H. Salt Esq. Fish & Chips — Restaurant in San Jose

I'm not quite sure how other review sites have this place with a good rating. I was tremendously disappointed. First of all, they close at 9PM, but you cannot stay in and eat if it is past 8:30PM. In fact even if you order slightly before 8:30PM they will deny you being able to eat there and you can only order to go.

As for the food, obviously you go here for what it is named after--FISH & CHIPS. I ordered the 3 piece fish and side order of fried zucchinis. The fries and zucchinis were good. Unfortunately they are shady with the ranch sauce for the zucchinis and only give you one, when the order needs at least 2 for each zucchini to enjoy a dip in the ranch. The fries were good, nothing that stands itself apart, but they were good--not great.

Now the main attraction--horrible! Very dry and it seems like you are eating more batter than fish. After a while it gets very doughy and it was very bland if you try to take a bite without malt vinegar and/or the tar tar sauce. The fish was not seasoned at all and it was flavorless without any sauce which makes the ratio of more batter to fish even more evident. The entire thing itself was not moist and tender. It was more on the crunchy/crisper side. Again because the lack of fish it just seems to over cook the batter. Without a dip in the sauce you really have to dig deep into your palette to taste the fish and past the overwhelming and overpowering nature of the batter. The batter was just standard affair too, not a crispy yet flaky texture like higher end places. I just cannot stop at my disappointment on the main attraction. Again, very dry, horrible ratio of fish to batter--with probably more batter than fish at a 3:1 ratio per bite. The fish itself if you can get a decent portion of it was bland and dry. For a place that specializes in Fish & Chips this was a major let down and why I cannot recommend this place at all if you are craving fish and chips. I've had fish and chips better at places that don't even specialize in fish and chips. Perhaps this place lost it's identity. In the restaurant you can see posted menu items that has nothing to do with fish and chips type restaurants but more in Asian cuisine. I was very turned off with my first experience because of the many positive reviews from other review sites. Hopefully this helps bring this place back to reality because I don't know what those other reviewers are seeing. You go to a Fish & Chips place for FISH & CHIPS, if the main thing sucks, really the other things that they do good like side dishes really don't matter. I hope this...

tl;dr: Cheap & Delicious (if a bit inconsistent) Fish'n'Chips

I've been here several times.

The fish fillets are huge, British-style things. Their batter is crispy and rich, but the fish itself is a nearly flavorless whitefish; it serves more as a vehicle for the batter and whatever sauces you like. Sometimes they throw in one more fillet than you ordered.

Fried oysters are the breadcrumb-based kind. They manage to preserve much of the oyster's soft texture, sea flavor, and moisture, without falling apart or melting. Not the best oysters I've had, but definitely the best I've found for $8/serving. One time out of the many times I've gone, the oysters tasted a bit off... but they didn't make me sick, so no real harm done.

The fried zucchini is probably my favorite of their vegetable sides. Sometimes the oil gets through the batter, caramelizing the edge of the zucchini and giving it another layer of flavor.

I didn't find the scallops to be worthwhile; the fried batter just gets in the way of their scallop texture/flavor. Meanwhile, the texture of the artichoke hearts just makes them hard to eat fried, since it's harder to pick around the tough bits without dismantling the coating.

Fries are a little inconsistent - some crispy, some soft - but show no sign of freezer burn (the bane of indie restaurants who overuse Smart & Final fries).

Not much indoor seating, but it doesn't seem to need much either; most orders seem...

It's a no for me. If you're coming here in hopes of it being like the H. Salt Esq that used to be in San Pablo, please save yourself the time: this is NOT it. This place does not even compare in the slightest bit, in my opinion. We ordered the double catch, which is two pieces of fish and two prawns. Their food is excessively battered! Both the fish and prawns looked huge on the plate, and this is because of all the heavy batter being used. It's ridiculous! I bit into the prawn, and there was no prawn; only batter. Same for the fish; huge, thick batter, but small piece of fish inside. Also, I know the food is fried, but at least soak off some of the oil before serving. It was way too greasy for us. We didn't even finish our food. We did come having the expectation that this was the same as the one that used to be in San Pablo, but it's not by a long stretch. Also, the neighborhood didn't seem like the safest. Police activity when we pulled into the lot. The staff was nice, though, but we won't...