Restaurant review: Seafood, but not soul

In the men's restroom (marked "buoys") at Stella's Fish Cafe in Uptown, there is a large framed photograph of a young man sprawled barebutt across a bathroom floor, clutching a bottle of cheap Champagne. In the background, there's a urinal filled with vomit.

Why is this photograph worth pondering? The man who created the restaurant, Phil Roberts, is one of the smartest and most talented people in the local restaurant business, and bathrooms are his signature. Buca di Beppo's restrooms have retro photographs and a nostalgic Sinatra-era soundtrack, while hot spot Chino Latino has a sexy co-ed sink area divided by peek-a-boo mirrors.

Roberts was hired to create Stella's by the owners of its predecessor, Tonic, whose sometimes rowdy young clientele generated many complaints from neighborhood residents. The city forced Tonic to close because its liquor sales were disproportionately high compared to food sales.

Stella's is designed to attract the same young crowd with a less-rowdy experience. There's more attention to food and less on drinking, but the real emphasis here is on the experience. The great challenge in marketing to this demographic is breaking through the clutter of images and messages that already saturate their universe, and Stella's does it by offering a high-decibel, high-stimulus ambience, with lots of flat-screen televisions tuned to sports, and a dollop of tongue-in-cheek sexual innuendo on the side. (For example, "My mullet's clean. Is yours?").

If that's your idea of fun, you can have a good time at Stella's, and especially on the rooftop patio, which offers a great view of the city.

Stella's bills itself as "a casual seafood restaurant with the soul of a low-country lunch counter." They've got it about half right: Stella's is a casual seafood restaurant, but it doesn't have much soul. It's a theme restaurant, a well-oiled machine, a formula perfect for cloning.

As for the food, some of it is pretty good and some of it is just OK. To its credit, the menu is more imaginative and the food better prepared than at Red Lobster, Joe's Crab Shack or Bubba Gump's. It's also more expensive, although you can get an order of fish and chips for $12.95, or the Florida grouper sandwich for $8.95.

Highlights of my recent visits include the freshly shucked oysters on the half shell, and the plump and succulent peel-your-own shrimp. Both are included in the cold seafood platter, along with slices of seared ahi tuna, ceviche and half a small lobster. It seemed overpriced at $39.95, but signs on the wall and menu remind customers that "Good seafood isn't cheap, and cheap seafood isn't good."

We had mixed results with other dishes: The coconut shrimp were delightfully crunchy and coconutty, and the seafood pasta offered generous quantities of shrimp, fish, scallops, mussels and clams in a lively tomato sauce. The crisply battered fish and chips, served with slaw and skin-on fries, were wonderfully moist and fresh on the inside, but a bit too greasy on the outside. My stew of chorizo sausage and clams was too salty, and the carpaccio of salmon, tuna and scallops was bland and oily.

The most popular item on the menu is the char-grilled seafood kebab with lemon-basil beurre blanc sauce, a big platter covered with a spear of shrimp and chunks of fresh-tasting salmon, tuna, halibut and swordfish served over a big pile of savory garlic mashed potatoes. Except for the swordfish, which was partly raw, and the halibut, which was missing, it was a pleasant dish.

Servers are young, enthusiastic and eager to share.

Readers' comments

They either loved Stella's or hated it.

Love it: "The food and service were excellent each time. We were pleased that we could bring our young boys."

"I have dined there numerous times and have always had excellent food and great service. My favorites on the menu are the grouper sandwich, the fried chicken and the halibut. The dish to die for [literally with the butter in it] is the hash-brown side dish with lobster in it!"

"Oceanaire quality without the large tab."

"All the food was excellent, the service was good, and the cocktails were also good. No complaints at all."

"We thought it was really good but a little noisy. It was hard to even hear across the table, but the food was good. The drinks were good, the waitress knowledgeable."

Hate it: "A birthday dinner in mid-June was one of the worst dinners ever. [We had] friendly but too talkative and incompetent waiters and cold, really mediocre food."

"Pretty expensive and the food isn't up to par when I think of his other restaurants."

"Apparently this target market likes sports bar television sets and ear crunching acoustics as its dining motif -- at least on the first floor. For my money, Three Fish offers far better price value with more imaginative offerings, presented by people who know their business. Stella's is too much like the love child of Red Lobster and Cheers."

Location: 1400 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612-824-TUNA (8862).

Hours: Monday through Thursday 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Atmosphere: High-decibel, high-stimulus retro tribute to old-time seafood restaurant.

Service: Young and very cheerful.

Sound level: Loud in the main dining room, quieter on the roof.

Recommended dishes: Raw oysters, peel-your-own shrimp, coconut shrimp, seafood pasta.

Wine list: Full bar, "cheap,"fine" and "fancy" house wines, good selection of familiar labels by the glass or bottle plus tap and bottled beers.

Price range: $6.95 to $35.95.

Credit cards: All major credit cards.

Parking: Valet parking ($6) after 5 p.m. At meters on street and in ramps and lots nearby.

Children: Kids menu, high chairs and boosters available.

WHAT THE STARS MEAN

****Exceptional

***Highly recommended

**Recommended

*Satisfactory

Jeremy Iggers is at jiggers@startribune.com.