Fresh Florida Fisheries — Restaurant in Coral Gables

First, let me start by saying that I love helping small businesses and I’m all in for small businesses, but the experience today in this restaurant was terrible, which prompted me to write a review. We get to Fresh Fisheries and we order our fishes, when we go pay, the total comes out to way more. When we look at the bill, they now charge $5.00 per pound to cook your fish, yes $5.00 per pound. They used to charge $2.00 flat fee, then $2.00 per pound, now $5.00 per pound. Very disappointing because had we known, we would simply go to a restaurant, sit down and eat a plate of fish. Well, it didn’t end there. For those that know, there is an outside eating area where you eat your fish when it’s ready. We go get our fishes and while another one of our friends is waiting for his plate, we start to eat, and we are approached by the restaurant personnel that we cannot eat there. Hold on, you just charged me $5.00 per pound to cook my fish and now I can’t eat it in the restaurant? The reason allegedly is because they will be busy during the holidays and they need the parking, if people are eating they have no parking. FYI there is never parking and they have a serious parking issue even when it’s not the holidays. Today, during lunch time, there was plenty of parking. They should have said we couldn’t dine in the place when we ordered our fishes, but don’t make me spend $5.00 per pound for you to cook my fish and expect I’m going to eat it cold. As we are waiting for my friends plate, we start eating since we can’t go anywhere anyways because we are waiting, well another person comes out to tell us the same thing but this time more rude. We explain that our friends plate is still not done, that we were not told that we couldn’t eat there, and that had we known we would not have ordered, much less pay $5.00 per pound to cook it. The person was very rude, he says “well that’s the grey area and if other people see you eating here they will want to eat here as well.” Overall, terrible customer service, terrible treatment to loyal customers of the restaurant. We have been eating and buying fish from this place for a very long time and it’s such a shame that they have made the experience so bad for the customers, the ones that maintain your business running. They could have avoided this by simply telling us when we got there or putting up signs that: 1) you now charge $5.00 per pound to cook the fish; and 2) that you cannot dine in. I walked around not one sign stating you couldn’t eat there. I will never return, there are sooo many fisheries in Florida. Come on! We live in Florida! There is literally thousands of fisheries. And If Fresh Fisheries thinks that I’m just one customer, word of mouth goes a long way! Just saying!...

I came here looking for a minuta sandwich and was completely blown away with my experience here. My boyfriend and I had a little trouble finding parking on a Friday evening but eventually got a spot right out front (so heads up). The best part of this place is that it is a wonderful fish market and one of the best ones I've seen in Miami. They have a large selection of fish and seafood, all at very affordable prices. The fish on display looked extremely fresh and I will most definitely be coming back the next time I'm in need of quality seafood. You order inside and sit out front on their Keys styled porch. I noticed that other people had brought beer with them which they were allowed to enjoy with their meal.

We decided to order the fish croquetas, ceviche, and a pan con minuta with fries to share between the two of us. The croquetas $7 were made with snapper and beyond delicious------buttery, seasoned well, with a nice crispy coat. They came with four so it was perfect to share with a date. The ceviche was also a refreshing and phenomenal appetizer for us. I loved that they used corvina and it came in a huge container for only $8. Next the Pan con Minuta $9.99 which was HUGE. I'm so glad I shared it with my boyfriend even though the flavor was so good that I could've found a way to eat it! The breading was perfect with a slight hint of salt and the toppings all fresh vegetables. Their tartar sauce was also the perfect pairing for it! I did note that the fries came at an extra cost but I believe all their sides are meant to be shared and they definitely come out in appropriate portions to do so!

Will most definitely be back to this wonderful gem and recommending it to others with a seafood craving! I saw other families pick out the fish they wanted whole fried so must be back to try that since it looked and smelled...

We use to Love this place until I had a very unpleasant experience here a few years ago. They really tried to make things right but I was done with the place. My husband convinced me to give it a try again and Alberto “el calvito” (the bald guy) made every effort to convince us to come back as regulars. He is the cook and we have had his garlic lobster, fish, and black beans and white rice the last two Fridays, and they were fantastic. Last week we had the Snapper, this week we had the Corvina. Things also seem to be better in terms of their operations. So I’m happy to support this business. As to ambience in terms of eating in it is very informal with seating outside, but that is prt of the fun for us. But the selection of fresh seafood to buy and take home is amazing.

Prior Review:

My husband and I have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars at this place over the years. From time to time we literally buy cooked and fresh seafood at this place weekly. We went by today about 9:40 and the door is open and there are 2 people being served. It is not the first time they have done that because if they are ready a few minutes early they sometimes open a little earlier. When I walk in one of the guys which I don’t know tells me in Spanish and then in English that they are closed. I tell him I speak both and perfectly understand. One of the guys tells another in Spanish to lock the door. Then I ask why there are other people being served. He says they are family friends and I should come back at 10:00! The amazing thing is that all this rolled of his tongue like nothing. There was no sense of sorry about that, or a sense of proper customer service. I’m not sure why they thought this was okay. But good luck with...