If You Spot This At A Seafood Restaurant, You're In For Top Quality

No matter if you're on a cliffside in the Mediterranean, dining in a lavish restaurant in Las Vegas, or simply snacking at a neighborhood seafood joint, the restaurant's handling of raw seafood should always be of utmost importance. In our list of 10 signs you're eating at a quality seafood restaurant, we gained important insights from two experts on the matter. Culinary Director Matthew Gaudet from Saltie Girl Seafood Bar in Boston and Los Angeles, and Executive Chef Alan Gosker from Lola in Nevada City, California, both enlightened us about what exactly to keep an eye out for the next time you're out to eat for seafood.

One of the most important indicators of fresh, quality seafood is keeping everything very cold. Gaudet emphasizes that things must be kept as cold as possible, ideally on plenty of ice or in refrigerated boxes. "I like seeing whole fish stored in ice," says Gaudet, "upright if a round fish, flat if a bottom fish, with drainage underneath [the ice]." Keeping seafood extra cold not only helps preserve the freshness and quality of the sea creatures but also helps prevent any bacterial growth in the seafood. Seeing any seafood languishing in a warm or even room temperature display or locations is a shellfish red flag you just can't ignore at seafood restaurants. 

Just as you'd look for certain signs before buying a whole fresh fish, the same should go for any seafood on display that you might order later. Gosker instructs us to pay special attention to the eyes of any of the fresh fish or whole crustaceans, saying that the eyes shouldn't show any signs of opaqueness or cloudiness, but rather that the eyes should be shiny and clear. "Everything should look fresh and bright," says Gosker, "not dull and lifeless." Granted, not every single piece of seafood available in the restaurant will be out on display for all to see, usually for food safety purposes, as well as the lack of space, but the condition of any seafood on display is usually a good indicator as to the condition of any seafood back in the kitchen.

In terms of what exactly to look for when eyeing up a restaurant's fresh seafood display, just seeing the seafood itself is a major green flag, as you know the restaurant has nothing to hide from diners. It's always a good sign to see a bounty of sea treasures displayed on glistening mounds of ice. The fish, mollusks, and crustaceans should be bright rather than dull, looking as close to freshly caught as possible. If you see a seafood menagerie being purposefully displayed either on lots of ice or in a refrigerated case, chances are that the restaurant is proud of the quality of its seafood, as the restaurant has chosen to show off its prized fresh catches to diners.