San Mateo County gets a second California Fish Grill

The California Fish Grill, which boasts a menu of sustainable seafood, is now grilling in San Mateo’s Bridgepointe area, near Foster City.

It’s the chain’s second restaurant in San Mateo County.

For years, California Fish Grill was a misnomer. It was really the Southern California Fish Grill, a chain of fast-casual eateries based in Irvine. But the company founded in 1998 set its sights on the NorCal market a handful of years ago, opening restaurants first at Daly City’s Serramonte Center and then Walnut Creek’s Orchards center before expanding in 2020 to San Jose and then to El Cerrito. The new location will make six total in the Bay Area; there are two in the Sacramento region.

Sustainable seafood tops the menu here. Wild-caught choices include ahi tuna, sockeye salmon, rockfish, clams and calamari. And the Grill works with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch to ensure that the farm-raised seafood they serve — catfish, shrimp, tilapia and sea bass — comes from certified sustainable operations.

Flame-grilling is the cooking method of choice here, with a selection of seasoned olive oil, garlic butter sauce, chimichurri sauce or Cajun spices. But the restaurant also offers battered and fried classics, salad bowls, rice bowls and seafood tacos.