It takes guts to compete against the popular Pike Street Fish Fry. But a new establishment on Broadway, Five Fish Bistro, has accepted this challenge.

The differences between the two restaurants are plentiful. In fact, serving seafood is practically the only aspect that Pike Street Fish Fry and Five Fish Bistro, which opened on Jan. 11, have in common.

Five Fish Bistro is already doing well for itself, full of people even during the recent week-long storm.

The restaurant's dining area is twice, maybe even three times as big as Pike Street Fish Fry. This means never being forced to take your food to-go because you couldn't find seating, a common occurrence at the Fish Fry.

Five Fish Bistro's menu comes equipped with the quintessential items a fish fry should have: clam chowder, fish baskets with fries and po' boy sandwiches.

The Northwesterner-style clam chowder was absolutely delicious. For $5.57, the consistency of broth had just the right amount of creaminess, not too runny or thick. The pieces of celery, potato, carrot and clam were chopped up small enough to get an assortment of each ingredient in every bite. The clam flavor did not overpower the other ingredients either.

The $8.75 cod and chips came with three large pieces of cod and a fair portion of fries. The breading was a perfect golden brown and the consistency had a good crisp to them. After being cut, the cod would only sometimes stay together long enough to reach the mouth. Trying to dip the fish in the tarter sauce that came with the entree posed to be a struggle on occasion. The freshly cut fries, which had a good balance of being crunchy yet greasy, complemented the cod well.

Five Fish Bistro's appetizers contains basically anything fried imaginable, from calamari to fried zucchini and more.

Adding specialty dishes like salmon linguini pasta and fish tacos to the choosing makes it hard for Five Fish Bistro's customers to decide what to order from the wide range of options.

Priced at $8.50, the fish tacos were my favorite dish of the night. Two fish tacos and tortilla chips make up the dish. The tacos are each stuffed with two huge pieces of fish, pico de gallo and a chipotle mayo dressing. The mix of corn, onion, tomato, red pepper, green onion and cilantro that comprise the pico de gallo add a kick of spice to the tacos when paired with the chipotle mayo. The mixture of all the ingredients makes for a great blend of flavors and a tasty entree altogether.

Five Fish Bistro also brings a twist to the typical seafood genre by adding barbeque sauce to a few of their menu items. A fried bacon and barbeque sauce starter and spicy barbeque shrimp quesadilla are awaiting those that dare to test them.

If nothing on the regular menu seems appealing, daily specials like crab stuffed mushrooms or baked stuffed crab sole are sure to do the trick.

Front of the house workers take your order at the register and bring the food to the tables at Five Fish Bistro. This method showcases their exceptionally happy wait staff, who came back to check in on our table several times.

VERDICT: With all that said, Pike Street Fish Fry still has an edge over Five Fish Bistro. Not only am I sucker for their Hawaiian ahi tuna and the smoked chili mayo, but I also like eating fish that stays together through the tarter sauce dipping process.

Even though the prices are pretty much the same between the two restaurants, the self-service food pickup and interacting with the cooks making the food makes Pike Place Fish Fry seem much more friendly and engaging.

Don't get me wrong. If you're hungry and wandering on the northern side of Broadway, then stop in at Five Fish Bistro. The clam chowder and fish tacos will not disappoint. But the trek over there is unnecessary because the best fried fish on Capitol Hill still remains at Pike Place Fish Fry.

Ashley may be reached at aroe@su-spectator.com