Kingfish Restaurant

Gotta say. Very disappointed. They cut off ²⁄₃ of the menu. No more BBQ shrimp, Steak pot stickers, salmon and shrimp dish. Fewer steaks to choose from. They literally only have 9 entrees. This place used to be so good. The service was pretty crappy too. Made a reservation and we were seated. Waited about 5 – 10 mins before anyone came around. I noticed the menu was much different and the waitress (waiter? I couldn’t tell) with a blonde pixie cut just came up and asked if we were ready to order. No greeting, didn’t offer any specials. She clearly didn’t feel like being there. I asked if this is the full menu? She said «yes, you guys can just have drinks and go somewhere else if you want.» My girlfriend and I were astounded they said that. So, that’s exactly what we did. Will never go back. I highly suggest you don’t either. Drive to San Carlos and go Town. Similar with waaay better service and more options.

In Speech Class I was taught to tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.
Do not go to this horrible restaurant. There, I told you.
I want to preface my review noting we ate here because of powerfully personal reasons. My wife’s father owned the building in the 60s and 70s. She played there as a child and wanted to see it again.
Okay, here are the sordid facts. We were first in the door at 4:30pm. After being seated, I excused myself to the restroom. I entered the dark, dingy room, did my business, and went to wash my hands. I almost vomited. One sink was half full of undrained water because it was plugged with hair — presumably human and not pubic. The other sink was half-​full of similar hair, but drained slowly with use. People, I have never, ever seen such disregard for hygiene. Not in bus stations, not in the Venice, Italy McDonalds that regularly has a line of one hundred people. Recall, we were first in. That means no one checked the restaurant since yesterday. Also, it meant no one was assigned to clean the heads. I certainly hope the staff used the heads, not, say, the corner of the kitchen. Hence, whoever did was able to ignore the unignorable. Tremendously bas sign!
I left the bathroom, shaken, and saw a couple dudes playing pool. Here’s an important rule. Rule One: Restaurants do not have pool tables. Bars that serve food have pool tables. Bars that charge $ 67 for surf and turf should be avoided. Seriously. It’s a simple rule.
In spite of those two powerful warnings (yes, the owner did warn me to run, didn’t he) I recalled this was a sentimental journey and sat back down mute. Big mistake. Rule Two: listen to that little voice screaming in your ear.
While waiting for our meal, we were given tasteless bread with dipping sauce. It was a puddle of balsamic vinegar with a splash of olive oil. It was impossible to not soak the bread with the vinegar. Hence, the dish could be called «vinegar-​soaked tasteless bread.» Yeah, not so good.
As first in, we were the second served. Bad sign, but it was too late. We both had the 10 oz «Prime Rib» with two sides. The meat was served naked on a plate. No garnish. well, the pre-​packaged meat had garnish on the meat — thanks to the factory that prepared it, but no local thought to duplicate this visual courtesy. Maybe too busy playing pool. Both medium-​rare chunks of meat were medium. Both slabs of dead cow were only slightly above room temperature. Neither had any taste. Worst of all, both tough, I’m talking really tough here. I check for marks where the jockey might have whipped it, you know?
Intermittent summary: cold, factory prepared, tasteless, tough $ 34 sub-​prime entrees with Third World bathrooms.
There were 4 sides we shared. Of course, by the standards of Kingfish, all were served cool.
The cauliflower was excellent. The highlight of the meal (sadly). Nice sauce. The garlic mash potatoes were dry as desert sand, lumpy, and under-​seasoned. I could not taste garlic. The fried mushrooms were — cue the crickets — fried button mushrooms, overcooked yet served cool. Odd choice by the chef, but there you have it. The gratin potatoes were ghastly. One of the worst things I’ve ever been served. I kept re-​tasting them to confirm how horrible they were. The layers of under-​cooked potato without cheese, sauce, or seasoning duplicated the texture of thick seaweed. But some ill-​informed soul put some herb in there — maybe thyme, maybe sage — that made the combo of errors indescribable awful.
As an aside, Kingfish must be locate near a take-​out pizza place. Load after load of pizza in those red plastic protectors walked by our window. Halfway though our meal, while watching a delivery boy lugging three cartons of pizza, a thought jumped into my head: Order one of those pizzas and have it delivered here. At least then I’d end my hungry with something hot, juicy, and deeply satisfying. Then I pictured the scene I’d create. A delivery boy with a thick accent would be confronted by the angry receptionist. She’d summon the chef.
The man would explode, meat-​cleaver in hand. He would demand to know which customer thought his food was as bad as his wife and adult children told him daily it was and, like his family, ordered that damn pizza every time he forced them to eat at Kingfish. Slowly, all eyes would settle on me, slumping down as low as possible in my chair. My only defense would have been to toss the powerful vinegar solution in the chef’s eye and hope to slip past him, unchopped.
I skipped the pizza and left wondering what snacks were in the car.
Tell them what you told them: just say no. Please note, the last 10 Unilocal reviews average 2.7 for a place that charges high prices for bad food and management neither cleans the bathrooms nor reads Unilocal

Really great quality food and wine. We went on a Saturday evening so it was pretty busy. Ordered oysters… delish…filet mignon roll… tasty…and beignets for dessert… my favorite! Chandon champagne and a dirty Belvedere martini for me and my friend and a few glasses of red for my hubby. Fabulous atmosphere. We sat in the Game of Thrones chairs. All in all a great experience.

I would give negative stars if I could. Let me just say, HORRIBLE! Ive gone to Kingfish for years and, over the past year, their customer service, food prep (taste, seasoning, etc) has gone down hill. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. You will be extremely disappointed. Against my better judgement, I recently held an event there with a large group of local and international guest. We were all dissapointed.
1). We did not get what we contracted for or the amount based on the contract.
2). We received less than ½ the food and the food that was sent out came out 1.5 to 2 hours late. More than half of my guests left an hour into the event due to the lack of food and the quaility sent out of the kitchen was BAD.
3). The «chinese chicken salad bowls» were just lettace, a few cornchip curls, no dressing and maybe 1 – 2 small pieces of chicken that you find in small campbells chicken soup cans. If you were lucky to get that.
4). The other apps looked nothing like the photos advertized on KF’s site or Unilocal.In fact, the beignets were sent out in triangle and shapes with powered sugar sprinkled on top. The sauces for the beignets were no where to be found. COSCO would have been a better choice. The steak skewers looked like burnt rat tails on a stick and, when we requested a glutton free meal for one of our guests (jambalayah), the waiter brought out the jambalayah with a large piece of grilled bread in the bowl. Really??? Yes they did that!
5). The bathrooms down stairs where gross and only one out of the three stalls worked. Only one of the two sink bowls worked while the other was busted up. MAJOR FAIL!
I will never go back nor would i ever encourage any one else to do so. Do yourself and book your events, dinners or lunch at one of the many restaurant choices in downtown San Mateo. What KF is doing to customers for the sake of a buck now, is not right.
Sound Advise: Stay Away!

I had heard great things about Kingfish and while we had a solid dining experience, it was a little disappointing. To start, the bar up front had so many screens it felt like we were at a sportsbar. I understand that a bar needs one or two screens to accommodate any customers’ need to watch a «must see» game but 6 or 7 tvs changes the vibe of the restaurant.
I ordered the seared tuna salad and my friend ordered the jambalaya. The seared tuna was fine-​it was cooked the way I requested it but was not particularly flavorful. The salad underneath the tuna was good and the dressing was uninventive but solid. My friend didn’t finish her jambalaya and was not impressed enough to take the leftovers home. On the plus side, the service was accommodating.
The host was proud of their new super-​high-​backed chairs which were cool looking but a bit bulky and hard to maneuver. I’m from out of town and next time I visit I will certainly try other restaurants before coming back here.

I’ve been here a few times and their food is generally consistent and delicious. I came here last night for a birthday dinner and for the most part, that visit was no exception. Our waitress was brand new, with fewer than three days on the job — so, as was expected, our service was a bit slow, as she was still learning, but she was an absolute sweetheart. We tried the BBQ shrimp appetizer and the filet mignon potstickers — I could have made a meal of both of them, they were incredible. I ordered clam chowder to eat before my meal, which to be honest, the consistency was extremely watery — but regardless, again, it was still delicious. For dinner I had the NY Steak with crab, which was pretty great! My mom ordered a NY steak, cooked medium, and it came very, very well-done…she sent it back, and when they brought her a new one, she insisted everyone at the table try a piece — the replacement was probably one of the better cooked and seasoned steaks I’ve ever had, so props to the chef for blowing our minds with his correction! We all ordered dessert — the ice cream sampler — which, because it’s Humphry Slocombe ice cream is to die for… but I do have a small gripe about the menu options. We were here about a month ago and saw that the trio of ice creams included vanilla, chocolate, and a Blue Bottle Vietnamese Iced Coffee flavor — and we were told that they had run out of the coffee flavor… no big deal. Last night, they told us that it was discontinued a few weeks before, that they no longer offer that option. The dessert menus are paper — if there’s a major change, don’t you think it might be worth it to reprint them? Just my two cents… but in light of the absence of the coffee ice cream, I opted to replace it with the Passion Orange Guava sorbet flavor… and it was absolutely incredible! Not disappointed at all.
Overall great restaurant!

Everyone around here recommends this this place, I don’t. Ordered a round of Old Fashion’s for myself and my 3 colleagues. The bar tender topped them off with club soda. Yes– he did.
My european friends were polite and drank them. Not me, I sent it back and asked for a glass of wine. if Texans are paying $ 10+ for a drink, we want a drink.
If New Orleans and Lubbock had a baby– it would look like Kingfish. Pretty good oysters though. Really good for large groups– we had about 30 folks.

I had a frustrating and embarrassing experience at Kingfish last night. After making reservations for my manager to take a customer to dinner, I was informed that the customer was vegetarian. I scanned Kingfish’s menu and saw that while there were few vegetarian options (and no vegetarian mains), many items looked easily convertible. I called the restaurant and was told that Kingfish could easily accommodate a vegetarian diner. The restaurant suggested that we inform the waiter when seated, and he will make sure that our customer’s needs were met.
I didn’t attend the dinner, but my manager told me this morning that the waiter was not willing to provide a vegetarian meal and basically told them there was nothing he or the chef could do. After some back and forth, our customer did get some pasta with some vegetables on top. I am also a vegetarian and have never had this issue at a restaurant. I have always been able to get either a plate of sides or a slightly modified version of what is on the menu already, but I have never had a restaurant flat out refuse to accommodate me (especially after I was told that they would).

This place is terrible. service not much better then food we had about 20 people in the private room. Open bar they ran out of alcohol, the ribeye and crab. My steak was over cooked. A chicken under cooked and my potato gratin was cold.

I’m actually sitting at the table as I write. This was a special dinner for us because my brother and his wife are in town.
While we weren’t thrilled with the wait, the warm food and the eternity it felt like it took to get here, it happens. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do if staff calls in sick or something goes wrong. BUT how it’s handled is the important part. No one is perfect, not even you who is reading this review.
Our waiter, Elijah, busted his butt as did the other staff we saw. They checked in with us, did their best and accommodated us wherever they could. And he did it with a smile in between running (literally) tables.
I spoke with the manager only because we had been so patient. I was understanding, not rude, an approach I feel more of us should take. He was very apologetic and did his best to take care of us.
There are some great restaurants out there but how they function and treat the guests when it’s not as smooth matters and even tho it was a rough night, we received the best service we feel was possible given the circumstances. I really hope others read this and react accordingly when reviewing local businesses.
They received five stars only because we appreciate how hard they worked, you could see it. Also we come here multiple times throughout the year and always receive excellent service.

Have not been here since they remodeled the downstairs dining area. It looks great! High back cushioned chairs with a nice grey tone color along a rustic wooden table. Very chic indeed!
The food was good. Ordered crab cake poppers, jalapeño corn bread, fish & chips, burger, and bacon cabbage salad. All very tasty. But you can’t go wrong with fried food! Lol!
It’s definitely a great place to go to celebrate any occasion with a big group because they really have room for it, whether downstairs or upstairs. And the menu will fit any tastebud because of the variety it offers.

Went for my Uncle’s 60^th Birthday Party. We had the 4 course pre fixed menu. My bf and I chose:
Starters
— tuna tartare
— had a couple bites of the filet mignon potstickers and crab cake poppers
— Caesar salad
Main dish
— grilled filet mignon
— pan roasted chicken breast
Dessert
— bananas foster bread pudding
— chocolate decadence
Drinks
— Cucumber lemon
The starters were super yummy! There’s wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about it. The main courses were okay. No wow factor. I asked for a medium rare cooked filet and it was medium. I was too hungry to let our servers know so I just stuck with it. The spinach was okay as well. My bf found it very bland until we noticed my cousin sprinkling some bacon bits on top. Why didn’t we think of that either? Haha anyways I loved both desserts. Overall my experience at Kingfish was okay and I may give it another go and try different dishes.
Also, jboog was sitting literally right next to us. I was listening to his music that morning and what are the odds haha! Didn’t want to disturb him while he was eating so my cousin, bf, and I took a quick picture with him as he was leaving.

Visited Kingfish once some time ago. Posted the pictures, too, but I keep forgetting to review this place because I couldn’t seem to remember to do so. Which is all I can say about Kingfish. The experience wasn’t memorable. It was mediocre to say at best.
We didn’t want to wait for 20 minutes for our seats since one of the games was on so we headed to the bar initially with the intentions to wait for our seats. We then settled with just stationing at the bar.
Our meals were served there, an order of the lamb which wasn’t as gamy as I had expected. Kudos. And I got the shrimp etouffe which really made me think back at all the jambalayas I’ve ever had in my life. The Shrimp etouffe, thank god I was told, was very similar to my expectations of jambalaya tasting dishes. I was on my way, ready to go, set on ordering their creamy jambalaya dish. without said cream.
Food was. OK! Service. Tell me why, we asked for water and waited 20minutes to get it? You’d expect the bar to always be staffed with bartenders but it wasn’t. They were there. just not in our section and not for us, apparently. My mojito tasted off. in the sense they tried to make their own version of a mojito with 7 shots vodka & 5 mint leaves. Trust, I know what vodka tastes like and I know what to expect from a mojito. We paid, and left. You best believe that check comes real fast when you’re ready to pay and leave, though! Service is definitely not slow or lacking in that department.

Had two visits, and was hoping the second visit was a redemption. Unfortunately it wasn’t.
Service was consistent on both visits… slow. We were not in during the full dinner rush, and we were one of the first tables to sit on both occasion (perhaps we came to early?) We had to hunt for service to get more drinks on both occasions.
The food was ok, but I think the service took away from the whole experience since it was what was the topic of discussion.
Too many other options on the peninsula for me.

3 ½ STARS to be exact.
I’ve always wanted to go to Kingfish because it just looks so classay and the menu always looked so delish. Finally got a chance to try it out for a work event and they were OK — above average… I was expecting so much better though.
The service was a little spotty — we came with a party of 6 and the host was great and very accommodating with a few special requests I had. But throughout the the waitress was a little slow to take our appetizer order, food order and refill drinks and take our dessert order. We arrived at the restaurant around 5pm and didn’t leave till 7:30 which is fine because we were socializing so it killed the time, but sometimes we were left waiting and flagging down the waitress to move along with the process. It wasn’t horrible, but it could’ve been more efficient.
The food seemed to be good all around. I had mixed feelings about my dish (Halibut) — I know I didn’t love it, but the rest of our party seemed impressed.
I loved the atmosphere, food and drink options and probably will be back. =)

I’m really impressed with Kingfish for my first time dining here. We had the Jerobaum appetizer sampler with tuna tartar, jumbo prawns cocktail, crab rolls and 6 oysters – it was amazing! We split the snapper entrée topped with crab, another amazing dish! Finished it all off with the banana bread pudding, YUM! The service was great and everyone is very welcoming and friendly. The location is great in downtown San Mateo.
I would definitely return to Kingfish!

Today was my first time at kingfish and I love it! The food is yummy, servers are nice and after that I party at their lounge in the ground level and I had so much fun!!!
Kingfish lounge restaurant just became to be one of my fav places to eat and party hard!
Good night saxy people!!!

Stopped in for lunch one day and wished I would have gone somewhere else. The service was the worst I’ve had in a while. The food was not bad, I ordered a caesar salad and the crab+beer soup. The soup was surprisingly tasty, would definitely order it again. However, I don’t think I will ever get a chance to as I don’t plan on ever returning.
Much better options in the area to choose from for lunch or dinner. Save your money and go elsewhere.

I’ve had friends working here and I’d always tap on the window and wave but never go in.
The place is pricey and I was never sure really what I’d be getting myself into but I decided I am finally gonna do it.
I came for happy hour and well I was quite surprised at how excellent the drinks are.
This definitely isn’t my first time drinking but boy the drinks they make here beat most drinks I’ve ever tried in my entire life.
I tried the hurricane, the long island, the mojito’s, and even the mule and I am very satisfied.
Hell I’d say they are definitely worth non happy hour price but hey happy hour gets you into seeing what your in for and I sure was treated to something great.
I tried every one of the happy hour appetizers and I was very happy with everything I tried.
The burgers, oysters, calamari, and even the taco’s are soo good and well worth what they would be at regular price.
Now I see what the rave about kingfish is.
There’s no big hype, it is what it is and what it is is excellence.
Food at its finest at this establishment and that’s all you’ll get.
The service is supremely excellent as well.
I felt very welcome and so very much satisfied.
I suggest everyone try this place.
The prices are very decent for the quality your getting.
The location is great and its a great place for groups too.
You definitely should feel great while eating here just like I did.
Great buns here too!

I like Kingfish because they offer a wide selection of food — something for everyone — salads, soups, land/​sea. They also have a great selection in their bar. They’re also open late making it a cool hang out spot.
My favorite thing about this restaurant is the amazing oyster bar they have. The oysters are super fresh and delicious! Everything else on the menu is decent — nothing too exciting.