Ford’s Fish Shack

We visited Ford’s Fish Shack for the first time on a Friday night. The place was packed and we waited half an hour to be seated despite a reservation. The food was good, except for the strange-​tasting coleslaw. My blueberry mojito was fresh and fabulous. The staff was friendly and the service was efficient. Our chief complaint is that the restaurant has NO handicapped parking and no curb cut to make it easier for a someone in a wheelchair to get to the restaurant. The handicapped parking and curb cut were at the other end of the strip shopping center, necessitating a long walk to the curb cut and then back to the restaurant. We’d return to Ford’s for the food, but the lack of easy handicapped access was a real problem for us.

We eat here almost weekly, we had brunch again last Sunday. We love Fords, the food in great, the servers and managers are great, the only challenge is getting a table on the weekend with no reservation! If you like brunch and have not had it here, i think its one of the best in Ashburn!

This place consistently offers great seafood for reasonable prices. You can go wrong with this place!

Well a friend was visiting and it’s been over a year since we have seen each other and I took the hour drive to say hello. She was told about this place and how great it was from friends a forget people in her hotel, her classmates were kinda jealous that she made it and not them…
So first we had red wine and then ordered the mixture of a dozen of raw oysters… Great
Then order of muscles, I tell you the sauce should be bottles and sold.
Then Salmon Bruschetta another amazing plate but it was the main course for my friend.
As for me I breaded Cod it was good but needed just a little bit more salt… But that’s good as we know extra salt can turn a wonderful meal into a disaster plus too much salt is just un-​healthy…

Love going to Ford’s for oysters and cocktails and have been there many times. Overall, the menu is great, but is a little inconsistent for 5 stars. They have a heat happy hour menu and Mondays are a must for dollar oysters. Staff is always very friendly and knowledgable.

Ford’s Fish Shack is fantastic! When we host family celebrations in the Ashburn and Leesburg area, we gravitate to Ford’s. This place is very popular for brunch, lunch, dinner and happy hour. If you want to secure a table, it’s best to arrive early.
The food is really good. My all time favorite is their shrimp rolls. They fry up some very large shrimp, stuff them in a soft buttered bun and provide your with a nice sauce. The portion is ample. I also enjoy ordering their grilled corn. The shrimp roll comes with a homemade cole slaw and fries. During other visits, I’ve ordered the fried baskets of shrimp and other fried goods.
Service is always stellar. The staff knows their stuff. They make great recommendations. Our beverage glasses are never empty. Food comes out quickly and the food is fresh and hot.

Their food seems a tad bit on the saltier side (but I generally eat things kind of bland so I may be a little biased). The service was awesome, and the menu looks really good. :)

Came in for business and found this lil gem. Great, and I mean great oysters which were on special for $ 1 a piece (4 different varieties), crisp calamari with a nice house sauce and a great blackened fish sandwich perfectly cooked.
Joy at the bar was great. My iced tea was always full and she asked (and remembered) my name throughout the evening.

You can’t go wrong with Ford’s. We love it and the kids love it. Their fries are amazing. The mussels are great — although it was a bit on the salty side last time we got it.

Hands down one of the best restaurants in Loudoun County.
685

This place serves great seafood. Only down side is that it is very busy, so reservations is really, really needed. Service was ok. My friend and I sat at the bar and one of the bartender was not very tentative to customers. Which is a big disappointment in my eyes. To be honest, I have to give a slight edge to McCormick and Schmitt. The only reason is because of the not so good service my friend and I got. If it wasn’t for that then I would say it is a tie.

Hands down the best seafood spot in Loudoun.

Favorite seafood place around! Best prices too. top notch are the fish tacos, light and fresh, and lobster roll on a slightly toasted and brushed with butter bun. Watch out the thin seasoned shoe string fries are addictive.

This is probably one of my favorite fish Resturant in the local area. I had a wonderful belated birthday dinner with my wife and son. The service was outstanding and the food was very delicious.

Went again yesterday for dinner. Very happy with the fried clams and lobster tail. Wife had the lobster roll… yum.
Good food, good service!

I’ve been to Ford’s a few times with my family, my dad and stepmom live in Leesburg, and they really like this restaurant, and I can see why. The place has a great vibe, it’s nicely decorated, all in a fisherman’s theme, very cute. It’s actually a pretty small space, and it is very popular, every time we’ve gone without a reservation, whether for brunch, dinner, whatever, there’s a wait.
I’m giving it four stars because that’s the combined average of my visits. I can recall a brunch where everything was so delicious and good, that would’ve earned five stars, but this last trip this past Saturday night was more like 2.5÷3. Sooo, 4 it is for now. What made the visit not as great this last time was the service. Our waiter sucked. He took forever to come back, we saw him literally 3 times throughout the night. He wasn’t even the one to take our dinner order, another waiter came by to pour water refills and we gave him our order because by then, we’d been sitting for 15 minutes. And well, I actually had the first meh thing I’ve ever had here, and sadly, it was the lobster roll :(I love lobster rolls soooo much, so really, any chance I get, I order it. Ford’s was not good, so sad. There was so much flavor lacking, I don’t know exactly what it was, maybe not enough butter, who knows, but I wouldn’t order it again. They have delicious oysters, fish tacos, scallops, so stick to those!
Again, 4 stars because normally I really enjoy this place. Will definitely be back and hope the service and food are more like the first 3 times I went!

Loooove the food here and the value is right! When I’m in town every couple of weeks I often eat here lunch and dinner. However some suggestions for improvement: get the wait staff to be a little friendlier, and a slightly healthier salad options would be nice. Don’t get me wrong — the wedge covered in bacon and dripping with blue cheese is gooOOd but sometimes I want two grilled tails and a good healthy salad.

We love Fords! Fantastic service, great food, nice atmosphere. There is a reason this place is always packed. And this review is from a non-​seafood eater.
Get the Maine chips. It’s the only bit of lobster I will eat. They are warm with lots of goodies– blue cheese crumbles melted, tomatoes, lobster, and I’m sure other stuff. We get a half order for 2 although we could eat a full order and be stuffed.
I generally get the Cajun pasta with chicken or steak and both are excellent. My steak has never come out the wrong temperature. The burgers are good too.
My husband is the seafood eater and craves the fish tacos. He has tried several other items and liked them too.
The beer menu isn’t huge but always has local and seasonal beers on tap, which suits us just fine.

Been here several of times. Busy times and non busy times. Staff are always friendly and food is consistently good. It’s casual and loud. Good place to bring kids! Lol. Their oysters are amazing and lobster rolls are packed with a lot of lobster meat!

It is a nice place overall. It has the cool deco, good fish, nice music that goes on the background like a bar. About the taste, we arrived as a group, so it really depends on what you order as well as your preferences — the salmon egg Benedict was so-​so; the salmon filet was great, the seafood fries were alright. I personally would not return to this spot because there is nothing really WOWs. The waitress is not really helpful. Their coffee also needs a little bit of work — too watery.

So I had to see what all the hype was about, and let me just say that Ford’s Fish Shack did not disappoint!!!
Great service. Delicious food. Reasonably priced.
The Rocket Shrimp is the bomb and you MUST try the Fried Lobster Tail.
Looking forward to my next visit!

Stopped in for lunch this past weekend. I always went to the South Riding location, but decided on Ashburn this time. Ford’s is definitely a favorite of mine. Great food, service and atmosphere.
I had a Margarita, Spinach&Crab Dip and Crab Cake Sandwich. Delicious!
Great seafood in Loudoun! Will be back soon.

Ford’s is the seafood place to go in Ashburn! Make sure to get a reservation about a week in advance or you will be a) eating at 4:30pm or 9pm b) waiting 2 hours to get a table.
We take my in-​laws to Fords who are from Massachusetts and vacation on Cape Cod every year and they even rave about the food. I think that alone tells you how good it is :-)
Personal favorites: Shrimp Tacos, Cod, and the Lobster roll!
Oh and my husband who is not a seafood person at all raves about the burger every time we go!

The Lobsta roll (yes this is how they spell it) is to die for.
Everything else they offer on the menu is OK but not great. I also had the Trout before and it was very grease.
Service is OK but also not the greatest.

Update: 12÷6÷2015 —
We attempted to make reservations tonight however the person answering the phones (Grace) had such a poor attitude we chose to go elsewhere. We asked to speak to a manager and she refused.
This year we’ve eaten here approximately 25 times — enjoying many a good meal with family in friends, however the last 3 visits lead me to conclude this place is going downhill on multiple levels
— 3 visits ago after waiting 15 minutes for a drink refill I went and found one of the managers who assured me drink refills were coming. We waiting another 5 minutes before going and finding Tony, the owner who finally got us refills. Our waiter went MIA or quit or something.
— 2 visits ago I ordered my typical Sirloin steak — medium — it came out mooing. It was totally fleshy. Send it back and wait another 10 minutes while the rest of the family enjoys their meal.
— Most recent visit (last Sunday) — we ordered the shrimp — they came out overcooked and devoid of seasoning.
In each of the situations the manager and/​or owner has made things right — comped the meal, given us free desert etc however, when we go out we want a stress and drama free experience. Thats what we had 12 months ago, but not as of recent.

Looking for an affordable and casual dinner, my boyfriend and I came to Ford’s Fish Shack on a Wednesday night. It was pretty empty so we were seated right away.
Our server told us the specials for night but wasn’t pushy about it. He was also very patient with our multiple questions. He came to check up on us periodically but we didn’t feel neglected. Service was an ‘A’.
We got the calamari and shrimp tacos to share. The calamari came on top of the Lobstah Ginger Sauce but they were not drenched in it. The sauce tasted kind of spicy-​cheesy and the peppers were the sweetest peppers ever. It was different than most calamari and I definitely recommend it.
The shrimp tacos were filled with shrimp and veggies. They used a soft taco shell but they toasted it or something and made it crispy. I think the sauce was kind of similar to the calamari sauce and it needed more cilantro.
They also have complimentary mini muffins that were so good! Tasted fresh and like just the muffin tops. I will definitely come back because there were so many items that sound delicious and the prices were reasonable.

Chiming in as a hyper critical local reviewer. Our second visit. Sorry to report that this is really only a 3 star place. It’s good, but only if you have time for the amateur service and the pretty good food.
The pomegranate margarita had no kick. The cornbread muffins they bring for free are too tiny and way too sweet.
Some of the dozen oysters were sloppily shucked. When you pay a buck fifty for oysters, you want them to be intact, not shredded, and have all their liquor to enjoy. Our waiter knew nothing about oysters, but kindly sent someone to help us identify which were which of the two kinds of oysters we had ordered.
On the good side, we ordered a Maine Fried Seafood Basket with half oysters and half clams in which the fried seafood was perfectly crispy but not overcooked, and delightful.
The wine pour felt skimpy but perhaps it was the stemless glass they served it in that made it seem small.
I hope my comments are useful for both potential diners and the restaurant’s management.

When giving a quick food tour of the area to friends and family, this is my American seafood go to in the area. Not fancy, not over priced, not a stinky shack like people would think but a local favorite everyone visits if your a seafood fan.
Key things to try
–Angry Mussels (order a plain penne kids size pasta and eat them in the sauce once your done) This wonderful blush sauce is heavenly, a bit heavy but not overwhelming.
–Good lobster rolls Maine or New England style
–Atlantic Salmon is great as well
–Monday DOLLAR OYSTERS! (Call in advance to see what oysters are on special) well shucked, no shards of shell in your oyster.
–Seafood tower with a large group

Ford’s is always a go to for a tasty and casual meal. I’ve never had a bad experience here, but it also doesn’t stand out as extraordinary. The food is good, a little step up from a chain restaurant.
I really liked the spinach and crab dip as well as the steamed shrimp. The service is friendly and relatively fast.
Overall, it’s a great place, but not the most fresh seafood I’ve ever had. I would recommend it, depending on what you’re looking for!

Still one of my favorite spots to grab food, cocktails, hangout, happy hour, etc. Plus I run into a few former coworkers of mine from my sweetwater days so it’s nice to catch up with them.
They also serve brunch Saturdays and Sundays which are toxically euphoric and pleasant. French toast is delicious and their brunch cocktails such as the Bacon Bloody Mary are heavenly. For appetizers the Maine Chips, mussels, oysters and shrimp cocktail are all delicious. Actually, everything here is delicious! Literally everything, unless you have a shellfish allergy or you’re a vegetarian in which case you should just order a salad and shut up!
Awesome staff of servers and bartenders including Sara, Mike G and Lindsay.
Every time I walk in here I always hear that song «Still the One» play in my head.
Still the one who could quench my thirst!
Still the one that gives me a burst!
We’re still having fun, cause you’re still the one!
(I changed some of the lyrics but you know what I mean)