City Blue Fish, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

Ah, Blue Fish, you were quite a disappointment. You used to be my favourite Fish and Chippery in the city, albeit an inconvenient one that I didn't get to that often. Good food and prices and functional style setup, when I brought people to visit they were always sceptical at first but won over by the end of their meal. I hadn't been for nearly a year but either we caught you on a bad day or your standards have dropped dramatically. Still the same prices and décor but the quality of the food was way down, to the extent that I'd have rated it as below average.



For example, feeling a little virtuous I decided to go with the 'healthy' option of grilled calamari and chips. The chips weren't the thick cut chips I'd have preferred but more like fries. Nothing stood out about them in either a good or bad way, neither crispy as I would have liked or soggy which I would have hated. The calamari though wasn't really up to scratch. For grilled calamari I would have liked small pieces of bare calamari, with little lines scorched into them by the grill. These instead were lightly battered, had no grill marks and were a bit soggy. While they didn't have the cardinal sin of being chewy and rubbery, they were not up to the standard of how I remembered the food.



Sally's choice was the fisherman's basket. Can't complain about the price given the size of the serve and that it came with a can of drink for just under $10 (I think). I didn't try any of it but I know she wasn't terribly impressed with the quality, and to be honest it did look a bit overcooked on the plate.



Overall
I don't know if it's the owners but it did feel that something has definitely changed from Blue Fish's heydays a couple of years ago. The price is still the same, the décor, the service (quick but of few words), but it doesn't stand out as somewhere to go to in this part of town anymore. Whereas once the size of the serves felt generous, on this day it felt more that it was compensation for dropping quality. I'd probably give it another go to check if it was just a bad day, but all places change and Blue Fish's may have been for the worse.

Verdict
Food - 5.5
Ambience - 6
Service - 6
Price - 7.5

Address
620 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9614 1476