McGrath's Fish House - Best in Utah, but Not Best Ever

My Mother's Day at McGrath's was Delightful, but Not like San Francisco Seafood

McGrath's Fish House in Salt Lake City, Utah was my choice for a nice Sunday afternoon Mother's Day dinner. McGrath's Fish House first opened in 1980 in Salem, Oregon, and now has restaurants in Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Oregon and California. McGrath's Fish House has two locations in the Salt Lake City area: one is downtown in The Gateway shopping area, near the Energy Solutions Center where the Utah Jazz play basketball; the other location is in Sandy, Utah, about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City. I ate at the downtown location, which is located in the restaurant district of the open-air Gateway shopping mall. This location is a quaint, informal restaurant with a pleasant, wooden, harbor-type interior decor. The patio dining area sits on the walkway of The Gateway mall and has umbrella tables for relaxing and dining in the fresh air.

We did not need reservations and amazingly, on Mother's Day, we were seated in about 15 minutes. The service at McGrath's Fish House was excellent and the wait staff is young and friendly. It is not crowded or noisy, but there are a lot of tables and booths close together, so it is cozy - but not very private or romantic. We began with the Crab Cake appetizer and the Calamari Rings appetizer (each priced at $7.99). These were not the quality you might find in Maryland, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were and moderately priced. The battered, fried calamari rings were cooked perfectly - crispy and tender. McGrath's uses a spiced flour coating that is delicious. It is served with Aioli. The crab cakes were grilled and served over a very good lobster sauce. In Salt Lake City, it doesn't get any better than that. McGrath's also has an Oyster Bar, with oysters on the half shell, a nice variety of seafood cocktails, steamed clams, and tempura tuna rolls. They also offer a Cajun Seared Ahi Loin served with Shredded Daikon and Wasabi Cream. I plan to try items from the Oyster Bar on my next visit, since they looked absolutely wonderful when the waiters walked by with those dishes.