Monterey Bay Fish Grotto, with its pricey menu and plush dining rooms, feels a bit like a steakhouse impersonating a fishhouse. Tucked into the first floor of the new PricewaterhouseCoopers high-rise in Tysons Corner, this 220-seat offshoot of the popular Pittsburgh original has become a magnet for health-conscious tech moguls, female dealmakers in Max Mara suits, and well-coiffed ladies who lunch.

What does a Pittsburgh outfit know about seafood? Enough to serve a fabulous crab cake, all fall-apart lumps with just a bit of binder and a hint of crispness at the edges. The kitchen also does a fine job with fleshier fish such as Chilean sea bass and Hawaiian opakapaka, both moist and flavorful.

The place sometimes stumbles. There may be four kinds of bread to choose from, but all are flavorless. Delicate filets of lemon sole and striped sea bass were overcooked. And any preparation beyond a safe scattering of crushed macadamias or bread crumbs is suspect: A wedge of sablefish had the acrid aftertaste of scorched mirin and vinegar, and salmon with peppered strawberries is as ill-advised as it sounds.

Service veers between solicitous and slow, and the scale of the place makes you feel as if you’re eating in an office building—which, despite its efforts to be trendy and welcoming, the Grotto can’t quite make you forget.

This review appeared in the July, 2008 issue of The Washingtonian.