FishTag
“For apps, we had the sea urchin crudo in ocean water and the smoked octopus.”
“Egg on top of tender trout on a bed of sauteed veggies and great potatoes, it's a whole different take on the norm.”
“For those of you who aren't crazy about seafood, fret not, their Lamb Burger is truly terrific (and come with the aforementioned Smashed Fries).”
FishTag
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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What am I not getting, Michael Psilakis? About a year separated my visit to Kefi and my visit to FishTag, and while you're certainly consistent, it's not in a good way. While you didn't do anything ostensibly wrong, I can't say you did anything ostensibly right, either. And unfortunately, I had to pay for that. Literally. Pretty much the epitome of a three-star review.
FishTag had been on my list for ages before I finally committed. I live close by, and Mediterranean food happens to be my favorite cuisine. So when I saw that Gilt City posted a deal that packaged two apps/two entrees/two drinks for two at Fishtag, it seemed ludicrous not to jump at it. Due to my experience at Kefi, I went in cautiously optimistic. Serious, serious emphasis on cautiously.
The similarities with Kefi started almost immediately. We walked in, and a man who appeared to be the host wasn't acting very host-like at all. He ignored our awkward presence for a good five minutes (he seemed more aloof than mean-spirited, but still) until saying he'd be right with us…which meant more waiting. Thankfully, all aspects of the service after this point were positive. Just not a good first impression.
Then came the drinks. I can't seem to find the cocktail menu online so I'll do my best to recall the various drink "attempts" we had over the course of the night. One was a whiskey-based drink with egg white and some other interesting things. Unfortunately, the ratios were completely off. I'm pretty sure there wasn't even alcohol in there. While the drinks did get progressively better from there, they were all pretty lackluster. That said, we were both well aware that FishTag is more known for wine/beer than cocktails. But given that it's an allegedly nice restaurant, we expected more. Of all the cocktails, I'd recommend the Spiced Manhattan. It's made with rye and cloves, among other things. The Alchemist was also okay, if you're more of a gin drinker.
Now for the food. We were more enticed by the appetizers than the entrees (as I pretty much always am), so we went for three apps and one entree instead of two and two (obviously FishTag didn't mind this). There were a few highlights, but overall it was quite "meh":
Royal Sea Bass Ceviche w/ plum sauce, cucumber, red onion, chives, yucca chips (C+)
Though my dining companion thought differently, I really did not like this dish. I'm not sure if my taste buds did something funky beforehand, but regardless, this whole thing was off. It tasted straight up weird. Similar to the cocktails, I just thought it was quite unbalanced. There was this odd sourness that overpowered the whole dish and it just didn't do it for me.
Smoked Octopus w/ fingerling potatoes, hearts of palm, snow pea leaves, pumpkin seeds, date & green olive puree (B+)
I've had some damn good octopus in my life, so my standards are quite high in this arena. I actually liked the octopus pretty well, though it was hard to tell with so little on the plate (in no world should that amount of food be $16. Just no). The garnishes seemed kind of arbitrary, but the octopus itself had nice flavor and the yummy crispy skin I like so much. Definitely one of the better choices of the night.
Bacala (salted cod) & Skordalia Brandade "Melt" w/ kefaloteri, smoked eggplant, oven dried tomatoes (A-).
You might need to finish and entire bottle of water while eating this dish. I love me some salted cod, so I wasn't at all surprise when I took to this baby immediately. But between the cod, the cheese, the skordalia and the eggplant, there was a lot of salt and overall flavor here. I wouldn't say it was "off" like the ceviche, but it's definitely powerful. Of everything we tried, this one was easily my favorite.
Braised P.E.I. Mussels w/ spiced fennel & shellfish broth, garlic, chickpeas (B/B+)
Again, this was NOT bad. The mussels were cooked well and had nice flavor to them–I've certainly had much worse. I struggle between B and B+ simply because this meal was underwhelming as a whole. B+ if it's relative to everything else we experienced here. But B in any other case. The chickpeas were unnecessary and I found their presence strange (weird to say about food, I know). Unless you fished around in the broth (no pun intended), you probably wouldn't know there were chickpeas to begin with. It's almost as if Psilakis said "Hold on, this dish doesn't seem 'Mediterranean' enough for me. I know! I'll just thrown in some chickpeas. That'll do". Anyway, the mussels themselves were decent and the broth was perfect dipping material. Just lose that extra s***.
Overall, this meal was adequate. But it's not worth the money. I'm an indecisive person, but I can say that with complete certainty.
Very chill atmosphere for weekend brunch – place was not very full and very quiet. Good service. Nice brunch prix fixe deal that comes with a drink — of course, this is more and more the standard for NYC brunches these days (yay!). I had the smoked trout hash, which was pretty good but not that memorable. The patatas bravas though was quite disappointing, bland and under-cooked, and memorable for my inability to bring myself to finish this despite still being hungry from the small portions.
It's okay if you live in the area and just want to have a low-key brunch, but I wouldn't trek to the UWS just to eat here again.
I'm basically giving this place a 5 based on the Smoked Octopus alone. It's smokey (of course) and super tender with just enough char. The Greeks seem to be masters of grilling octopus and squid, and this is no exception. It was heavenly. One of my favorite dishes of all time.
With that out of the way, I came here during Restaurant Week. My date and I ended up with salmon tartare, smoked octopus, PEI Mussels, lamb burger, panna cotta and banana brulee. We had also opted for wine pairings – she went with red, I went with white. Personally, the wines didn't do much for me in terms of complementing their respective dishes.
Salmon tartare was good, but nothing life changing. I guess it's hard to compete with smoked octopus.
PEI Mussels were quite meaty. The chorizo and chickpeas added flavor and a little texture.
Lamb burger was incredibly tasty. It was like biting into a big patty of gyro. I also appreciated the large potato wedges.
Panna cotta was boring. It seriously needed a lot more flavor.
Fermented banana brulee was excellent. Crunchy base. Lots of flavor.
Overall, I'm definitely glad I tried this place for NYC Restaurant Week and would gladly come here again.
Great place for brunch. Located on the ground floor of a brownstone, it feels intimate and cozy. I have enjoyed all of the dishes that I have tried. Go for the brunch prix fixe.
So many rave reviews about the trout hash…so I ordered it. My conclusion: it's alright, it didn't wow me, it was a rather small portion. It was a small piece of trout topped with a fried egg and way too much mustard, which overwhelmed the whole dish. I would recommend going for an omelette instead, especially if you're ravenously starving. Our large group enjoyed our Sunday morning brunch, though the service started out slow. We had to flag down our server to put in our order. The food arrived promptly, however, one of our friends had to wait extra to get her trout hash. That's always awkward when everyone at the table has their food, except for one person. Then you feel bad if you don't wait for them – do you eat or do you not eat and let your own food get cold? That is the question. Good manners says that you wait. My friends were very satisfied with their entrees – the lamb burger, the ricotta pancakes, the omelette and salad. Good coffee.
A part of the Chef Michael Psilakas family of restaurants (think Kefi), Fishtag has a limited but well done menu, with some French influence. It wasn't terribly crowded on a late Sunday, which is good because the space is definitely cozy. Reasonably priced. This is a nice little brunch place, I'll have to come back and explore some of the other items on the menu.
A few of us came here for brunch and were pleasantly surprised. We made a res' for Sat but didn't need it… granted we went mad early for brunch, 12pm.
Almost everything on the menu looked good but we finally settled on the prawns on bruschetta, a couple orders of the smoked trout hash, and we shared an order of the bourbon french toast.
The prawns were super fresh and had a great texture, the smoked trout hash maintained the flavor of the fish, and the bourbon french toast was good (could have been more bourbony thought).
The atmosphere is great for being able to enjoy the company of your friends and the staff are very nice. We were able to catch up with each other without having to strain to hear the person across the table.
We mos def found a new brunch spot!
Loved the salmon dinner entree. I wasn't a huge fan of the crispy skin, but that's just a personal thing. The salmon was cooked perfectly – medium rare. And the salad that accompanied it was delicious – light and crisp and very refreshing. The wine list is not particularly impressive here, though.
Would Nemo be the last pick in a game of fishtag? I locked in on the lobster bucatini (pasta) for my entree and sampled the smoked octopus and salmon carpaccio appetizers. All the dishes were light and allowed the fresh seafood to shine through. Yet, I wish they had a bit more gusto and zest. The old fashioned inspired beverage took thyme to consume. The environment is casual, but I sea others who dressed up a bit. The servers made dinner flow along swimmingly.