Orange County Register

We’d driven by California Fish Grill in Cypress countless times without stopping, but on a sunny weekday off work recently, the missus and I decided to give it a try. From the outside, it looked like a fancier sit-down kinda joint, but upon walking into the nicely chilled restaurant, we discovered it was more on the fast-and-casual side of things.

What to order? Well, the answer is in the name of the place — there are no steaks on this grill. The waitress at the counter said the white roughy with garlic butter sauce is a customer fave, so that seemed an easy choice. And I’ve always felt the other good test of a seafood restaurant is what they can do with a deep fryer, so the calamari and shrimp platter filled out the order.

The white roughy, which as you can see, comes with fries, cole slaw and bread, is a tasty deal at $7.49. It was moist and flaky without being fishy, meaty yet delicate, and simply prepared: charbroiled in the garlic butter, with maybe a dash of seasoned salt and cayenne pepper, it’s a meal that lets the natural goodness of fresh fish come through.

The fried calamari and shrimp plate seemed a bit sparsely populated for $8.95, but again, the seafood came cooked just right, if perhaps a big bland and overly breaded.

The calamari came as strips, not the usual rings, and was just the right degree of chewy — none of that rubbery chewing gum-style squid you sometimes come across. The shrimp seemed a bit better, though, cooked just enough to that your teeth crunched through the meat with each bite.

The biggest knock on this one was that breading that coated each piece lacked a little flavor — none of the zesty flavor you get with your Southern-style deep-fried seafood.

Still, glad we finally stopped in — and would definitely go back and try other dishes, like the grilled zucchini ($1.75 or $1.25 with a meal) or the charbroiled salmon ($8.95) on rice instead of fries.

The California Fish Grill is located at 10569 Valley View St. in Cypress. The small chain also has outlets in Anaheim Hills, Irvine and Gardena. Find out more at www.californiafishgrill.com.

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