Afraid you’ll scream if you come across any more kids glued to Finding Nemo? Stay away from Big Fish, on Richmond Street. Want to enter the fantasy of being a famished barracuda? Step into the underwater world of this hoot of a restaurant.

You walk under a waterfall that spills to both sides as you enter. When we came, across from the hostess desk, a display of trout, lobster, and heaped shellfish was on ice behind a window, where an aquarium would be in a less imaginative place. There’s a cozy street-side room, but the trippier seating is next to the open kitchen in the main dining area, if you don’t mind smoke drifting over from the bar.

Above the tables, a stylized jellyfish sculpture dangles clear tubing tentacles. Next to that, spotlights at the ceiling project colored light here and there — Mediterranean turquoise on one wall — as if in a theatrical setting. Across the room, a huge frame is suspended in front of a big fish illustration, a cutaway displaying comically surreal anatomical details.

Pretty good theme, although the seaweed reminder doesn’t work: topping the bar partition, tightly packed green strands look like a crop of chives. The sight gags extend to the "Crazy Cocktails," such as the glow cube in the Midori-green Electric Eel, the Jaws-flashback shark attack glass, and the goldfish bowl holding another drink. (I don’t recommend their mostly crushed ice pineapple mojito, though, considering how the mojito at Ten Prime Steak & Sushi, another Elkay and Bready restaurant, is the best I’ve encountered.) The wine list is extensive, with more than two-dozen by the glass, as well as the quarter- or half-liter.

The food? Oh, yeah, they do serve food here. Oysters, from Prince Edwards Island to Poppasquash, are listed on a blackboard, and the raw bar extends to seared rare tuna ($12) and even a couple of sushi rolls. What they call the Big Party, a heaped sampler of shrimp, littlenecks, and oysters ($9.95-$32.95), serves two to six.

Hot starters include popcorn shrimp ($7.95), with a snappy Cajun remoulade that I appreciated on a prior visit, as I did their clam pizza ($13.49), which wisely has the sharp contrasting bite of provolone, rather than mozzarella, and your choice of white or red sauce. In addition to New England clam chowder and lobster bisque, Big Fish offers red Bahamian fish chowder ($3.50/$4.50). It contained tuna and salmon in big chunks, and a flavorful clam broth. We also enjoyed an appetizer special, a half-dozen fried Malpeque oysters ($12) served in half shells, a drizzle of tangy horseradish remoulade on each.

Johnnie chose the Thai-spiced cod ($19.95). Atop jasmine rice were tangles of beetroot and crispy fried onion. The cod was topped with a jelly of mild Thai chilis soaked in teriyaki sauce, and the whole assembly was a nice balance of contrasting textures and flavors.

The plantain-crusted shrimp ($21.95) attracted my eye on the menu, making me curious about how the shellfish could be coated with the banana-like fruit. What they did was fry the plantains crisp, crumbling them into a light coating, before grilling the five jumbo shrimp on cane-sugar skewers that were soaked in rum. They came atop a puree of sweet potatoes, surrounded by a citrus beurre blanc: a delicious medley of closely compatible tastes. Of the starch and veggie side dishes, the crabmeat hash ($5.95) intrigued me too much to pass up. The shellfish was sparse, but the platter was sizeable, and the cubes of sweet and regular potatoes would have been enjoyable without any seafood inducement.

There’s a scratch ’n’ sniff dessert menu, but don’t think that the vague and similar smells on it have anything to do with what they picture. Variety seems to be the name of the Big Fish endgame. Twinkies instead of lady fingers in their tiramisu? You bet. Similarly designed to bring out the kid in us is the S’mores brownie. The grownup component is crème brûlée and fruit cobbler ($5.75). We chose the latter, feeling we ought to get responsible before driving after such a playful dining experience, choosing pear over apple to not feel like fuddy duddies. The biscuit-like topping was sweet and tasty, but the pears needed more cooking to bring out their flavor. The kitchen-made vanilla ice cream (99 cents extra) was very good, so that helped.

Great fun, Big Fish. Arrive with an appetite and an attitude, and then be prepared to leave smiling.

Bill Rodriguez can be reached at billrod@ reporters.net.