Cantankerous Fish

Filet minjon was bland and covered in brown sauce. I do not recommend the steak.
Tuna sushi plate was tasty, but covered in sauce.
Martini was excellent.
Service was pretty good at the 6−7pm hour on a Friday night.
Overall, I will not go back.

On schedule to what I reported here in April (along with the business history), Cantankerous closed May 21 and will soon re-​open, under the same ownership it’s had fo some time, as Scott’s Seafood (Mountain View location).
Sign up front still says June, but the management is currently [as I update this on July 8 ] estimating re-​opening as Scott’s on Tuesday July 10.

Was my first time here. Happy hour is only at the bar so if u want to avail the happy hour prce, you better b at the bar and not be sitting anywhere around. So, ordered teo drinks, a pineapple martini (dnt recomnd at all) and a bourbon ginger (which was okay). For maincourse, we had sea bass and their special of the day Halibut. Sea bass was sooo delicious with nice bed of fluffy mashed potatoes and brocollini sitting on top spiced up with some morrocan sauce. Simply amazing!!! The halibut was not wrth it at all. It tasted bland and was served in a way that seemed like they juz put ketchup on top!!!
Overall a pricey restaurant but hey Sea Bass is awesme!!! Servce is okay.
Go Fish!!! Lol

I was a bit concerned when we walked by so many other restaurants that were busy and Cantankerous Fish was not. Usually, we would take this as a clue and take our business elsewhere. But alas, I am my grandfathers grandson and I had a
coupon to use. Big mistake.
We were seating relatively quickly, menus presented, water and bread served and drink orders taken. Okay, so far, so good.
Bowl of New England Clam Chowder — $ 6.00 — creamy, good flavor, good
Zucchini Cakes — $ 7.95 — great cole slaw; not so good on the zucchini cakes. I would have prefered paying $ 5.95 and skipped the zucchini. The texture was so chopped, it could have been chopped broccoli or brussel sprouts and would probably have tasted the same.
Cantankerous Sea Bass — $ 25.95 — gross. Well the fish was so-​so but it was served on top of some very firm mashed potatos and a vile charmoula sauce that tasted strongly of capers. The seasonal vegetables appeared to be overcooked kale.
Seared Sea Scallopes — $ 26.95 — Good flavor on the FOUR sea scallops that was my ENTREE. Yes, there were thinly sliced leeks, fennel, asparagus, as well as spinach, sweet corn and red bell peppers as adverstised on the menu. But the advertised mushroom cream sauce was reminiscent of a runny Cambell’s condensed soup.
We skipped dessert and I made it a point to tell our server that when the restaurant is reflagged as a Scott’s, the scallop dish should be removed from the menu as it was a terrible value. His response was neutral and I suggested that he share that with management. He said that he would and went to process my credit card.
My opinion is that with all the other dining venues on Castro, without a huge change, it won’t matter what the name is, most diners will not return.

I really like this place for dinner and happy hour. Been there for dinner a couple of times. It’s a nice place for a date. Prices area bit high but understandably so. The taste and quality of the food certainly explains the price.
By far my favorite thing about Cantankerous Fish is their happy hour. Unlike most places they have happy hour everyday of the week. It’s such a great place for a drink, some food, and conversations with your date, friends, or the bartenders. I highly recommend the tempura rolls from their happy hour menu — all of which are half price.

Went here for my birthday dinner on Sunday night with my hubby, my sister and her boyfriend. I didn’t know Cantankerous Fish was affiliated with Scott’s Seafood and will soon be an actual Scott’s Seafood restaurant mid April.
I’ll keep this short and sweet. I thought the food was pretty good, but the service fell a little short. For appetizer we had the crab did, which I thought was yummy. DH and I split a cesar salad, but hubby was hoping he’d see some anchovies but didnt. He ordered the Seafood Sauté and he said it was very good. Sister’s bf ordered the Sea Bass and he polished his plate, so it must’ve been good. My sis and I both ordered the Ahi Two Ways. I think I preferred the seared ahi better than the ahi roll thing. May be cuz it tasted a little too cooked. For dessert, we ordered the crème brûlée and some mint chocolate thing. I can’t remember. i thought they were both pretty good.
Service was a bit sub par, though friendly when we did have service. I felt a little neglected. I think it took awhile for our server to even greet us for water/​drinks. Once our server took our drink order, my wine and sis’ bf’s cocktail took quite a long time to arrive at our table. During the course of our dinner, we asked for more bread. But we had to flag the server who was helping the table next to us since we already twice before. I think that server was probably more a manger or head server or something since he seemed to be in charge.

3.5 stars.
We came here for dinner tonight. Despite the mediocre reviews on Unilocal,I wanted to try this place because I am a seafood fiend. I had also heard that its closing and reopening as a Scott’s Seafood soon, so I wanted to come try it before then.
We arrived absolutely starving for our 7:30 reservation and devoured about 4 baskets of bread as soon as we sat down. The bread itself was not very good (quite stale) but we were so hungry we just wanted to get something in our bellies. For our entrees, I had the daily special which was an almond-​crusted seabass, served over red pepper mashed potatoes and balsamic vinegrette and topped with cherry tomatoes and asparagus ($ 27). I really enjoyed this dish. It wasn’t mind-​blowingly creative or anything like that, but it is all food I really like and it was very well-​executed. The fish was cooked very well, and there were a lot of interesting flavors going on in the dish. My fiancé had steak and scampi ($ 25), which he said was ehh. He requested his steak medium well and even though it was burned on the outside, it was bright red inside. Not really medium well. It was also absolutely drowning in sauce, which he wasn’t happy about. I think he expected the shrimp & sauce to be separate from the steak instead of on top of it. I guess the lesson here is to stick to the seafood dishes, which is not surprising given the focus of the restaurant and the fact that about 70% of the menu is seafood.
I do feel like its a bit overpriced for what it is, but then it is on pricey Castro St. With the $ 10 off coupon we had (Google «Cantankerous Fish» and «Coupon» for $ 10 off $ 40), I felt like it was worth it, but otherwise I wouldn’t really want to go back at these prices. The service was only ok as well. I felt like it was very pushy/​upselling (e.g. «Are you sure you don’t want an appetizer/​a drink/​a dessert?»)

Went on a Saturday night. Was only ¼ full at 830pm. Not a good sign when Cascal, next door was jam packed with people. I always wanted to try it so we sat down.
I would have to say there is nothing great about the food and nothing bad about it. The staff was friendly and the server was very sweet and attentive.
Prices were too high for the quality of the dishes that came out. Nothing memorable at all.
I will say that the spicy lobster bisque was the highlight. I actually don’t remember the other dishes. oops

Food is ok but not made to price.
We used passport so the bill isn’t wasn’t too bad. I’m assuming the 3 star review of this place is due to poor cost performance ratio.

My husband and I have wanted to try this place for a long time so when I came up on a
$ 25 discount we decided to go. Man was it a severe disappointment. The food is really expensive. I ordered the Atlantic Salmon Special which was good by husband ordered the Jambalaya and it was bland and definitely not worth the price. The crab dip appetizer was nothing special and I would not bother eating it again. Our cocktails were awful too the bartender needs some practice on that front.
Aside from the food the 1-​star rating is hands down for our server Jenny who ignored us for a good portion of the evening though she was friendly when she decided to come around. We waited an unnecessarily long time for our food. By the time we finished eating we had been there for so long the place had cleared out. We then proceeded to wait almost 40 minutes just to get our check. Our server was nowhere to be found and when we did site her she ignored us. We tried to ask someone else to help us but that was pointless. My water remained empty most of the meal because no one bothered to refill it or even ask if I wanted a refill.
Due to my coupon a 20% gratuity was charged automatically which she definitely did not deserve and if I’d had a choice in the matter she would not have gotten near that amount. Needless to say my Husband and I will never be eating here again. But if you have hours to waste for bad service and overpriced so-​so food then this place is definitely for you!
I don’t mind paying more for good food and I really wanted this place to be good so we would have somewhere close to home =(. Next time I will stick to By the Bucket they are expensive but the food is incredible.

A-​Ok or mediocre is a good way to describe Cantankerous Fish. We stopped in for a quick lunch, were satisfied with our meals and the service, but nothing Unilocaled out ‘home run’.
The fish tacos were well prepared but a little small. The service was friendly but didn’t offer anything over the top (I mean, my water was refilled and my meal was served hot…). We didn’t have to wait long at 11:30am on a Monday.
Again, nothing to write home about while still probably worth another visit.

Came here for restaurant week and everything about this place was just A-​OK. Nothing too memorable, but it wasn’t bad.
I started off with the calamari with some watered down cocktail sauce and a lemon-​shallot butter sauce. Wasn’t a fan of the cocktail sauce, but the lemon sauce was yummy. There were also no tentacles (the BEST part). What? Do they cut it up and save it for themselves? The calamari wasn’t crispy enough, either.
For my entrée, I got the Seafood Sauté. When it came out, i was a bit disappointed. It was 3 shrimp and 2 scallops and like…2−3 very small pieces of dungeness crab meat surrounding a huge scoop of rice. Presentation was pretty, but the flavor was lacking. Normally, they charge about $ 25 for this entrée… I don’t think it’s worth it.
For dessert, I chose the molten chocolate cake. No complaints there. It was served with butter pecan ice cream and had chocolate oozing out of it. Yum!
Not sure if I will be back for dinner, but I may try their happy hour one day. :)

I didn’t expect much from this place after reading some of the reviews. Came here on a company sponsored «Welcome» lunch and our party was 16 people deep. Considering everyone was excited to eat here on the company’s dime led me to believe the prices were a bit steep for what the quality of the food. Out of 14 people, 10 of us ordered the Ahi Tuna Salad. I ordered mine with added avocado and I was pleasantly surprised. The tuna was seared perfectly and was fresh, bright red, the mango strips were perfectly ripe, and the sesame dressing wasn’t overbearing in taste or quantity. I was very happy with my dish. We also had calamari appetizers which were quite good and not at all too chewy.
Although the portions aren’t too big (everyone seemed to have a pretty empty plate), the company picked up the tab for this round so no one seemed to mind. But I found this place lists discount certificates on
, so I’d come back just for the tasty Ahi Tuna Salad alone.

I have been to this spot 15 – 20 times. I never understood why they get such a bad Unilocal rating besides the RIDICULOUSLY high price. I LOVE the Ahi Tuna salad they have and their calamari. Their Ahi Two Ways is also delicious. Now why the one star… they pissed me off for the last time.
On TWO different occasion’s we ordered out and went to pick up. They forgot the sauce on the salads both times. So I have to call the restaurant and tell them you messed up my order. «Im sorry» they say. I chalk the first one up to a mistake. They manager tells me to come in next time and ask for him in order to comp us for our next two salads. I think to myself, stuff happens but that is good business.
The second time was worse. My wife goes in and gets blown off by the Bartender who is gabbing with her friend rather than help my wife. She finally gets the food and comes back to the house with it. YUPP you guessed, no sauce on the food AGAIN!!! WTF? how about you guys manage and tell your cooks to un-f*ck themselves. Not only was the sauce non existent, but the boxes they use to hold the calamari doesnt keep it warm, so i got no sauce and cold calamari…
I called the restaurant to tell them how crappy they are AGAIN, and the managers tells me «Im sorry» and that he will give us 15% off our next bill. You guys are dumb and I WILL NEVER EVER EVER COME BACK.
Congrats Contakerous, you lost my families business and all the potential recommendations, which were many, that i might have given. Have you ever thought of having a weekly meeting with your managers/​owners/​staff to discuss what you have done right/​wrong in order to improve? Leadership 101. GOOD BYE!

I came here for the first time with my friends. She recommended this place for lunch. The atmosphere was nice and mellow.
I ordered the salmon sandwich that comes with fries. The portion was small, but it was really good.
Overall, food was good, but a bit pricey for lunch hour.

So the last time I came here was several years ago and I did not like my food. I went again yesterday and my opinion has not changed.
Oysters on the Half Shell– fresh
Dungeness Crab Dip– just okay
Crispy Fried Calamari– The calamari was probably the best thing I had here. It was very crispy and seasoned well.
Jambalaya– Chicken was overcooked and the rice was mushy. Seasoning was good though.
Molten Chocolate Soufflé– just okay
Upside Down Apple Tart-​nothing too exciting here
Coconut Bread Pudding– YUCK!!! This did not resemble bread pudding nor did it taste like it. It was cold and hard and very very dense. I could barely slice through it with my fork. It tasted like someone took some crap out of a freezer and threw it on a plate.

Cantankerous When I Arrived — But Mellow When I Left…
We don’t get up to Mountain View from south San Jose very often since we rarely eat too far from home for most of our meals (my wife is a very good cook… I promised to mention that). But we were invited to attend the Christmas Show of the Smuin Ballet just down the street at the Center For Performing Arts and a few people with opinions we respect recommended the Cantankerous Fish.
So my wife and I plus another couple (who are frequent co-​conspirators at these places I write about) entered the restaurant for an early dinner at 430 PM on a late Saturday afternoon. Only 1 other table was occupied, but then again I was surprised to see the restaurant open before 5 PM.
First impression of the Cantankerous Fish was that of a fairly traditional seafood site. However, my official walk to the bathroom… a very important thing to do for several reasons… gave me a chance to look the place over. It had lots of contemporary touches, such as bright but warm lighting and the color, nature and texture of the furnishings made the space seem more inviting and spacious.
The menu might not be long on selections, but most of the 8 – 10 choices under appetizers, salads, «fresh feisty fish» and «more grounded» had interesting descriptions. In fact, several of the ingredient combinations seemed a bit off-​the-​wall, but the ones we chose were very good. The Wine List took a similar spin with 8 – 10 rather uncommon choices in 8 varietals…4 white and 4 red… with lots of items by-​the-​glass. Whomever put that list together has an eye for the unusual. Our glasses… a Malbec (2) from Punto Final in Argentina and a Pinot Grigio from Ferrari Carano… were as tasty as advertised and fairly generous with the amount.
We started with a shared order of Phyllo Wrapped Baked Brie Bruschetta accompanied by small mounds of tomato tapenade, apricot jam, sun dried cherries and chutney. It was about as good as it sounds. Being a well-​known food hog, I ordered a large bowl of the soup-of-the-day…lentil. It was okay, but the mere sight of the beans got my stomach churning and offered a hint of the damage to come (to anyone in closed quarters like a car… you know what I mean).
For my main course, I heard the screams of those lentils and decided to go a bit easy on my wife and friends, so I ordered a dinner-​sized version of the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad for $ 15.95. If had some unusual elements, including mango strips, but came together well. My only gripe… just 2 pieces of tuna were on the plate. Great quality, but meager quantity.
My wife had the Cantankerous Sea Bass with mashed potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, Charmoula Sauce and some vegetables. While she didn’t declare «it’s the best I’ve ever tasted», she said it melted in her mouth (maybe it was her breath that did it… just kidding) and worth the cost of $ 25.95. One of our friends had the Prawn Penne Pasta with tomatoes, basil, herb flavored cream and a touch of vodka. He was all smiles, especially for the relatively small tab of $ 18.95. His wife registered the only reservation of the night with her Panko Encrusted Petrale Sole and french fries. Fireworks are not expected with sole, but the flavor was almost invisible.
No complaints about the service which was friendly and efficient. Regarding the bread… we think of ourselves as connoisseurs because we eat tons of it and the samples at the Cantankerous Fish were too doughy. Not bad, but just «there». Taste of the bread improved a little with butter and a lot with Baked Brie, though that would help most anything, including cuts and bruises. «Just apply a little brie and the pain goes away». Dessert was suggested, but not seriously considered since we had to roll away from the table before finding some strength in our legs.
The Cantankerous Fish is a solid selection among the endless supply of places along restaurant row on Castro Street in Mountain View. Some previous reviewers complained about the prices aside from «Happy Hour», but we got what we paid for. There are always cheaper storefronts up and down the street for those on a more limited budget.
Pros: Good food. Warm atmosphere. Nice service. Fun Wine List.
Cons: Somewhat limited menu
Ratings:
— Overall: 4
— Food Quality: 4
— Food Quantity: 4
— Menu: 4
— Wine List: 5
— Service: 4
— Price: 4
— Value: 4
— Atmosphere: 4

Came for happy hour.
Smoked Salmon Rueben Sliders were bland in taste and in the look department.
Fire Cracker Tempura Roll ok but rather greasy.
Fried Calamari a little tough not real crisp and dips were simply not delish.
Beer tasted like beer.
Now PF Chang’s happy hours sound awesome.

It was my birthday and my best friend wanted to take me out for some drinks. I had dinner plans so we decided to hit up happy hour instead. 6 drinks later. the bill was under $ 20… whaaaaaat?! okay, we just added a new spot to our happy hour list cuz drinks are $ 3!
I’ve been back a few times for happy hour since my birthday and have never been disappointed. House wine, well drinks, lots of choices. Food items on the happy hour menu are all $ 5, which means get your grub on before 6:30! They’re never too busy and the waitress comes around to refill your drinks right as you take your last sip.
I’m planning to come back for dinner one day so that I can «properly’ rate them and hopefully give them more stars.
P. S. the bathroom is super clean!

I much prefer their sister restaurant: Bad-​Tempered Mollusk.
All kidding aside, with a restaurant name like this, there is just that much more pressure to deliver the goods. And they delivered… the fish part. Everything else was an afterthought.
– Blackened Fish tacos: ($ 10.95) Looked nice, but a little hard to eat, with single slabs of salmon that just happened to be lying on some tortillas, with cabbage and guacamole (sour cream held per request). Sauce on the side was nothing special. Salmon was perfectly done and nicely spiced, but the rice was clumpy and dry. Beans were so bland that I ate them only for their nutritional content. Portion size was small for the price. 3 stars.
Because I was still a little hungry, I ordered key lime pie for dessert, despite the waiter’s plea to try the molten chocolate cake. But I wanted pie, dammit, and I enjoyed the small slice they gave me. The berries on the side were perfect. 4 stars. Also, I did get a small taste of my friend’s coconut bread pudding — Outstanding! Now I know what dessert I’ll get next time.
Maybe worth a return visit for something else. For now 3 stars will do.