One of my favorite fish restaurants is in Chinatown at the Central Fish Market on G Street and Kern Street. The menu includes both American and Japanese options. This is one of those restaurants that you have to be careful what you order. Some stuff they do better than others. I find the rice and salad they serve with most meals utterly boring. The white rice is not bad or anything, but it is not like steamed white rice is ever going to be exciting, and the salad likely came out of a bag. I tried their Salmon Teriyaki one time and it was seriously overcooked. Fish should be barely done.
Now that we have handled the bad, it is time to handle the exceptional, and why Central Fish deserves a review. Their fried fish is amazing whether you get the usual fish, shrimp, clams, squid, or oysters. Yes, they actually call it squid and not the more fashionable “calamari”. The fish is very fresh and fried to perfection. There is no other place in Fresno you can get cheap fried fish this good. The fries are decent and you can substitute them for the rice and salad which accompanies most of their meals, but often I just order the fish a la carte. Their popular soups have a great combination of noodles with beef, chicken, squid or a few other choices.
This place is very casual. You order at a counter, pick up your food and seat yourself. Soy sauce is on the table, along with Tapatio for those with hotter tastes. Remember to bring cash because the restaurant does not take cards, even though the store does. All in all, the Central Fish Restaurant is a treasure in a city where it is very hard to find good fish and chips. For more info visit their website. http://www.centralfish.com/
