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Twisted Fish Co Alaskan Grill
Categories: Restaurants Seafood Restaurants American (Traditional) Seafood, American (Traditional) [Edit]
550 S Franklin StJuneau, AK 99801
(907) 463-5033
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
28 reviews for Twisted Fish Co Alaskan Grill
Review Highlights
28 reviews in English
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Review from Michele T.
Hartford, CT
9/5/2011
I ordered the smoke salmon pizza. The pizza size itself was decent but with only 4 tiny rolls of smoked salmon placed on top of the cheese. It wasn't really incorporated into the pizza and definitely not portioned to share. The quality was great though.
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Review from Dennis B.
Saint Peters, MO
8/31/2011 1 photo
In my travels I have tasted some good food.....this is GREAT!! Wonderful fresh fish selection. The King Crab, and Halibut were amazing. I recommend the chowder! A local tour guide from Boston even said it was better than what he had in Boston growing up. He has been in Juneau for the last 20+ years. Tip of the had to the locals who all recommended this wonderful place just right off the dock from the ship.
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Review from Sheri M.
East Boston, MA
9/18/2010
I can only tolerate this place before the first cruise ship arrives and after the last one leaves. During tourist season it's a total nightmare. You have to navigate through scores of tourists who are in a fog, gazing dumbstruck at the mountains and eagles, wearing ponchos advertising Tide, simultaneously clutching a map, a camera, and a giant Alaska Shirt Company bag just to get there. And then they all conveniently flock to the Twisted Fish because it is the restaurant closest to the docks and requires the least amount of walking. Trust me, you'd be terrified too.
And after all that you endured to get there, it's just mediocre food. I'm not much of a fish person, so I would usually get a burger. The curly fries and onion rings are pretty tasty though. Garlic Twisters as an appetizer are good too. And I must say I had a thing for their clam chowder. But that's about it.
Not only is the place packed to the gills with the aforementioned tourists, but they blare the most awful music imaginable. So you can barely hear yourself or your companions speak. Even when it's empty they blare the music. Better yet, we sat outside once on a picnic table and they blared the music outside too! I think that's called cruel and unusual punishment.Listed in: Juneau 360
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Review from Terry R.
Salem, OR
7/14/2011
Web were referred to the Twisted Fish by numerous other businesses in the area since we had arrived on a cruise ship. We all (5 of us) had the Halibut Fish n Chips. The portion was significant and tasty but the fries were cold. Service was slow as it took at least 30 minutes to get our foods after ordering it. They were moderately busy so it shouldnt take that long to get something that is deep fried. The Halibut Fish n Chips ran about $22 a person which I think is a bit too expensive.
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Review from Neil O.
Kent, WA
6/24/2010 3 photos
Service and atmosphere is excellent; food could be much, much better. At least they serve wine.
I expected their Cedar Plank Salmon to have a smoky, cedar flavor infused into the fish by the plank. Instead I got a bland fillet on a reused, heated wooden plank with a scent reminiscent of a sauna. The bourbon-molasses sauce was a poor attempt to make up for the blandness; a real cedar plank salmon should not have to be accompanied by a sauce (especially an overpowering one).
The fish and chips were nothing special, and the burgers were just ordinary.
What isn't ordinary is the view. Get a seat by the window and soak in the picturesque setting unique to Southeast Alaska. Add a warm and cozy dining area and you're in for a happy experience. -
Review from Theresa B.
Seattle, WA
9/7/2008
The folks at the Sandpiper Cafe recommended this waterfront restaurant. It looks fancy on the outside, but you could get away with your Xtratufs in here. I had the Twisted Halibut burger with curly fries, and my husband had the Twisted Fish Tacos. I enjoyed my fish burger, but the fries were average and not seasoned! I like my curly fries seasoned, dammit. Bring on that MSG. The fish tacos were a bit to spicy for me and drier despite the creamy sauce on them. They still tasted good, but I would have liked more sauciness.
The table next to us was hilarious. They had just gotten back from a several day fishing trip and were feisty as heck. They were asking random people's political opinions since McCain has just announced his VP pick. I was definitely amused. -
Review from Robert C.
Lake Forest, CA
9/21/2009
The other people in our party had been here previously, and loved it, so I had high hopes... and they were easily met :)
The food was great (large portions!) and really fresh!
I ordered the "Fins" (Fish Sliders) and they were really good and had an excellent sauce on them.
Everyone enjoyed there food, and the decor is nice too... part rustic, part professional.
The ambiance may be casual, but they serve some serious food! -
Review from Sean R.
Roseville, CA
9/22/2009
So I'm up from CAlifornia on business and the hotel recommended this place. Drive out to there and get a good parking spot. Waitress was nice but had so much perfume on I swear I was tasting it and not in a good way.
Ordered the Halibut Sandwich with fries, however I had just placed my order and the power went out. This happens a lot in Juneau, I'm told. So, although they could still use the gas stoves, my fries arrived lukewarm. Waitress was not phased by that and I guess she couldn't do anything about it so she just mumbled "Sorry"......and that was it. Nice decor, great fish, but service is so-so....and the place caters to tourists from the Midwest whose only experience of fish is Carp caught in the "crik up yonder". -
Review from Catie C.
6/21/2008
I came across this place as a tourist. It was along the trek of my venture. there was a yearning to try something local and not cruise food so here I was trying this place out than all the pubs right in downtown.
I wasn't expecting the prices to be so high since it's locally caught. It's comparable to Boston. It was $32 for Alaskan King Crab Legs. Of course, I didn't order that since I knew one of the night on the cruise will have that. Tourist trap indeed.
They had good clam chowder which I was curious what style it would be. I didn't ask when I ordered it since who knows how the server would react since I'm in Alaska. It came out... Great.. New England style. It was savory.
I also ordered a salmon croquette. That was way dry.. hence, hard to swallow unless I used the dipping sauce. Huge chunks of salmon, not much stuffing. Of course, I forgot to calculate in the fishing season that the salmon is not fresh out of the sea! Halibut woulda been a fresher decision. Then again, it's really too early in the fishing season. Really, if I am really interested in wild fish, I would go fishing down at the Cape than travel to the other side of the continent...
Shrimp Fritters.. Tons of stuffing and not much of the diced shrimp. My guess is that shrimp is higher cost than salmon. It came with thai dipping sauce so that's an automatic yum for me.
It's really the experience and not the food that I was interested in. My mom was staring at her raw oysters at the counter for 10 mins before someone brought it over. I was staring at every corner, every board... but it's nothing more than your typical american seafood joint. There's nothing Alaskan about it. -
Review from Dietrich H.
Los Gatos, CA
6/18/2007
I didn't do too much eating on land in Alaska. A cruise is all food all the time, so why pay right? Well, honestly, I was getting sick of it and I wanted some local grub. Twisted Fish was close and our guide said it wasn't too bad so we gave it a go.
We only had a couple dishes, some coconut battered halibut and some fish and crab cakes. Neither one of them were bad, but neither one of them were really great either. Suprisingly, given all the stuff they put in these dishes to add flavor, it was pretty bland. Service was OK, not that helpful, but they were friendly enough.
My guess is the place we went was kind of a tourist trap. Probably everything that was close to the port was, I mean, they get 10k people through the port a day, it'd be good business sense to put a tourist trap there.
I'm sure there are better places to eat for your money. But if you're short on time, you could do worse that Twisted Fish. -
Review from Sterling L.
Tucker, GA
6/11/2009
It was hot as hell in Alaska, so what better way to take advantage of the trippy trip than to check out the Twisted Fish. There's not a ton of upscale restaurants in juneau, you know?
The twisted fish sculptures were interesting. View and ambiance would have been cool except for that heat. Stuffy inside so we sat outside, but they didn't have any more umbrella tables so we got to experience our own version of an Alaskan Salmon bake, except we were the little fishies.
I wasn't exactly low-balling it, so I didn't really mind the high prices. I wanted to check out the place. I ordered Black Cod which I had never seen before. Now I know why. It's an oily fish, and tasted pretty icky. They say the Japanese buy most of it. I say, let em have it. I'd swap them all the Black Cod they want for some tasty tuna.
I ordered the pricy appetizer for two. Some pretty weird stuff like pickled crab tail (bearable, but we didn't finish ours). The fried cod (normal white kind, not that funky black stuff). That was the best thing on the plate. I didn't much care for these fried salmon patties. Tasted like something from Spongebob. The coconut halibut was weird. I suppose it would be OK if you're a big fan of coconut shrimp, but I like my coconut with plenty of rum and pineapple juice, you know what I mean?
The wine suggestion made by my server pretty much sucked, though.
My suggestion would be skip this place and eat at the Hangar instead. -
Review from Lauren H.
Kirkland, WA
12/7/2008
My husband and I spent a few days in Juneau on a weekend retreat from Seattle. The manager at the bed and breakfast suggested the Twisted Fish as a good place for dinner.
Yes, it's a little tourist-trappy, but that's to be expected (it's right by the cruise ship dock), and it's packed, but that's okay--it's probably pretty tasty to be so busy. The wait for two was about 10-15 minutes, so if you want to get seated fast, be sure to get in before 5:30 PM!
Our waitress was nice, but slow in serving us. It took a while to get her attention to order, and much longer to get our check when we were done with our meal. My husband and I splurged and ordered a bottle of wine. His meal was a grilled halibut fillet with berry chutney, which was so tender, it just fell apart. Very tasty! It was a bit expensive though, at $24.99. I went all out and got the Alaskan King Crab Legs--we're in Alaska, so this is as good as it gets, right? The legs were okay, not amazing, and petty darned expensive at $31.99. The butter to dip them in was that gross margarine-y fake stuff. Eew.
We shared a dessert: the gluttonous moose track pie - thingy. It had a cookie crust filled with chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, fudge, etc. Very tasty!! Out waitress was (unnecessarily) apologetic when she brought it out, saying that it was a bit soft, so she gave it to us for free! If she didn't say anything, we wouldn't have even complained, it was great a little soft! But I thought that was very generous of her, and GREAT customer service skills, so five stars to her for that. :)
Overall, so-so atmosphere, good customer service (awfully slow, but great at anticipating food quality and compensating accordingly), food was tasty but a little over-priced... so it all balances out to 3/5. Don't come here expecting an Alaskan dining experience, though. I think the quality of the menu is comprable to many other seafood restaurants anywhere else. -
Review from Matt F.
Council Bluffs, IA
6/9/2010
I can see how this place could be great, but it didn't really kick ass like I had hoped.
Soggy fries, the tacos weren't fresh... It was weird because everyone around us seemed to be having good food. If I bring up Long John Silvers will anyone get offended?
Gotta keep your game up folks, servers counting their tips at the table next to you really makes you appreciate your $15 fish tacos. -
Review from Craig L.
Juneau, AK
8/21/2011
As a local, it's someplace to consider when friends are visiting from out of town. It's got a great location and the interior is very nice plus it has a varied menu that is Alaska focused. It's no great value and the food is ok. If you're trying to impress some folks with an 'Alaska' restaurant, this is the spot. Prices are a bit high for a local restaurant but as this place is only open seasonally and it truly is more focused on the cruise ship crowd, don't expect any great value (even by Juneau standards). If you've got a car, go across the channel to Island Pub or for really great halibut, the owners of this place also own the hanger which I like a whole lot better.
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Review from Andrea H.
6/21/2009
The first time I was in Juneau, it was only for 24 hours and I went to Twisted Fish twice. I had the Twisted Fish Pie (yes, both times...I know, I have a problem, but it was that good). Smoked salmon, shrimp, a deliciously rich white sauce, cheese, mmmmmm. I dreamed of that pizza for 5 years and I finally made it back to have another. Yes, it was just as good as I remembered. And that's not all. The atmosphere is bright and open and the servers are attentive and fun. I love this place. Now if only I could enjoy salmon outside of Alaska...
Listed in: Escape from the Boat!
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Review from George L.
Oakland, CA
8/6/2010
Twisted Fish tends to be very noisy as the atmosphere bounces sound everywhere, difficult to have a conversation. The service is poor when it's busy, the food quality is pretty good. Overall I'd find someplace else with better service, and quieter.
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Review from Dana S.
Juneau, AK
10/5/2009
Pretty good for a tourist trap, I think a decent amount of locals eat here, but I'm not sure. I love their berry burger, but I don't remember what it's called. It shouldn't be too hard to find.
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Review from let's c.
San Francisco, CA
8/28/2010
Went in and sat in the bar area. Bartender was engaged in conversation with friends. Didnt know who was the waiter. Asked a passing waitress. Oh, you need the tender. Oh, he's busy. He came over. Disinterested. Ordered a glass of wine. Asked for a menu. Took him a long time to show up again. More talking. Poor menu. You ever have a hard time ordering? Yeah, it's a selection issue.
Meanwhile the bar area turned into the end of the night reconciliation station for the waitstaff. Ever try to eat dinner surrounded by waiters counting out their nights money and your waiter is no where in sight? It was pretty lame and the food was not exciting. Had a caesar and a halibut burger. Neither was anything to write home about. I was happy to leave and felt sort of cheap for having eaten there. -
Review from Matt H.
Santa Rosa, CA
7/11/2009
My wife and I ate here three years ago, and both remembered it fondly. Tonight I had king crab legs, served with fries and a roll. She has prawns on a barbie. My crab was good. Not entirely fresh, but frozen well so that it retained most of the texture. Her prawns were fresh, and excellent. She was highly pleased. We were too full for dessert.
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Review from Johnny Z.
Juneau, AK
6/27/2010 1 photo
Good atmosphere, but loud and not as classy as it wants to be. Considering they own the Hangar, I'd have hoped for a much better beer selection. Good enough food just don't set your expectations too high. Try the halibut pizza with the coleslaw on the side.
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Review from Jessica T.
Plaistow, NH
8/6/2009
Ok, let me set the stage. My husband and I are on our first vacation in 4 1/2 yrs on a cruise to beautiful Alaska. We arrive, take the tram to the top, visit Mendenhall glacier, see three bears and decide to get a quick bite to eat w/ our new friends that we met on the boat....(It's the perfect day!)
First of all- loved the atmosphere in here, very rustic and cozy. They had sauvignon blanc and an IPA on tap so our thirsts were quenched. I see coconut salmon on the menu and I think I'm dreaming. I order it and it's quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted in my life. The batter was perfect, the salmon fresh and it was served w/ a berry dipping sauce. I don't even know what anyone else ordered because I was so consumed w/ this appetizer. I've been talking about it since we got back from vacation and I am determined to get a restaurant here on the East Coast to serve it. It truly was a PERFECT day. -
Review from Nicholas L.
Juneau, AK
8/3/2008
First off, I live in Juneau, so this isn't a one time review while passing through on a cruise ship. As far as claims of tourist trappery: it's Juneau, everything is a tourist trap. As far as claims of high crab prices: it's Juneau, not Dutch Harbor, there isn't a lot of King Crab fishing going on here.
The Twisted Fish is a fairly decent restaurant who's score is hampered because they have a few things on the menu that just aren't that good, and I haven't had everything there of course so there may be others on the menu that are less than stellar as well.
Fins - Jalapeno halibut burgers. I thought these were great. They're plenty spicy, so if you're not into that I'd avoid it. Personally I love the heat and I love the taste of jalapeno, so they were right up my alley. The fish is battered and fried and nice and crispy.
Oysters - Good, tasted nice and fresh. They're oysters, you know?
Fresh Steamer Clams - Best I've ever had. Which isn't saying that much, as I don't eat a whole lot of steamed clams, but they were definitely very good. The broth was smooth, buttery, herby, and seasoned perfectly in my opinion. The others in my party thought they were very good examples as well, although I didn't poll them on their steamed clam background.
Garlic Twisters - Good, cheap appetizer.
Ginger Ahi - Okay. It's okay food, but there's nothing really special about it, it seemed like pretty much the same as any competent but unremarkable ginger ahi that you'd get anywhere.
Seafood Rotolo - This is the only meal that I really didn't like. The seafood was good, but to me the marinara and pasta were bland, bland, bland. To some that might be acceptable, but if I just wanted to taste the seafood I would have ordered the fish bite sampler or first mate plate (menu is available online if you Google it).
Halibut Cheek Saute - Worth ordering, especially if you've never had halibut cheeks. Taste is great and the texture is unique, not like the texture in "regular" fish parts. To me the texture seems like chicken except moister and much coarser grained. I love curry also, and I'd say it was a pretty good curry, certainly not amazing but good enough.
I would say the service, on average, isn't that great either. I'd say about half the time I go there I've been mildly annoyed by waiting for drink refills and waiting for the check or waiting for them to take my order.
All in all, it's worth a visit. You can do a lot worse and if you're fresh off a cruise ship it's tough to beat the convenience. I'd consider walking the four tenths of a mile down the road to the Hanger on the Wharf though. Same type of food (and same owners) but I think their menu is (slightly) consistently better, service for me has been better, view is better, and I just like the atmosphere a little more there. Maybe that's the full bar talking though.
Edit: Halibut cheek curry disappeared like 2 years ago, and eff Twisted Fish for doing it. -
Review from edith m.
Phoenix, AZ
1/26/2010
We went here a few times for lunch and it was nice everytime. It's probably the nicest restaurant in Juneau there is also a shop next door
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Review from john w.
Mission Viejo, CA
7/15/2009
context- we were on a cruise eating cruise food...needed something legit.
A friend of a friend recommended the twisted fish. all i can say is the salmon puffed pastry dish was by far the best meal i ate the whole week.
light flaky crust wrapped around medium size piece of salmon with crab/shimp added made for a delightful meal. Other dishes at the table included a above average halibut dish and fish tacos that were not that good. The lamb chops were the second favorite in our group i forget the other dishes...all i can say is everyone at the table regretted not getting the same dish i got...
Service was fun and attentive and the food was delivered right off the grill/oven -
Review from gail s.
Juneau, AK
1/3/2011
The service is poor, very noisy, uninspired food. The theme here is tourists come once - why bother with a real effort.
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Review from Stef W.
Olympia, WA
9/13/2010
They changed the recipe for the fins. Bleh.
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Review from Cliff A.
Camas, WA
6/20/2010
Nice place. If you're in Juneau for a while it's worth going there.
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Review from M B.
Atlanta, GA
8/4/2009
I have been to the Twisted fish a few times over the years when I visit, and the food is always good. The service is ok, but the server we had on this most recent visit did not smile once, or suggest in any way that she did not hate her job until she set the check on the table at the end of the meal and knew it was time to write in her tip. The big snafu of the night was that I had made a reservation and when we arrived, we were told that if would wait about 15 minutes we could have a window table. We agreed and went over to the bar area for drinks while we waited what ended up being 20 minutes. Well, the server led us to a table in the middle of the room that had been sitting empty since we arrived 20 minutes before, and when questioned about it said that she had given our window table to walk-ins!!! this after I made a reservation days in advance, then agreed to wait 20 minutes extra for a window table at her suggestion! I would still go back because the food is good, and the service is usually better than this instance, but I was very disappointed by the staff on this visit.
