Mel's Fish Shack — Restaurant in Los Angeles

YUM! I love fried fish (it's the inner fat kid in me haha) and have been wanting to try Mel's for a while now! I bought a Groupon ($13 for $26 worth of food) and finally got around to trying it this Sunday for lunch. Mel's is quite literally a no frills shack, which I loved and we ordered from the friendliest man. Even though it was lunchtime, we ordered from the dinner menu and just had to pay the tax on top of the Groupon.

FOOD: Fried catfish filet (crispy) with potato salad and coleslaw - yummy! The fish is fried to order and is served HOT HOTHOT! Mel's does a cornmeal breading, which I really enjoyed because it was light. Fish is super tender. Potato salad was good! Not heavy on mayo and had potato chunks in it. Coleslaw was fresh, also not mayo-heavy. Fried red snapper (crispy) with mixed greens and macaroni salad - also yum! The snapper was firmer than the catfish but delicious. The mixed greens were definitely one of those store bought kind, but fresh and still good. Macaroni salad was a bit sweet and kinda smothered in sauce.

Both meals were served with two slices of bread, and they gave us pickles, peppers and 3 different sauces - tartar (looked homemade and heavy on the dill - yum!), tabasco/chili, and this vinaigretty sauce.

SERVICE & VENUE: Everyone was friendly and very nice. There are about 6-7 stools at the bar/counter to eat at and since no one was there, we found a seat quite easily. Fish is fried to order and I could watch them preparing it through the window. They don't have water cups- bottled water or soda only.

PARKING: Street parking was easy to find. DELISH! I'd...

The name gives you a good idea. It's a small building that sells fish. Southern style black owned fish shack. They have some bar stools just outside the kitchen for dining in, but I feel it does much more take out. Besides the southern stereotype of fried or grilled fish w/ hush puppies, cole slaw, mac & cheese (though they have those too), they also have salad, tacos, etc. I really like their stew/soup. It's creamy but non dairy. The portions are good. It's well priced. Sure, it's not crazy cheap like a $1 burger, but it's made to order good tasting seafood w/ good portions, so you get a good value. It's made to order, so you're not getting your food instantly, but I've never had to wait long either. They seem to operate pretty quickly. If you're that worried about a wait, call in your order ahead of time. They also do delivery through GrubHub, Postmates, and other similar services. They're part of fivestars and they have promotions regularly, so you get get extra deals. Last but not no least, great service. The guys have always been friendly. The owner (Georgette?) is always super sweet and friendly. Go eat there sometime...or...

• Horrible Food ** I wanted to try this" black owned restaurant" based on rapper Saweetie's recommendation. I ordered 1/2 pound of shrimp, 1lb of catfish, 1lb of orange roughy, 1lb of whiting (all fried), and 6 hushpuppies total was $68. The fish was nasty, you can barely taste the seasoning ! I called and spoke to manager lily. She told me in order to get a refund I had to drive back to the restaurant with the fish in Friday traffic. Mind you I have to take the 405 to 10 in horrible Los Angeles traffic. I live 12miles from the restaurant. Lily said that the owner doesn't like to add a lot of seasoning to the fish. Because the owner is worried about high blood pressure. Give the customer a choice if they want extra seasoning or not. Horrible customer service, and food . I...