A pinbone is the thin row of bones a fishmonger works out of a fillet before it reaches the plate — the kind of detail only someone who handles fish for a living bothers with. The name is honest. Pinbones Fish Market runs two operations from one storefront on King Street West in downtown Dundas: a working seafood counter on one side, a full dining room on the other, both built on the same fish. The same visit can run from grilled octopus and a cocktail at the table to a piece of halibut wrapped for the drive home. The dining room opened in 2023, two years after the counter.
The menu reads like a fishmonger wrote it. Smoked Trout Sushi Pizza is the clearest tell — a crisp rice cake under smoked trout, sambal aioli, avocado, and sesame togarashi, a plate that sits halfway between counter discipline and outright invention. The Crab Cake comes with preserved lemon vinaigrette; the Grilled Octopus arrives with chickpeas, roasted red pepper, saffron aioli, harissa, and olive dust. The Lobster Roll gets celeriac aioli and chives on toasted brioche, frites alongside. From there the kitchen ranges wide — a Seafood Tower, Ceviche, Tuna Tacos, Whole Grilled Fish, Buffalo Halibut Cheeks, a straight-ahead Fish and Chips, and, for the table that didn't come for fish, a Pinbones Burger or Steak Frites. The drink list keeps the theme honest with an Oyster Martini, a Pinbones Caesar, and an oyster shot poured to sit beside the chilled plates.
Pinbones is strongest when the market and restaurant read as one operation. The fish counter gives the dining room its logic, while the dining room turns that product knowledge into composed plates, chilled seafood, and whole-fish cooking.
Rebecca DeWildt started Pinbones as a pandemic-era seafood counter and grew it into a larger King Street restaurant without dropping the market identity. That gives the place a clearer story than a seafood menu built only around trend or theme.
The menu reaches from Fish & Chips and Lobster Roll to Smoked Trout Sushi Pizza, Grilled Octopus, Seafood Tower, and Whole Grilled Fish. That range gives Pinbones enough breadth for casual lunch, planned dinner, and seafood-focused sharing.
Pinbones earns this through the way the market and restaurant share one seafood spine. The fresh-fish counter is not decoration; it explains why the menu can move from Seafood Tower to Whole Grilled Fish without feeling like a generic seafood list.
The menu is built to move with the fish counter. Seafood Tower, Ceviche, Whole Grilled Fish, and Grilled Shrimp Campanelle give the kitchen room to rotate without losing its Dundas seafood-market identity.
This is the card for groups that want more than fried fish. Smoked Trout Sushi Pizza, Tuna Tacos, Ceviche, Grilled Octopus, and Pinbones Burger show how playful the menu gets while staying seafood-first.
Lobster Roll and Smoked Trout Sushi Pizza give Pinbones two clear calling cards. One works as the polished seafood-shop comfort order, the other as the dish that tells you this kitchen has a point of view.
Pinbones is strongest as a seafood-led occasion rather than a white-tablecloth one. Seafood Tower, chilled seafood, cocktails, and online reservations make it easy to turn a Dundas dinner into a planned night out.
The room has a compact King Street feel with enough menu range for a shared seafood meal. Start with Smoked Trout Sushi Pizza or Ceviche, keep a Lobster Roll in the mix, and the meal has a clear arc.
Share the nuances of your visit to Pinbones Fish Market in Dundas — the standout dishes, the room, the service.
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