John Ingram
CJ Finz Raw Bar & Grille is an absolute gem in the heart of the city. From the moment you walk in, the friendly staff make you feel welcome and the lively atmosphere sets the perfect tone for a great meal. The seafood is incredibly fresh — the oysters, shrimp, and crab legs taste like they came straight from the coast. Every dish is perfectly seasoned and beautifully presented. The drinks are also top-notch, with creative cocktails and a great selection of beers to complement any meal.
… moreSuwanit Tachothai
The service here is always great, but the food does take a long time to come out. That said, it’s worth the wait for some dishes—their crab dip is especially delicious!
… moreVAFoodDude
Stopped by for lunch while traveling through the area and had the lobster roll which was solid. Gentleman at the bar was very friendly with excellent service. Can’t wait to try other things on the menu next time I’m in town.
… moreJ Smith
Probably the best Crab Rangoons I’ve ever had. Actual crab and not straight cream cheese inside. She crab soup is pretty good as well.
Blonde bartender lady is super nice and attentive.
Hope to be back to try more of the menu.
… moreMCM
First time patron and will definitely be back. Good service and ample food options. Small, but nice outdoor seating space with sun shades. Outdoor seating has good access for strollers or walkers. Busy and loud train traffic, intermittent, not terrible. Crab Dip appetizer is very good but light on the crab, which is only crumbles on the top. Homemade chips are good but many clumped together so not quite crispy enough. Chili Lime Shrimp Tacos (2) and Wedge Salad with Steak Tips were absolutely delicious and generous portions. Would be nice if the tacos came with a side though. Drinks are reasonably priced and good. Definitely worth a try if you haven’t been there!
… moreChris Cafferky
Last night my wife and I, in our never-ending quest to find new and interesting restaurants in the Fredericksburg area, decided to drive to Manassas to try a seafood place called CJ Finz Raw Bar and Grille. When we got there, we found that it didn’t seem to have parking, but we were able to find on-street parking. We walked in and saw that it had a fairly small dining room. There was a full bar along the left side of the restaurant, three or four large tables that could seat a party of eight, and tables for two and four elsewhere. We had a 15 minute wait, since on a Saturday evening this place was full. We sat down and were immediately visited by our very pleasant server. I ordered an Ono Oatmeal Stout, and my wife had a Devils Backbone Vienna Lager. We started with a dozen oysters on the half shell. They were fairly good sized, and served with cocktail sauce and horseradish (the real stuff, not sauce).
When it came time to order entrees, our server had several suggestions. One of them was the Thai Green Curry Scallops. Since I came there for scallops. I took that suggestion. My wife had a Lobster Roll and a cup of She Crab soup. My wife reported that the lobster was plentiful in the roll, and cooked properly, not overdone. The She Crab soup, which is one of my wife’s favorites, was excellent.
My scallops were phenomenally good. There were four jumbo sized scallops, with jasmine rice and a wonderful curry sauce. The scallops themselves were not just Broiled, they were done in Thai spices and were delicious. The spices were not too hot. A generous helping of rice and curry sauce made this one of the best scallop dishes I’ve had.
We don’t normally order desert, but my wife saw Key Lime pie, so she ordered that. I took another of our server’s suggestions and ordered the Granny Apple Crisp, which is a very tasty Granny Smith Apple pie/cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream. It was very good and very decadent. My wife reported that the key lime pie was also first rate.
This is a smallish place that does a good business, so it’s probably not the place to go for a quiet intimate dinner. However if you want excellent seafood, top rate oysters, and excellent service, this is the place to go.
… moreNikk McAndrews
I ordered CJ Finz because of reviews on Yelp. So many people were comparing other restaurants in the same immediate area to CJ Finz that I just had to try it. I ordered the Fish & Chips. The fish was a very good size, but I think one more piece would be needed to justify the high price tag on this menu item. I got a small-medium size piece and a large piece. Sadly, the smaller piece was firm and didn’t fall apart easily as one would assume fish would do. It was quite tough and bland, for fish. The larger piece was quite pleasant but had a slightly off flavor to it in a fatty spot or two. The tartar sauce was fairly bitter. The fish breading was very poorly held to the meat of the fish and was basically just a hard shell covering a slightly greasy piece of meat. I think this place can do better. The fries were decent. A majority of them weren’t soggy, and they had a nice crisp to them with a nice soft interior. All-in-all, this meal still left me a bit hungry, and well, unsatisfied – which as someone who doesn’t usually eat more than 2 pieces of pizza that’s a bit astonishing to me. The packaging was nice – I like seeing places that use the hard-shell plastic containers, but there also were no utensils or napkins included. It’s not really somewhere I would go repeatedly, or daily, but if someone asked if I would go there, I wouldn’t complain or try to suggest anywhere different. It’s just simply alright. It’s one of those places you go to when everything else is closed for the holidays. I would rate this place as “okay”.
… moreMusicalhossgal Nancy Lisi
A favorite of mine for seafood. This time I got the swordfish steak, which was done perfectly, and Robert got the scallops. I’ve never had an Arnold Palmer as tasty as this one either!
… moreJason Ellison
Customer service was top notch, food was AMAZING!! We had spinach and cheese ravioli with bourbon cream sauce and grilled chicken topped with bacon and parmesan cheese… and cilantro lime roasted grouper on a bed of rice with broccolini
… moreBruce Lowther
Wow. Wonderful scallops and a very tender steak. The Cauliflower rice was good and the Key Lime Pie was a great way to finish it all off. The service was great. We arrived a little before 5pm and there were many tables open. When we were finished at about 5:45 the place was really starting to fill up.
Overall it was a very nice dinner.
Atmosphere was a little noisy for us, but you extroverts would be fine. The music was quite good.
… more