Lighthouse Fish Market — Restaurant in New York

I’ve been highlighting black owned NYC restaurants on my food vlog, and came across theinfatuation.com’s list, where I found Lighthouse Fish Market. I’m officially a New Yorker, but a Maryland native at heart, which mostly means that I know and love good seafood. Maryland does seafood well! Here in NYC, I’ve had amazing seafood, ok seafood, and terrible seafood. It’s always a toss up, and a risk, even. Today, when approaching Lighthouse, I just had a feeling. I had the feeling that they’d get it right....

I walked in to find a line of people. Some of which, I could tell were regulars. They just had that “I’ve been here before” energy. It kinda excited me to see their excitement. I saw some of them walking out with their orders, which looked really good. I noticed that they only accept cash, so had to step out to go get some. Once I came back, I knew that I wanted a fish and shrimp and chips platter, but was unsure of which fish. I asked the cashier if she prefers the whiting or the catfish. She says she doesn’t eat fish lol, but said that they’re both quite popular. I went with the catfish, shrimp and chips. I placed my order, and waited maybe 20 minutes, which is fine. I saw them hand-battering the fish on sight, which honestly makes it worth the wait. When they’re making your order fresh at these restaurants, it takes time. To me, it’s totally worth it to have my food made to order. While I waited, I got a couple dipping containers, and loaded some with lemon juice, ketchup, hot sauce, and tarter sauce. Oh, yes....I was ready to go IN! Lol.

So, I get my order, and I couldn’t believe how much food it came with. It was huge! It was a big enough portion to feed at least 2 people. It cost me $20, which was amazing. I take my order to a bench nearby in Harlem, and I get down to business! People walked by and told me how good it looked lol. I was makin’ the people hungry lol. I started eating the fish, and it was beyond fresh, crispy, and seasoned to PERFECTION! I wasn’t expecting it, honestly. I mean, the flavors they developed were perfect. The same with the shrimp. Beyond crispy, fresh, and flavored nicely. Even the fries were nicely flavored. There’s no extra salt necessary. They take care of that for you. I dipped the fish in the tarter sauce, and it was just perfection. I’m sorry that I haven’t heard of this place sooner. It is extremely well done, black-owned, and produces some of New York’s best seafood. My only minor critique would be cleanliness for the kitchen area. Otherwise, I had an...

So disappointed! I have been coming to the Lighthouse to eat seafood for 5 years. No complaints until now, it’s deeply unfortunate I have good reason to never go back. And, after you read my experience I hope you be careful and heed my warning! Firstly, I drove from Connecticut to Harlem ( over 52 miles away - past thousands of restaurants) to eat here and see family in the area. Yes, the prices are overly priced and the spot is a hole in the wall. But, okay I want to support a black owned business. So we block that part. But, the part I can not is: on several occasions I notice they keep charging the seafood higher than what’s listed on the wall. Why? The prices are already sky high. It’s obviously not being done by mistake. For example, Medium Shrimp is high for $15 per pound. But, to notice the guy ringing up $19 per pound when I turn my back. Instead of saying sorry, he was caught. He gets upset with me and says, these things happen. What the heck? Why does it always happen they make mistakes to charge more and never less?

Also, there are so new Jamaican workers in there using MSG. Why? I saw the cooks drop a whole bowl of white stuff in the food. I asked what it was, the lady replied good seasoning. Yet, that so called seasoning (woke me up in the middle of the night) with my mouth burning and not being able to breathe due to the ingredients of MSG. That never happened in the past and will not again. I am over the Lighthouse! They are only focused on making money on black folks and do not care who they hurt or possibly kill in the process. I called repeatedly to speak to the owner. He never called me back. Guess, he is not concerned with his once loyal customer base. Sad. When you try to support a...

The light house is a small seafood spot in Harlem. This a fairly new business, about a year old. Not only is it a restaurant but they also a seafood market where you can purchase all kinds of shrimp,fish, lobster and crab.

The food here is very good. I got the fish and shrimp dinner. For $18 you get a very generous portion of fish, about 5-6 medium size shrimp and two sides. The fish and shrimp were seasoned perfectly. They Had a Cajun flavor to them but not too salty. For my sides I chose the seasoned fries and the collard greens. The fries seem to be hand cut and are nothing like the freezer fries you get at most fish spots. The collard greens were decent but not great. They were cooked perfectly and were flavorful but they were more vinegary than I prefer. While here I noticed they offer seafood linguini and also steamed and broiled seafood. All of these items looked excellent! I wanted to try it all. I can tell they have some high level cooks in there that really know how to chef up some seafood.

Tip: don't bother coming here to dine in. Grab your food and get the hell out of the way. This place is crowded!

Light House earns 4 stars from me. The food I tasted was delicious and the serving was more than filling. They can certainly improve in the ordering process and how they manage the line. It was like a free for all with people trying to get the attention of the person taking the order. I judge then too much about that because the place was very crowded and they did get the food out fast. I will certainly be back to try the linguini amount other menu items and could see myself comeback often for a quick...