Chinn's 34th St. Fishery (Lisle) review

NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 18:49:06 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: tin/1.4.2-20000205 ("Possession") (UNIX) (SunOS/5.7 (sun4u)) Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:20400

Went to Chinn's 34th St. Fishery in Lisle after work last Saturday at about 6 PM - too crowded, so went back on Monday around 5 PM when it was much better.

Not too impressed, unfortunately.

Appetizers - Sharon had a bowl of crab bisque, which was quite good - great texture and taste.  I had the baked clams - very tasty!  Garlic rolls were too buttery/greasy for our taste.

Entrees - Sharon had Mahi Mahi done baked oscar style, I had Arctic Charr done blackened style.  Mahi Mahi was pretty good, Charr was just OK (not enough blackening and fairly mild taste - the waiter had described it as a salmon/trout kinda thing, but it wasn't salmony enough :-)).  Side dishes were a choice of rice, fries, or parslied potatoes.  Sharon had the rice, which was actually just a scoop of white rice (no seasonings whatsoever) and I had the potatoes, which were just a bunch of new potatoes sauteed in butter and w/parsley sprinkled on them (not bad).  Cole slaw was good - very creamy and smooth-tasting.

Desserts - waiter just asked us if we wanted coffee and we had to ask him what the desserts were (other than that, he did a great job, so we tipped 20% :-)).  Sharon had a slice of passion-fruit (mango, papaya, etc.) cheesecake - fruit was blended into the whipped cheesecake, and it just didn't have that much fruit flavor.  I had a piece of chocolate cake which was described as having fudge and pecans on top - pecans were there, but the frosting could hardly be described as fudge, cake itself wasn't nearly as moist as chocolate cake needs to be.  Coffee was very good, though.

Entertainment factor - we sat next to the tank where they have 3 oscars: 1 was the oldest and grouchiest, the other 2 were trying to mate, so we got some amusement out of them while we were eating.

I've since been told that the one up north (Wheeling, I think) is much better.

brian

I've been to the Bob Chinn's in Wheeling many times and have never eaten off paper plates. Early bird spcial is $4.99 for either a dozen clams/dozen oysters/two dozen huge cold shrimp. (or a combo of two) Nicest oysters I have ever tasted. And have never waited in line for three hours like everyone else. Go for the first seating and there is no wait.

Tina

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The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
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