Little Fish Cafe — Restaurant in Douglas

Me, my mother and father booked a table for lunch yesterday. We don't eat out often so we thought it would be a nice treat given this restaurant's good reputation. We were sadly quite disappointed. We waited almost 40 minutes for 3 large plates and no starters when the restaurant wasn't even full. I don't mind waiting a while if the food is worth it but sadly it wasn't.

My father ordered the bavette steak medium-rare, it arrived medium-well barely blush. Also the steak had not rested as the juices were running everywhere on the plate. The steak also arrives pre-cut so there was no reason the chef wouldn't have seen it was overcooked. The hand-cut chips that came with the steak were far too brown, almost burnt and very salty.

My mother ordered the plaice fillets with lemon and caper butter and roasted potatoes. The butter didn't have nearly enough acidity from the lemon or capers and was too rich for my mother to eat. The cooking of the plaice was also lacking. Soggy skin and slightly undercooked with no seasoning.

I ordered the salmon with romesco sauce. The garnish on my plate was nicely done, however my salmon skin was also soggy and barely golden (you can see bits of flour on the skin to try and make it crispier too). My plate of food was also over seasoned. I understand the plaice having a softer skin due to the sauce being poured on top but my piece of salmon was placed on top of my sauce so there should be no reason for the skin to not be crispy. The salmon was also the tail piece which was disappointing given the price.

We told the waiter our feedback and he said if we had mentioned it before our meal they could have rectified the issues but after waiting 40 minutes we were quite hungry and didn't want to wait another 40 minutes.

For a restaurant called the little fish cafe, the fish cookery was disappointing, especially given the price paid for the meal - £96 including service charge with no drinks besides...

As visitors to Douglas we didn't know where to eat so I researched a little on the Internet to find possible restaurants. Little Fish was one option. We travelled on the train from Port Erin and shared a train with three ladies who were going to walk from Port Soderick to Douglas and they had booked a table at Little Fish. They were saying how the food was so good there. That decided it, we would eat there too!

It's not a massive restaurant so getting a table when it's busy might be difficult, but it wasn't busy when we arrived. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The interior is nicely decorated and we particularly enjoyed the cyberpunk fish who watched over us as we ate. There are big windows all round so it's light and airy with good views over the harbour.

The food was excellent and obviously seafood based. The menu isn't massive but there are plenty of great options to choose from, as well as a daily specials board. There was also a good selection of drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

Two of our party had lobster which they said tasted very fresh and was cooked perfectly. The other food was also fresh and very tasty.

I'm not sure when we'll next be in Douglas, but Little Fish will definitely be on...

I had a beetroot soup with pieces of smoked salmon and cream, which was lovely! For the second dish, I ordered hake with tarragon butter sauce. Although it cost £15, it came with nothing but a few leaves of lettuce next to the fish - and I would have not minded it if at least the fish piece was normal/ average size. But, as you can see in the photo, the hake came as a small square piece, much too small to justify the price. I also ordered a mojito, which was nice, however I found the price - again! a bit too steep for a basic cocktail such as this (£9). The straws they give are made of some sort of cardboard, and after the first one got soft in the mojito and tore, I’ve asked for another one which soon had the same fate, although I handled it most delicately. So I ended having to drink the cocktail directly from the glass. Another disappointment was the fact that, despite claiming they have free Wi-fi, this never worked. I have checked with them and they had to admit themselves that “for some strange reason, now it is not working, but it usually does”. Oh, wait, I’ve seen that trick...