Sharon W.
Yelp
Larry S. and I got sucked into the black hole of Hialeah where the streets have two names and the space-time continuum reaches the inflection point where the GPS fails. When this unfortunate event happens (rarely, fortunately), it's usually met with frustration and wasted time. Yesterday, however, it resulted in us finding Cod Seafood!
Don't let Hialeah's sketchy zoning turn you off. Yes, it's a seafood restaurant next to train tracks and industrial warehouses, but thanks to the same magic that warps Miami's usually reliable street grid system, the fumes from the nearby paint factory give Cod Seafood a wide berth. Note - we also found the location of all of the socks that go missing in the dryer. They're here in Hialeah, being darned by Jimmy Hoffa.
The restaurant is clean and well-maintained with a basic interior decor. They have a fish market where I believe you can purchase fish and have them prepare it for you right there, or you can take it home. No fishy smell inside at all! They also have a great menu with lots of different options, including reasonably priced breakfast specialties.
We ordered fried calamari, a bacalao croquette, oysters and ceviche. The food was ready quickly and was absolutely fresh and delicious! The standout for me was the calamari; crisp and not at all greasy. The ceviche was a perfect acidic palate cleanser garnished with plenty of cilantro. Due to language barriers, we didn't realize the oysters would come in a cocktail sauce, but Larry reported that the raw bivalves were deliciously fresh and tender (I did not partake. Raw oysters = eww! Not to mention that they function as the waterway's liver, filtering out all the garbage with which we defile our waters. But I digress...). The bacalao fritter was approximately 95% fish with very little filler.
The service was fast and friendly, although please note that no one working there speaks much English. Even if you have zero command of Spanish (which, let's be honest, if that's the case, you'd be nowhere near Hialeah; the gravitational force field surrounding the city would sense that and repel you immediately), you can still point at what you want and the server is going to make every effort to ensure you get it.
Oh, and for all that fresh and delicious fish, the total came to $30. The ceviche alone would have been $30 in Wynwood or South Beach. I have never been so happy to get lost in Hialeah!