This was her first time back at Max Fish in about 7 mo. Things have definitely gone down hill. After we were sat, waiter came to our table in about five minutes. Asked him how much the lobsters were, he had no idea. Said he would get back to us. At least 15 minutes later, came back and still didn't know lobster price. And he then proceeded to tell us he would never eat shellfish again. They are bottom feeders, and God knows what chemicals they are eating. Didn't see him again for 25 minutes. We got up and the manager came over to us. Told him what happened, then he said the waiter has been there since day one, we left. Not going back. read more

The best seafood option on the east side of CT River. Dinner started with a perfectly made Manhattan delivered promptly (love that they put one big ice cube in such a rocks drink). Appetizer was grilled octopus that was tender and cooked to the right temperature. Caesar salad was cold, good and with the right amount of dressing and croutons. The highlight was a fish dish of John Dory - fresh, cooked right and sitting on top of delicious chipotle polenta and a bit of spinach. Mushrooms completed the plate. Restaurant should consider adding this dish as a permanent menu item. Highly recommend. read more

Last night I had the most wonderful dinning experience at Max Fish thanks to a fantastic server (Darcey) and the best manager Brian Costa. Food was tasty, especially the onion rings. They are the best I ever had. Professional service. Love the Negroni. The best time ever. Thanks for making me feel a satisfied customer. read more

Had a business dinner there last night. Everyone said their food was good. Had the calamari app, which was excellent. Nice assortment of bread brought to the table. My issue is with the prices and the service. The service i found to be very pretentious. Id rather have great food in a casual atmosphere, and maybe this just wasn't the place for me. Second, the price for my dinner was just outrageous. I choose the cod, and one option was to have it served over a salad. I choose to have it served over a Greek salad. the fish and salad were both fantastic. very fresh greens, everyhing nicely chopped with just the right amount of dressing. fish pan seared nicely. but at the end of the day, i paid $27 for a very small piece of white fish, and a Greek salad that was exactly the same as the ones i made at home most nights. Shared the flour less chocolate cake for desert. just OK read more

Max Fish is one of our favorite restaurants! The service is consistently superior to other establishments and the food is always amazing. They are great about altering my order to meet my diet restrictions and if something is not made to your liking, they immediately correct the error with a smile and efficiency. The wait staff go the extra mile -- Michael, Tom, Nicole, Gregory, Darcy -- we have rarely had someone wait on our table who didn't make our visit extra special every single visit. Their cocktails are the best as well!! Oh -- and ya' gotta' try Sunday brunch and the Bloody Mary Bar. The Bloody Mary Bar is, in itself, worth the visit from afar!! read more

I have been there a few times in the last three months. Excellent service. I love their crab cakes.

The main thing here is the amazing happy hour. Get there early to get a spot at the bar or a high table, it fills up. Went there once for dinner, not as impressed, especially for the price. But the happy hour is one of the best. read more

Great happy hour! Quiet, clean, really good drinks, amazing food. Service always impeccable.

Lets just say I was totally appalled at the lack of professionalism and customer service at the Bar. I was in from Boston this past saturday night, August 22nd, and was very disappointed with the service at the Bar. I found not just one, but all three bartenders to be rude, unfriendly, and not helpful while sitting at the bar for drinks and appetizers. I would expect more from Max Group, but the bartenders had attitudes and didn't engage in conversation nor make us feel welcome. I really think these Bartenders need to adjust their attitudes and pretend to be friendly even though it shows their lack on interest on the job! Customer Service 101! read more

Oh no. the worst seafood I have ever had. so bad smelling and even no flavor. some part of the fish was even tasting bitter. we wouldn't go there again. I think the high score in yelp is just because of the bar not the food. read more

I entered Max Fish at 2:50 pm this Saturday. I was starving. They are clearly serving the freshest oysters & perkiest shrimps I've ever tasted. The shrimps were perfectly sweet and tender, enormous, and yet with a bit of a snap to the bite.. There was a peppery mignonette and shrimp sauce on the platter too, although the second platter came with a clump of white horseradish in the middle of the shrimp sauce. I chose the Pacific Bay Oysters. Although quite tiny, each morsel was a gift from the sea. Not too salty and sweetly piquant, these were the freshest oysters I've had in years. [A big apology to Norwalk's BluePoints. LOL]. I dined at the marble counter in the bar lounge. This restaurant is absolutely beautifully appointed with a Euro/Continental Seafood design to behold as one walks in. In operation four years, there is opulence in its pristine marble. The bartender served me a rum concoction, pleasantly appealing but too pricey at $9. It was presented in a higball glass with lots of crushed ice. To accommodate the amount of ice that he used, a taller rum drink glass need be suggested as that fill didn't match its bill. The staff is accommodating and my barkeep helpful. He even granted me the kindness of a sip of an aperitif I had purchased earlier today in a wine store. He tasted it as well and we spoke about how it might mix into cocktails or desserts. All in all, a lovely private and professionally casual experience for me. I am not one to do restaurant bar counters but this is one to be reckoned with. read more

The menu is pretty weak, we sat at the raw bar thankfully. We had the help of the very experience shucker who picked out oysters for us, as well as a few clams and scallops. the taylor bay scallops are excellent with the lemongrass aioli she makes from scratch. had a bottle of sonoma cutrer, staple on the chard list of every restaurant and tried the tilefish which was the special of the day- i have to say it was excellent. it came with lemon risotto which was not really that great but ok. I think the menu would be better if it didnt have a whole section of pick your fish, sauce etc. isnt that the reason we come here, so the chef picks for us?? read more

Went for lunch. Just okay. Kind of pricey for simple food. The seafood they work with is quality, but the dishes lacked flavor. The lunch menu was pretty limited. I might give it another chance for dinner. read more

Had the oysters which were fantastic in terms of flavor and selection. Fish was reasonable. Exceedingly pricey so be prepared.

Went for a Thursday lunch with no real expectations. Good service and we sat outside. Among our group of 3 we had lobster bisque, clam chowder, crab cakes and tuna tartare. Everything was well above average and the crab and tuna were exceptional. It was not crowded, but we were not hurried at all. It was a relaxing and tasty experience, and when in Glastonbury again, it will be on my list. Nice work to the restaurant staff! read more

Have eaten here many times. This week, for restaurant week, lobsters were steamed perfectly and deliciously sweet. Service was super and the place was full of people seeming to enjoy the atmosphere and food. All together a totally enjoyable evening. read more

Food was awesome but the bar service was bad. The bartender ignore me all the time.

Had alway had a good experience in the past. We had six for dinner on a Monday night. Food was below average and the Tuna was brown. My wife ended up sick after eating the Tuna. Guess you really should stay away from Fish Restaurants on Mondays. Very disappointing for a Max Restaurant. I will be crossing this one off my list. read more

Last night my husband and I along with another couple decided to try Max Fish in Glastonbury for the first time - we were mortified! While the attention to our reservation was overly thorough (two phone calls and an email that day), both the meal and the atmosphere were disappointing. The appetizers (mussels, Greek salad, Caesar salad, mix salad) were OK but the entrees - the stars of the show - were very disappointing. The poached fish was the worst. Our friend eats fish most of the time and was puzzled by the whole meal. It was a soggy soup of overdone vegetables and some drowned trout finally located at the bottom of the bowl. The "San Francisco" cioppino wasn't San Francisco style at all. It was more like a bouillabaisse - no pasta and no spicy zing. It was just a pile of seafood with nothing to give it character. The black cod with honey mustard was satisfactory but the amount of bok choy, chewy and thick, was unbecoming to the rest of the dish. The pan seared scallops were certainly tasty but not overwhelming in amount. As to the atmosphere, the noise was highly intrusive. Perhaps noise is something the Max group cultivates to give the feeling of great popularity but restaurant sounds need to be properly harnessed to provide both quiet and social settings. Clatter and chatter might be fine for the Shark Bar area but we sought an intimate dining experience and were mightily disappointed. In closing, you need to provide quality product not just window dressing if you want repeat business. We never mind paying the premium for sophisticated eating but this was poor performance. We will not return. read more

Having been here before, the service on Saturday lacked. Party of six midday. Seated in corner with blinds drawn. Waiter never brought bread and rolls. People were starving from long road trip. Floor was sticky from previous nights. Clearly not washed. Waiter still brought no bread and butter even after others had gotten soups. Some did not. read more

Awesome restaurant. Very clean and food is excellent. My wife and i go for every special occassion. Just went for our anniversary and love the lobster resotto. Highly recommended. Fast service for a high end restaurant. The oysters are great as well read more

If there was ten stars I would choose that. The food was fresh, tasty, and served in a sophisticated and elegant manner. The waitstaff was friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. Great dinner. Definitely go. read more

I would give zero stars. The food was disappointing, service was sloppy and menu was overpriced. I guess if you are coming here for happy hour or something to drink and maybe eat raw bar you might enjoy. But, sitting with family? Definitely not! food - 1 chunk lobster in a very very thin and salty bisque (no soup spoon at table, had to eventually go to the bar to get a spoon because our waitress was nowhere to be found (slow-ish Wednesday evening around 7 pm) service - no soup spoons for our soup and she never checked on how we liked the soup so we had to hunt down our own spoons, she cleared our soup bowls and bread plates and just left them on the table next to us the whole time along with a bar tray with teo sodas and two bottles of beer - so someone else never got those drinks! food/service - we asked for pelligrino and she said the "caerbonate their own water on site it is much better. ok, we take her recommendation and she brings us room temperature just barely bubbled water - yuck. fish - yes we got fish scallops and salmon both were undercooked and I guess you call it "naled" but what it was , was absolutely NO seasoning on the fish whatsoever. like, nothing. And wasn't even served with lemon wedges. and this cost us over $200. (no alcoholic beverages ordered, just "their sparkling water" and a chocolate milk for my kid) would not recommend ever - max fish has become a running joke in our family as in "we don't care for something it's "very max fishy" read more

I love this place I think it's one of the best seafood restaurants around. The oysters are always good but the cod is amazing. If your looking for a place that consistently puts out great food with a nice atmosphere this is the place. read more

My family celebrated my mothers 80th birthday recently. It was a memorable and pleasant experience. The food and service where excellent. No complaints from anyone. Not to nit pick but the AC was on a little high but not a major issue. The seating we had was perfect for 10 of us. read more

Everything was perfect. The service and atmosphere were excellent, and I'm drooling just thinking back on our meal. Many compliments to the chef. My husband and I could not have been more pleased. We are serious foodies and this is by far one of the best restaurants we've dined at. We will certainly be back! read more

I am craving those pork belly steam buns after today. So good, little pillows of comfort food. Sea scallops were perfection, especially good on these last days of summer with the bright tomatoes and veggies. I would definitely go back for this, but I am sure it will be changing soon for fall. Have to get back quickly to have it one more time. The service didn't really matter although I would expect a little more attention to the water glasses. Server was sweet and pleasant. read more

The service was poor, the worst service I've ever had. I never write reviews but this one was a must. The waiter was more distracted with his coworkers, then doing his job. The food did not seem fresh and was very dry. We were both very disappointed, since a few of my co-workers said this place was good. I would not recommend this restaurant. read more

This is the worst service restaurant I've ever been to. The owner is rude and incompetent. I will NEVER return to this place again.

The amazing reviews always confuse me. I've had one amazing meal here which was 3 years ago- a salad with fish and a poached egg...and it isn't on their menu anymore. Every other time I've come since (maybe 5 times) the food is only so so. The octopus is tough and the flavor spread confusing. The fried clams are wayyyy over breaded. Soda comes in tiny glass bottles....please. Give people fountain soda with free refills like EVERY OTHER establishment in America. Our last meal was the most disappointing. We ordered the scallop entree, the cod entree and the special (a Hawaiian fish). All three entrees were sitting in soupy water. The cod was the worst. Tasteless spatzle, soupy water and flavorless cod. The scallops themselves were good but the polenta was sitting in soupy water. The special was equally gross. None of us finished our meals. The trio desert was nothing to remember. Hire new chefs read more

Quick update, went back for Mom's birthday again and it was as good as ever.

My favorite Max restaurant, I have no problem driving 45 min to enjoy one of their awesome fish specials and Hot Fudge to the Max dessert. The service is awesome, atmosphere is lively, and always a special evening. Next I'll try happy hour at the bar since I've heard that is fab as well. read more

One of the MAX group's best! Always a great raw bar, always great clam chowder, and always a great variety of fresh fish. And the wait staff is trained to be always engaged and on top of things, yet always genuinely friendly. Always... terrific. read more

A very acceptable lunch on a Monday (I know - fish on Monday - could be a disaster...) Genuinely good cocktails - both classics and innovations (no' chocolate cookie dough martinis' or any such baloney). The oysters were fresh and briny sweet, like you want. My john dory with shrimp and pea risotto was also fresh and well cooked - nothing fussy. The texture of the risotto was disappointing, but if you thought of it as just a tasty rice dish, it was fine. My luncheon partner had a nicoise salad. While it didn't quite pull together as it might have, it had some tasty components, and he enjoyed it. Service was responsive. The pace they set was slightly slow for lunchtime, but nothing really problematic. read more

We chose this particular restaurantbecause of the reviews and were not disappointed. From the greeting when we arrived until the thank you when we left we were treated as valued patrons. Octopus appetizer was amazing. Scallops over spatezla was Devine. Crab cake, although not lumps, was one of the best I've had. Cheryl was our server and was professional yet friendly and made us laugh. Definitely worth the 2.5 hour drive! read more

Service is always superb, and they offer everything a seafood lover could want. Always fresh and creatively prepared. Pricey but quality. Save room for desserts. Specials are always worth heavy consideration. Meals are healthier than the average Italian or other restaurant. read more

Max Fish has the BEST happy hour ("HH") around for shellfish lovers! They have $1 oysters and clams (littlenecks & cherrystones), $2 clam chowder, and a little more pricier appetizers like tuna tartar, calamari, mussels, etc. Their website posts the most recent HH menu. Drinks are $5 (select wine and mixed drink list during HH). HH runs from 4-6 every day during the week but I recommend coming as close to 4 as possible as the space is limited and it fills up quickly Friday & Saturdays. read more

Sat at the bar for dinner with my girlfriend on a weekend night. The bar was half full. The drinks were fine, but the bartenders were robotic, unfriendly & uptight. Our request for the largest oysters they had was blatantly ignored. Looked like we got the smallest variety instead. She didn't put the order in for out appetizers when we ordered them. We waited for 45 mins until we asked when they would arrive and received no apology or compensation of any kind for the error. I ordered the salmon "dinner", which comes with extras, as well as a side. I got the plain salmon and the side but not the "dinner" version. Again, no apology. It's not as if the bar was very busy. Very cocky and poor service. Try some place else. read more

While I enjoy all of the Max restaurants, my favorite is Max Fish. The food and service are excellent and I have never had a bad meal here. Some of my favs include the Baltimore shrimp, blackened fish on a salad, and really any of their specials. Their happy hour options are outstanding and it is justifiably busy at this time so get there early. Oh, by the way they can make a mean vodka martini--actually dry, cold and straight up. A lost art to be sure. read more

A friend and I went there for a happy hour. When we approached the bar the bartender was very rude and impatient with us. I had never been there before and asked if they had a happy hour specials. A menu was shoved in my face and he walked away. We left immediately. read more