Dianne's Fish Bar

There's nothing like going into a restaurant that "feels like summer"... And that's what you can expect from Dianne's Fish Bar. Sure - it is officially summer here in Kingston; but until the last couple of days, it didn't really feel like it... and certainly on the night we visited there was a bit of a "nip" to the air (especially by the time we left). At Dianne's Fish Bar, though, things feel warm and beachy. From the orange awnings on the outside, to the blue, red and silver accents on the inside, the decor here was well thought out and is gorgeous from floor to ceiling. Hard to believe that we have already been to this exact location on Ontario Street for our blog (In October 2012, we visited Pasta Shelf, which has since closed, leaving space for Dianne's Fish Bar to take over) - and the redesign is pretty phenomenal.


Highlighted by classy fish paintings and art on the walls, a bar-height wood-top table in the centre of the restaurant that maximizes flow, glowing blue LED lights and even "sea-like" glassware, Dianne's certainly speaks Fish Bar. I mean, if I was going to imagine a fish bar, I think I would imagine something just like it - although I'm sure I wouldn't have been thoughtful enough to design it on my own... Long story short - whoever designed this space did a bang-up job and I wish I had such design savvy. But I don't... And I digress. 

Now, I was a little worried about going to a place called a "fish bar" because... well... put quite plainly - I don't like fish. That said, in honour of the ideals of the blog, I think it is important to try as many places as we can... and it certainly helped that I explored Dianne's website before going to see that they had options other than fish.  Beyond that, it was also important to me to allow my fellow adventurers to try something that they truly enjoy - especially Samer (oh, picky Samer - love ya, buddy), who has had more poor luck on this adventure than any of us, I think. 

What does the menu have to offer? A quick run-down includes  salads, shell fish, surf, turf, ceviche, fried food, tacos, offerings on a bun and dessert. One page, nice and "simple" (although, I'm sure I couldn't reproduce one single ounce of it), but lots of flavour and food options. The restaurant was also really busy - we called to make a reservation and they encouraged us to come earlier than our reservation time as they had a full house later in the evening and already knew that they would need the table. In my opinion, that's a really quick way to see how popular a restaurant is - and for not having been open very long, having a full reservation card isn't too shabby. 

All of that said, it was also clear that Dianne's Fish Bar is just starting out. Service was... bumpy. Certainly, our server was lovely - but it was clear that there were a lot of kinks being worked out as a very large number of staff walked back and forth between tables and the kitchen, tables and the bar, from table to table... and while we saw our very friendly server early on, it took far too long for drinks to be delivered (we actually had to request a drink for the second time since it wasn't delivered) and much longer than we had hoped for our mains to arrive after our starters... While we waited, we watched confused and (somewhat) fumbling kitchen staff behind the open window trying to figure out tickets. Oh - and the blunder of the night (a big pet peeve of mine) was when 2 people at our table finished, and our server cleared their plates within a second of them finishing their last bite, then asked them before the last 2 of us had finished if they wanted dessert or coffee. I think there is a lot to be said about just letting a group finish their meal and not putting people on the spot to rush to finish. Is that enough to keep us from going back? Certainly not - every restaurant has growing pains, that's for sure. I'm actually keen to try it again in a few months when perhaps they've settled in a bit more.

I suppose I should get to the details of the food, though. I will start by mentioning the phenomenal complimentary buns that were presented just after we ordered. I have no idea what kind of buns they were, but they were warm and fresh and had an amazing sprinkling of what I think was sea salt on top. Absolutely dee-lish. We asked for a second basket - you know, just to be sure that the quality of the bread was consistent. :)

Here's what we each ordered:
Carrie: Dianne's Burger: 6oz enright cattle co. naturally raised beef, seed to sausage bacon, blue cheese (which I replaced with any other kind of cheese than blue... not sure what it came with), mamas pickled green tomatoes, roasted garlic mayo and a side of fries. I also ordered a side caesar salad to start.

Tonia: 2 Carne Asada tacos: grilled marinated flank steak, barracho salsa, roasted poblano relish, queso fresco. Tonia also ordered a side caesar salad to start, and she had a cocktail with her meal (that was the drink that needed to be ordered twice).


Todd: Mixta salad to start (arugula, tomato, avocado, green beans, radish, corn, queso fresco, toasted pepitas, mostaza vinaigrette), and 1 baha fish taco: beer battered pacific cod, pickled red cabbage, radish, avocado crema; 1 shrimp pibli taco: pasilla chile, pineapple mojo, pico di gallo; 1 Carne Asada taco. 

Samer: Mixta salad to start; 1 baha fish taco and 2 shrimp pibli tacos.

First impressions of the food were mixed. The mixta salads looked amazing and hearty, while the caesar salad looked a little lack-lustre. The burger plate was full and hearty, while the tacos were quite shockingly small (we were especially surprised given the price). Everything, though was colourful and smelled awesome. Oh yeah - and of course, there were those buns!

Let me get right to the ratings: 

Carrie: 2.5 forks. The caesar salad was, sadly, brutal. There was little to no dressing on it, so all I could taste was lettuce. The fries were good, and the burger was okay - but it wasn't very flavourful and it was overcooked and dry. The toppings definitely helped in that department - especially the pickled green tomatoes. There were also red tomatoes on the burger, which was okay by me, but not advertised on the menu. I would definitely come back again to try something else, but unless there was a major change to the salad, I wouldn't order it again (for the $5 it cost, or for the $9 that the server mistakingly charged us all for it... she did fix our bills in the end, thankfully)

Tonia: 1 fork. Tonia felt really badly giving this score, but ultimately said she had to be honest when it came down to our rating food only. The caesar salad was bland and not worth the money, and her tacos were REALLY spicy. A little spice would have been fine, but hers were so spicy that she couldn't actually taste any flavours - her mouth was still hot well after the meal. She didn't enjoy her cocktail, either, which was a glass full of ice and a drink of little flavour. She did, however, really enjoy the bun!! Tonia said that she would probably come back again to try something else that is a better portion size as she was unimpressed by the small tacos. In her words: "It's always good to give a new restaurant a second try so that they can work out the kinks!".

Todd: 4.5 forks. I think Tonia and I would have faired much better had we ordered the mixta salad because Todd and Samer both enjoyed it a lot. Todd said that while he knows the score would have been lower based on service, since we only rate the food, he was happy and his score should reflect that. He thoroughly enjoyed his tacos, and aside from the pricing glitch on the bills for the salad, it was really good and he'd probably even order it again and order a small for $9 instead of the side $5 version.

Samer: 4.5 forks. Samer thought the salad was good (although he doesn't eat cheese and had to pick it off the top because he forgot to order it without), and he thought that the fish taco was surprisingly good. At first glance, the fish on the taco looked like it was going to have way too much batter, but in actuality, it was really good... And the shrimp? They were delicious. 

Overall Score: 3.13 forks. For a restaurant that hasn't been open long and is still more than likely figuring some things out, I'd say that is a decent score - room to improve, but definitely reason for customers to come back... And I'm sure they will (on both counts!). I have heard a number of people talking about Dianne's Fish Bar over the last little while, and generally speaking, the feedback is all positive. So - now you get to decide. Do you want to try out a little "piece of summer"? I'd say you have nothing to lose. 

Dianne's Fish Bar has yet to make it to the Urban Spoon site, so while I can't post a comparison, I'm sure it won't take much time at all to see them online in more places than this blog and their own website. I wish them culinary luck and prosperity for the future :)

PS... Perhaps it is also worth mentioning that Dianne's prides themselves on making dishes that are prepared with sustainable seafood options. As they say: "Down East seafood shack meets Baja Mexico"... kind of cool.