CJ Finz Raw Bar & Grille - Manassas, Virginia

MCM

First time patron and will definitely be back. Good service and ample food options. Small, but nice outdoor seating space with sun shades. Outdoor seating has good access for strollers or walkers. Busy and loud train traffic, intermittent, not terrible. Crab Dip appetizer is very good but light on the crab, which is only crumbles on the top. Homemade chips are good but many clumped together so not quite crispy enough. Chili Lime Shrimp Tacos (2) and Wedge Salad with Steak Tips were absolutely delicious and generous portions. Would be nice if the tacos came with a side though. Drinks are reasonably priced and good. Definitely worth a try if you haven't been there!

Karim Youssef

Had the famous lobster roll today after recommendations. Lobster roll was served in a slightly warm toast but lobster itself was very cold. Lobster needed seasoning and was very lightly dressed in mayonnaise. Came with a side of amazing fries that we really enjoyed. Price was fair for the amount of lobster they put in the roll.
Ordered tenders for.kids too they were very nice and home made.
Wouldn't get the roll again since it was way to underseasoned for me but would recommend the tenders and fries!
Had to ask for all our refills although it wasn't crowded for 3 servers to be working at the Same time.
Servers were nice but could pay more attention.
Recommend the place as a bar.

Michaela Bates

This is the second time I have eaten here and it definitely won’t be my last. Every item I have ever tried was sooo tasty! Was able to try their lobster Mac and cheese this time and I just could not stop eating it. I also took advantage of their specials, on Mondays it is $1 oysters from 5-10pm; it was very fresh, I basically had to get a second helping. Their crab cakes were also delicious.

Everyone was so welcoming, the atmosphere was nice and clean. My only complaint would be the outdoor smoking but that was an easy remedy (just eat inside). Can’t wait to try more of their food items!

Rae Boyd-Awa

Our Mom wanted Fried Oysters for her Birthday and CJ FINZ Did A Nice Job... Great Food, Good Service, the Atmosphere was Way Bar like

Chris Cafferky

Last night my wife and I, in our never-ending quest to find new and interesting restaurants in the Fredericksburg area, decided to drive to Manassas to try a seafood place called CJ Finz Raw Bar and Grille. When we got there, we found that it didn't seem to have parking, but we were able to find on-street parking. We walked in and saw that it had a fairly small dining room. There was a full bar along the left side of the restaurant, three or four large tables that could seat a party of eight, and tables for two and four elsewhere. We had a 15 minute wait, since on a Saturday evening this place was full. We sat down and were immediately visited by our very pleasant server. I ordered an Ono Oatmeal Stout, and my wife had a Devils Backbone Vienna Lager. We started with a dozen oysters on the half shell. They were fairly good sized, and served with cocktail sauce and horseradish (the real stuff, not sauce).
When it came time to order entrees, our server had several suggestions. One of them was the Thai Green Curry Scallops. Since I came there for scallops. I took that suggestion. My wife had a Lobster Roll and a cup of She Crab soup. My wife reported that the lobster was plentiful in the roll, and cooked properly, not overdone. The She Crab soup, which is one of my wife's favorites, was excellent.
My scallops were phenomenally good. There were four jumbo sized scallops, with jasmine rice and a wonderful curry sauce. The scallops themselves were not just Broiled, they were done in Thai spices and were delicious. The spices were not too hot. A generous helping of rice and curry sauce made this one of the best scallop dishes I've had.
We don't normally order desert, but my wife saw Key Lime pie, so she ordered that. I took another of our server's suggestions and ordered the Granny Apple Crisp, which is a very tasty Granny Smith Apple pie/cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream. It was very good and very decadent. My wife reported that the key lime pie was also first rate.
This is a smallish place that does a good business, so it's probably not the place to go for a quiet intimate dinner. However if you want excellent seafood, top rate oysters, and excellent service, this is the place to go.

Nikk McAndrews

I ordered CJ Finz because of reviews on Yelp. So many people were comparing other restaurants in the same immediate area to CJ Finz that I just had to try it. I ordered the Fish & Chips. The fish was a very good size, but I think one more piece would be needed to justify the high price tag on this menu item. I got a small-medium size piece and a large piece. Sadly, the smaller piece was firm and didn't fall apart easily as one would assume fish would do. It was quite tough and bland, for fish. The larger piece was quite pleasant but had a slightly off flavor to it in a fatty spot or two. The tartar sauce was fairly bitter. The fish breading was very poorly held to the meat of the fish and was basically just a hard shell covering a slightly greasy piece of meat. I think this place can do better. The fries were decent. A majority of them weren't soggy, and they had a nice crisp to them with a nice soft interior. All-in-all, this meal still left me a bit hungry, and well, unsatisfied - which as someone who doesn't usually eat more than 2 pieces of pizza that's a bit astonishing to me. The packaging was nice - I like seeing places that use the hard-shell plastic containers, but there also were no utensils or napkins included. It's not really somewhere I would go repeatedly, or daily, but if someone asked if I would go there, I wouldn't complain or try to suggest anywhere different. It's just simply alright. It's one of those places you go to when everything else is closed for the holidays. I would rate this place as "okay".

Bruce Lowther

Wow. Wonderful scallops and a very tender steak. The Cauliflower rice was good and the Key Lime Pie was a great way to finish it all off. The service was great. We arrived a little before 5pm and there were many tables open. When we were finished at about 5:45 the place was really starting to fill up.
Overall it was a very nice dinner.
Atmosphere was a little noisy for us, but you extroverts would be fine. The music was quite good.

Gloria M

Some of the food options are absolutely incredible! Wasn't a big fan of the fried pickles; I've had better fried pickles else where. The Ragoon was delicious, but so hot that my dad burnt his finger? The crab cake sandwich I had was great! The location of the restaurant is perfect with a view of the public stage just across the street. The decorations inside are very interesting and fun to look at. I found the place to be a little dark and cramped, but if you're closer to the front of the restaurant, it's brighter. I would definitely go here again and try some other items on the menu.