing, and i just discovered the mussels are to die for.

never had a bad experience, and have been there many many times.

great find. my husband and i went to the happy hour this past weekend and were really surprised. we sat in the outdoor patio dining/bar area. it was classy and relaxed.. the service was excellent. the food was perfect. we tried everything but theshrimpcocktail. the tuna tacos were incredible! i had the house chardonnay and he had a vodka gimlet. since the price was low we thought the drink would be ok. but it was actually perfect. you would think that a vodka gimlet is hard to screw up....but amazingly it happens. all in all we had a great time, it was a perfect date night. we will definitely return

awesome happy hour!!!!. fishbones has the best happy hour offer ever! half-priced draft beer, half-priced sushi menu (the whole sushi menu, not just one or two rolls!), baked oysters, 1.25shrimpcocktail, and (i think?) half priced fried calamari.

while the bar area used to be packed on a friday or saturday night, it seems the economy took a huge toll on the patronage so they had to come up with a great deal to get customers to come back. take advantage of this happy hour special while you can. now that the weather has warmed up a bit you can enjoy happy hour at their outdoor bar without freezing.

a bit better than average. fishbones has been a good lake mary staple for quite some time. it offers some of the best sushi, steaks, and seafood in the area at fairly reasonable prices for the type of establishment. the quality of the food was always matched with top notch service in a warm inviting atmosphere.

for a nice refreshing starter, try the blue crab. severed in a martini glass on a bed of romaine lettuce, the crab meat is succulent, sweet and has smooth texture. if you never had crab before, this is the one to try. if you have a larger group, try the sampler platter. not only do you get the blue crap martini, but fresh oysters, jumboshrimpcocktail, and smoky bbq shrimp.

i am a meat lover, so you will find a good steak here. while my bias for the best steak in the central florida is still del frisco's, fishbones still has several great options. try either the dry age bone-in ribeye, ny strip, or the prime rib if available. eating the bone-in ribeye reminds me of the flintstones, a huge piece of meat with the rib bone attached. definitely a choice for the hearty of appetites. if you want a lighter fair, go with the lamb chops.

fish and sushi lovers will also not be disappointed. one good thing is the seafood menu does change based on the seasonality of the fish. my personal favorites are mirin-wasabi glazed black cod, yellowfin ahi tuna, and the blackened grouper.

currently they are offering a great happy hour for sushi lovers, 50% off the sushi menu between 4:30 and 6:30 monday through saturday. my only concern has been the cooked food during this happy hour. during my last two visits during happy hour, both my dishes were over cooked. the first time, i ordered chicken and it was extremely dry and over cooked. the saffron orzo was also over cooked and had the texture of wall paper paste. the second time, my prime rib was also overcooked and had a lot of connective tissue. hopefully the standards will come up to par really soon as i know they can produce higher quality food.

overall i would give them 3.75 out of 5. if they can improve the quality during happy hour, 4 out of 5.