Big Fish Grill on the Riverfront — Restaurant in Wilmington

Myself and my wife have been a loyal customer of Big Fish since they opened (approximately 15 years). Every year I purchase a $1000 worth of gift cards for family and friends, based on my personal experience at the waterfront and Rehoboth Beach location. This all changed with the last 9 months of dining experience at Big Fish Grill. Service: We sat at the bar to get quick prompt service and that didn’t happen! When we sat down there was one other patron and us. Being game day, we arrived early to beat the regular football fans. We received our drinks promptly and then waited 15 minutes for the bar tender to return to place our appetizer order. We asked for additional peppers with the FB Spicy Calamari and were told that they were not doing any food customizations today. I asked if there were no food customizations at all and once again told, no? We never received a set-up nor could get the bartender to acknowledge us to put in a request for one. I had to reach behind the bar to get napkins and go to the server area to get plates and salt. We ate using the appetizer forks that came with the calamari and mussels. When we received the bill, we were over charged for the beer by a $1 and charged an additional $2 for the bloody Mary mix (see receipt). I would assume that when you order a bloody Mary that the alcohol and mix is included. The explanation from the bar tender was “I have to make it so it’s an additional charge”. I cannot remember ever being charged an additional $2 for a drink mixer at BF. Service remained subpar the entire meal until we asked for the check at which time, we received the utmost attention from the bar tender (TOO LATE).

Food: The FB Spicy Calamari was greasy and tasted like it was cooked in old oil. There was a puddle of grease on the bottom of the dish. We have had the regular calamari several times and never were disappointed. This was mediocre to say the least. Fried oysters were ok, but the order came out with two oysters the size of a dime that were 90% breading. At $14 dollars for an order of oysters (6) I expect all of them to be big and juicy. Diablo Mussels was good, but the garlic bread that comes with them was not fresh.

The Wedge salad was good, but how can you mess up a Wedge Salad. We decided not to order entrees based on our appetizer experience and the “No Substitution rule”.

Pricing: The Big Fish Management is pricing themselves right out of the Wilmington Market. I understand that food cost has risen since the pandemic; however, BFG price increase must be at least 30% higher than the 2021 prices. Every time I dine at BFG the prices have increased again. I used to go to BFG for good food at a reasonable price and now its mediocre for at a high price. The prices are comparable to an upscale restaurant. Forget the game day specials as well. The BFG management needs to make some very drastic improvements in order to keep me as a customer. I would cash in the remaining balance on my gift...

I've lived in the area a while. I wanted some seafood and did a Google search and found this place. I ordered food from the parking lot and was amazed by all the people going in and out and wondering why I've never gone to this place. I go to pick up my food, walk through the door to the vestibule and BOOM the stench slaps me in my face, not the smell of bad fish but a malodorous smell as if the carpets and seat cushioms in the waiting area had never been cleaned since its existence! Whew, definitely a concern considering I just ordered food from this place!

The hostess was pleasant, hence my two star rating. It took a little longer for my food to come out so I waited. I get home and realize my sushi is missing! That's the one thing I wanted! My mind quickly went back to the stench and I realized maybe that was a blessing from God!

I call the place, let them know about the mistake and request a refund. They transfer me to the manager and he has this pompous attitude as if I did something wrong. After he investigates he comes back and states, he's not giving me a refund because I wasn't charged for the sushi. I explained that the receipt that I had showed otherwise and he said his system didn't show what I had. I explained that I would verify once the pending charge hits mummy account and call back if it closes for the incorrect amount. It did settle for the correct amount, thank goodness I didnt have to call back. He talked to me as if I was trying to get over (please note the women that I spoke with was aware that she forgot to give me my sushi when I called.)

The food was not worth the money, it lacked flavor and I just was not impressed. I also realized years ago when I first moved to the area, I did research this place, the reviews were horrible and that's why I never went! Shame on me for not looking at the reviews!

Oh, one other thing, for the place to be called big fish, they surely lack...

Three of us had a reservation at 7:00 on Saturday, September 9. As usual the food and drinks were great. The prices seemed to dramatically increase, seemingly a bit more than what would be expected in our current economy. When we go out, not only is the food and drink we order important, but equally so is the service and atmosphere. This is where this location of Big Fish totally drops the ball. At about 9:45, the lighting in the restaurant is turned up very bright. Seems to me a very tacky way to tell your supposedly valued customers, it's time to get out. We're ready to go home and you need to be as well. The worst part is that this is the second time we had servers fail inform us up front that there was a closing time at 10:00, and additionally failed to come to our table to take any final orders for drinks/coffee and desert in time for us to get them and enjoy them. It seemed like all the servers and other workers were busy cleaning up before 9:30, instead of attending to customers. Why wouldn't it be a company policy be to have all servers come to any remaining customers around 9:00 to mention the closing time and the taking of last orders, or even mention it when customers were first greeted? I come from the corporate world and know how 'Shadow of the Leader' works. With this basic omission of standard customer courtesy, a key part of customer service and customer retention has been totally ignored, and not passed down from the 'Top' to the workers. Right now, you have tons of people that want to eat at your location, but as that may change in the future, you want to treat your customers better to keep them. Simply said, set customer expectations, don't surprise them with 'no we can't take an order now'. We used to love Big Fish, but we won't be coming back. Hope changes in this area will come in the near future for...