Reviews & Ratings for Fins Bistro

02/15/11

A great place for a dinner for two

by Joana Pinheiro at Citysearch

Last night, the valentine's day night, me and my husband went to dinner at this wonderful restaurant.

We made the reservations in the same day, and we were lucky to get seats. We had dinner at the bar, the place was full, but it was very pleasant.

Small place but the deco is simple and soft, the service is great, and staff very nice.

Great food, and a good wine menu.

We arrived 1/2 hour sooner, and we were received with a smile and while we were waiting we had a glass of wine.

To start we had the Crab and shrimp spring rolls, and they were really tasty.

For the main couse I had the spicy thai linguine and my husband choose the shrimp linguine, both courses were great, and the amount of food in the plate is the right size, not to much, and not to little.

For dessert we shared the House Signature Créme Brulée, it was a really tasty sweet.

The meal was served within a good waiting time, since we were seated 'till dessert.

The bill was accessible.

We really enjoyed our meals and the place, and we definitely will return soon .

10/18/07

a good reason to visit Issaquah

by joaniej at Citysearch

A few months ago I was in town on a business trip and my hotel recommended Fins Bistro as one of my dining choices in Issaquah. I enjoyed my spinach salad and my salmon entree very much . I also appreciated their terrific wine list, lots of glass pours to choose from and so nice to see so many Washington wines on the list.I have been back to Fins many times since that first trip, as my business brings me here once a month or so. I have always experienced friendly service which as a single diner away from home I very much appreciate.

10/15/07

Quaint Restaurant with Fantastic Food and Service

by jerryswan at Citysearch

What a pleasent surprise to find this quaint restaurant hidden next to the Village Theater in Issaquah.

We had made reservations prior to the show on a Thursday and I was glad we did, we were seated promptly with a smile to watch the restaurant fill up. Despite being full we were treated to a fantastic expirence with a knowlegeable and friendly waitress, she answered all our questions and was able to recommend her favorites. Two of our party went with those recommendations and were very pleased (macadamia halibut) , I had the spicy Thai Linguine (it was terrific) and my wife had the Northwest Trio, a nice piece of salmon, halibut cheek and a crab cake. We shared a few appetizers, the bruchetta and Dynamite scallops were fantastic. All the presentation was great, the wine list extensive and resonable, we will definatly be back soon!

• Pros: Ambiance, parking, friendly staff with smiles,

08/14/07

Fins Bistro Review

by freddieevans at Citysearch

Fins Bistro is a wonderful little restaurant nestled next to the village theatre. The atmosphere in the restaurant is a delight. The staff are very friendly and are focused on making your experience ejoyable. The menu items are so tasty and the variety makes it hard to decide what to order. The seafood plates are delicious. If you haven't been to this restaurant then I would highly recommend it for a wonderful dinner or even stop by at lunch for a great cajun salmon sandwich, which is my favorite.

• Pros: Intimate dining

07/23/07

Poor quality fish, poorly cooked. Very rude ownership.

by rsimpkin at Citysearch

Our visit to Fins Bistro has to rank near the top of the all-time worst restaurant experiences and left us in a state of shock.

I ordered the Copper River King Salmon. It looked fine until I cut into the fish I discovered that over 25% of the fish was that black nasty part you get from a low quality piece of fish. When the waitress asked how everything was, I told her I was very disappointed in the quality of the fish itself. She was very supportive and no questions asked offered to come up with a remedy. This all seemed fine until the chef (and owner) showed up, with a new raw piece of fish in hand, to argue with me about the Copper River fish and their higher fat content. He was rude, but I was hungry and no need to argue from my perspective since the second piece he had with him looked fine so I wrote it off as him not being good with customers.

A few minutes later the second dish arrived but sadly this time the problem was even worse. Clearly the chef rushed it and cooked the Salmon on too hot of a pan. This was obvious as each outer third of the fish was over-cooked while the inside third was raw. Not medium rare, not even rare, RAW. I again was forced to raise this issue with the waitress and was somewhat at a loss at what to do now since this was twice now.

Then the situation went from bad to worse. The chef stormed out again in a clear outrage and literally yelled at my wife and I in front of everyone in the restaurant about how they serve their salmon "medium rare" and it was "dijon crusted". I know medium rare and I know how to cook salmon and this wasn't it. It clearly suffered from being cooked on too high a heat. A clear sign of a chef who doesn't know how to cook salmon. The shocking thing was that he continued to stand there and yell at us for over five minutes. He then gave a final puff of "there's obviously no pleasing you" and stomped away.

Needless to say, we won't be going back and neither should you.

• Pros: Nice waitress
• Cons: Quality of fish, cooking of fish, ownership and lack of value towards customer service

02/18/07

Incredible food, the best halibut we've ever had!

by jeris at Citysearch

Last night a group of four of us had dinner at Fins. The food was outstanding, we all chose the halibut, 2 chose the halibut cheeks, the other 2 chose halibut with macadamia nuts and peanut sauce. The fish was outstanding, cooked to perfection and the accompanying sauces were excellent! For an appetizer, we had calamari which was delicious as well. It was a fabulous meal, I highly recommend dining at Fins.

09/06/06

Worst $50/person food ever!

by ralfc at Citysearch

I am not sure how a place can go wrong in so many ways. Just to be quick, the brea was stale, olive oil had no flavor, the service was poor and slow, seemed like all the meals came with the same side dishes, lookedlike they had a huge bash of half way cooked carrots and broccolis back there! The wine was average. Salads were made up of the lowest quality ingredients. I think we could haev gotten a much better food at Denny's. Only the ambiance is better at Fins!

• Pros: Ambiance
• Cons: Pretty much everything else you expect at a restaurant

04/29/06

Home of the $50 TV Dinner

by jasonr3020 at Citysearch

Everything we were served was borderline awful. The olive oil was over-seasoned with pepper and barely palatable. The crab cakes were cold and the garnish was sliced salad mushrooms and a couple of pieces of iceberg lettuce, something you might expect with a burger at Denny's. On our salads the house dressing, raspberry vinaigrette, was so overloaded with vinegar we were gasping for water. I had the halibut entree. The sides were a vegetable of steamed carrot slices and broccoli florets, straight out of a TV dinner, and the rice was so overcooked that it was like polenta. My wife had the grilled swordfish. This was the worst piece of seafood I've tasted in my life. It was cold and raw in the middle, fishy tasting, and had the consistency of a hunk of gristle. We didnt dare order dessert. Bill plus tax and tip was $100. Booooo.

• Pros: service, free parking, friendly atmosphere
• Cons: really bad food

03/30/06

Pricey and left me wanting more.

by kristynem at Citysearch

When we came in only two tables were full, and the four available staff ignored us, then acted put out when we did not have reservations. The sashimi tuna appetizer was excellent, as was the specially blended olive oil with bread. Once the servers started acknowledging us, they were quite friendly.

On the bad side, the portions were small, especially given the over $20 price. The food took a long time to come. My sturgeon tasted fishy and couldn't have been more than 2.5 ounces for $22! The rice pilaf was the best thing on my plate. My husband orded Mahi that smelled badly. The place filled up later in the evening with seniors that seemed to be quite regular, and frankly I didn't get it. While I would recommend wine and appetizers before a show at the attached Village Theater, I know that I will not be back.

• Pros: Attached to theater, Wine list, appetizers
• Cons: high prices, small portions, "fishy" fish

09/05/05

great place

by smrsolstice at Citysearch

Open for breakfast saturday and sunday! What a surprise. Great food and great staff :)