Go Fish

Casting about at the mall

by Margaret LeRoux

India Cafe Go Fish 1318 Worcester Road (Route 9) Sherwood Plaza Natick (508) 652-0777 Hours Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Major credit cards Full bar Handicap accessible

Go Fish is a good catch, well worth a trip to Sherwood Plaza, across from the Natick Mall. It's an unlikely setting for such an upscale restaurant, but the mall offers lots of parking, and you can always shop for running shoes and/or vacuum-cleaner bags in the stores on either side. Perhaps because of its location, Go Fish doesn't take itself too seriously. The décor is sophisticated, sleek, and cool -- deep blue ceiling tiles, padded booths with brushed-aluminum sides, and shiny black table tops. But there are lots of amusing touches too -- the wavy blue neon sign out front, the funky fish artwork throughout the restaurant. There's even a subtle wave pattern to the upholstery. Colorful banquettes line one side of the room. On the booth side, the cream-colored wall is spangled with pretty silver starfish.

The Go Fish wait staff is friendly and service is prompt. When I called to make a reservation for three, I was told that the restaurant doesn't take reservations for parties of less than eight, but that if I called 15 minutes before we arrived, they'd put my name on a waiting list. Sounded fair, but we showed up early on a weekend night and there was no wait. Within minutes after we were seated, our water glasses were filled and we had a plate heaped with tasty focaccia olives and some olive-oil dip.

The menu offers trendy and imaginative seafood dishes and a good selection of alternatives for meat lovers. The wine list has several by-the-glass offerings as well as half bottles of wine. We chose a flinty Australian chardonnay, Hardy's ($6), Talus ($5.50), an okay chardonnay, and Nobilio ($5.50), a crisp sauvignon blanc.

You can start with six or a dozen littleneck ($6.95/$13.50) or cherrystone ($7.95/ $14.50) clams, or oysters ($8.95/$16.95) or go all out with the seafood tower -- three littlenecks, three cherrystones, six oysters, three jumbo shrimp, three Jonah crab claws, and a quarter pound of Alaskan king-crab claws ($31).

My vote for the prettiest appetizer description goes to Go Fish's smoked salmon roses ($10.95) with tri-colored vinegar peppers, onions, and caviar with toast points. There's baked Maine crab dip ($10.50) with marscapone cheese, artichoke hearts, and spinach; shrimp and asparagus tortilla ($9.95); and a baked portobello mushroom stuffed with crab and lobster in pesto sauce ($11.95). And more -- crab cake ($9.95), fried clams ($10.50), steamed mussels ($7.95). Tough decision; it all sounded so good. We decided to share baked oysters ($9.95) a colorful platter of five large oysters, topped with cream, steamed spinach, caramelized onions, and Parmesan cheese. What a good combination of flavors and textures. The fresh, briny oysters were toned down a bit by the cream and cheese. Spinach and onions added chew.

From the salad choices, grilled portobello mushroom and goat cheese over greens with a warm raisin vinaigrette ($8.95) and poached salmon with marinated artichokes, cherry tomato, onions, and roasted peppers ($12.50) were contenders, but we settled on arugula and frisee with toasted walnuts and baked figs stuffed with gorgonzola cheese in a lemon vinaigrette ($6.95). This was another successful contrast of textures -- soft rich figs, crisp and slightly bitter greens, and crunchy walnuts. Plus it was a huge salad, easily satisfying three of us.

All non-fish selections are served with roasted potatoes, wild mushroom sauce, and seasonal vegetables -- roast chicken ($12.95), pork chop ($13.95), New York sirloin ($17.95), filet mignon ($18.95), grilled lamb chops ($19.95) and "wicked expensive" veal chop ($25). There are also sandwiches available at dinner -- portobello, pesto and tomato on focaccia ($7.95), chicken, red pepper, and goat cheese ($6.95), and grilled cheese and lobster ($10.95). Seared scallop pizza ($10.95) was intriguing, as were the shrimp, asparagus, and pesto ($10.95), and the sweet pea, lobster, and cheddar ($11.95).

There is a long list of grilled fish including ocean catfish ($13.50), swordfish ($15.95), Idaho trout ($14.95), and jumbo shrimp ($17.50).

If you like fish-pasta combos, you have plenty to choose from -- seared shrimp and portobello and gnocchi ($15.50); salmon, asparagus, spinach, and cherry tomatoes in lemon-cream over penne ($10.95); lobster, crab, and shrimp ravioli ($14.50), and braised monkfish over roasted root vegetables with pan-seared polenta triangles ($16.95).

I chose pan-seared Chilean sea bass over chive fettucine with a tomato, olive, onion, and herb sauce ($17.95). The sea bass had a fresh, clean taste -- simplicity atop the richly herbed pasta, with chopped calamata olives giving it a salty bite. It was a generous serving too, I had ample pasta to bring home. One of my companions had grilled scallops and asparagus-flavored risotto with roasted peppers and mushrooms ($16.50), an elegant dish if a little spare on the scallops. There were only five of them, but they were large, plump, and sweet -- just enough to share a taste.

Our third companion went for the catch sampler ($17.95) which offered grilled haddock, bluefish, and red snapper, mashed red bliss potatoes, sautéed summer squash and zucchini, and a tasty homemade cole slaw. The bluefish was outstanding. Grilling allows the rich flavor to shine. The haddock and snapper were good too, but their more delicate flavors were a little too subtle for this plate.

Our bill was just under $100, not including tip.