Nick's Fishmarket - One of the Other Fish in the Sea (Chicago-Area Restaurant Review 9)

We went to this restaurant on the spur of the moment because we felt like seafood (not a usual occurrence, though steak remains a favorite) and we wanted to get out of the city. We'd both tried Nick's Fishmarket in downtown Chicago years ago and found it a bit stuffy. The Rosemont location is more relaxed, at least on Sunday night, and the waiters have a good sense of humor. The meal started well, with a smoked salmon and potato pancake appetizer. (Steve ate the potato pancake, continuing his quest to gain as much weight as possible.) Lisa had the Nick's Classic Salad, which was amazing. It is leaf lettuce with creamy spinach dressing (and she doesn't even like spinach) and tiny bay shrimp that were very fresh. Steve was jealous of Lisa's salad because he chose some sort of goat cheese thing in the salad column on the menu. The goat cheese and tomato were good, but the rest of the salad consisted of three very large and scary looking artichoke hearts (keep in mind, Steve doesn't like artichokes, but he thought they might be smaller) and some unidentified leafy objects.

For main course, Lisa had the steamed King crab legs. The big plus was they were on the half shell, so no hard work, and they were pretty good. Steve ate lobster tail, which was also good, but not stellar. Dessert was disappointing. Lisa's molten chocolate cake had what tasted like syrup, rather than cake batter, in the middle. It also didn't taste that chocolaty. Steve ordered a white chocolate blueberry dome with lemon cream. It tasted overly sweet, and he could barely taste the blueberry or the lemon.

The wine was very good. We ordered a bottle of Syrah even though we were having fish. (We create our own convention.)

The total bill at Nick's Fishmarket, with a bottle of wine, was about $300 (without would have been $225.)

Overall, while Lisa absolutely loved her salad, the dinner was just slightly above average, particularly when the high cost, which is the one thing that is the same in the Rosemont restaurant as in downtown Chicago, is factored in.

For once, Steve was marginally more satisfied with the men's room than Lisa was with the women's room. The men's bathroom was overall very clean, with hands-free soap and faucets that really worked and plenty of towels, although the wastebasket was overflowing with towels. The women's bathroom had a nice sitting area with a sofa, and also had hands-free soap and faucets. However, not only was the wastebasket overflowing with towels, a good amount of toilet paper was strewn between the stalls.

Our overall rating for Nick's Fishmarket, 10275 W. Higgins Rd., Rosemont, Illinois:

7 of 10 Steak Knives (or, in this case, Fish Hooks) and 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes