Barking Crab - BF&CR #2

The first review was a bit of a downer, but thankfully this one ends on a good note. Barking Crab is a great spot, located in the Seaport near the Courthouse and pretty much in view of the Boston Tea Part Museum, whose ships always make for a good view when you walk over the bridges over Fort Point channel. The restaurant has the classic "crab shack" vibe which usually makes for a good time.

Salt and vinegar are ready at the table when you sit down, usually a good tiding for seafood spots in my opinion. The fish is haddock and runs you $28. I prefer haddock but it often means a smaller piece of fish, which can be ok but for that price I would've wanted a larger filet or two pieces - let it be known I don't oppose multiple pieces of fish on the plate if they're well-made! - but it came out blazing hot and very crisp. I believe it's some kind of beer batter, which was quite substantial yet pretty thin as beer batters go. The batter was also faintly shellfish-scented, I assume because it's fried in the same oil as all the fried clams and oysters and so on. I actually don't mind this since I like fried shellfish, but it's something to be aware of. It's an overall heavy, very fry-forward piece of fish - again this is despite the thinness of the batter. This is also due to the thinness of the filet, which leads to a higher batter-to-fish ratio than on a thick filet. Quite nice if you want that sort of thing, and makes the beer taste much better. (They also gave me a random beer for no reason which I didn't pay for - not even another round of the one I had ordered, just a glass of some IPA after I'd drank about half of my first glass. I don't like IPAs but you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe they were trying to sweeten my review a little...)

The fish itself had a nice subtle and fresh taste, typical for haddock, and was quite juicy. (Good fish and chips is a pretty wet meal.) The fries were good, nothing particularly special but the flavor of the potato came through somehow without the same shellfish flavor that the batter had. Crispy and got pleasantly soggy after the piece of fish had been broken up, which is no bad thing.

All the accoutrements were there. Malt vinegar is available at the table when you sit down, as it should be. The tartar sauce was nothing special, a little thin in my opinion and lacking some piquancy, basically like mayonnaise with a little piece of gherkin or two swimming around. There was coleslaw.

Overall an absolutely decent platter, the standard which every seafood joint should hold itself to at minimum. Hot, crispy, fully-furnished. The tartar leaves something to be desired and its a bit expensive for what you get though. I think it's a solid 7/10.