Earlier tonight I went to Current Fish and Oyster. I've been there a few other times and I've enjoyed it every time. Tonight they solidified their place in my rankings as the head and shoulders best seafood restaurant in the SLC area.
So us ending up there was a bit odd, as the plan we made last week was to meet up at the South Jordan Market Street Grill after my wife got off work. We have a frequent diner card for Market Street and we have $50 in credit on the card, $25 of which is a birthday credit that is going to expire soon.
What my wife really likes are oysters. Not any oysters. Only and I mean ONLY Kumamoto oysters. They have them at Market Street Grill. When we go to MSG we sit in the Oyster Bar and usually order 18 oysters then our dinners. We've reserved Current Fish and Oyster for more special occasions. MSG has been our goto for our oyster fix.
Well she called me and said she was on her way home and if I was still planning to meet her at MSG. I was doing stuff and needed a shower so I told her to come home first. When she got home I was honestly just kind of not into going to MSG and wanted to push things towards something more affordable. She didn't take my hesitation the way I intended it, that's my fault for being indirect I guess. So she thought I wanted seafood, just not from MSG. But I was still thinking that if we were going to get seafood then I wanted to use the $50 credit we had. But what she came back with was that CF&O had the "seafood tower." She had read about it on Yelp and wanted it, but it wasn't on the menu last time we were there, which was for father's day in June. I looked up the menu and looked at pics of the seafood tower on Yelp and realized that there were already oysters on the seafood tower. I should mention at this point that the seafood tower costs $150. So I figured this could easily end the discussion as she will not eat any oysters other than Kumamoto, so I suggested she call and find out if she can get Kumamoto oysters on the seafood tower instead of any other kind. She called and they quickly answered that we could and that it would cost $0.75 per (and there are 18 oysters on the seafood tower). So it was basically done. We were going to CF&O.
The seafood tower has 18 oysters, 12 shrimp ****tail, king crab legs (we got two legs plus an extra claw) and Maine lobster (we got 5 reasonable sized half lobster tails, so 2.5 lobster tails). This is $150. To have anything close to this at MSG would cost significantly more. At MSG Kumamoto oysters are $3.19 each, so $57.42 for 18, the half-pound of gulf shrimp costs $28.99, two king crab legs cost $79.99, two 4oz lobster tails cost $59.99. That's $226.39.
So price aside, CF&O is a nicer place. Their consistency is better. Their presentation is better. Their service is night and day, head and shoulders, no two-ways about it better than MSG. Let me stress that point again, the service at CF&O is really awesome, it has been every time I've been there. The service at MSG has been anywhere from literally horrible (that seems to be the norm in the main dining area) to pretty alright (you'll have far better luck in the Oyster Bar) but never like they are intentionally providing excellent service.
So anyway, MSG lost their crown and I think it happened quite some time ago, but the current (my puns are always intentional) best seafood place in Salt Lake City is Current Fish and Oyster.
