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Review content:
Do I have any fellow 80's Soulbeat viewers out there? Well don't ask, but BF-Jayson came across an old school Soulbeat commercial for Aqua Fresh Seafoods in Oakland early part of Aug '09 & sure enough folks, that's where we had our Fish Friday dinner *tee-hee*
LOCATION: On MacArthur Blvd close to Foothill Square area, & directly across from Church's Chicken. Yeah, it's in the ""ghetto"" so prob not ideal spot to visit for the light-heart or non-Oakland folks, but if u're up for it go for it. Personal suggestion on parking, just park @ Church's Chicken directly across the street ;-)
RESTAURANT: Now the commercial from 1989 has a brotha in it, but it appears to be Asian owned (think the mom was cooking & son was taking orders). Few tables & bench seats inside, spacious & clean...nothing special on decoration.
CUST SVC: Basically empty on a Friday about 5:40pm (we say their heaviest competitor is Las Palmas might be the reason why so empty; another one of our fav Oakland spots), young man was patient while we surveyed the menu above to fig out what to eat. Very friendly & helpful with letting us know how we could switch-up an order, or what not. Placed our oder & waited prob 10-min as mama-san cooked the food. Pleasant & clean eatery really. Yes, they serve ice cream up in here too ;-) Prob like 12 (basic) flavors...mama-san a Hello Kitty fan too since son said his mom put the HK stickers next to the name of the ice cream label. Any HK/Sanrio fan gets kudos from me!...but we didn't taste the ice cream, so no review coverage on that aspect of this business.
FOOD: Aaahh, finally...the food! Packaged up in a large pink plastic bag w/ a final price about $30. We got the 10-piece order for prawns, hushpuppies, & fried rice plus 4-piece order of sole & instead of going w/ 2-sides, we replaced w/ catfish. Of course sliced bread came w/ orders (typical of a soul food joints) & option for packet of hot sauce & tartar sauce, which we took too. Now for me, I grew up eating rice breakfast, lunch, dinner, or whenever...BF points out funny we came to a soul food spot & got fried rice, it always just goes over my head I tell 'ya. Anywho, the food was pretty tasty. Still warm traveling from Foothill Square Oakland back home to Castro Valley, prawns were large, hush puppies crunchy on outside but soft on inside, fish wasn't heavily battered & tasted fresh/soft to bite...fried rice was good too. Food supurb? No, but definitely good & worth trying out. Don't know what kind of hot sauce they use, but it had some ""heat"" to it that we both liked.
END OF THE MEAL: We still had some prawns & fish left over that barely made the wkend really. Would we go back. Probably so...again, me & BF grew up in East Oakland, so some parts we don't mind venturing/revisting if food is good & priced right. Should you venture over here? That's ur call...just keep ur visits in the daytime.
Pros: Delicious food & great portions
Cons: Not really the best ambiance (inside & outside)
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