"1"^^ . "It's not a happy birthday for me until I get to stuff my gullet with seafood so we decide to check out Fishbar for dinner since it was a carry over from my 2012 to-try list.\n\nReservations were made easily online but I have to mention - their website was a hot mess. The menu was very difficult to read. I just checked back and looks like they are working on improving it.\n\nOur group of 4 arrived around 7pm to an empty restaurant - oh goodie, a private dinner.\n\nStarted with a round of drinks, a bottle of riesling, a dozen PEI oysters on the half shell ($2.50 each) and the smelts ($8). \n\nWe also ordered a variety of tapas from the menu to share - tuna tartar ($16), fish tacos - 2 per order ($12), anchovies on crostini ($8), scallops with apple butter ($16), seared tuna ($16) and fries ($6).\n\nThe highlight of the meal was definitely the tuna tartar and the fish tacos. Both tasted super fresh and amazing. We actually had to get a second round of both!\n\nLow light was the smelts. I'm from Northern Ontario so I know how easy it is to catch and prepare smelts...it was a staple in my childhood diet right along with Labatt 50 and maple syrup. The Fishbar smelts were super fishy tasting which signals to me that they were probably frozen and not fresh. They were soggy and flaccid (deep fryer not hot enough?). I've definitely had better at highway truck stops. \n\nService was adequate and I was comforted when a few more diners showed up about half way through our meal. \n\nFishbar was definitely a treat since I couldn't very well go fishing for my own seafood at this moment. Would consider returning next time my fancy turns to fish."^^ . "2013-01-15T00:00:00"^^ . . "1"^^ . . . "3"^^ . "1"^^ .