Good Inexpensive Seafood Place in the East Village (New York)
Written: Mar 10 '01 (Updated Mar 11 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fresh seafood, inexpensive. Friendly service, intimate setting.
Cons: Some entrees are small.
The Bottom Line: Fresh, expertly prepared seafood; friendly service; upscale, intimate setting. Good place to go before heading off to a theater on the lower east side.
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| soothsayer's Full Review: Pisces |
Pisces is small and cozy restaurant located on the corner of 6th St. and Avenue A, a block away from Tompkins Square Park. It is upscale looking with cloth napkins, tablecloth, and dimly lit candle votives in tiny wicker baskets. This is a seafood restaurant after all, and the design of Pisces reflects that with a curved wooden ceiling designed to look like the inside of a ship's galley with lighting enclosed in decorative iron wrought grills. There are perhaps 24 tables each able to seat 2 people, and a bar toward the back integrated with the dining area; there is also an upstairs dining room. It is not terribly crowded, although late evenings the restaurant can be full and busy. Reservations are accepted. Take-out and delivery service is available.
Service at Pisces is very friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable. While dining, you can be entertained by the vibrant neighborhood of the East Village. Indeed, while I was there, a few young girls ran up to the windows dancing around playfully harassing the diners, then there were the three biker outlaws (you know the type.. leather, beards, scruffy, mean spirited, not ot be confused with spandex, happy colored shorts and styrofoam helmets) who just showed up on the corner and ad hoc begain to auction off a small antique table and corner piece to passersby.
Water comes from the tap, delivered in a glass bottle to your table, or you can get a bottle of Pellegrino. The wine list is extensive mostly whites and reds at around $22 odd for a bottle, some available by glass at around $5-6.00.
Most of the entrees are priced between $6.25 to $10.00, with more expensive items in the mid-$10, and the most expensive being the steak, a NY sirloin. Appetizers are quite reasonable at around $4.25, quite good, and do not skimp on value.
Pisces also has a prix-fixe menu consisting of an appetizer, entrée, and beverage for $14.95. You can choose an appetizer like the fried calamari, or the soup of the day, beverage choices include house white or red, soda, coffee or tea. For entrees, there are 4-5 choices available.
For starters, the soup, the shrimp and corn chowder, was shrimply delicious. It was a hearty mix of corn, finely diced potatoes and tomatoes along with tender pieces of shrimp mixed in. A crusty piece of thinly sliced rye bread with cheese broiled on top floated partially submerged in the soup for extra substance.
The pan-roasted filet of cod fish was nice. The fish portion was small, about 4 oz, but was fresh, and expertly prepared. The skin was slightly crispy like a wafer, the fish delicate like soft tofu, basically melting in your mouth. Of course, you should always eat fish as soon as it is cooked otherwise when it cools, the meat toughens and you lose the delicate nature of it all. The fish came with asparagus, mushrooms and sliced potatoes in a red wine reduction sauce, which was ok.
Pisces has their own smoke house in the kitchen, but among the dozen or so items on the menu, only a few were smoked. They had smoked scallops baked in puff pastry; a mesquite smoked trout dish; and a dish with fettuccini and cured salmon. For those who love to go to a seafood restaurant for reasons other than seafood, there are several non-fish entrees on Pisces' menu. One is a roasted half chicken with mashed potatoes, spinach, and lemon-caper pan jus for $7.95, which is the average price for this type of chicken dinner, and they also have a grilled NY sirloin steak served with sweet potatoes and mushroom, spinach, and a peppercorn sauce for $17.95. There are also some vegetarian entrees.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Best Suited For: Romantic Evening
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