Restaurant reviews are biased. Yes, you read that correctly. The reviews you’ve read on this website over the past weeks and months, are biased. While I’m no slouch in the kitchen, while I keep up on my culinary skills, I have no professional expertise. I’m not a chef. So when you read a review, good or bad, you are basically reading my opinion. An opinion, which is tainted with the part of the country where I grew up, the ethnicity of my parents, and my own personal likes and dislikes when it comes to food. While I try to keep an open mind about everything I taste, I have to admit my mind is colored with past meals that have, to me, defined a dish. So it is with Fish & Chips. Especially when an establishment, such as The Pacific Inn, claims to have Seattle’s best.

Let’s start with the restaurant itself. I’m using some heavy artistic license here because The Pacific Inn is less a restaurant and more a fixture. A fixture that grew out of the sidewalk at the corner Stone Way and 35th Street, it seems utterly ancient. And while I’m sure there are older buildings in the area, you’d be hard pressed to convince me so. It is a hard place with dirty walls, wobbly booths and tar stained windows from a time when smoking was allowed in restaurants in Seattle. But I came for one reason, and one reason only. No matter whom I asked or what I read, everything and everyone pointed me to The Pacific Inn as having the best Fish & Chips ($6.99) in Seattle.

The three fish filets that arrived (When they finally did arrive) looked delicious enough. A golden brown crust studded with chopped herbs and what appeared to be bits of panko breadcrumbs. Here is where my bias comes into play. To me fish & chips should be made with a beer batter, not breadcrumbs. The seasoning should be; a little salt and maybe pepper. What is it with adding herbs to the crust? Let the flavor of the fish stand on its own. Well, after one bite I realized that they couldn’t do that. The fish, while flaky, was dry and flavorless. The only real flavor came after a liberal squirt of lemon and a healthy dip into tartar sauce. The “chips” were a little better. Not the limp, soggy fries one normally gets but crisp and fluffy, although definitely not fresh made.

Was this the best of Seattle, really? I choose to disagree. To my way of thinking fish & chips should be large, fat planks of Cod. Fresh, juicy bits of fish that have been dunked into a beer batter, quickly fried and salted and served in newspaper with crispy fries. What I found at The Pacific Inn was nothing more than a pale shadow of what this meal could have been. My advice is to take a short trip to The George & Dragon Pub for your fish & chips. But of course, that’s my opinion.