The Fish House in Stanley Park

Meal time: Saturday 7:00pm

I came here for a friend's birthday on a dark and rainy night. I had the address ready in hand but still found the restaurant a little hard to find especially since it's shrouded somewhere in the forest. There is a parking lot but I believe that it is free parking after 6 pm.

It looked really nice and festive inside but on a rainy night, it's probably expected that it'd be empty. Actually, it just happened that out table was on the more open side while the other side was more dim and quiet. I suppose they figured we'd be a rambunctious bunch and placed us so.

Salmon frites ~ $8.75 - These tasted alright and weren't oily. It did come with aioli although it was already flavorful on its own. I didn't think it was worth the price though. I think potato fries are still better.

Steamed Mussels ~ $12.95 - I didn't eat this since I don't like shellfish but my friends that did noted that it was a fair share and that it was good.

Sticky Chili Sablefish ~ $29.95 - 6 oz. piece of fish and it came with a tasty risotto cake and it was quite good. The other option for those comparing is the simply prepared 8 0z. sablefish for a $1 less and it comes with mashed potatoes instead of the risotto cake. It also came with snow peas and either spinach or some kinda Chinese vegetable... I would've preferred vegetables other than these offerings.

Some kinda salmon special with veggies and a skewer of prawns ~ $35 - My friend said this was ok and was debating between this and the salmon bake which came with a $25 price tag. Once he saw the salmon bake my other friend ordered, he immediately regretted his decision. He said it was good but not great.
Seafood Bowl ~ $27.50 - I did not have the privilege of eating this but my friend said it was good. Take it for what it's worth shellfish lovers.

Overall, good but not memorable. Although our side was just us, the service was relatively slow. Our waiter, who also happened to be a young Chinese guy, seemed more interested in being buddy-buddy rather than serving us. When we got our bills, I put mine together with a guy friend since we split an appetizer and our entrees were almost the same price and he made a gay remark. When a guy combined bills with two other girls, he said "wow, menage-a-trois!". Seemed the waiter's mind was in the gutter and I was left thinking "damn, I should have combined with those girls instead." Unfortunately, automatic 18% gratuity.

Some of us ordered dessert and there were two birthdays. The guy brought out two desserts n a candle and we all started singing. We thought it was complimentary. After about 10 minutes, a girl (the gf of the birthday boy) mentioned that her dessert hadn't come. Turns out that the dessert with the candle given to the birthday boy was actually hers.

One other thing, Fish House allows you to combine different types of fish instead of getting one 8 oz. of the same one. If you look at the prices, if you're splitting with a friend, you're both better off getting an 80z of the same fish twice and splitting it amongst yourselves. Gee, this place is just full of surprises!

This has nothing to do with food or the Fish House but it was taken that night near the edge of the parking lot near Steamworks while it was raining and I thought it was nice, that's all.


The Fish House in Stanley Park
8901 Stanley Park Drive, Vancouver BC
Tel: (604) 681-7275
The Fish House