Fish Market Restaurant (The)

Description:

• A market, a loft, a candlelit cellar, a private dining experience? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. In an 1875 heritage building on a prominent ByWard Market corner is this sprawling fish restaurant: The casual, inexpensive upstairs cafe Coasters stays open through the afternoon and offers pastas, pizzas, and fish and chips, while the basement tavern Vineyards features boutique wines and microbrews and live jazz. The main Fish Market dining room is enclosed by rough wood and brick, with nautical trappings and old advertising signs. Fish cooked without artifice is the most satisfying thing here, not to mention fastest out of the kitchen; the dauntingly large menu includes just about every marine creature available at the city docks on a given day, cooked to your preference. One platter incorporates a half lobster, Alaskan crab legs, two jumbo tiger shrimp, a smoked salmon filet, sea scallops, crabmeat-stuffed mushroom caps, onion rings, and rice pilaf. Yikes. Or fetch an order of all-you-can-eat mussels. They're proud of their wine list, too -- the Alsatian Rieslings go well with many of these dishes.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010