J. Anthony’s is not exactly what you’d call swank; we’ve driven by for years without feeling obliged to enter. The restaurant’s interior, featuring a murky aquarium and a mural dominated by The Little Mermaid, does nothing to alter the equation; the seating is awkward, you order at a counter topped with a drinks machine, the day’s specials are scrawled on a whiteboard…Now, we’re not here to tell you the cuisine is mermaid-magical, but a little Disney disbelief may be warranted nonetheless.

In typical fish-joint fashion, frying is the name of the game: a fifteen-piece family order is available, and various combos of shrimp, oysters and unnamed fish are listed. We confined our frying to an appetizer: cornmeal-coated okra. Amazingly, the okra had retained its color, the coating was crisp and greaseless. With some trepidation, we also checked out the fish ceviche, differing from the tomato juice-accented coastal Mexican model only in the inclusion of salmon. Topped with slices of avocado and spangled with chopped onion and tomato, the fresh-tasting mix only needed chiles—which were oddly served whole on the side. Maybe you’re supposed to alternate bites.

One day’s special plate of grilled (more like griddled) fish and shrimp yielded both disappointments and surprises. Both the fillets and the coleslaw were uneventful, but the tail-on shrimp and the peppery Cajun rice exceeded expectations. We were briefly tempted by pastel-frosted slabs of sheet cake. But no; we were already pressing our luck.