Oddfish Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

What we liked: Before I talk about the debacle that is their Whole Fish, I'd like to first give credit where credit is due. The waiters at Oddfish are a humorous bunch and their knowledge about the varieties of fish definitely impressed us. We started our meal with the octopus and a side of asparagus, both of which were delectable. The former may have been garnished with an excessive amount of parsley, but that is just a personal preference. The octopus itself was quite tender and the sauce added to the dish without overpowering it. The asparagus paired well with the shredded parmesan and we have nothing but praises for these two dishes.

What we didn't like: When we decided to go to Oddfish, we were not prepared for Odd(tasting)Fish. The Whole Fish (Sea Perch) came balanced and unique in presentation, with contrasting sauces coating each side of the fish. However, taking a single bite of the Sea Perch quickly reminded us to not judge a book by its covers - a dish not by its presentation. The only flavour we could taste was an overwhelming bitterness that lasted until our next, desperately needed, sip of water. The fish was clearly not properly cleaned or severely burnt (I pray for the latter). Long story short, we brought it up to our waiter who returned the dish to the kitchen and shortly after came back to tell us the dish was charred and that the chef believes it to be how its supposed to taste.

I've had my fair share of culinary experiences around the world and I hold great respect for chefs and their creations; who am I to critique the work of a professional with countless hours under his/her belt? For this reason, I've rarely, if ever, sent dishes back to the kitchen. Yet, I do believe that a charred dish and a burnt one are separated by a not-so-fine line - one which the chefs at Oddfish have not only crossed, but also constructed a $45 dish on.

Update: After checking other Yelp reviews and seeing comments about the overwhelmingly bitter after-taste of their charred fish, I believe it has less to do with the gentleness of my palette and more to do with the...

The good: vibe, most of the staff, plating, wine, the fries. I had a glass of their chardonnay and at 21$ for 5oz it was lovely. Plating was nice for all the dishes, everything -looked- great. Fries were yummy however some were way crispier than others due to inconsistent sizes. Staff were mostly helpful and pretty friendly.

The not so good: the service from our server was slow at times and also forgetful. Busy friday night I get it, but there are so many support staff on. I find it hardly acceptable to pay as much as you do to get your appetizer well before a glass of wine.

Next the food, it is not bad food by any means but I cannot justify the prices for what you get. Everything minus the fries was poorly seasoned We tried the mussels with garlic and white wine pasta al limone, the scallops, brussel sprouts, and the fries.

The best dishes were the fries and the pasta. But again you're paying so much money for food that was just not extraordinary. I understand they are trying to do tapas/share style but at nearly 40$ a plate for the seafood i was very disappointed with the flavour profile. For example the celeriac puree under the scallop tasted like mushy baby food (sorry) and the apricot stuff on top did nothing for the scallops either.. and you get 4 of them for 39$, much better options elsewhere. The mussel broth wasn't flavourful either which is shocking because it had all the right things in it! Wine, garlic, chili, etc all perfect accompaniments to mussels yet lacked flavour.. and salt. In fact everything lacked salt we ended up asking for salt.

I was so excited to try oddfish as it was recommended to me but I don’t think I will return because it is just not worth it for the price, way better seafood...

I'd been wanting to try this place for the last 5-10 years as I used to live nearby and always passed by. Finally just did so. The service is top notch. We had two very nice attentive waiters serving us. The atmosphere is lovely and lively, and the patio is pleasant. The food was very good but lacking the wow factor I was expecting, and my friend thought the same. I think part of the reason is, the bar is now set so high by all the good places to eat in this city. We had the mussels, halibut cheeks, hand cut fries and pea tips. The best mussels I've had still remains those at Locals restaurant in Courtenay. The best halibut cheeks my friend has had still remains at the now closed West restaurant in Vancouver. It was my first time trying halibut cheeks so I was quite excited, but they were somewhat bland and to me, the texture made it seem like it could have been from any part of the fish. They were served with tartar sauce and pickles which was interesting. Very small serving size for a $50 entree; not enough for one person if you're hungry. I filled up on fries and bread instead. My friend is a huge pea tips fan and as I predicted, he prefers the traditional Chinese method of cooking them, with more subtle flavouring and more garlic. I agree that method allows the bitterness and flavour of the pea tips to shine. But the soy sauce / sesame oil variation at Oddfish was still nice. In my opinion, the best part of the meal was the hand cut fries, the aioli it was served with, and the carbonated water made on their in-house machine. Very good carbonated water. All in all, I'd go back, but I...