Bonefish and the many expressions of David:

On our visits to HPWS and Hitching Post, the smell of the Bonefish oak grill sings like a siren, luring us in. We’ve been to Bonefish 3 or 4 times, once to their location in Mason, and we’ve always had pleasant experiences. Personally, we prefer the Hyde Park location—the staff is nicer and they aren’t so far away.

On our first ever visit to the Bonefish, we went to Hyde Park. Our server inquired if we had ever been there before, and we confessed we had not. He took great time and care recommending appetizers and entrees to us, and brought me a super strong lemon martini. At that point, I didn’t want any fish, so I got the strip steak. ($16.90) It was well cooked and I liked it. Their seasonal vegetable at that time was shredded squash, which I really enjoyed. Their potatoes au gratin are incredible.

The bang bang shrimp ($8.30) are their signature appetizer, and those were delicious enough that I ordered them again on our second visit, despite the fact that they come with chopsticks and when I try to use them I look like an idiot.

Our server even brought us a piece of yummy key lime pie as a surprise, which endeared him—and Bonefish—further to me. You can quickly win me over with free pie.

This would be David's "We haven't even gotten any food yet, put that away and don't take pictures of me" face.

Crunchy Bread and oil with herbs

On our third, most recent visit, we decided to get all appetizers. I decided to try the Mango Oceantrust martini,($7.90) which is delicious. Bonefish donates $1.00 from every Martini to Oceantrust, which is nice, because I’m saving sea turtles and marine life with every Martini I order. As if I needed any incentive.

We also got a liter of sparkling water ($5.00), which was brought out to us in a marble chiller with two glasses and lime. Throughout the night, servers stopped by to refill our water glasses for us, which I thought was very considerate.

David Spacing out. He does this a lot.

I’d like to reiterate the superior service we experience at Bonefish. As a final example, I asked our server if the White Sangria ($5.00) was good. He thought for a moment and confessed to me that he thought that he didn’t like it very much. I decided not to get it and stuck with sparkling water. I know that servers are told to push the drinks, so I appreciate an honest opinion. I really respected that I received it. I like it even more than free pie. Kudos, Bonefish staff!

After much menu perusal, our appetizers were as follows, the Crab Cakes with red remoulade ($10.50), Calamari with peppers and spicy asian sauce ($7.40), Mussels Josephine ($8.90) and bacon wrapped scallops with chutney and mango salsa ($9.90). David also got a small house salad. ($4.90)

I made David wait while I took pictures of everything.

The Calamari was very good—not rubbery or overbreaded— and served with various fried veggies. They came with a nice sauce that we both really liked. It was sweet and a little tangy.

The bacon wrapped scallops were excellent and crispy, and we each had two. The chutney they were served with complemented them very well, the salsa worked with it too-- it had mango and onion and a little cilantro in it, among other things.

I really liked the crab cakes. I thought they were fresher than Teller's, though David wasn’t so sure. They were full of crab meat and delicious. The crab cakes and the scallops were my favorites.

I do not really like mussels, but David had me try one and I found it to be pretty weird. David said that they were delicious, and really liked the stewed tomatoes that came with them.

This is David's "Done with the pictures now I'm hungry and want to eat my food" expression.

He ate all the mussels. At this point we were both ready for a nap, so we got the check and headed home. Since I restrained myself from more Oceantrust Martinis, our bill was about 60.00, which I don’t think was too bad for everything we ordered.

Bonefish has paper tablecloths, which means I get to doodle a happy nessie