My wife and I typically go to Max Downtown, and for her birthday she wanted to try Max Fish for the first time. The experience is one that will make sure we never return.

Ambiance: the first thing we noticed was how loud the restaurant was. Sure, it was a busy Saturday night, but even without all the chatter from customers, music was being blared throughout the main area of the restaurant, making it feel like a club, not fine dining. In addition to all the noise, the ambient temperature in the restaurant was over 90 degrees. It was so hot, my wife had to take off her thin long sleeve shirt and just wear her tank top. You guys ever hear of air conditioning? I shouldn’t have to show up in the winter wearing a tshirt and jeans, because Max Fish doesn’t want to pay to run the AC.

Appetizers: we ordered a mixed selection of clams from the raw bar, and the calamari appetizer. Before I stopped eating any more, 3 of the 4 clams I ate had MULTIPLE shards of shell in them. Apparently Max Fish can’t even hire a clam shucker who can do it right for the obscene prices they charge. As for the calamari, it arrived a clumped up greasy mess (there was so much grease the breading fell off) OVERLOADED with salt. Don’t get me wrong, I put salt on everything, but there was so much salt on the calamari it would make your lips pucker. And then when I asked the waitress to take it away, she responded with “we’ll tell them not to put much salt on.” How about you just tell them not to put 10x the recommended daily intake of salt on the calamari?

When taking it away, she did offer to remake or bring out another appetizer and that they would be comping it. The fool I am, I agreed to try something different, but equally as bad, the stuffed clams. The stuffed clams lacked any taste, because 95% of it was breading, onion, and red peppers, with a few chunks of chorizo in each clam. I’ve had better stuffed clams from Highland Park Market.

Soup: I’m always one to try New England clam chowder anywhere I go, so I went for a bowl. Have you ever heard of a seafood restaurant that uses frozen/canned clams? Well, that’s what you’ll get at Max Fish. The taste of the soup was fine; not the best, but what was worse was how chewy the clams were. It made it apparent that there were no fresh clams in the soup.

Entree: After all the misses with the rest of the meal, I ordered the Waygu bavette steak medium to play it safe. They made sure to make me regret that choice as well. The steak arrived cooked rare, and when I mentioned it to the hostess, who came over to check if we were happy with our entrees, she took the plate to have them fix it. Unfortunately, apparently Max Fish cooking staff think the appropriate way to address an undercooked steak is to just heat it up some more. What kind of fine dining restaurant HEATS UP an undercooked steak, and throws it back on the same plate? How cheap and lazy are your cooking staff? That isn’t even acceptable in a mom and pop restaurant, let alone a chain that specializes in fine dining.

Dessert: after our experience with the rest of the courses, my wife just wanted to go home, and not get desert. The waitress offered it to us on the house, so we took some home with us. Not going to get into the details here, but even the premade desserts they have leave much to be desired - it reminded me of the quality of desserts at a casino buffet.

I can’t blame the wait or host staff for what happened, and they tried to do their best to fix all the problems. However, Max Fish doesn’t live up to the Max name, or even resemble a fine dining establishment in any way other than their pricing. The chefs and general manager should be ashamed of how they run the place. We will never be going back here any day of the year, let alone for another birthday.