100 Best Restaurants 2009: PassionFish

Reviewed by Todd Kliman , Ann Limpert , Cynthia Hacinli , Rina Rapuano , Eve Zibart

No. 84: PassionFish

PassionFish

11960 Democracy Dr.
Reston, VA 20190
Phone: 703-230-3474

Cuisines:
Seafood, American, Modern

Opening Hours:

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
None nearby

Price Range:
Expensive

Dress:
Upscale Casual

Noise Level:
Chatty

Reservations:
Recommended

Special Features:
Party Space

Website:
Click here to open in new window.

Best Dishes
Clams casino; fried clams; hamachi crudo with grapefruit and jalapeño; eight-piece “kamikaze roll” of tempura prawns, avocado, and spicy tuna; red Thai curry lobster; crabcakes; whole-roasted branzino; freshly fried doughnut holes.

Price Details:
Appetizers $5 to $18, main courses $19 to $29.

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Reader's Rating:
4 out of 5

Cuisine: Restaurant impresario Jeff Tunks’s latest raw bar and seafood emporium dabbles in influences near (crab cakes), far (Mexican seafood cocktail), and farther (Thai-style crispy flounder with tamarind-chili sauce).

Mood: With a soaring dining room, artfully bubbled chandeliers, crisp service, and good-life chatter at the tables, the most ambitious restaurant in Reston Town Center exudes a big-city aura.

Best for: A business lunch or dinner; cocktails at the bar; a date.

Best dishes: Clams casino reimagined as a dip and served with a warm baguette; Big Daddy, a seafood tower of iced oysters, clams, shrimp, crab claws, and lobster; spicy bigeye-tuna roll; fried oysters with apple slaw; fried clams; roasted whole branzino with green sauce; butter-poached lobster in red curry; crab cakes; freshly fried doughnut holes.

Insider tip: If reservations are tight, try the bar, which has lots of dining space.

Service: •••

Open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner. Expensive.

>> See all 100 Best Restaurants 

Reader ReviewsWrite your own review
 
Good Jeff Tunks Does Reston
ldshap00 — March 20, 2009 8:23 AM
The dining room decor and design is open, crisp, and modern-much like the other sister restaurants; it offer diners remarkable views of the kitchen at work. This seems to be a signature of their establishments. I tried both the ceviche cocktail and More ...
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