Dine at the new Go Fish

The Playboy Roll and Go Fish, now located in the Mystic section of Stonington (Ann Baldelli)

Go Fish’s Drunken Noodles (Ann Baldelli)

Crispy Tempura Cod and Go Fish (Ann Baldelli)

The new Go Fish location is in the Mystic section of Stonington. (Ann Baldelli)

Miso Glazed Salmon and Go Fish (Ann Baldelli)

Go Fish’s house salad (Ann Baldelli)

The Seared Tuna special at Go Fish (Ann Baldelli)

The Honolulu Roll and Go Fish (Ann Baldelli

Go Fish’s Tuna Poke (Ann Baldelli)

When Jon Kodama, the senior diplomat of local restaurateurs, closed his Go Fish restaurant of more than 25 years in Olde Mistick Village a few years ago, many wondered if he would reopen the place in a new location as he said.

Skeptics questioned the long delay, about 14 months, as Kodama navigated the permitting, gutting and rebuilding of the former Sailor Ed’s, near the Big Y supermarket off Route 1, in the Mystic section of Stonington. .

Finally, late last year, he opened again, a new restaurant in a new location with the same name – Go Fish – but an updated look, menu and attitude.

The venue has been a huge success and attracts more locals than its previous location in the busy tourist hub of Olde Mistick Village next to the Mystic Aquarium.

Since reopening in December, Kodama has revamped the menu that a consulting chef helped brainstorm, listening to his patrons and refining the offerings to suit their preferences.

We have visited several times and have always found the food and service to be excellent. If you like sashimi or sushi, you should definitely visit. There’s an extensive menu, and if you sit at the sushi bar, you can watch the chefs in action.

One of our favorites is the Honolulu Roll, $15, with tuna, cucumber, avocado and sprouts. The Playboy, $20, is a massive roll of shrimp tempura, tuna, avocado, wasabi, Thai chili and eel. We also enjoyed the California Rainbow Roll, with salmon, tuna and avocado, for $20. The rolls are large enough to share, or enjoy with a cocktail.

For starters, in addition to raw bar items like clams, oysters and shrimp, they serve poke bowls, tuna nachos, edamame, bao buns, dumplings, shrimp ceviche, as well as salads and both miso and hot and sour soup. Prices range from $6 for edamame, $20 for Tokyo Nachos, $21 for Bao Buns, and $9 for Go Fish Salad.

Speaking of that house salad, it’s one of the best you’ll ever see – a scoop of baby greens piled on a plate and topped with thinly sliced ​​cucumbers and watermelon radishes. There are chopped greens sprinkled on the greens, as well as cashews and blood orange segments, and it’s all dressed with a sweet soy vinaigrette. It is healthy and very good.

There are several family and friends favorites, including the Drunken Noodles, $36, Crispy Tempura Cod, $28, and the Miso Glazed Salmon, $35. But you really can’t go wrong with anything you order, and there are daily specials, like the Seared Tuna, $34, which we tried last week.

Slabs of seared tuna are rare and piled on a sushi rice cake with blistered shishito peppers, sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, and a passion fruit sauce. The rice cake was crunchy in all the right places and the tuna, firm and slightly sweet. The dish is as good as it looks.

Every time we go, someone gets Drunken Noodles at our party. Wide, flat, spicy rice noodles arrive in a bowl with scallops, shrimp, clams and broccolini. The portion was large and the seafood, perfectly executed. The scallops were plump and juicy and the prawns, with their tails removed, were crunchy. They will give you a little fork and bowl to throw the clam shells in after you pull out the meat.

Crispy Tempura Cod is a sophisticated take on fish and chips. There are two pieces of cod, coated in a thin batter and fried. It’s light and airy and flavorful and delicious. The fish is served with sesame-scallion slaw, fries, and sides of citrus aioli and tartar sauce. This Go Fish dish will make you think again about the usual fish and chips that many of us enjoy.

The Miso Glazed Salmon steak is served with chopped peanuts, broccolini, and what the menu describes as “Dan Dan noodles.” Be careful, the noodles have a kick. I wasn’t familiar with them, so I did some research and found this on a food website: “… iconic spicy Sichuan noodles, a flavor explosion with slippery noodles tossed in intensely spicy sesame sauce and pork.” Between all of us at the table, we didn’t leave a single noodle on the plate. We eat every bite.

Go Fish is a seafood restaurant, but there are options for those who prefer not to indulge in proteins from the sea. There’s half-roasted chicken on the menu, as well as braised pork shoulder with five-spice sweet potato mash, a double Wagyu beef burger, and steak frites. The new space is bright and welcoming, and the hostess at the door always greets us with a smile.

Jon Kodama has been running restaurants in southeastern Connecticut for more than 50 years, and he never loses touch. He knows what it takes to make customers happy.