Bonefish Grill aims to make a splash in Marysville

MARYSVILLE — Bang Bang Shrimp is the bangup favorite.

The shrimp appetizer is tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce at Bonefish Grill, the new restaurant that opened last month in north Marysville.

“We probably sell more Bang Bang Shrimp than anything in the building,” said Michael Ryan, Bonefish Grill’s managing partner.

For himself, Ryan likes the Chilean sea bass with lemon butter sauce, one of four sauces offered for seafood entrees at Bonefish Grill.

“It just kind of melts in your mouth,” he said.

Bonefish Grill is a chain that’s started in Florida in 2000 and has grown to 215 restaurants across the U.S. If it sounds familiar, it’s because the chain opened a restaurant in south Snohomish County early on — back in 2003.

Still the chain is relatively uncommon here, there are only five Bonefish Grills in the Northwest: the two in the county and ones in Spokane, Richland and Boise, Idaho.

The restaurant brings in fresh seafood — favorites are salmon and mahi-mahi — to each of its restaurants three or four times a week.

“All the fish is handcut by managers,” Ryan said. “Usually two managers — the kitchen manager and the house manager — will cut and bag all the fish on a daily basis.”

Sauces other than the lemon butter are salsa mango, pan-Asian and herb pesto.

While the restaurant specializes in seafood, it also offers other entrees — Ryan recommends the 18-ounce ribeye or the cobb salad. Meals range from $15 to $25. The restaurant also has a selection of Washington wine and local beer including from Marysville’s White Wall Brewing Company.

“We call ourselves polished casual,” Ryan said. “We’re not fine dining by any means, but we are a step up from casual dining.”

Bonefish Grill is located at 2537 172nd St. NE at The Marketplace shopping center, the new shopping center north of Costco. Other restaurants at the center include Firehouse Subs, Qdoba and HopJacks.

This Bonefish Grill shares a kitchen and a set of restrooms with Outback Steakhouse, which opened in December.

“We’ve been open since (Dec. 7th) and we’ve been going huckety-buck,” said Ryan of the Outback.

By sharing kitchen space, the restaurants can move staff from one restaurant to the other, depending on need, Ryan said.

It also cuts down on some of the building costs for the restaurants. The restaurants combined employ 120 to 130.

Bloomin’ Brands is the parent company that owns Outback Steakhouse and Bonefish Grill. The local operator is Evergreen Restaurant Group, which owns 35 restaurants.

Ryan has worked for the company for 13 years, first in Bothell then in Richland. And he helped open the Spokane restaurant, which also housed both a Bonefish Grill and Outback under one roof.

“We knew the north side is starting to bloom,” Ryan said. “I’m actually from Lynnwood and, way back when, this whole area was just fields.”

His dad and his grandfather both were in the restaurant business. They owned a white-table-cloth place called Rosemont Grill next to the state capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Ryan said the restaurant, which is now closed, opened a hundred years ago.

“Al Davis had his meeting to move the Raiders from Oakland to LA at my dad’s restaurant,” Ryan said.

Ryan came to the Northwest to go to Gonzaga University. He eventually followed his dad and grandfather into the restaurant business.

Ryan spent eight years in Richland, but he and his wife wanted to move back to the Puget Sound region where they have a grandchild.

He said he was happy when the restaurant opened in Marysville. He enjoys the company and wanted to continue to work for it.

“We want our employees to be excited about their jobs and come in and express that excitement to our guests,” Ryan said. “The best compliment I get, especially when I was in Richland, was your employees look genuinely happy.”

Hours for Bonefish Grill are 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 4 to 11 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Brunch is served Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.