The Catch- Arlington — Restaurant in Arlington

One Star: A Complete Disaster

Where do I even begin with this trainwreck of an experience?

First off, the place looked clean enough when we walked in, but there was this overpowering musky odor in the air—definitely not the familiar smell of seafood. I’m not sure what it was, but it was enough to make you second guess whether you even wanted to eat there.

Things went downhill fast when one of my coworkers asked for extra sauce. Apparently, this set off the manager, who had the personality of a wet napkin. He scowled and made some sarcastic remark like, “Well if we put any more sauce, it’ll be swimming in it, and you don’t want that.” My coworker insisted, explaining that her last dish was dry, and he begrudgingly agreed. The result? He didn’t just add some sauce. No, he made sure her dish was absolutely swimming in it. Then, moments later, some girl from behind the counter came over with a styrofoam cup full of even more sauce, saying, “We just wanted to make sure you had enough.” Really? It felt more like a slap in the face for asking for something as simple as extra sauce. And the sauce itself was horrendous—creamy, overly spiced, and just disgusting. It was like they just dumped a bunch of Cajun seasoning in cream and called it a day.

I ordered two clusters of crab legs, and if the $8.99 price tag didn’t warn me enough, the sad, shriveled crab legs themselves should’ve. These were probably the most pitiful, emaciated crab legs I’ve ever seen. They were boiled to death, and the tiny claws that had already cracked before they went in the water made it impossible to eat the meat. There was zero flavor, except for a vague aftertaste of whatever “Slap Ya Mama” seasoning they tossed on there.

But wait—there’s more! The absolute cherry on top of this entire nightmare was the manager’s meltdown over a dog. Yes, a woman walked in with a golden retriever, and while the dog was obviously not a service animal (I mean, come on, the dog looked like it had just come from the dog park), my coworker, being a dog lover, asked if she could pet it while waiting for her food. The dog owner agreed, and the next thing we know, this manager comes charging out of the back like we just set the place on fire, screaming, “NO NO STOP YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” Apparently, this genius thought you couldn’t pet any dogs indoors because of food codes (whatever that means). My coworker, clearly embarrassed, sat down, and moments later, this guy came back with a half-hearted apology about how only service dogs and ESAs are allowed indoors and they can’t be petted.

At this point, I’d had enough. I pointed out to him that emotional support animals (ESAs) aren’t held to the same standards as service animals and that he could’ve just asked the owner what the dog was trained for, but of course, he insisted I was wrong and tried to lecture me about laws he clearly didn’t understand. I gave up at that point because it was obvious I was dealing with someone who was more concerned about being "right" than actually knowing what they were talking about.

To sum up: disgusting food, an unpleasant atmosphere, and the absolute worst service I’ve encountered in a long time. Do yourself a favor—skip this place, save your money, and your tastebuds. Honestly, you’d probably be better off licking a shoe than...

Update to an original good experience 2 years ago...

I had the worst experience at the Arlington location tonight. I order through doordash through pick up. Initially getting on Doordash with no intent to order my favorite fish but saw the Catch and thought sounds good. They always have good fish and I thought it would be a quick order. Place an order for the 10 pc fish, no hush puppies with a kids meal, corn and potatoes and a bowl of gumbo. My husband picked up order at 825 and came home. We’ve ordered from that location plenty of times and my order is normally right for the most part. Husband comes home with an order of 3 PCs of fish and lots of half fried shrimp and hush puppies. The kids meal was there and the corn and potatoes had no seasoning although I ordered it mild... people mess up, but it’s okay so I went with him to take the order back. I tried calling several times but no answer. I wanted to at least talk to someone because I knew it was closer to closing. I arrived to see there wasn’t much activity going on so I’m sure they were maybe avoiding the call because they didn’t want anymore orders. I let the young cashier know my order was wrong in what I thought was a pleasant tone and without responding, she walks off to the back and another person returns who I assume to be a “manager.” I let him know my order wasn’t right and that I ordered it in doordash and only wanted to let him know because it’s a fried fish meal. He then tells me I must get it refunded through doordash although I wasn’t looking for a refund, I was looking to have the order remade to I could feed my family. I also let him know that the 3 filets was not enough for a family of 5 and my daughter has a shrimp allergy. He is still insisting on a refund. I am irritated at this point because I see he just doesn’t want to remake the order and it’s easy to tell someone to refund it through a 3rd party so I insisted he just make the order. The “manager” rolls his eyes and walks off to the kitchen to make my order I’m guessing with the worse customer service so after I watch him throwing towels around and mumbling to the other workers, I went back and told him to cancel the order. I’d rather not someone make my food with that attitude. I’m trying to let the cashier know, black pony tail, with glasses by the way, and she now has the same poor attitude and is also rolling her eyes at me as well. I have spent a nice $50 trying to order and I am wrong for asking my order to be corrected... how dare me... I asked for the name of the GM and she says the first name and walks off with the worst attitude. So I then asked for the full name and she mumbles it and walks off again. This entire visit was completely unnecessary. I don’t know if it was just a bad night but their bad night has made that my last visit to this location and possibly this restaurant. Please retrain the staff. I would hate someone to experience the service I...

For months oh, I have been seeing ads for this restaurant on Facebook. I didn't get a chance to go until recently on April 16th. As far as my reasoning for why I only gave this restaurant three stars oh, I will tell you about that in a moment.

Now when you first walk in, the ambiance is perfect! It's bright, Airy and open with a home Town feel to it. The employees there are happy to take care of you with a smile on their face and generally overall happy. Yes that means that all the employees are not wearing masks at least they weren't on the day that I visited.

Yet even with the setback of not wearing masks, it's nice to see a restaurant where all the employees are genuinely happy to be working there.

Now, when first walking in, be prepared to be amazed by the menu boards! There is so much food to choose from! When looking at everything, it's going to be really hard to choose what you want at that moment!

Your stomach will be growling it wants it all and your pocketbook will be saying we can't support that!

Having spent about five minutes eyeing out the menu board and having such a hard time figuring out what I was going to actually eat for that day oh, I settled on the a half order of boudin balls and a bowl of gumbo.

The half order of boudin balls is 3. When these Little Bad Boys arrive, I was not disappointed! These delicious balls of heaven were fried just right -- crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside! And get these pieces of Heaven in some ranch and you'll be wanting more!

For my entree I ordered a bowl of shrimp, sausage and crawfish gumbo. I was expecting a bowls worth but what I got was a cups worth. And my girlfriend ordered a cup of the same thing and it wasn't that much smaller than the bowl that I ordered.

Just to further my point, I had leftover gumbo and brought it home and so I stood up to a normal cup to show you that what I got was indeed a cups worth but got charged for a bowls worth. Not only that, I only received at most a tablespoon of rice in what they gave me.

I was sorely disappointed in this.

Now don't get me wrong, the seasonings and the flavor of the gumbo was phenomenal! It's the portion size to the cost that isn't correct. If you're going to charge someone for a bowl of gumbo then give that person a bowl of gumbo not a cups worth.

And this is the reason why I gave the rating on this restaurant did I did.

Will I be back? No. The only way I will come back is if the portion sizes become correct to the price charged. Otherwise else why should I bother when if that's the first item I ordered and the portion size isn't correct I shudder to think what the rest of anything on the menu board will be correct...