Fish Head Cantina & Rockin' Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Arbutus

Let me preface this by saying I’m a bartender, so I understand the service industry very well.

It was one of my best friend’s 21st birthday. We had a very large group here to celebrate. I had gotten off work late and was late to the party. When my girlfriend and I (25 and 24) tried to get a drink, the bartender/ “manager” (yikes) refused to serve us because she insisted our id’s were fake. They’re not. She walked around showing our ids to her other coworkers and even guests OUR IDS, laughing about how “fake” they were. She then was extremely condescending towards us, telling me “Your ID checks out, but hers is definitely fake. I don’t even really believe yours since you’re walking in with someone with a fake ID”. I have a motorcycle endorsement on my license, which no fake comes with, and she asked me “what kind of bike do you ride then, huh?” I told her confidently a 2012 Yamaha R6. She looked at me and said that that bike doesn’t exist. When I showed her a picture, she was like “oh I misheard you.” Moving on to my girlfriend, she said hers was fake because it was missing a star in the corner. I asked for the ID book. The picture does indeed have a star, but if she had taken the 3 seconds to read the 2 sentences on the side of the picture, it says “MAY have the star OR say “Not for federal or official use”. When I proved her wrong there, she turned to the black light page and said that the BLACKLIGHT PICTURE didn’t match the HOLOGRAM. I tried explaining to her that the hologram and the blacklight are 2 different images, and she insisted they were the same. It’s scary to think that this “manager” doesn’t even know the difference between a hologram and a blacklight. While I was trying to explain that to her she got angry and said “nope we’re done” and snatched the book out of my hand and walked away.

She messed with the wrong dude. I called a police officer to come and verify the IDs. When he came in and told her they were real, I asked her if we could finally be served. She said “yea we’ll your friends are checking out and I’m busy right now, so if you want to wait around for a shot, that’s fine”

After the disrespect, after I proved her wrong, she was still condescending and disrespectful. Not even a single apology. And she’s a MANAGER. That’s the worst part. If this happened at my bar I would have lost my job. Because of this “manager”, I was unable to celebrate this once in a lifetime event of one of my closest friends. My ID was shown to random strangers throughout the bar. All for no reason. And to top it all off, the “manager” was taking shots on the job. Professional? Not at all.

Never again will I go to this place. I used to recommend it all the time, but now I will be telling everyone...

After a mixed first visit in 2021 we've gone back here 5-6 times and had better experiences especially with food. May '23 they're currently under construction inside is closed except the bathrooms. Outdoor seating was nice, but music too loud in the main hall for a Sunday lunch. They have a large billiard section and concerts in their outdoor half covered stage area. Baltimore Roll (pic) is a pass. Last visit I tried it again, but the bacon on top was so hard and dried out that it didn't chew nor breakup. I had to scrape it off. The rest of the roll was decent. The Rock-n-Roll roll (pic multicolored w/ sauce on top) was great. Finally found a favorite. Wife's vegetarian rolls (pic) were the best on this last visit. Hmm, maybe a new chef? First visit 2021: Posted 2 photos of nachos. When it came out it looked pretty baller, but all those toppings except for the cheese are only on the top. So there's nothing on 2/3 of the nachos below. There is cheese under there (other pic) that cheese was not melted. I got the chili on the side and I sent it back. I respect that they are trying to do some homemade different tasting chili with little beef tips in it, but it's really not coming together. The beef tips were dry and the taste was just weird. I later learned it had coffee in it and I'm thinking why would you do that to beef eww. Chili from Wendy's is much tastier. We also got a round of sushi and my vegetarian wife was pretty happy that they had a few options for her, but frustrated that when she called ahead they said they would not upcharge for a soy paper instead of seaweed. Then they did up charge for it. I also thought at $14 I was ordering a dinner size roll, but you can see the picture of the single roll with the tempura shrimp sticking out is not a dinner size roll. Yes, that skimpy roll is $14. During the pandemic we did hit this place for brunch one time and I got to say that was pretty good, the breakfast, food and pancakes are on point...

First time tonight at the Fish Head Cantina & Rockin' Sushi Bar... definitely looking forward to returning! I'll note that neither myself nor my boyfriend drink alcohol so I can't comment on the alcohol beverages at this establishment, but the bar stayed busy all evening.

We arrived early around 5:30 pm and there was one parking spot available near the restaurant/bar, however there's signage indicating additional parking is right across the side street.

The bar itself is surprisingly spacious and we were greeted immediately by a friendly male bartender. On that note, we noticed that every staff member was very nice and seemed genuinely happy, which is a good sign in regards to management. Additionally, the restrooms were clean.

We played three games of pool and although our skills were lacking, we sincerely enjoyed playing. The pool area is spacious however I'm sure as the bar fills up later in the evening it could become cramped. Pool was super cheap - $1 per game and used quarters. Cheap, fun date idea!

After pool we sat down for dinner on the other side of the venue. Our server, Kelly, was very sweet and polite. She made sure my quesadilla didn't include chicken (vegetarian here) and brought us dipping sauces and refills as needed. She was definitely busy, as were all the staff we saw, and didn't let that change how she treated us. We felt like we could enjoy our meal and not be hurried away.

The food was good! There's a small sushi station and the menu has plenty of choices for sushi and other dishes. We had two vegetarian rolls, cheese quesadilla, Ceasar salad and an old bay Chesapeake burger. I wouldn't say the food blew us away but for a very busy Friday evening at a bar/restaurant it was tasty.

Overall, we had an awesome date night at Fish Head and look forward to dining there and improving our pool...