i have always wanted to try out this place, so my friend and i took the opportunity to pop by for dinner this evening. it turned out to be a mistake.

things started out normally, with the polite and relatively helpful waitress telling us the specials as well as giving us recommendations on what to eat, this being our first visit here. it was after taking our orders that the troubles began.

after ordering, it struck us to enquire on whether there were any card promotions, so we called the manager (i think she was, at least) over and asked about it. we were then told that with every main course ordered, we could order an appetizer at 50% off. we were rather puzzled that the waitress did not inform us earlier when we first gave our orders, but decided to let it go. anyway, we ordered the half-dozen oven-baked mussels to share.

the bread served was quite delicious but it was only three small pieces, which hardly whet our appetite, considering we ended up waiting more than half an hour for our mussels. when the mussels finally arrived, there were only five, so we asked the server why that was so. His answer was that if we ordered the mussels on the credit card promotion (at 50% off), we will only get 5 mussels as opposed to 6!

by now, we were both hungry and annoyed. we weren't informed about the card promotion in the first place and now we were being served reduced portions without being told earlier as well! naturally, we kicked up a bit of a fuss, at which we were then told that there WAS supposed to be 6 mussels, but one of them was accidentally served to another table instead, so someone else got 7 mussels. we were eventually served our remaining mussel after another wait. at this point, i didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

by now, we weren't in the best of moods nor did we have much expectations on the food. we got our main courses after another relatively long wait, which were the cod, a piece of battered fish and the mixed grill. in a nutshell:

- the mixed grill was below average. the lamp chop was overly chewy, the chicken nondescript and the turkey sausage tough and tasteless.
- the cod was not great. it was fresh but nowhere near the best i've tasted.
- the battered fish was pretty good actually. this is the fish that you get when you order the fish and chips.

the final disappointment of the evening was with the cod we ordered. we specifically asked for mashed potatoes to come with the cod, but it ended up with something else. upon requesting for a change, we were told by the waitress that it was not possible since it's already been done, but she could order us a side of mashed potatoes if we want. hello, she messed up our order but we weren't allowed to change it? what's more, if we wanted to have the mashed potatoes, we had to pay for it??

we decided to just forget about it and once we were done with our meal, we quickly paid the bill and left. we did get a 10% discount, but only because we asked for service charge to be waived, considering the extremely bad service we got. i highly doubt that i would set foot here again.

The quality of the food here is average, sometimes below average. In general, over-rated and expensive

We went here for a quick lunch and it was fine - we only had fish and chips, so nothing too exciting, but the fish was well cooked and well presented - could have done with a few more chips to fill the dish out with though (very sparse!).

I do wish that some places in Singapore would experiment with using real potatoes for their chips though - fish and chips is just like it comes out of a packet if they're frozen chips (you could make it at home and it would taste just the same).

If the management of Big Fish are reading this - please give it a go - they're not that hard to make and I guarantee your customers will love you for it, plus, I do believe you'd be the only place on the island that makes its own chips and that'd be something special in itself!

Ambience in this place is fine - there are a few booths for a more private dining feeling and the place is clean and tidy. staff were also attentive.

I'll go here again, but I might have something a bit more exciting next time..........unless that is, they do start making their own chips!

After reading all the previous reviews about this place, decided to give it a try before bring my clients there in the future. It was one of my top 10 nightmares dining (until today), and I'm saying it's worse than a hawker center or coffee shop.

Was there with 2 other people of whom I would say, are more forgiving but still swear not entering this place again.

1st ordered was "Spicy Seafood Cioppino", "Salmon Fillet" & "Barramundi Fillet".
Waited for over an hour for these food to arrive. Other tables' diners who ordered later than us had their food served first. And this was after asking 1 of the wait-staffs repeatly about our orders, only to get replies like 'its coming soon' repeatly too. They simply don't understand 'Hungry People are Angry ones'. Salmon was ok was by my guest. Barramundi (I had been eating this fish for more than 10 years) was tough and chewing it was ******** Some hawker centers' ah peks or ah mas had done better.

2nd ordered was "Open-Fire Mixed Meat Grill".
This was order after waiting for about 45 mins for the 1st order. and this came only 10 mins right after the 1st order came. The whole 2nd order was nothing to mention and I'm not expecting much out of it after trying it out, since this place focus on their fish.

3rd order was "Kilpatrick Oysters" & "Gratinated Escargot".
Having eaten Kilpatrick oysters for more than 10 years both locally and other countries, this is the WORST. Barely enough cheese and bacon taste not right at all. Gratinated Escargot is the only mentionable dish. If you really want to go there, this is the only dish I would say worth paying for.

Near the end of our dining session, a senior staff came round and ask us about the food. I told her that we waited for over an hour for the first order to arrive. SHe mentioned that the Cioppino was suppose to come first, then an hr later, the others. I told her that it did not come first but came together as requested but MORE THAN 1 hour. I have expressed my total displeasure.

And after apologising, though did not seem sincere at all, my bill came FULL with not even a 5% discount, even charging me for service charge for the lousy service. They even made a mistake----- I was billed for a lemon tea that had been ordered before the 3rd order was given but never at all arrive. I would have been too embarassed if I had brought any clients with me. I have also since, shared this situation with various people around me.

A relative large group of about 10 of us tried Big Fish recently, also on recommendations. It was nice to see a western style fish place open up in Singapore to go along with the many local seafood restaurants around.

The good included the fact that they use quite fresh seafood, and had imported little neck clams for appetizers as well as for use in the vongole which was nice as not many places have clams of this quality. People who had the fish liked it. Of the four vongoles we ordered however, three looked like vongole and one looked like clams with pasta and pesto sauce! Don't know how come one ended up looking and tasting so different from the other three. Must be the non pasta chef asking to "try" to make one of the vongoles!

I don't think they were prepared to cater to such a large group however. The wait staff was not attentive to different people arriving at different times and hence did not appear again with glasses of water or wine glasses for the new arriveees.

Another gripe I have - they should not charge for the bread when you order extras. It is just poor form for a restaurant to have to charge for bread when they can build all this into the price, or should already be considered in the 10% service charge (even though this is for service). This is the first time I have seen a Singapore restaurant charge for bread and I have to say this is poor form.

Alas prices are also not that cheap with a meal per person coming out to 40-50 bucks which for the decor and location is relatively on the high side. I would say if they bring prices down 20% they put themselves in the price range where families and groups of friends could come more frequently. I guess importing those littlenecks must have a price!