Fish Market Restaurant

The Fish Market Restaurant, housed within the walls of a bright red-brick heritage building in the historical ByWard Market, actually encompasses three restaurants. Founded in 1979, the maritime-themed eatery keeps traditions alive as staff brings in daily catches from international waters to the kitchen where chefs craft these fish, shellfish, and crustaceans into dishes. They reflect the restaurant’s global mentality in their cooking, blending culinary styles such as Canadian, English, Cajun, Thai, and Caribbean.

In Vineyards Wine Bar Bistro, local jazz musicians play live music each Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night as servers ferry more than 300 wines and 200 imported beers to tables—a feat that requires enormous strength. Inside the main restaurant, tables draped with blue cloths sit in rows on hardwood floors, under walls hung with nautical paraphernalia such as chains, nets, and crabbing traps. The dining room fills with myriad aromas of such dishes as deep-fried coconut-crusted shrimp, spicy Cajun shrimp linguine, PEI mussels, and house platters featuring queen crab, Nova Scotia lobster, and new york strip steaks. Servers complement dishes with a roster of 21 wines by the glass or bottle and several local craft beers on tap.