Monterey Bay Fish Grotto, Tysons Corner, VA

My family visited the Monterey Bay Fish Grotto last night. This restaurant is currently a 3-store chain, and its first location was not California, as its name suggests, but Pennsylvania. The Tysons location is number three. The second one is also located in Pennsylvania.



The Tysons restaurant is located in a high-rent building that sits adjacent to the Galleria, a mall that includes Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue as anchors. Our decision to go to the Fish Grotto was spur-of-the-moment, and we were wondering if my shorts and flip-flops and my son's shorts and SeaWorld t-shirt would prevent us from getting a table for dinner. Fortunately, Tysons Corner, despite its affluence, is not as snooty as, say, Atlanta. I don't think I've ever been turned away at any restaurant in Tysons, but we have been denied access to Emeril's in Atlanta for our dress. Maybe Atlanta is trying to hard to show it has class.



For appetizer, we shared their "Ichiban," two grilled skewers of various fish in bite-sized pieces marinated in a soy-ginger sauce and served with ancho-chili mayonnaise. We also had a combination dish that included one Ichiban skewer, two pieces of their Cajun Shrimp and a Crab Cake. My son, all of ten years old, never orders from kids' menus and happens to have a pretty decent palate. Because he is young, he hasn't yet fully learned to share food. If he likes something, he tends to just keep taking all of it from a shared plate. He ate one shrimp with a non-committal look and declined to attack the second one. I tried a bit of the shrimp, which sat in an orange marmalade sauce and which didn't have enough of a Cajun bite, and thought my son was right not to go after the second piece. The crab cake was big on crab meat and light on breading, and it was quite good, even if the remoulade was a bit on the heavy side. The Ichiban skewer was the most interesting dish and had the most potential. However, we felt that the fish didn't need as much soy-saltiness as it had considering that the ancho-chili mayo was flavorful on its own.



At the Fish Grotto you can order any fish prepared in any of the ways they offer. Their Mako Shark, for example, is listed as being served Cajun style. If you want the shark topped with basil and champagne sauce, which is a listed option for salmon, you can have it prepared with that alternative. I ordered a yellow fin tuna wrapped in bacon with a port wine sauce, a listed option for the tuna. Now, I know that tuna steak is best served rare or medium rare, but this tuna was so thick that it was too cold in the center. I felt as though I was eating a refrigerated tuna sashimi porterhouse. If you like biting into a three-inch thick raw, cold tuna, then you will probably like this dish. The bacon and port wine sauce helped it some, but the bottom line is that I won't order their yellow fin tuna again if all their preparation options involve chomping into a huge chunk of raw tuna. If I want sashimi, I'll order sashimi. Even sashimi at Japanese restaurants are served warmer than the tuna I had last night.



On some upbeat notes, my wife enjoyed their Lobster Caesar Salad, my son gave their French Onion Soup a 3-1/2 or 4 out of 5 (he is an expert when it comes to French Onion Soup) and all their portions are generous.

The cost for three people, including tip, but not including dessert or drinks, was about $150. This was our second time at this place, and the first time was about the same as last night's experience. All in all, I'd rather spend $150 elsewhere.



By the way, according to a review of the restaurant we read in a newspaper several weeks ago, table number 23 is supposed to have the best view. I can't imagine how much better the view will be from that table, as most of the glass walls face the same general direction, as the restaurant is not high enough to overlook much of anything and as the only thing you really see is a suburban mall across the way.