One of These Nights at Fish Shop Hermosa Beach - CLOSED

The Fish Shop Hermosa Beach

719 Pier Avenue

Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

I often think about how my life would have been different if Katie and I had not met online ten years ago. Not to be sappy, but I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing if she had not reached out on that dating site more than a decade ago. I know there's a one hundred percent chance that I would not have been eating with her cousins in Hermosa Beach after watching them perform in their Eagles tribute band, Dark Desert Highway. On the nearby Redondo Beach Pier on a recent Saturday evening.

We almost did not even end up here this evening. After the concert, I had a place all picked out, but the roads were closed due to Fiesta Hermosa, a community event that takes place every Memorial and Labor Day weekend. This caused us to drive around aimlessly through an area we were unfamiliar with. Finally, we pulled off to the side of the road, and like a beacon calling our name, we all agreed to try the Fish Shop, which just happened to be located across from where we had pulled over. It must be destiny.

The Fish Shop has been open in Hermosa Beach since 2014. They have three sister restaurants, all located in San Diego County; Pacific Beach, Encinitas, and Point Loma. This Fish Shop is a few blocks from the ocean, in the Plaza Hermosa Shopping Center, anchored by Von's supermarket and fellow restaurants, Chipotle and Pick Up Sticks. Glad no one suggested eating at Chipotle, which is definitely not one of my favorites.

The Fish Shop prides itself as an elevated fast-casual seafood restaurant. They make all their seasonings and sauces by hand while cutting their fries and onion rings on the premises. Their soups and salads are made from scratch every day. One part of the menu at the Fish Shop is a three-step ordering process. You choose the kind of fish you want, a marinade, and then pick a style (taco, sandwich, plate, or salad). There's also another part of the menu that showcases some favorites and other seafood dishes for the indecisive that don't want to build their own meals. Count me among those people. Prices hover around the $15 mark, while the most expensive things on the menu are a plate of either shrimp or scallops, which goes for $25.

After much contemplation, we ordered at the register and found a seat on their back patio, which overlooks Pier Avenue. Even though they were closing in an hour, we did not feel rushed during our stay. The weather was perfect on this Labor Day weekend evening on the patio. What was not perfect was listening to Katie's cousin Yvette complaining about how hungry she was. Ugh, yeah, we get it, Yvette; you hadn't eaten in over an hour. Lucky for us, our food came out rather quickly, and when Yvette came out, it gave us a reprieve from listening to her boring work stories. So let's take a look at this unplanned visit to the Fish Shop.

Katie is a big poke fan, so it was no surprise she had this Poke Bowl ($16.50) as her entree. The ahi in this bowl was marinated with soy sauce, ginger, crushed red pepper, and sesame oil and then added to some sliced cucumber, diced avocado, wonton chips, and two sauces which I'm not sure what they were. Again, Katie was surprised at how fresh the ahi was here, and she woofed down this bowl rather quickly. Not the best poke bowl she has ever had, but it did the trick this evening, and she would not hesitate to get this again.

Katie got a Mac Salad ($3.50) to round out her meal. This was a fair version of one of her favorite salads. The elbow macaroni had some shredded carrot, green onion, and an excellent mayo-based dressing. I thought they got this texture right on, but it was kind of bland to me flavorwise. To be honest, I'm much more of a potato salad guy.

I started things off with a Cup of clam chowder for my meal ($5.50). Like the mac salad above, it was okay but did not blow me away. This was easily one of the most buttery versions I have ever had. The amount of butter used here was evident in every spoonful. The chowder would have been improved by increased clams and maybe some cubed potatoes for texture. This was way too smooth to be called a chowder.

I have had a lingering craving for Fish and Chips ($14.00) for a while and finally got my chance to quell that desire at the Fish Shop this evening. The Fish Shop uses Alaskan cod for their fish, which is my preferred version. The breading had a nice crunch to it, with minimal greasiness. The fish underneath was flaky and moist, just as it should be. The breading also held together nicely while dipping, which is just what you want in your fish and chips. The only drawback was that I wish the breading had a bit more flavor, but the provided tarter sauce did its job of making up for that. I did not use the cocktail sauce. The fries were pretty solid but could have been a tad crisper. This definitely helped satisfy my fish and chips cravings.

Now on to the cousin's portion of the meal. Gabi, everyone's favorite lovesick teen, tried to get over a recent breakup with one of her revolving parade of boyfriends with some Coconut Shrimp ($8.50). The shrimp come four to an order, are coated in an excellent shredded coconut batter, and fried nice and crisp. These shrimp reminded me of the ones my mom used to fry up for us as kids. They were pretty good-sized and made even better with the sweet chili sauce. A nice contrast to the brackish shrimp. This also came with a scoop of jasmine rice. A nice meal for lighter eaters. This shrimp appeared to have done the trick as Gabi was interested in her future prom date, who was eating at a nearby table. Go get him, Gabster!

As often as we had to listen to Yvette say that she was famished, she inexplicably only got this TKO Taco ($5.50). Yes, it was a good-sized taco, made with grilled mahi-mahi and topped with shredded cheese, cabbage, a tropical salsa, and white cilantro sauce, but the way she was whining at the concert and on the way over here, you would have thought she hadn't eaten in years. Yvette ended up liking this taco well enough but thought there was nothing about it that made it that special. Exactly how her family describes her. Just kidding, or am I?.

Steve, aka the Don Henley of his Eagles tribute band, was experiencing that peaceful easy feeling when ordering the Diver Scallop Plate ($25.50) this evening. He must have been flush with that concert money because this is the most expensive item on the menu at Fish Shop. The five good-sized scallops were actually very fresh and cooked just right. Not too rubbery, like most tend to be. I did not get to try them with the provided teriyaki glaze, so they kind of tasted a little bland to me. You can choose two sides with plates, and Steve goes with jasmine rice and onion rings. The onion rings looked pretty solid from across the table, but since you only get two, I was not going to try to sneak one. I wasn't that Desperado to have one. See what  I did there? Okay, no more Eagle song puns. I promise.

The Fish Shop was good in a pinch, but nothing that we had here really blew any of us away, with maybe Katie's poke being the exception. Although if I lived in the area and wanted some seafood, this would be a restaurant I'd consider. Their prices were pretty affordable, they have a wide variety of seafood options, and they have a good-looking happy hour menu offered on weekdays and dollar oyster night on Thursdays. Service was very cordial during our stay here, even though we were here a little later than I'm sure they would have liked. I'm glad Katie decided to reach out to me all those years ago online. There's no other place I'd rather be. Okay, maybe not at a place with Yvette, but anywhere else.

Out of five volleyballs (because Hermosa Beach has hosted the AVP tour event since 1969 and it is also the site used to film the epic beach volleyball movie, Side-Out), five being best to zero being worst, The Fish Shop Hermosa Bach gets 2.5 volleyballs.

For more information about The Fish House Hermosa Beach, head to their website here: http://thefishshophermosabeach.com/