McGrath's Fish House

About.com Rating 3 Star Rating

User Rating 2 Star Rating (4 Reviews) write a review

By Judy Hedding, About.com Guide

Prawn and Scallop Skewers at McGrath's Fish House

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The Bottom Line

My usual threesome went to McGrath's Fish House for an early dinner on a Friday evening. We ordered two appetizers, three entrees and one dessert. The tab, excluding beverages, tax and tip, came to about $22 each.

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Pros

Fresh seafood
Daily changing menu for fresh fish
Comfortable, not too loud

Cons

Not special enough for repeat visits

Description

McGrath's Fish House is a chain, with locations in several western states. It began in Oregon.
McGrath's Fish House has three locations in Arizona: Scottsdale, Mesa and Goodyear. (NOTE: Scottsdale closed in March 2010.)
The menu at McGrath's Fish House offers many choices, including seafood, beef, combo meals, sandwiches, salads and pastas.
There's an oyster bar at McGrath's Fish House for those that like their seafood right out of the shell.
There's quite a large bar area at McGrath's, and it seems like a popular place to stop by for some oyster shooters.

Guide Review - McGrath's Fish House

We were in the mood for fresh seafood, so we stopped at McGrath's Fish House in Mesa. I love appetizers much more than desserts, so we ordered two to share. I was disappointed in both. The McGrath's Seafood Cocktail hardly resembled the photo in the menu or on the web site, and wasn't very appealing looking. It tasted good enough, and for $7.50 I suppose there was enough seafood with cocktail sauce, but where they say mixed with gazpacho, I say spooned over a pile of lettuce and celery. The Crab and Shrimp Wontons ($8) were a surprise, since there were many of them--plenty to share. Only problem was that I couldn't discern any crab or shrimp flavor. The McGrath's Clam Chowder ($3.30/cup) was OK, but there are places around town I'd rather go for that, and I wouldn't order it here again. Sourdough bread was warm, and fine--we're not big sourdough fans.

The main course at McGrath's Fish House was much better. The fried food eater of our group ordered, naturally, the Seafood Combination Platter ($14) and was very pleased with it. Crab Cakes ($15) were large and a plentiful serving, but--I couldn't put my finger on it--not very crabby tasting. Prawn and Scallop Skewers ($15) were the highlight of the evening, with plenty of lightly grilled shrimp, a few scallops, and grilled vegetables. All dinners come with a choice of sides and a salad.

Our server at McGrath's Fish House recommended the Marionberry Cobbler for dessert. It wasn't really a cobbler, but with hot fruit filling, and kind of thick (not flaky) crust on top and a large scoop of French vanilla ice cream it was the kind of dessert I prefer over chocolate selections. By the way--it was huge! Thumbs up from me, despite the misleading name of the concoction.

_{All prices and offerings are subject to change without notice. 06/07}

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User Reviews

1 out of 5

Worst Ever!, Member tecnicole

This last visit was the worst experience I have ever had in this establishment! The food was the worst it has ever been. Starting with the salad, it was slimy, watered down and had chunks that looked like mucus in it. We barely had 2 bites and brought it to the attention of the server for which we then listened to excuses like they maybe had just spun the salad but when I showed her the mucus looking thing she said it was probably at the bottom of their container and would we like something else. I said no thanks but my husband asked for a cup of fisherman’s stew. When she returned with clam chowder instead we didn’t say anything because it had taken long enough for her to return with that. Then our meal came, my husband ordered med. rare steak and it was completely black on the bottom side, I mean charcoal! I had the salmon that was so saturated in oil or butter that it coated your mouth and when you pushed on the fish it oozed out. The baby reds were incredibly mushy which we both had. I asked the server if there was a new cook back there because this was awful! She said no and that she is sorry we were not pleased but did nothing for it. Our bill was not adjusted in the slightest!! We left very disappointed and HUNGRY! I was sitting there eating the package of oyster crackers when she came to pick up our plates.

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