Hours: off season, Fri - Sun. 11:30am - 9:00 pm (M-Su in season)
Extras: Live entertainment on weekends. Arrive by land or by sea (docking available). Outdoor seating by the bar.
Website: www.thefisheryrestaurant.com
(Scroll to the bottom for a quick rating/review)
The same weekend I moved to Florida, one of my northern friends happened to be renting a house on Don Pedro Island (South of Englewood, near Cape Haze). I went down to visit her for a night and I fell in love with the area. The only way to get to Don Pedro was to take a 2 minute ferry ride across the inner coastal. Once there, the main mode of transportation is by bike or golf cart. I spent the evening enjoying good friends and spent the next morning doing some great shelling. Yes, I fell head over heels for this place!
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| The beach on Don Pedro Island |
I try to make it down to that neck of the beach at least once a year, however this visit was the first time I’ve been down since 2012, thanks to cancer treatment in 2013. Greg and I took the ferry across and rode our bikes to the beach to collect shells and shark teeth. The shelling wasn’t as good as years past, but it was still relaxing and enjoyable. And as tradition states (my tradition, mind you) we go to lunch at The Fishery and then shop at Margaret Albritton’s Gallery.
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| The old fish camp is not an artists community |
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| The Fishery |
The Fishery is located in Placida, just a few miles south of Don Pedro. The area was once a Native American camp ground. Legend has it that Buccaneer Pirate, Jose Gaspar, nicknamed Gasparilla, buried his treasure there. Apparently it was a legit legend because at one point the Smithsonian spent time searching that area looking for Gasparilla’s treasure! In the 1900’s the area became a hunting and fishing camp, then the Gasparilla Fishery community moved to Placida in the mid 1940s. The Fishery was built in 1988 by the Albrittion Family. Since my last visit in 2012, the atmosphere of The Fishery has changed somewhat - it doesn’t have as much of Margaret Albritton’s artwork and they eased up on kitschy fish decor as well. The place wreaked of new ownership and from the information I’ve been able to uncover online, the ownership did change sometime in early 2014.
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| Inside The Fishery |
Since I started coming to this part of Florida in 2005, I’ve been enamored with the fresh seafood at The Fishery. I would rave over pink Gulf shrimp that were as sweet as lobsters and hearty conch fritters, that came with an amazing key lime dipping sauce, where you could actually taste the conch! AND the orange, key lime pie… to die for!! Those have been my staples during every visit.
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| The million dollar view |
On this visit I noticed that the menu had changed. I was disappointed to see conch fritters were no longer listed as an appetizer. When I asked our waitress, Brenda, why they got rid of them and she said they still have them, they're just not on the menu. Hmm … perhaps they were omitted from the menu during the printing? Strange. I placed my order for conch fritters only to find out they would not be available after all - apparently they were still frozen and wouldn’t be thawed enough to cook for hours. (Insert frowny face here). Even though the mussels on the menu are not native to Florida, Greg and I opted for garlic mussels as an appetizer, plus he got a beer and I got a Sangria.
Our drinks came. I noticed that the Sangria was made with soda, I loathe Sangria made with soda. (Insert BIG frowny face here). I also noticed that the price of those amazing peel and eat shrimp had creeped up. They were once around 50 cents a piece and now they were now 75 cents a piece. So I thought I’d go another route and get my yummy shrimp as part of a meal. I asked if the taco salad, served with chicken, beef or shrimp, was indeed the fresh pink Gulf shrimp. I was told, no, they were the smaller shrimp. My mind immediately pictured that disgusting canned shrimp, the kind that my mother used in her 1970’s shrimp jello that was molded to look like a fish!
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| A beautiful, yet best forgot 1970s food trend.... fish and jello. |
I then asked if the gulf shrimp were in the seafood sampler salad. I finally got a yes! I order that. Greg ordered Fish and Chips - which always makes him nostalgic for the days he spent in Scotland. We learned through our inquiries with the waitress that Haddock (a New England fish) is the fish in the Fish and Chips AND in the fish tacos. Call me crazy, but I would think the bulk of the menu items should be native fish if you’re calling yourself The Fishery, in a fishing village, along the Gulf Coast, but maybe that’s just me.
Our mussels arrived along with some fresh baked bread, the crusty sourdough variety. Sadly, the bread was the best part of the appetizer. The mussels didn’t taste fresh, they weren’t horrible, but I’d never order them again. In the mussels’ defense, it is not the ‘season’ for mussels since it’s mid-June, however I suspect no matter what month it is, these are the frozen variety for a longer shelf life. The garlic sauce was marginal, however when used for a dip with fresh baked bread, it magically transformed into a much better sauce.
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| OK but I think I can get the same ones at Costco |
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| THE best part of the meal! |
Our main course arrived. Greg’s Fish and Chips were OK and just what you’d expected from a fried fish basket, however the hush puppies were tasty. My salad looked good. Aside from the shrimp, scallops and crab meat there really wasn’t much more on the salad, just some carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms and onion. I believe it could be livened up with some chopped egg and maybe some bacon, a seafood cobb, if you will. I was happy that the lettuce was a fresh leafy romaine and not cheap iceberg. The amount of seafood on the salad was minimal. I had five medium sized shrimp, about ten small scallops and about 1/8 cup of crab meat. I would bet my last sand dollar that none of that seafood was fresh. The dressing I picked was a key lime vinegrette which didn’t have any lime flavor, tasted like straight vinegar.
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| Fish and Chips |
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| Seafood Sampler Salad |
After the meal, I was pretty full, not from the salad, but from the bread (it’s so damn yummy!) and I still had to see if my favorite orange, key lime pie still existed. Greg and I split one for dessert. I was pleasantly surprised that it was still as good as I remembered.
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| YES, one that that is still the same! Orange Key Lime pie - DELISH! |
The Fishery that once was, is no longer. My favorite little, kitschy Old Florida joint with fresh Gulf seafood is no more since it’s new ownership. Our next shell hunting trip to Don Pedro/Palm Island will include hunting for a new favorite place to dine.
RATING: 5 best / 1 worst
Food *
The Fishery, a name the evokes fresh seafood, yes? No. Half the fish items are not indigenous to Florida (lots of Haddock), the other half have likely been frozen for who knows how long. The best thing this place has going for it is the bread basket, and it is a pretty damn amazing bread with loads of real butter! No joke! Oh and the dessert... perhaps the new ownership needs to evolve the place into a bakery.
Vibe **
The look: They lost the cook kitschy fishy look with the new owners. It’s your basic fish joint, nothing special inside. However, the view is worth a million bucks - if only the food matched!
The crowd: families and retirees.
The bathroom: a bit run down. NO soap whatsoever, but they did have a big bowl of salt scrub that is supposedly "antibacterial" (ask your waitress if you wish to purchase some). It smelled amazing and left but hands soft, but I wonder if the Health Department would think this is Kosher?
And: Outside seating by the open air bar. Live bands on the weekend. Catch a manatee ore dolphin if you can!
Service **
Our waitress, Brenda, was helpful and for the most part, she on top of it ... not bad, not great. I did overhear her tell some customers that she now works three doubles Friday, Saturday and Sunday just so she can get hours since The Fishery went to ‘off season’ hours. That can’t be easy.
Moola ***
We paid $72 bucks for 3 beers, 1 sangria, 1 wine, an appetizer, a lunch salad and a fish basket and dessert. If I was served all FRESH and flavorful fish, I wouldn’t complain one bit. This was to much for money seafood I could have got in the freezer section at the grocery store.
OVERALL: *
I won’t be back until the previous owner returns.
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