The Fish Shack

Another Glowbal Group restaurant eh?  Situated at the former location of Sanafir, the latest concept to come from Emad Yacoub is a bit more casual that encourages you to "eat-with-your-hands".  A "chain of restaurants" of sorts, each Glowbal restaurant (except for Italian Kitchen and Trattoria), has its own unique concept, but with one thing in common - style (and their Kobe meatballs). Can there be a more polarizing restaurant group than Glowbal?  Some love it while others hate it.  For me, I choose to judge each restaurant independently without regard for its parent company.

Recently opened, I was curious to see what the fuss was all about.  After all, The Fish Shack is somewhat of a departure from the usual Glowbal higher-end offerings.  So when the guys wanted to meet up to chat about Snake's fast-approaching Las Vegas stag, I suggested we check it out.  With pallets adorning the walls and ceilings, the casual feel was unmistakeable.  The lively clientele wasn't conducive for conversation, but it did add atmosphere. As for the food, we decided to sample a wide range of items starting with the Fried Oysters with chipotle tartar sauce. At first, we were taken aback at the miniscule size of the appie, but in the end, it was fair for the price.  The oysters were fresh, fried just right with a crispy exterior.  I particularly liked the chipotle tartar sauce as it had a noticeable kick.  We had the Fish Tacos next and they were nice enough to add a fourth (only comes with 3), so we all had one.  We felt that the use of a hard taco shell was not the best choice as it was a bit difficult to eat.  In addition, the Tex Mex ingredients of lettuce, tomato salsa and sour cream were not the best compliment for the Cajun fish.  A California-style taco with shredded cabbage and a spicy aioli would've worked better.  Although the fish was sufficiently moist, the pieces were too small while the Cajun spices did not come through.

Moving onto the main part of their menu, we had the 2 pc Halibut & Chips.  For $22.00, this was not a large amount of food.  Yes, we understand that their location, staffing and other expenses need to be covered, but throw some more fries in there, the plate looked sparse. With that being said, the halibut was fried beautifully being moist and flaky.  Although the tempura batter (a bit too thick) was seasoned with Cajun spice, the fish itself was not (so it was bland on its own).  We really liked the fries, as they were fresh cut and fried crispy.  There was actually a choice of coleslaw, but we didn't specify and got the default of creamy horseradish.  It was not bad, but there was far too much liquid. For more diversity, we also got the large Prawn & Chips.  Although the batter was too thick for our tastes, the big prawn was fantastic.  It had a big snap and was naturally sweet.  We found the tartar sauce to be
fairly balanced, but it was touch thin.

Rounding out our meal, we got 2 orders of the Big Catch (which is $30.00pp).  It consisted of lobster, dungeness crab, snow crab, mussels, prawns, calamari, crayfish, potatoes, corn and chorizo.  Now if you look at the large mixing bowl and wonder where the lobster went, we were thinking the same thing.  They messed up our order and gave us the Small Catch ($20.00pp) instead.  They eventually brought us the lobster separately.  What you see in the picture is for 2 people.  It was an okay portion considering the price.  People have to remember, when
you choose to eat in this manner, you'll be hard-pressed to get full. The seafood was generally well-prepared while the corn was really good.  I liked the large length-wise cut pieces of chorizo.  Unfortunately, the lobster was overcooked which rendered the meat extremely chewy. With The Fish Shack, the Glowbal Group is trying to be a hybrid of the Crab Pot and a fish n' Chips joint with a little bit of flair.  We were a bit underwhelmed by our experience and await to see what the general public thinks about the place moving forward.

The Good:
- It's fun food
- Lively atmosphere
- Due to the rarity of seafood boils, the curiousity factor applies here 

The Bad:
- Expensive (although it is located in Downtown and there are discounted gift cards available)
- Food wasn't bad, but wasn't memorable either
- Food took awhile