The state of Florida is what I like to call a “Second-Life State.” In other words, a vast populaton of people spend the latter part of their lives living in Florida, after living elsewhere during their childhood, school days, and early adult life. Now, there is no evidence I have to support this claim, so let’s just call it a theory. But, how else can you explain the influx of Northerners that seem to find their way down south? In sports matches all over Florida, the northern teams have the attendance edge for crying out loud---Celtics, Red Sox, Yankees, Patriots, Steelers, Eagles, etc.
And its not just the northerners—we also have a crazy variety of Hispanics and South Americans living in the Orlando, Tampa, and Miami-Dade area. Outside of perhaps California, it’s hard to find a state with a much deeper variety of people as Florida. Unlike your grumpy border states (Arizona, Texas, Arizona, Arizona), Florida is seemingly a lot more accepting of other cultures. Do you see northerners thriving in any other state? We are slightly off-topic, but let me get to the point. Restaurants like Boston’s Fish House exist and flourish because of Florida’s attractive “second-life” ways. Florida is a total escape from the craziness, packed, building-frenzied, tree-lacking northern areas. But, a part of you will always be from New York, or Boston, or Philly or Jersey.
And once again, enter Boston’s Fish House. For over 10 years, Boston’s Fish House has become a local hit and staple in the Orlando-Winter Park area. Why? Because their seafood comes directly (and they claim only) from the Northeast coast. You won’t find Florida seafood or Louisiana seafood; its legit Northern seafood. Now, this type of institution should have had more trouble, because Florida is a state known for its abundance of…um…seafood. Florida’s coastline is longer than the entire Atlantic coastline starting from Georgia up to Maine (Pointless trivia for the day)—which means finding places serving fish is easier than finding stupidity in Fox News.
Boston’s Fish House is also known for its unique way of ordering and serving food. You lineup, order your food, pay the bill and the tip, and then you are seated. Whatever reason this is, I don’t know, but it definitely contributes to the longer lines you’ll usually see in the place. The menu is chock full of seafood; fried, broiled, steamed, etc. While they do offer other things like chicken, why do that in a Fish House? The food items don’t come cheap either sometimes, so be a bit prepared to spend a long dollar. Their prices are indeed justifiable; after all, their seafood travels a lot.
Me, Kyle, and Michael were on this trip. All in all, we ordered: Fish and chips (sides of fries and onion rings), fried shrimp (sides of fries and mac and cheese), Chicken Philly (a massive sandwich…you’ll see later)(Sides of fries and mac and cheese), and a lobster bisque appetizer. Boston’s Fish House entertains you while you wait with loads of memorabilia of up north, from the old-school pictures to new-school photos of their popular sports teams. For some odd reason there was less Patriots stuff….
The lobster bisque was absolutely incredible. Most (good) bisque I’ve had was creamy, hot, and filling. This bisque has all that, except it’s much more flavorful (the lobster smell hits you before you even take your first sip) and there’s even pieces of lobster inside the broth. That was just the icing on the cake. Everyone else loved it too. This is hands-down the top lobster bisque I’ve ever had. The fish and chips were unique, because they are in bite-sized pieces. They do use your usual cod, but it’s not strips of fish, they were like nuggets. Despite the texture differential, these fish and chips were mighty good. It was more fish than batter (always a good sign), and tasted very fresh. They aren’t as filling as other fish and chips I’ve had before though.
The fried shrimp was also fresh, delicious, and tasted much different from the Florida norm. Now, this all goes down to preference, but I love Florida shrimp and its mild sweetness to it (See: This place). But I am sure we’ll have a vast popularity prefer the shrimp here. Not saying either is bad, but, Tampa Bay in my opinion is Good Shrimp Heaven. Kyle’s Chicken Philly I didn’t try, but it looked like an adventure in itself. Chunks of chicken, peppers, mushrooms, melted cheese can be seen overflowing on top and in between the bread. Kyle was in temporary heaven. The sides were all good, with the cheesy and delicious mac and cheese being the pick of the litter.
Bottom Line: Boston’s Fish House is an escape from Florida, and an escape from Florida seafood. The restaurant even smells different from your average Floridian restaurant. So if you are a Northerner or a northeast food lover and live down south, you should make a trip to this place and transport yourself into another part of the country. The mildly high prices and long lines may scare you, but once you look past that, you are going to submerge yourself in a world of good spirits, good seafood, and good variety amongst the food. They feed you plenty, and go the distance in making sure the food is fresh. Every day they are open they actually close in the mid-afternoon to filter the cooking oils. Now, that my friends is impressive from a culinary perspective. So if you want a taste of Boston but don’t have the money to leave the state, take a trip to Winter Park, where a (nice) piece of Boston was shipped down there.
Final Verdict: Recommend...even for you Rays and Yankee fans..
Boston's Fish House
6860 Aloma Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32792-6802
(407) 678-2107
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