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McCormick and Schmick's, Steak and Seafood Chain Now Owned by Landry's Inc.


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Happy Hour at McCormick & Schmick's with the library crew turned out to be pretty good. Drinks are regular price (Most draft beer $5) but if you buy two, you unlock the $1.95 happy hour menu of apps and entrees. Most in the group got the cheeseburger, which looked pretty much like the entree cheeseburger and fries. There was also crab dip, artichoke dip, mussels...stuff like that. Looked like a pretty good deal. Weird hours, though: 3:30-6:30, then again 10:30-12:00.

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Normally, you have to have a reservation to eat either lunch or dinner at the M & S at the corner of 17th and K. But, there are tables in the bar area that are available without a reservation. , Occasionally, I'll have lunch there and the lunch menu is suprisingly affordable. There is a salmon special that comes with mashed potatoes and vegatables for about $10.

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I worked at the 16th and K location for ten months while I was finishing my dissertation. My departing impression was that some of the food is outstanding (the seasonally available Nantucket Bay scallops, most of the halibut preparations, the ahi tuna with seaweed salad, and, above all, the seared cajun scallops with pineapple buerre blanc) while the majority of items are in the solid-to-good range. To this day, when I want simply prepared, fresh seafood and a healthy portion of potatoes and vegetables, I head to McCormick's.

Menu items that deserve attention:

Starters

Pan Fried Oysters

Calamari - served with a trio of sauces, one of which--a combination of Dickinson's Orange Marmalade, Horseradish, and Cilantro--is divine

Ajillo Shrimp - which tend to be spicier than they are garlicy

House Salad - the perfect combinatino of mesclun, blue cheese, candied pecans, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Spinach Salad - baby spinach, sliced red onion, cayenne roasted pecans, served with a Spicy Szechuan dressing and surrounded by sliced strawberries

Entrees

Cajun Seared Scallops with Pineapple Buerre Blanc, served with sauteed spinach and yellow rice

Seared Rare Ahi Tuna - in house called the Black and Blue -- seven slices of rare tuna served with a nori roll, soy sauce, and spicy seaweed salad

Halibut, however it is being prepared

Wild King Salmon, however it is being prepared

Nantucket Bay Scallops with lemon butter

Atlantic Salmon - stuffed with crab, bay scallops, and brie, served with mashed potatoes, carrots, and asparagus

Desserts

Strawberry Shortcake - served with a southern style drop biscuit, sliced, macerated strawberries, and whipped cream

Chocolate Brioche pudding - a warm brioche pudding, built over medallions of dark chocolate, topped with creme anglaise

Oh, and if you like cocktails that are made with citrus fruit juice, they are squeezed fresh to order. The golden margaritas are to die for. And as the previous poster mentioned, the $1.95 happy hour cheeseburger and fries is indeed the normal dinner portion.

I know that service can be variable, and that the wine selection, while vast, trends toward young and popular. But if it's simple, mostly uncomplicated seafood you're looking for, the K Street location can more than meet your needs.

**Stay AWAY from the crabcakes and the tuna melt.

Edited by LoganCircle
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The location in Reston is a pretty good place for this area to go for a business lunch. They have tables that can be closed off with a curtain that make for a private room for up to six people.

The Seafood Cobb salad is pretty nice, full of crab, baby shrimp and scallops, along with the rest of the Cobb accoutrements and I am a fan of the popcorn shrimp appetizer too.

Might just sit at the bar for lunch today.

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I just ate at the M&S in Bethesda for a friend's b-day with a group of nine. The manager checked on us several times and took a polaroid of us, and presented it to my friend in a nice little card. Sort of hokie, but sorta sweet too!

I had the seafood cobb salad, which was yummy. I also really love their tuna and the thai-style mussels on the happy hour menu.

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yeah, decent food (not much of a wow factor but good) - parents are not adventurous eaters so often take them here when they visit - at the Bethesda branch I convinced my Dad to order some type of lobster dish only for him to discover he didn't like lobster - they switched entrees for him at no charge which I thought was pretty classy given that strictly speaking there was nothing wrong with the original dish

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Up until this week, none of the meals I had in Tysons have been great but none have been bad either.

I started with some bland Malpeques and pretty much had to slather on sauce to make them palatable. The soft-shell crab sandwich was marginal at best. The crab itself was tiny in comparison to the bun and barely had any meat.

It didn't help that our entrees arrived before the appetizers. I also didn't realize that we would be charged for drink refills (which wasn't the case before if I remember correctly).

Next time, if we must eat at a chain, it's gonna be Clyde's.

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I ate at the new McCormick and Schmick in Annapolis recently as I had heard they have a pretty extensive happy hour menu. Everything was cheap (cheap=successful happy our) and the beers were cold (cold= successful happy hour), but I did have one minor issue. We ordered the "Annapolis Roll", which I had imagined to be something like a lobster roll, but with crab instead of lobster. The happy hour description said "fresh crab and avocado" and I had visions of a toasted buttery roll, a touch of mayo and sme delicious crab and avocado. To my surprise, what I was served was a sushi style roll, with rice, crab, avocado, seaweed, and soy sauce :lol: . I have no problems with sushi, but in this particular situation, it seemed an odd pairing with the mussels, burgers, and other items that we had ordered off of the happy hour menu. Why is McCormick and Schmick serving a sushi roll? Does that strike anyone else as odd? I mean I know they're a seafood restaurant and all, but I think i would have much preferred my crab and avocado on a wonderful, buttery hot dog roll.

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I ate at the new McCormick and Schmick in Annapolis recently as I had heard they have a pretty extensive happy hour menu. Everything was cheap (cheap=successful happy our) and the beers were cold (cold= successful happy hour), but I did have one minor issue. We ordered the "Annapolis Roll", which I had imagined to be something like a lobster roll, but with crab instead of lobster. The happy hour description said "fresh crab and avocado" and I had visions of a toasted buttery roll, a touch of mayo and sme delicious crab and avocado. To my surprise, what I was served was a sushi style roll, with rice, crab, avocado, seaweed, and soy sauce :lol: . I have no problems with sushi, but in this particular situation, it seemed an odd pairing with the mussels, burgers, and other items that we had ordered off of the happy hour menu. Why is McCormick and Schmick serving a sushi roll? Does that strike anyone else as odd? I mean I know they're a seafood restaurant and all, but I think i would have much preferred my crab and avocado on a wonderful, buttery hot dog roll.

I think this goes to show how beyond mainstream sushi has gone. Hell, even Ruth's Chris does a tuna app that's essentially sushi.

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I think this goes to show how beyond mainstream sushi has gone. Hell, even Ruth's Chris does a tuna app that's essentially sushi.

Had this discussion with one of their employees a few months ago. McCormick's Full menu is dictated by Corporate. The respective branches Happy Hour Menu, is created by their respective chefs.

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Had this discussion with one of their employees a few months ago. McCormick's Full menu is dictated by Corporate. The respective branches Happy Hour Menu, is created by their respective chefs.

That is interesting. Well at least corporate gives the individual units some control over what comes out of the kitchen (although it is a small part). I still think they may want to rethink that sushi roll :lol:

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Dinner at the downtown location last night. (Someone else was paying :D.) The folks who got the king crab legs and the steak and lobster combo seemed happy with their choices, but I didn't make inquiries. I had a wedge salad that was not very good. (How do you mess that up? I was disappointed.) It had cucumber slices with it that were ridiculously bitter, though the tomato was surprisingly tomato-like. My seafood fettucine alfredo was okay. The cream sauce wasn't the typical "Alfredo" sauce you'd expect in a chain restaurant. It was understated and not really all that creamy. There were more shrimp and bay scallops included than I would have predicted. My husband's swordfish was overcooked and he said that his Caesar salad was just all right. We split some kind of brownie sundae thing for dessert, which started out good and increasingly became underwhelming. Other folks had crème brûlée and sorbets, which everyone seemed to like. Collectively, I think we finished pretty much ate everything that came out to the table, except the last of my dessert.

I've only previously eaten at the F Street location, which I have now concluded that I prefer over K Street, just in terms of atmosphere and service. Based on my past orders and last night's experience, I'd say sticking with shellfish at M&S seems to be the best bet. They do that pretty well.

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I hadn't eaten at an M&S for a few years, but ended up at the one at National Harbor last weekend. They really do have some fabulous deals for lunch (including a whole section of the menu - probably at least 10 options - for under $10). I had the blackened fish tacos which ended up being 2 enormous tacos (each filled with 5-6 large chunks of perfectly blackened mahi-mahi) served with black beans and rice. I ended up not eating much of the sides since I'd filled up on calamari and the tacos were so massive, but it was all pretty good (and only like $9 or so). The tortillas were crisp and the fish was nicely spicy with a little cabbage slaw and sour cream to cut the heat. I would certainly order this again.

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I'm not sure if anyone knows, or cares, but in 2011, McCormick and Schmick's (which I believe includes all their restaurants, including M&S Grill), succumbed to a hostile takeover bid by the massive restaurant empire, Landry's which also owns Chart House, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Morton's, and Rainforest Cafe. The deal was said to be worth $131.6 million.

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Bob got a $50 gift card to M&S last Christmas that we finally got around to using last night for happy hour at the F Street location. The drinks--cucumber gimlets for Bob, a special cosmo for me (yeah, yeah)--were quite well made; the cosmo clearly used fresh juices/purees, and had a tart edge that made it less Sex and the City-ish. Two large fish tacos with a jicama slaw for $5.95 were terrific; the chicken quesadilla more pedestrian, the blue cheese chips an interesting if failed effort at potato chip nachos. The only real downside was the slow, indifferent service. I'd head back for the decent drinks and tacos, at least, maybe check out the quality of the burger, if I was in the neighborhood and needing a respite. In other words, better than I expected, and the perfect way to use the gift card.

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