Fishmonger's Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Durham, North Carolina Restaurant Details

Food:

The service is bad, the food is ok, the price is high. I won't eat here again. We ate at Fishmonger's on Friday April 17.

The service: We had tickets to a show starting at 8PM at Duke campus. We arrived there around 6:15, believing this was plenty of time. How wrong we were. I don't know how long the food took to arrive - but it was nothing complicated. After enjoying some conversation at the table, we suddenly realized that the food was taking a long time to arrive. This was at 6:50. We got up and asked the waiter to check on the food. He didn't come to the table to give us any information. (Later he said he told us it was coming right out when he walked by our table. We do recall him walking by and saying something because we looked at each other and asked "Was he talking to us?" We decided he wasn't . . .) So, we decided to get up, pay for our drinks and leave. At the register, we were told the food would be right out. It did come shortly after (maybe 7:20 or 7:25) but we had to rush to eat.

The food: I had blackened Snapper. The blackening was a decent spice blend and effort, but the fish and everything else on my plate (snap peas) was soaking in grease. The fish tasted ok. The onion rings were tasty, but one of them was only onion skin that had been battered and deep fried.

For 2 dinners and 2 beers our tab exceeded $50. This was way too much for this meal and service. There are many places in Durham to have better service, better food and a lower price.

Food:

Very friendly hometown atmosphere definitely worth a visit!

Food:

I'm not even sure how a place like this stays open in a city like Durham.

Having bought a Living Social deal to try this place out, my wife and I dropped in last night for dinner. The ceiling is falling apart, the place smells, and the tables are draped with plastic. None of that bothers me.

We both ordered grilled fish - seems pretty straightforward, right? Somehow grilled fish takes 40 minutes to be cooked. And once it was delivered, it looked and tasted more like it was a frozen fillet with synthetic grill marks that had been microwaved. I highly doubt the fish ever touched any kind of grill. And the bland snow peas also seemed like they came out of a Green Giant bag.

The one decent thing on either of our plates was the sweet potato I ordered - which was probably the cause of the 40 minute wait. I understand waiting a while for a potato, but every other restaurant seems to have figured out to how deliver them in a timely fashion. Also, the menu said "smoked sweet potato" and there's no way this thing was ever smoked. Put on a fake grill, maybe...but smoked? Not a chance.

Finally, there's the price. Each of our plates cost almost $20, which I hesitate to pay even for good food, let alone crap. And a beer costs $5.50 a pint for a selection that's substandard even for a fish joint. With a total bill - before tip - coming in over $50 for two people, I can think of a dozen places off the top of my head in Durham with vastly superior food for the same price or much less.

I have no idea how this place stays open, or why people apparently frequent it.

Food:

Best seafood restaurant in town, nice relaxed atmosphere. Just great seafood no fuss.

--- 12/2014
Unfortunately they keep changing the menu, which is nothing like it was when I first started coming to this place. They have increased the prices, but not the quality.

It's unfortunate to see a place with great potential decline in quality.

Food:

Fishmonger's is as casual as you're gonna get without being on a balcony by the beach or river. Great place for seafood, bbq, and beers. Service is friendly and they do leave you alone. If you are high maintenance, this is not the place for you. Much of the food is fried so if you want to avoid that I recommend the grilled fish. They serve it with a side of sugar snap peas. One thing I did enjoy was the fried cornbread sticks. Not the healthiest but definitely addictive.