Coastal Fish Company — Restaurant in Memphis

I once loved this place, but their inconsistencies have slowly pushed me away. When I first went here, it was the best ribeye I ever had. I told so many people to try this place. A buddy at work took my advice and then recommended I try the porkchop on my next visit. So I did. It was not good. It was under cooked (per the chefs recommendations) but the taste wasn't good either. My wife asked me not to say anything, so I took it home, and tried to finish cooking it. Still didn't taste good, I threw it in the trash. So, we went again. The wife said, "stick to what you know." I ordered the steak. It did not taste the same. I couldn't help but inquire, and the server told me they have a new chef. I haven't ordered a steak there since. We do like the atmosphere. The service is always very kind, although we often seem to get a server that is new, and our plates generally come out untouchable form how hot they are, almost as if they have been sitting in the window, waiting, while we wait for extended periods, wondering where our food is. Finally, I worked my way through the menu, and tried their fried chicken. It was amazing. Literally the best I've ever had, you've ever had, the world has ever known. It was a large boneless breast, too much to eat in one sitting. The breading was perfect, with flavors that hinted at so many of my favorites, like KFC's original recipe, meets Gus's, meets Popeye's. This dish, with a chopped salad, Mac and cheese, was an experience. My wife also found a drink that was absolutely delicious, Lime in the coconut. I was so happy, a number of times and looked forward to this dish. But, as this website reminded me, I went a week ago, anticipating the fried chicken, as me and the wife plan to split this generous dish. They changed their menu. Got rid of the fried chicken. Got rid of the lime in the coconut. WHY? They said supplier issues, but then suggested I try this new chicken. I said ok. Maybe at that moment, my disappointment about the chicken mentally ruined my salad, but it wasn't very good anymore. The lobster bisque came out later, super hot bowl, and the top of it was dried. Between the salad, and soup, then waiting for a while for our main course, which finally arrived, with dishes so hot, they were difficult to move around the table. This new chicken came out. Looked great. Had its little "root vegetable" side, and it was a whole half chicken. Looked beautiful. Then I tasted it. It was juicy and cooked perfectly, but had a horrible flavor. My wife ate one of the mushrooms, and warned me not to. Paying so much for this dish, I decided I owe it to myself to try everything. I ate a mushroom. It was terrible. It made me realize that the oil the chicken was resting in, was that mushroom flavor as it also blended with the skin. That was it. I declared that we are done with Coastal. Such a nice place. Such a beautiful atmosphere. But for their menu to be more disappointment that success? Really, we probably will try it again one day, because Memphis doesn't have alot of options. At least not with pleasant service and decent atmosphere.

Check in a year later... the service has become increasingly good... even though they still haven't brought back my...

I recently had a rather disappointing experience at Coastal Fish that I feel compelled to share with the community. Over a month ago, I made a reservation for a party of 14 by phone. The person I spoke with indicated that they didn’t have a single table that sat 14 but they could put two tables side by side. I explicitly asked if the tables could be set up close enough for our group to communicate effectively and enjoy our time together. I was assured by the Coastal Fish representative that my request would not be a problem.

However, upon our arrival, we were greeted with a frustrating surprise: two separate tables in their standard configuration where you would seat two separate parties during a regular dinner service. It was disheartening to see that despite my prior explicit request, the manager was clearly unbothered and made no effort to find us alternative solution, citing fire code restrictions that must only apply to Coastal Fish as I have never encountered this argument when I have made large group reservations in several restaurants across the city. There were plenty of empty tables, and an entire section of the restaurant was unoccupied, yet they offered no alternative options. Didn’t even consider it.

It was incredibly disappointing to see how little regard the manager and staff at Coastal Fish had for our reservation and the comfort of our group. Instead told us that other large groups had accepted the option in the past and so should we. If you have a policy about how you seat large groups, you should be transparent about the policy and not mislead people into thinking you can accommodate their needs when you know at the outset you have no intentions of doing so.

We as consumers have choices. At a minimum, service providers should be honest about what they offer and what they don’t offer. If I had known the policy, I would not have made the reservation. It’s a matter of common courtesy and professionalism, which the managers of Coastal Fish clearly lack. Needless to say, our group quickly found another restaurant nearby that immediately accommodated our request, raising even more questions about this spurious Coastal Fish Fire Code. Did the manager apologize for the “miscommunication?” Yes. Did he seem to care about how they had caused us considerable inconvenience? Absolutely Not. I believe that that they expected us to take their paltry offering hoping to reap the financial benefits of serving a large group without providing the service that same group needed and expected. It was nothing but a bait and switch. I would not recommend this restaurant if you're looking for a place that values you as a customer and honors. I for one will be exercising my right to choose where I spend my money and will not be returning to...

I've been to Coastal around 3 times for special occasions and each experience was magnificent. I work for a prominent children's research hospital and we dined at Coastal for a candidate dinner we were hosting. Our admin called ahead of time and requested a table for 6. She was not told that we would not have an indoor table, nor did she think to ask because it’s summer in Memphis and no other restaurant seats people outside/requires their staff to risk heat stroke. We were seated outside in 97F temperatures, and the heat index was 104. Sure, there were lots of fans, but the fans were only pushing around the hot air and made for very loud background noise. Our seats were pushed close together and left very little room for the menus, and the backs of the chairs were hitting another table's chairs. We asked to move to a larger table and our first server said she would ask her manager, but she thought the answer would be "yes". The server and her manager came to our table and the manager all but laughed at us and told us we could not move to a larger table because we did not have enough people. 2 of the patron's water glasses had some sort of gnat in it, and when they asked if they could get a new glass it was treated like a tedious task. For this to be an upscale, fine dining establishment, clean water should be a standard, not a luxury. The sun began to set and no blinds or any sort of shade were put in place; not only could we not hear each other due to the fans, we couldn't see each other due to the sun. I keep reading reviews on here where people say sitting outside was nice for them, they were provided with sunglasses/shade, and the fans were adequate, but that was absolutely not our experience at this restaurant and it was a VERY poor representation of Memphis to our potential new employee. The poor servers/bussers outside were incredibly overheated and sweating so much that there is zero doubt someone accidentally dropped a bead of sweat once or twice in a meal. We tried to flag down what appeared to be a manager who was walking back and forth holding a tablet but were ignored each and every time. I was so embarrassed at...