Two Fish BYOB — Restaurant in Medford Lakes

We're meeting friends tomorrow in Long Beach Island, but decided to drive up early and spend the night about an hour away. My wife does her research and discovered Two Fish. The story is awesome, and it's got 4.9 stars. It's rather unassuming from outside, thought the area has lots of small town charm. Walking in we see an accent wall of tile with many large niches, each displaying 2 or 3 large candles.

We'd read that there were only 26 seats. They removed 3 center tables to create an intimate space. The only issue was a group of 4 20-somethings very lacking in inside voices. They were boorish at best. However, Dylan, our server, was attentive and descriptive of the apps and entrées. To top it off, the nicest couple sat next to us. We were almost like old friends reconnecting.

We've had lots of calamari and had planned to forgo it, but it's Sicilian calamari, lightly sautéed in tomatoes, olives, currants and herbs. He said it was almost like a pasta and it was; al dente. The grilled octopus was lovely as well, and the pickled red onion was a surprising foil. We shared the barramundi with mussels and were impressed with the skin. Everything was very good, but the skin stood out. Dessert was a chocolate emulsion of some sort, not quite a mousse, in a torte shell with grilled pineapple cubes. It sounded interesting and it was. The pineapple had a hint of cinnamon and complemented the chocolate surprisingly well. We took advantage of the BYOB with a nice slightly sparkly Italian white from Gavi. Pricing is more than fair; the BYOB feature being a large part of that. Do yourself a favor and experience this gem of a place. We agreed that Two Fish would be a great addition...

I wish I could put a 5 star rating for this place. Be it the menu options or the preparation, it had 5 star rating written all over it. Be it the salmon belly crudo for starters, the Tuna and Barramundi for entree - every bite of these preparations felt like pieces from heaven. The preparation and presentation of each dish was top notch. Even the simple dessert we had was very tasty.

Then what did not work? The portion of the sides! The portion of the fish were good, but the portion of the sides or accompaniments along with the main dish were negligible. The tuna came with 2 tablespoons of rice on the side and the Barramundi had an equally questionable portion of broccoli rabe. The taste of any of the food element can't be questioned, those were out of the world. If one compared the price of each item and the quantity served, well you wouldn't want to pay so much for the quantity of food served. The quantity served made them feel like comfort food.

I am still giving it 4 stars because of the taste of the food, the congeniality of our server, the menu options and in order to support local family owned restaurant businesses. If the quantity of the sides were how it should have been, this place would deserve nothing less than a 5...

This is a very small, clean restaurant with simple, industrial ambiance, and a very limited, reasonably- priced menu consisting almost exclusively of fish (of course), exceptions being an appetizer salad and an entree of duck. The food is all solidly tasty, (though not AMAZING, perhaps using "safe" flavors for wider appeal), quite fresh and nicely presented. The service was excellent and friendly. The dessert was, surprisingly, the most interesting and delicious part of the meal. We ordered the homemade ice cream trio, which was ALMOST TOO saturated with flavor, except the licorice, which the waitress said wad the strongest... it's not. The mint and cinnamon (which made me order it initially) were intense and the smallest bit gritty, however the licorice was creamy and almost delicate.

My only real "complaints" would be the uncomfortably hard chairs and tight seating. Otherwise, we all had a lovely time in a lovely restaurant, and...