Crystal H.

El fish is Unique because it is a Mexican seafood restaurant. Norma our server was very informative and helpful. The ambience feels upscale yet casual enough to walk in. The food is flavorful and beautifully plated. Everything we had was delicious but our sides were our favorites. The esquites and The rice were so yummy! This is a no brainer option for seafood lovers who also love Mexican food. Can't to try More of their menu will be back soon.

Kathy P.

Upscale Mexican-fusion restaurant in Lincoln Square. We came per the recommendation of the Red Dining Book. For entrees, we ordered the Swordfish Schnitzel and the Fideo Seco (lobster noodles) and got a side of the pumpkin. Everything was visually beautiful, but the food itself lacked some balance. There were a lot of overpowering flavors that competed vs complimented each other. The schnitzel felt like an Austrian/German take on chicken schnitzel, but it was paired with an Israeli salad - while fresh, felt a bit out of place with the breaded fish and the mashed plantain. The fideo seco was very heavy and creamy - almost a bit too rich for my taste with the chipotle sauce, lobsters and shaved truffle. That said, I think the seafood was cooked well itself, the swordfish and lobster, but I didn't personally love the dishes as a whole. I think I may have ordered the wrong dishes, but I'm interested in coming back again! Finally, wait staff service was good. Refilling water often a spacing out parties considerably, which was nice!

Tansy W.

I walked in on a Wednesday night around 6pm. All the tables were reserved already but there was plenty of seating at the bar so that's where I went. I got a glass of the Sancerre (meh - definitely not as good as what I am used to), along with a Caesar salad (way over-dressed and not that great) and the lobster pasta with black truffle (although I enjoyed the dish, it wasn't as mind blowing as all the reviews suggest). Over all, I wasn't that impressed.

Athena L.

my boyfriend and i had a reservation for two to kick off the new year with a good dinner -- we arrived and were promptly seated. the ambiance is classy and dimly lit (our table was fit with its own small lamp), with the chatter of the restaurant making up most of the background noise. service is friendly while not overbearing and dishes came out pretty quickly. food was also up to par. my boyfriend ordered the brochetas de salmon kung pao and enjoyed it -- the fish was good and the dish felt unique while tasting great. i had the branzino, which was alright but in my opinion a little on the bland side. that's more than likely because it was overshadowed by how good the appetizers and shared plates we got were -- between the two of us, we also got the tostada de atun, ostiones a las brasas, and pescadillas acapulco. everything was prepared perfectly and the flavors were bold and delicious. the shared side of the fideo seco was so rich and creamy it almost overpowered our main dishes. the bill was a little on the more expensive side, but it's a classier meal and good quality at that, so the price matches what you get.

Naoko S.

Moeden chic restaurant 5 min walk from Lincoln center. Attentive kind service. Food is amazing. Beautifully presented and tastes exquisite. We shared * tuna tacos- amazing! Must order * salmon with risotto = i felt salmon was slightly smelly * crab salad pretty good * some fried fish- very tasty With 2 ice cream and capuchino x 4 and soft dronk = 190 plus tip $75 each x 3 people. Slightly expensive side for casual dinner. Overall recommended for a special friend gatherings. Pretty restaurant!

Alexis F.

The food and service here were amazing! From the moment I walked in, I was greeted by the maitre d'/manager, a lovely woman with a warming hospitality charm. I had a glass of Sancerre with my tuna taquitos (tuna tartare in a taco), and for the entree, I wanted to keep it light for dinner, so I had the crab salad, which met my expectations. The ambiance is cozy and family-oriented; the lights are dimmed at the perfect time that the sun sets, and the music is soft so you can hear your partner or friends across from you. I will be returning!!! Thank you, Irene, Cesar, Roberto, and the entire staff for an amazing experience.

Gordon Y.

Cuisine: 4 Service: 6 Decor: 7 Value: 4 Overall: 4 I was excited to come here ever since I saw pictures and reviews of their Fideo Seco. Unfortunately, this lobster version was a soggy mess that tasted nothing like the traditional toasty and crispy Spanish pasta that I loved every time I am in Spain. The high price of the dish didn't bother me much until having my first bite. Then it was all downhill from there. Yucatan Fish Dip and Grilled Octopus were both decent, but nothing to write home about. El Crab Melt BLT wasn't bad, but the thick cut bacon really covered up the delicate sweetness from the crab. Lastly, the Pescadillas Acapulco sounded interesting but did not hit the spot, just mushy tuna salad like filling in a deep fried shell that was too thick and quite hard. As for service, it was lackadaisical and way too absent whenever we needed something. The prices were quite high as well. Combined with the restaurant's underwhelming Mexican fusion cuisine, my friends and I will not be revisiting.

Alexis B.

I had a light early dinner at El Fish Marisquería a couple of weekends ago after an opera at the Met. I had a reservation for one person (I recommend a reservation; it got busy quickly), and they sat me at the bar, which was perfect. Since it was such an early meal (4:30 pm, since I had a train to catch), I decided to keep it light with some peel and eat shrimp, served with lime, tajin, and aji verde dipping sauce. The shrimp were fantastic - fresh and delicious, and I really enjoyed the dipping sauce. I enjoyed that with a cocktail (they offer some great choices) and a glass of Mexican wine. I enjoyed sitting at the bar - the service was great. I would definitely return to El Fish for another meal. Their menu is fantastic, and I barely got to try any of it when I stopped by for such an early dinner. I'd love to go back for their lobster aguachile, Yucatecan fish dish, tacos de langosta, pescado frito, chilaquiles... I'm sure I'll be back!

Wendy B.

Bake Clam was the best thing we had. Tostada Ensenada was also very good but for $27 for 1 piece it's quite ridiculous. Octopus looks good but was not great. Lobster Fried Rice looks great but lobster was frozen with mushy texture. Mexican Green was little salty and saucy. Core Esquite was fine seems like they use Chinese Sichuan pepper oil? Churro was meh Ice Cream was poor quality. Wine by the Glass was poured at the table so not exactly sure what it was served.

Christina V.

We were looking at restaurants in the area and when we drove by this place, we couldn't help but notice how cute it was. We were able to get a table without a reservation, but it was pretty early when they opened. Staff was very nice they do have cocktails, which were great. The menu offers seafood with a Mexican twist. Everything was delicious. To start we had the octopus which came with amazing seasoning. Perfect presentation and dips. The tuna tartar taquitos were delicious. For the entrée, we shared the Bronzino, which is off the bone very flavorful served with fresh tortillas. . We tried the eggplant side again ... delicious. for dessert. We had the churros. I would've liked to have a bit more churros than ice cream in this but that's my only complaint bc the churros were so good. Not too sweet just the perfect taste.

Absolutely delicious food! The ingredients were fresh and high quality. Flavors with so much depth you couldn't quite remember the entire experience of tasting it, and wanted to keep having more. They could be vibrant and delightfully surprising as well. I wish I knew how they pulled it off, but I didn't think I'd get away with sneaking into the kitchen to watch! The dishes were a treat for the eye as well. The best items we got were the Enchiladas De Camaron, Cob Seafood Caesar, and best of all, the Brochetas De Salmon Kung Pao. The only thing that was disappointing was the Chilaquiles. My party shared everything so we all got to experience more of their cooking. The salmon in the Brochetas De Salmon Kung Pao was perfectly cooked and amazingly fresh. It easily flaked under a fork, the texture was almost creamy. The creamy Mexican rice was good on its own, but came with a caramel-colored sauce with a light zing that made it hard to stop eating it! The Cob Seafood Caesar had a wonderful interplay of flavors and textures. Tomatoes and avocado were so fresh they shone on their own. The gentle vinegar on the tomatoes helped make the flavor pop without overwhelming the tomato. Fun chewy pieces of savory meat. The Enchiladas De Camaron came drenched in a beautiful orange sauce. Perfectly uniform coloration that's hard to achieve at home. The enchiladas were soft with a lovely bite to the (shredded?) shrimp inside. Wonderful depth of flavor. It's like they put all the effort into the food and none into the advertising. This might be the second time I've ever written a review, but the food was so amazing it's a pity no one knows about this place. The outside of the restaurant is nondescript, with a small sign saying "El Fish" far above eye level. You just see the large window with mostly empty tables and an indoor plant inside. The ambiance was wonderful. It was quiet and calm. We could talk easily. Lots of natural sunlight, airy open space, soft tones on the walls.

Jeff O.

Strange but true: Until the opening of El Fish, Amsterdam Avenue from West 60th to West 70th had exactly zero sit-down restaurants. And even if we include every single spot selling sustenance, there isn't much more: Vanguard wine bar, which has small plates, is the next-closest thing to a full-blown restaurant, and the remaining options are a Starbucks, an H-Mart and a couple of tiny Chinese takeout joints. Sure, there are real restaurants on some of the side streets and a block away on Broadway, but it's still a striking stretch of dining desolation, given that the thoroughfare's half-mile portion in the West 60s is lined from start to finish with huge residential beehives with abundant storefronts. There's also the fact that this 10-block section of Amsterdam Avenue includes Lincoln Center and its near-daily throngs of fine arts aficionados. So, it's putting it mildly to say that El Fish has helped to fill a big void. Given the utterly enormous size of that void, pretty much any real restaurant would've been welcomed, but El Fish is far from run of the mill -- it's a stylish spot, it's got an uncommonly spacious dining room, its Mexican food is impressively creative, and it offers an ambiance of laid-back sophistication that really should be attractive for the aforementioned patrons of the opera, ballet, theater and philharmonic. The menu is interesting in multiple respects, e.g., its prices range from very reasonable ($20 for a generous plate of lump crab, aioli, avocado and microgreens) to almost comically high ($20 for six littleneck clams). In addition, the city's current dining ethos is very much reflected in the combination of a pescetarian focus and a maximalist approach to ingredients and plating. Ymmv on whether this is a good thing. Take, for instance, the whole fried bass with bok choy and rice. A cynic might question the wisdom of cutting half the sea creature into nuggets that are fried separately, and then dousing everything in a refined Mexican version of General Tso's sauce, and squeezing all of that onto a platter alongside a mound of slightly damp rice and fronds of bok choy. But a different person might laud the creativity, and point out the lovely use of hominy kernels in the rice, and note that $40 is a very fair price for a plate that four people could share as a main. I'll also draw your attention to the side of "Mexican greens," described as verdolagas, or purslane, which is a big bowl of long-stemmed greens with bewitching herbs and spices, and a welcome break from the usual side of spinach or broccoli or green beans. As for beverages, I'll mention that my wife ordered a mocktail but was almost served a real cocktail, and that the server promptly brought the correct drink and then comped it when the check arrived. For some people, accidentally drinking alcohol would be a big problem -- akin to a vegetarian accidentally eating meat -- and so El Fish gets bonus points for taking the error seriously and responding professionally. Overall, Amsterdam Avenue's dining landscape remains quite barren. But it's hard to imagine one restaurant changing the scenery more than El Fish.