Blu Fish House — Restaurant in Bentonville

My visit to the Blu Fish house restaurant was probably the WORST restaurant experience I've ever had. Myself and a friend had a Girl's day and decided to try something new - and we were so disappointed. Upon arrival we were asked if it's ok to sit at the Sushi bar since we didn't make a reservation, and we didn't mind at all, so we were seated there. It was quickly very obvious that the gentleman responsible for that small area was not pleased that he had us seated there. But we brushed that off, not great service didn't deter us from being excited to have some good seafood. And boy were we wrong to anticipate good food. We ordered appetizers: Crab Cakes and fried Calamari/vegetables. The Crab Cakes tasted like nothing but dry cornmeal. The Calamari/vegetables were crunchy but completely flavorless as if they had no seasoning, and one of us got something similar to a bone in texture, though I don't think that's what it was. Then came soups, Lobster Bisque and Gumbo. The Lobster Bisque was sickly sweet and smelled very "fishy", not the good kind of fishy, though it didn't seem to have much Lobster in it. The Gumbo was the consistency of water, with an oil sheen on top of it. Needles to say, so far nothing was good. We are pretty forgiving to an extent so still thought that the entrees coming MUST be better. Wrong again. Seafood risotto: oddly sweet again, yet flavorless, and the Mussels were cooked so far that they had basically disintegrated. Lobster ravioli: the inside of them was fine, nothing spectacular. The noodles were the texture of something pre-made an microwaved, very chewy and dry edges. The sauce was ok, though not super flavorful either. All the while, our server never got any better, he very clearly seems to hate his job.

By the end of it we were wondering if we'd be sick later that evening to be honest with you.

No photos because honestly, who wants to take photos of terrible food?

Such a disappointment and I will never recommend this...

I wanted to LOVE this place so much. I had heard good things from my "foodie" friends. I normally wait a few visits to give a rounded review. This time though, from what we saw I don't believe we will be returning or recommending as of now. TL;DR version: decent food (get the crab cake appetizer- it was the one truly great thing), poor service, unacceptable management behavior witnessed.

I believe the whole inside of the restaurant heard how horrible a party of three adults/three kids were treated. The customer service was lacking from the host (seems like she was also a front house manager of some sort maybe), she continued to talk over the customer, raise her voice, and not truly listen to what he was saying (they messed up the customer's check, and she was telling him how he needed to double check his check next time before paying instead of her apologizing for their mess up). He asked to speak to the main manager (he named him by name, so he must have known him) three times. She ignored him all times, and kept talking over him extremely rudely. He called her out on it, and she still continued not to apologize or have any ounce of customer service skill..

I never want to be treated like that in public and felt so awkward for the customers the whole time she was "handling" it.

Food was pretty good once we got it all, but too pricey in my opinion for the service and environment. We waited quite a while to have our drink order taken, and our food order was not brought out correctly. They basically threw our food on the table without asking what else was needed, and I had to wait another 7 mins for someone to run by for me to ask for utensils/chopsticks/other missing food items/drink refill I had been waiting...

Disappointing Review of Blu Fresh Fish Marketplace

My recent experience at Blu Fresh Fish Marketplace left much to be desired. Despite being told the wait time would be 20 minutes, we were promptly seated at a table across from the front door, which had been available from the beginning. Why make us wait for a table that was already vacant?

To add insult to injury, when we tried to order drinks, we were informed they were out of Basil Hayden. And when it came time to order our food, we were shocked to hear they were out of filet mignon on a Saturday night! Who runs out of filet mignon on a weekend? The disappointment continued as we overheard another table being told they were out of lobster as well.

Looking around, I noticed plenty of empty tables of various sizes that could have easily accommodated us, instead of subjecting us to near-freezing blasts of air every time the door opened. The ambiance was far from inviting - the place felt more like a high-priced seafood joint squeezed into an oil change or mechanic's shop. The uncomfortable chairs, reminiscent of a school cafeteria, only added more misery to our experience.

To make matters worse, the entire place looked and felt old and dirty. It was as if they hadn't cleaned or updated anything in years. The interior looked like it had been hastily converted from a mechanic's garage, with a hodgepodge of mismatched furnishings. The bar area was so cramped that people were practically eating their meals while sitting on top of each other.

On a slightly positive note, the hostess was pleasant. But unfortunately, that was the only redeeming aspect of an otherwise disappointing dining experience at Blu Fresh Fish...