El Jalapeno Taqueria & Seafood (Formerly Ocean Shak) — Restaurant in Dallas

During my lunch break, I decided to venture out and try something new. This particular restaurant had received rave reviews on Yelp, so I thought it was worth a shot. As soon as I walked in, I was warmly greeted by the owner and his wife, who had an incredibly friendly demeanor. The first thing that caught my attention was how clean and fresh the restaurant smelled. When it came time to order, I opted for the catfish basket with shrimp, which also came with hushpuppies and fries. The prices were surprisingly affordable compared to other places that are price gouging. Unfortunately, I had left my card at home, but luckily they accepted Apple Pay, making the payment process a breeze. As I made my way to my table, I couldn't help but notice the relaxed ambiance, with oldies playing in the background, vintage records adorning the walls, and a few TVs scattered around. The owner personally came over to set up my table with utensils, napkins, and ketchup. After a short wait of 15 minutes, my food was ready, and I must say, it looked and smelled absolutely delightful. The presentation was top-notch, earning a perfect score.

Taste Test:

While preparing to eat I poured a little hot sauce on my plate and dashed some pepper on fish and fries, it’s just a natural habit that I have. I started eating the fries because the fish was steaming hot, I liked how the fries were skinny and fried well done, definitely giving that a 7.5 only because they didn’t have any flavor. Next, I tried the hush puppies and to my surprise they had corn on the inside, that was a different twist, they were also fried well, I would give them an 8 for sure. Shrimp was juicy and fried perfectly.

Next was the star player, the catfish or so I thought. I broke off a small piece just to try it without any condiments and it tasted like a true southern batter. While I was chewing I noticed the texture was different from what I was expecting from a catfish. I’m a Texas native and grew up fishing, catching our own fish and frying it for dinner so I’m super experienced with all types of fish but catfish is one that I know very well. Catfish is a fatty flaky white fish and this fish was only flaky and it had no fat on it. I was then drawn to the shape of the fish and that was a huge red flag, ladies and gents this was not catfish. To my disappointment I was eating Fried Swai Fish. Let me tell you the biggest difference in catfish versus swai fish, you will notice that swai has a big chunk of meat on the front right side of the fish, next swai does not have fat on it. Catfish do not have a big chunk of meat at the front and it does have fat and grey skin on it. Even if a restaurant removes all the grey skin you will still notice the texture difference when eating it. I decided to still rate this company 4 stars because customer service was terrific and the cleanliness of the restaurant. However, if you were going to switch the fish out with something else to allow the customers to make that decision, there are plenty of customers that would actually prefer swai over catfish. But if we’re paying for catfish and you’re serving us something else that’s not fair to...

I was initially unsure of this place due to it being sandwiched in an industrial area and almost overlooked it despite its nice clean red paint on the outside. However, upon entering you’re instantly hit with a delicious smell of fresh food and the cook and waitress behind the counter (who it turns out is a past sous chef from Cambridge, Massachusetts and ALSO the owner and one of his 6 daughters (Leslie!) helping out in the family restaurant), instantly smiled and I felt right at home. I wasn’t too hungry so I got the fried okra and ranch with fresh made horchata, and my boyfriend got the enchiladas and fresh delicious watermelon juice. We helped ourselves to the complimentary nachos bar, and saw there was also a complimentary coffee station setup as well. All the food was so fresh, clear that it was just cut, battered and fried in the back, and the aguas frescas were so good too. The staff, which is all family-owned and operated were so nice and friendly that despite just moving here from Boston, I found them to feel like I’d known them awhile and was back home. I highly HIGHLY recommend this restaurant for an awesome lunch and probably dinner spot (although I was only there for lunch). The family is lovely, and the food is...

I found this place on Google maps after an appointment at UT Southwestern. It was close by, relatively speaking, and had really good reviews. The service was very fast, I saw several people picking up orders and while I was pondering the menu, one fellow picking up his order said to me, "you can't make a mistake, everything here is good!" He was correct. My husband had the gumbo (very good) and I had the Combo #1 ($15 for one big catfish plank and 4 big shrimp, fries and 3 hush puppies). The catfish was perfectly cooked; soft, flaky and seasoned perfectly. It was the best fish I've had in DFW. The shrimp was very lightly coated with the breaded seasoning and also perfectly fried. Nothing was overdone, everything was very good. The hush puppies were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, slightly sweet and warm. There was no need for any sauces, although they were provided, because the plain food was so tasty. The only negative was that we had to get drinks from a bottle or can in the refrigerator. I am not sure if this is a permanent situation, but they...