Joe Fish Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in North Andover

Gave it 3 for a variety of reasons, since, its not just about the food right? Came in tonight, Saturday, 4pm. About 4 or 5 tables occupied at the time and one left shortly after arriving. Our waitress (never introduced heraelf), whose name on the bill said William, was not pleasant. Not friendly, not very attentive, just seemed unhappy. It was definitely a vibe and not one we enjoyed. The lamp shade above our table/booth, behind the hostess stand, was filthy with dust. The AC vents were blasting and blowing towards the table so I can imagine the dust flying around. Floors below table filthy too, gum and food everywhere. Ordered our food and when it came out, a few at a time (which was fine!) there were hardly any words from the waitress. Crab cakes was phenomenal, and my dad said the fish tacos were too. Those were first to arrive. Even the coleslaw was one of the best we've had. Next to hit the table were the woonsocket calamari and onion rings. Calamari was soggy. Definitely needed a crisp element. No sauce with it either. Just peppers and a lemon. My son ate that first since his kids meals didnt come yet. Onion rings were decent, but not worth $9. They did say they made them from scratch in house but lacking flavor. Third to come out the kitchen was mango habanero wings and fried clam appetizer. Clams were excellent. Crispy and perfect! Wings could've been crisper but they were not soggy! I never eaten mango habanero wings and had them actually taste like mango, so that made up for them not being a little more crisp than they should. Blue cheese was awful but im happy they had no carrots or celery or lettuce under them! Sweet with a touch of heat at the end. Some may find it spicy, since I prefer a little heat but they were a hit just like the clams and crab cake. Fourth, was the crab rangoon and wonton dip. Wontons were crispy and light. Dip was very soupy, lacking visible crab, and had a cheese top layer with scallions that was very hard. It was like one chunk of cheese that if you picked up, stayed in tact. Unappealing. Ate 2 Wontons and 2 spoonfuls of dip and called that a dud. I'd say just make a rangoon and not deconstruct it. Lastly, the kids meal. I got my 4 year old pasta with butter and fries. He ate some fries, adults didnt try them. The noodles had sauce so I sent it back. The sauce my son wont and cant eat, he gets hives. The waitress brought the 2nd bowl and there was sauce still on the noodles. Pieces of tomato skin lines the noodles and the outside and underside of the bowl. I had to ask if it was new pasta or if they washed the noodles and put them back in the same bowl. She said she stood there and watched them make new pasta, even though it was less than 2 minutes to bring the 2nd bowl to us. There is no way that that was new pasta. I got grossed out at the thought they may possibly wash the noodles and sent it back, it wasnt even warm. The 3rd bowl came and it was a pool of butter in the bowl with no signs of tomato skin or sauce. The amount of butter was insane. Stained my son's shirt as it dripped everywhere so I had to feed him very little bites. The pasta then hardened and stuck together so I decided to pack it up, get the bill and make him food at home. She kindly took the kids meal off the bill. If service was good I would give 4.5 stars even with the pasta hiccup. But I had to consider more than the good food we received. I would go back though and...

1/14/23 Update, that was a few weeks ago and that was a fluke. We went yda, same schtick steamers, ok, still gritty from bad washing. But the salad I ordered was a special "Crab" California salad based on the sushi roll, not raw. Very excited. First it came without the "crab" which took me a few minutes of digging thru the bowl to find it, then when the server came back with it in the salad, they had literally dumped a ramekin shaped pile of pollock and celery on the mixed up salad. No crab. Pollock. Pollock is white fish us Jews made popular, its yummy but IT IS NOT CRAB. and to charge $20 for a pollock white fish bait n switch not crab salad I thought was/is the last straw for me. Sadly no. When the check came it reflected a $3.75 charge for my soda water. I grew up in the restaurant business, soda water is water thru the bubble gun at the bar. They charged for water! Im officially done done done. The server told us she likes Shia's in Salem NH for steamers and since they're coming off the menu at Joe's (Whaaaa???) I should try that place.

2022 December Review: I have mixed reviews on this one. On one hand, I have ordered a pound of steamers, they arrive, gritty as bleep. But when I opened a quahog sized shell with nothing but mud in it, now I'm annoyed, now I'm going to ask my bartender for help. Her response? Oh yeah, that happens. Wait what? I paid for a pound of clams and got a quarter pounder mud pie. Not ok. So we decide to try again a few weeks later.. ie last week. But this time, for the first time in years, I ask for a table, hoping a server will be more attentive gawd forbid the great Mud Clam Disaster of 2022 should repeat itself. It did not, steamers were clean and excellent and I'm so glad I went back. The server...

My husband took me to Joe Fish in North Andover yesterday for my 40th birthday. We stood at the reception area for approximately 8 minutes before anyone greeted us only to tell us to go seat ourselves. The waitress had no personality and acted like we were bothering here just being there. There were four people in our party the waitress gave us one menu to share. She did not provide any recommendations when asked or any information about a kids menu or kids meal I had to find it online as I was sitting there. The food was absolutely disgusting it had no flavor and was extremely dried up. The green beans were wilted, the broccoli was steamed and unseasoned, the jasmine rice was stuck together and hard like elmer's glue. We were not provided with any condiments or napkins. I can't even say they made a decent Shirley temple because it was lacking sufficient grenadine and cherries. On top on being way over priced, we had left overs we didn't even consider taking with us. I'd give Joe Fish minus 5 stars if I could. Waste of time, money, and birthday dinner! I intend on spreading the word to anyone who will listen so they can...