by Richard Foss
Fast casual fish grills are relatively new as a concept – a restaurant industry magazine article in 2008 expressed surprise that fresh seafood was moving beyond white-tablecloth restaurants. The idea makes sense because the same ingredients can be served so many ways, fresh from the fire, deep-fried, or sauteed with various seasoning combinations and sides. Put your choice over rice or salad, fold it into a burrito or taco, make it a sandwich, and you have something simple to make and attractive to almost anyone.
Blue Salt Fish Grill opened in 2010, and though they weren’t the first in the area (that honor goes to California Fish Grill), they stood out from the rest for their ambition. Conventional wisdom said that they should create the illusion of variety, but they chose to actually offer it. When I wrote about the place in 2011, I marveled that they had 10 different fish to choose from and a dozen spice rub and sauce combinations, plus 10 side items. I found it marvelous, though it took some time to order because there were so many choices that we had trouble deciding.
That process hasn’t gotten any easier in 2025 – there are now over 20 different seafood items and almost as many seasoning and sauce combinations, plus a list of sides that has ballooned to 15 items. Before you order you need to look at the specials menu – otherwise, how would I have known that on a recent evening they had fresh wild halibut, coho salmon, and a surf and turf platter of a steak with giant prawns. Print this menu in a classic font on nice paper and you would guess it’s from a fine dining restaurant, until you look at the prices – they’re in the fast casual range.
All that is very good in concept, but what’s the dining experience like, and how was the food? You stand in line to order, and there almost always is a line, because people get all the way to the counter and discover that they had more choices than they thought. There’s probably nothing that the management can do about this, and on two recent visits we found the counter staff to be helpful at explaining things while not overtly rushing indecisive diners. One thing they could do is let people know that the seafood and side pairings on the specials menu are suggestions rather than fixed ideas, so people have more options than they might think.
Order your food, select something from the impressively large variety of wines and beers or grab your order and a cup for the soft drink, and head for a table. It’s a fast casual dining hall but a fairly comfortable and well-decorated one, not overly loud. The tables outside are quieter, but people facing the lot get dazzled by headlights every time someone pulls into or out of the spaces facing them.
Unlike many fast casual places, you can order an appetizer with a fair chance that it will actually arrive before the rest of your meal. This is hit or miss – the scallop and octopus salad we ordered on the second visit arrived about two minutes before the main items. It was startlingly good, the grilled seafood tossed with arugula, sweet roasted peppers and zucchini, and fragrant fresh basil with a ginger-soy dressing. That dressing with the basil and roasted peppers put this in the Italian-Asian fusion category, and whoever came up with it has a fine palate.
We only ordered one appetizer, as we knew the portions here are always generous. For entrees we selected fish and chips, northern halibut, Coho salmon, and a mixed grill platter that included salmon, mahi mahi, prawns, and scallops. To say this was generously proportioned is an understatement – it was about three-quarters of a pound of seafood, all properly cooked, so there was some crust but the interiors were tender and moist. The cooks here prepare fish all day so can probably do it in their sleep, but it was impressive anyway. I had picked white miso, which lends a mild musky sweetness to the seafood, but wasn’t noteworthy. The sides were grilled corn in pepper butter, a good background item, and a cup of braised chickpeas with tomato that was a highlight of the meal. This straddled the Mediterranean with Italian/Arabic spice and herb flavors and was something worth trying at home.
At that meal my wife had the wild coho salmon topped with Italian herbs – too many herbs for her taste because there was a thick and savory crust of them, though I liked it that way. Coho is a relatively mild and low-oil salmon, and the heavy herbal layer might have been better on a more fatty fish like king salmon. She chose grilled zucchini, which had a lightly peppery seasoning, and cole slaw, the American classic well made.
I chose chipotle-cilantro butter to pair with the northern halibut, and it was a sound choice for the mildly flaky white fish. It was less spicy than anticipated, the cilantro a mild, bright undertone to the slight smokiness. It was an excellent pairing with the brown rice with quinoa and chopped pecans, another hit from the side dish selection. It was well-paired with a Caesar salad that had plenty of flaked fresh parmesan, the standard item well-executed. That description also suited their fish and chips – a crisp beer batter around big pieces of pollock, flanked by crisp fries and some more of that cole slaw.
At both meals we ordered from their surprisingly large selection of wines by the glass. This isn’t a snob spot, but the generous pours of Joel Gott sauvignon blanc and their house pinot grigio went down just fine, and did little damage to my wallet. Nine desserts are offered, but on both trips we were so full after dinner that we didn’t end up trying them.
Blue Salt Fish Grill has built a reputation on quality and value – there are plenty of full meals that are under 20 bucks, and the steak with giant prawns is the only thing that runs over $30. At that price, you can go back for more the next time you feel like a meal from the briny deep.
Blue Salt Fish Grill is at 2525 Arftesia Blvd., Redondo. Open daily at 11 a.m., close 9:30 p.m. Mo.–Thu., 10 p.m. Fri.–Sat, 9 p.m. Sun. Parking lot, wheelchair access good. Sound level moderate. (424) 247-7414. bluesaltfishgrill.com. ER
