New England seafood is a staple in Massachusetts. North Andover’s Joe Fish is known for its half-priced lobster rolls over the summer. We popped in to give them a shot.
Several restaurants and the North Andover staple
Joe Fish is one of three restaurants under the Northern Restaurant Group. Owned and operated by Jim Dietz, Joe Fish is open year round, however, they’re perhaps most well known for their half-priced lobster roll special. The 2025 special was advertised to run from May 23 to Labor Day, every evening after 8 p.m.
View this post on Instagram
Other restaurants that Dietz owns are The Loft Restaurant and Pub, located next door to Joe Fish, and Hopothecary Brewery and Kitchen in North Reading. Prior to opening the Hopothecary with his partners and the founders, Mike and Steve Gabardi, Dietz operated Dos Lobos, a Mexican restaurant at the same location.
An April 7, 2021 social media post announced the closure of Dos Lobos. “Saturday will be our LAST day operating as Dos Lobos. Come out and celebrate with us (and help us eat and use up all our food!),” the post stated. “We will be reopening and partnering with @hopothecaryales in June! Give them a follow to see our progress and be in the loop on our reopening date!”
There was another Joe Fish in North Reading that closed in 2023 due to economic hardship.
“The current economic landscape has not been conducive in supporting two locations of Joe Fish,” a statement released at the time of closing said. “Therefore, we are sadden[ed] to let you know that we will be closing our doors at our North Reading location.”
Let’s give them a shot
Truth be told, we’ve visited sister-restaurant, The Loft, several times over the years and generally had great experiences. With Joe Fish just next door to The Loft, one would think that we’d have popped in at one point or another.
It wasn’t until some viral videos got sent to us until Joe Fish really got put on our radar in a big way. It was indeed the lobster roll special that was garnering a fair amount of attention on the web. Several content creators featured Joe Fish’s big kahuna (large) lobster roll and that enticed us. They serve their rolls either hot with butter or cold with mayo — you can also get a cold one with mayo and a side of hot butter if you want to have worlds collide.
Our visit
We popped into Joe Fish a few days after Christmas 2025. Not able to capitalize on the half-price summertime deal and the market price of lobster was kicking — the big kahuna clocked in at $90.00 — we opted to get a small one and share it as an appetizer at $35.00. After the lobster roll, we both got matching entrees.
While not everything went the way we had hoped during our visit, we have it on our to-do list to revisit Joe Fish over the summer to capitalize on the special.
Drinks
We both decided to get some of Joe Fish’s signature cocktails.
The Gingerbread Martini was a sweet seasonal offering. It was crisp and for a seasonally inspired “girlie” drink, not bad at all. My dining companion enjoyed her Gingerbread Martini.
I ended up ordering a Southern Cross Manhattan. It’s a variation of the Manhattan that’s made with Bulleit Bourbon, elderflower liqueur, and bitters, garnished with a cherry at the bottom of a martini glass. This version of the Manhattan was an interesting twist and the more bitter and floral notes complemented the cold weather perfectly.
The small lobster roll
We opted for the cold lobster roll tossed in mayo. Because we hemmed and hawed a bit our waitress Jaycee recommended we get a side of hot butter for good measure.
The lobster roll came with a side of coleslaw and fresh hot French fries. As a sidebar, the summertime half-price special only includes one side, not two.
For a split bun traditional lobster roll, there was a fair amount of chunky meat in it. The mayo was not overpowering, however it was a little lean for my personal taste. Overall, the roll was a real good traditional New England-style lobster roll. We take our lobster rolls very seriously and if you do too, we suggest checking out our lobster rolls of The Big E review post.
Lobster pie and filet mignon surf and turf special
We hit the specials menu and decided to get a traditional lobster pie and filet mignon surf and turf combination. The plates included the baked lobster pie and two filet medallions priced at $45.00.
The lobster pies were loaded with large chunks of lobster meat, melded with butter, and baked into a traditional cracker crust. As far as lobster pies go, these were great and came to us piping hot.
The filet mignons fell short — twice. We ordered our filets medium trending towards medium rare. What we got were filets that were done. There was a small small hint of pink — more perceptible in the photographs than in person — and they were dry looking.
A swing and a miss
Generally speaking we don’t usually send our food back. Things have to be way off for us to complain about a dish. Getting four filet mignon medallions not cooked closed to the requested temperature was meeting the threshold.
Our waitress Jaycee had been very attentive most of the evening, however did not check back in with us until we were about three-quarters the way through our lobster pies. She saw the temperature was not right and took the steaks back.
Strike two
When Jaycee returned not too long after with our replacement filets, she did check back on us rather quickly. What we got back were straight up rare streaks. I did eat one of my medallions, as rare steak is not entirely offensive to me. However, my dining companion did not touch hers. Jaycee saw the steaks we got were rare.
Home run
It was a Saturday night and the restaurant was close to capacity. Not completely full, but busy for sure. Owner Jim Dietz happened to be in that evening and must have talked to Jaycee because he came straight to our table after she checked in on us.
“As my granddaughter says to me, ‘Sometimes these things happen Papa,’” Dietz said to us. “I’m sorry that the streaks just did not work out for you, sometimes these things happen. Those might be good tomorrow with some steak and eggs if you want to still take them home and fry them up. We’re going to take off a portion of your bill to make it up to you.”
We thanked Dietz and said that we were just discussing that they’d be fine for a late night snack or with breakfast.
Overall impression
We enjoyed the heck outta Joe Fish even though our filets were over and then under cooked. To be super fair, the rare filet was still delicious, just not the temperature I’d usually get. The lobster roll was crisp and fresh — with perfectly cooked and hot French fries. The lobster pies were spot on, hot and buttery. And, the specialty cocktails were great primers and complements to our meals.
My #1 complaint? They don’t serve espresso. And second to that, the lighting at our table was a little dodgy for me — dark and shadowy, but I can see some folks finding that romantic.
We’re going to revisit Joe Fish, 100 percent. Yes, we want to get in on that half-price lobster roll action — a pair of rolls, one hot with butter and one cold with mayo, but there’s actually so much more to the menu that we want to try; we might be visiting before their deal season is kicked off.
Joe Fish is located at: 1120 Osgood St, North Andover, MA 01845
