Cuisine:

• Sea food
• Banquet
• American

Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto Description:
Ask anyone in Berkeley and they'll tell you this sprawling seafood restaurant on Fourth Street has been around for 100 years (quite literally---the original restaurant opened in 1890). Under McCormick & Schmick's management, the warehouse-size space retains plenty of authentic, old-school charm, with dark wood, stained glass and smile-inducing, antique nautical kitsch flooding multiple banquet rooms and bars, dotted with pieces of local nostalgia---early 1900s photos of Cal athletes, for example. Speaking of Cal, students, their parents and grandparents are equally at home under the unironic mounted fish, as are dressy dates and dressed-down groups for happy hour at the bar. Service is spiffed up and family-friendly. Fish and seafood plates almost exactly live up to the kitschy vintage atmosphere: some dishes, such as the creamy clam chowder or sizzling scampi prawns served in a small cast iron skillet, are grand. Oysters are also a treat, especially at happy hour, though we were not taken with the overly strong Rockefellers. Entrées can be pricy and inconsistent, but the risk for a piece of nut-crusted mahi mahi with mango salsa and ginger butter is mostly worth it. A short wine and long cocktail list are built to complement. The dessert tray holds ooey-gooey, all-American pies, upside-down cakes and other sweets.