Hermosa Beach Fish Shop is a casual seafood place, located off Pier Avenue and PCH, right at the outskirts of the Vons shopping plaza. It looked like it was once a fast food burger joint, and the drive thru was converted into a patio dining area.
They have 2 version to their menu: a build your own style, where you pick your fish, how you want it cooked, pick how you want it presented (ie: taco, salad, sandwich or dinner plate), and add your sides. Then, they also have the preset menu of popular seafood items like fish n chips, chowders, poke, etc.
George cheerfully greeted us, as we explained it was our first time. He suggested the fish platter, as you get 8 ounce of fish plus 2 sides. I went with the Red Snapper ($15.50) which was one of the lower priced items. I added the 6 grain rice and veggies as my 2 sides. Stephen went with the Mahi for $19.50 and chose the jasmine rice (basically sticky white rice) and the cole slaw, made in with vinaigrette, not the traditional creamy mayo.
We also added an order of the Fish Shop Shrimp, which were 6 large shrimps in their “fish shop” seasoning, served with a chipotle aioli sauce. It had a kick to it, but it wasn’t overly spicy. Thumbs up at $9.50.
We also added a side of the onion rings, as I saw someone’s order and it looked really good. They’re big onion rings in a very light batter, and they were so juicy. I was glad we did order it. In addition, we added a “cup” of clam chowder. That was a big cup, and I saw what the “bowl” was, and it was huge. Definitely generous portions served here.
Finally our entrees arrived. The fish came out juicy and tender. The portions for our entrees were more than generous, and the sides we had (the cole slaw and the veggies) were enough for 2 people to share.
Our eyes were bigger than our stomach and we ended up taking 1/2 of the chowder home, some of the shrimp, onion rings and veggies. That was Stephen’s lunch for tomorrow!
In general, seafood is not cheap. However, eating better is not cheap compared to grabbing a burger and fries. In looking at the portion size of the dinner plates, you do get what you pay for, and its a lot of food. Next time, I think I’ll share a plate with Stephen, or just even stick to a bowl of the soup and share a side of onion rings. They were THAT good.
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