King’s Fish House Updates Design in The Commons at Calabasas

King’s Fish House modernizes their Calabasas outpost with a redesign and maintains a focus on quality seafood, including a wealth of oysters.

The West Valley dining scene is becoming increasingly competitive. Rather than just stand still, King’s Seafood Company is upping its game. The company recently completed an impressive multi-million dollar remodel of its eatery King’s Fish House at The Commons in Calabasas.

The 8,600-square-foot space now features a brick facade and wraparound patio that fronts a lush, manmade creek. Interiors tout a brown, cream and sea-blue color scheme and incorporate a bowstring truss roof with exposed wood rafters. Contrasting circular chandeliers light a bevy of cushioned booths and leather banquettes. Scale models of fish ring the dining room, nautical rope supports cocktail bar shelving, and a two-sided oyster bar features a tongue-in-cheek tagline that hangs overhead: “Home of the fresh, topless, salty oysters.”

King’s oyster bar still remains a draw for fresh shucked shellfish. [Joshua Lurie]

King’s Fish House is part of a high-end, 11-location chain from Costa Mesa-based King’s Seafood Company. It also runs King’s Seafood Distribution, an operation that leverages proprietary relationships with fishermen to source pristine seafood for use in dishes inspired by regional Americana and global flavors.

No matter the setting, King’s Fish House oysters remain top-of-the-line. Their oyster sampler features six different rotating bivalves—an equal split of Pacific and Eastern—served on a platter of crushed ice with mignonette, cocktail sauce, horseradish and sinus-clearing habanero lime sauce. During my visit I enjoyed the moderately salty Night Tides from Thorndyke Bay, Washington; brinier Coromandel with deeper beds from Coromandel Bay, New Zealand; and creamy, meatier James River from Chesapeake Bay, Virginia.

Sand dabs are small, flaky whitefish that provide some of the West Coast’s best oceanic eating, and King’s Fish House makes them dangerously easy to devour. Two deboned fish are Parmesan-crusted, pan-fried, and dressed with lemon butter and capers. Each fish plate comes with a choice of two sides. I selected sautéed spinach with lemon juice and roasted garlic, and sautéed kale with garlic chips and tangy Drake’s goat cheese.

As for non-seafood offerings, artichokes take center stage with the jumbo Castroville ‘choke. The appetizer is bright and herbaceous, marinated with basil vinaigrette, grilled and served with pesto mayo dipping sauce.

King’s Fish House never wavered in their promise to serve outstanding seafood, and now Calabasas has a design that matches that commitment.

4798 Commons Way, Calabasas, 818-225-1979