Flying Fish & Grill — Restaurant in Half Moon Bay

BUCK STALLION'S BUREAU OF FOOD INVESTIGATION FIELD REPORT – SUBJECT: FLYING FISH & GRILL LOCATION: 211 San Mateo Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA DATE/TIME OF OPERATION: Undisclosed – lunch window CASE FILE: GASTRO-211-HMB SUMMARY: On arrival, immediately sat facing the anchient cemetary by the server Bobby. The establishment appeared unassuming—coastal roadside setup, no visible security risk—until operatives engaged with the menu. Subsequent culinary interrogation revealed the presence of high-value flavor assets and an untraceable level of satisfaction. EVIDENCE LOG:

Crawfish Sandwich w/ Sweet Potato Fries – Classified as “Flavor Bomb, Schedule I.” Bread to crawfish ratio achieved perfect tactical balance. Fries executed a sweet/savory pincer maneuver on the palate. Threat level to self-control: Maximum.

Fish Fry Combo – Multiple species involved in a deep-fried coalition. Batter was crisp without grease infiltration—suspect technique: high-level oil discipline. Served hot enough to register on thermal imaging.

Cheesy Crab Bread – This item is contraband in several taste jurisdictions. Gooey cheese concealed a payload of crab meat; crust served as the delivery vehicle. Consumption induced involuntary “holy shit” vocalization—witnesses can confirm.

Scallop Taco – Compact, handheld operation. Scallops seared to precision—firm exterior, buttery interior. Tortilla acted as discreet transport casing. No evidence of filler or flavor laundering. AGENT OBSERVATIONS:

Service team exhibited efficiency, friendliness, and zero hesitation under high-volume conditions—possible background in elite customer service training.

Atmosphere: casual, coastal, with subtle “you might just stay here all day” undertones.

Post-meal satisfaction index: 9.8/10 (margin of error ± 0.2 due to food coma). RECOMMENDATION: Immediate re-visit is advised. Operation “Second Helping” should be launched within 72 hours. Recommend all agents approach with an empty stomach and alibi for calorie intake.

CASE STATUS: CLOSED – Subject deemed Highly Recommendable. Further investigation: ongoing, because I’m not done...

Friendly staff, very accommodating (even provided a water bowl for our dog!) have indoor and outdoor seating. We went for lunch, not too crowded had at least one table open outside throughout our time there. A bit pricey, but not egregiously overpriced. We ordered a mahi-mahi 2-taco plate, ahi poke and the crawfish roll & fries.

We love seafood and like to try different places; 1st time at The Flying Fish. We are often disappointed at the lack of taste in the cooked dishes and always look forward to the fresh or uncooked ones.

The mahi-mahi was cooked right and tasty but unfortunately only had a sliver of a piece in each taco. The taco itself was good, almost terrific, but the tiny sliver of mahi-mahi was such a letdown. We've had better with much more fish on the taco. These were the small flour tacos - your choice of 2, 3, 4 or 6 tacos and presumably more fish, but one little sliver on each taco, as good as it was, was underwhelming.

The poke was very good, served with crispy tortilla chips (not freshly fried tho, that wud've sent this dish WAY over the top).

The fries that accompanied the crawfish roll were great - crispy, hot, not too salty (almost tempted to add some, but nah). We even thought about ordering a separate side of them.

Which brings us to the crawfish or as my wife referred to them as ".... tasteless somethings." The menu billed them as "....a third of a pound of fresh crawfish, served on a freshly toasted brioche bun...." The bun part was ok. My wife is hard to please as far as fresh seafood is concerned and she was not impressed, felt it was a waste of time & $$$, regretted ordering them - tasteless and sure didn't look like one third pound.

All in all, nice location, great staff, 2 out of 3 dishes were good. That's 3 stars b'cuz of the skimpy portions and the tasteless crawfish.

They can do better I'm sure. And I...

Haven't come here in a while (Covid and all), so decided to to stop by for a sit-in service (we normally take to go orders).

Ordered 3 drinks for kids, 2 kids' items (chicken strips), 2 fish and chips (regular cod and the more expensive halibut) and a vegetarian salad.

Had to ask to replace the drinks three times. First, there was a watermelon seed at the bottom of the glass. Then there was a piece of thread, which I assume belonged to the dish towel, but my guess is as good as anyone's. The last glass included an object that slightly resembled a tiny seahorse (and I wish I were kidding). By that time, our 12 year old said she would not touch the drink even though the last one seemed void of any extraterrestrial objects, so she didn't. While the staff kept stoically replacing the drinks, our waitress must have thought that enough was enough and never came back to our table. :-)

The salad was a disappointment despite the impressive list of ingredients and nice appearance. The fish and chips items were as good as always. Although I prefer the old style potato wedges, french fries were still good. I can't put my finger on it, but I think the cole slaw recipe is not the same (it seems like it used to be better, but even now, I will take it over the vegetable salad any day). Kids food was fine (they ate it).

In summary, if you are there for fish and chips, you won't be disappointed, but keep an eye on them glasses and stay away from the veggie salad.

P.S. .+1 for naming the items on the kids' menu. They gave us a...