From the New London day, another great restaurant in Mystic, well worth the trip...


"Seafood supreme at Go Fish in Mystic


By David Collins

We had a hankering for fish one recent Sunday afternoon, one of those spectacular early spring days when the sun is warm and the air is still cool and it seems like you almost might be able to watch the leaves unfurl from the tree limbs.

Still, with a cool wind rising off the water, we weren't quite ready for an outdoor picnic table at a clam shack. We settled instead on the idea of Go Fish, the seafood yin to the Steak Loft yang at Olde Mystick Village. We were not the only ones, apparently, to have the same idea.

We got there early for dinner, so early the dark lighting was a shock, coming in from the bright April evening light. We were surprised, once our eyes adjusted, to see such a big place already so busy so early in the evening. And by the time we left there were the makings of a small wait for a table.

We were planning to work from the interesting tasting plates menu, small dishes of appetizer portions, the sushi bar and the raw bar, so we decided on Go Fish's most casual venue, the bar. This, like the grand lounge space at the Steak Loft, is sprawling. It's so big there are two levels, and a service bar in the pit looks like it could take care of a thirsty, war-worn army.

We had good fortune in a bartender that kept her cool, and kept pace with our rounds of food orders with a remarkable calm, given that it was the start of her second shift of the day and one of the other bartenders was out. The manager was pitching in, though, and the entire wait staff was slugging it out like professionals.

All around us - in tables around the bar, on into the busy dining room, and even further away, in the separate sushi bar - it looked like a happy crowd. It was a good night out for seafood.

We started with a plate of littlenecks, $1.25 each, served ice cold, with some horseradish, cocktail sauce and an array of plain crackers. They were perfect. We followed them up with a selection of oysters, including a few from Watch Hill, $2.10 each, big and plump and sweet, then some from Wellfleet, Mass., salty and also meaty, good, and some from Noank, $2, which we found a bit small and bland in comparison.

While perusing the menu again, poised for another round, we nibbled on the warm house bread that came with a nice crock of dip, white bean and roasted tomato.

We made a segue from the raw bar to the rest of the menu by way of sushi, namely the sansei roll, which was recommended by our bartender. This was a good-sized, fresh-tasting roll, $8.50, featuring spicy crab and drizzled with a sweet Thai chili sauce. It sufficiently satisfied our sushi itch, leaving us free to order the mussels with grilled sausage, $9.

This was a big order, and the plump mussels, cooked in a chunky and sweet marinara, were mixed in with big slices of spicy sausage. We liked the sauce, and we thought we recognized it again later, atop the crusty garlic bread on which our three plump scallops, served nicely browned from the grill, were staged. This was a favorite of the visit.

One of our least successful tastings was a lobster salad roll, $15, which was uninspired, served in an ordinary brioche roll, a little bland tasting and not especially meaty. Did some wise man once say that the first lobster roll of the season is never the best?

We had eyes for more from the tasting menu, like the clam and sausage roast, $11, tempura shrimp with guacamole and salsa, $11, or peppered tuna ciabatta with smoky onion relish and garlic mayonnaise, $11.50. But after so many rounds, our appetites were failing.

The tasting menu does have some choices for those who don't want seafood. There's grilled pizza, and a chicken Caesar wrap, but I have to assume that those people really should have corralled their party to Steak Loft, or split up.

The main entrees section of the menu is also, naturally, weighted toward seafood, with selections like baked sea scallops, $24, lobster ravioli, $28, or baked cod. There is steak, chicken and prime rib, though.

We did find room to try dessert, a smooth sweet and almost sour key lime tart, on a moist graham cracker crust, drizzled with a mango coulis.

It was still almost as bright outside when we emerged, swimming against the traffic from the parking lot, people headed in for their own spring seafood delight.