Visiting the Lake Wales area for a day trip. After checking out the Bok Tower Gardens (a must…read moresee), we wanted to find a local dining spot, not a chain restaurant or fast food place. We found Melanie's Seafood! Small place and simple decor. All the cooking is down out in the open. Our server, Cricket, was friendly and inviting and gave us some good recommendations. I had the Mahi Mahi Reuben sandwich with potato salad. My wife ordered the Crabcake sandwich with their own coleslaw. We just drank water. The food was really tasty and welcome. We haven't had any seafood in a while so this was greatly anticipated and it was not disappointing. So tasty and different. The coleslaw was really interesting and flavorful. I asked for the ingredients and was told the secret. Not giving it away here! The restaurant is clean, simple and organized well. It was somewhat quiet because the start of the college football season just started and everyone was watching at home. The service was terrific and attentive. I recommend checking out this place.

Was not expecting much. Boy what a surprise. The fish was meaty, flaky and not greasy. The shrimp…read morewere large and crunchy. The service spot on. The place is older but clean and inviting.

This place is a hidden gem. Food amazing, drinks fresh and delicious at a very reasonable price…read more Service from hostess and server were great. We left very satisfied. Thank you! We got gator bites, surf and turf, seafood platter, kids meals, brownie and ice cream.

First time we stopped by. I had read this was a great place…read more Tuesday is the twin lobster deal. Wife and I each got that. Plus I got a bowl of awesome seafood chowder, loaded with fresh meat. Best I ever had. Excellent, friendly service. Highly recommend!!!!

What amazing food, this seafood melts right in my mouth, you take a bite of the crispy fish, crab…read morecake, yes flaming crab legs, I get the I can't help it, I want more.. The seasoning and sauce sauce is out of this world. I recommend this sea food. It's just as if I were in Baltimore. I mean so tasty.

Awful! We live in the area and come often.. we sat at 7.. took 20 minutes for server to even get to…read morethe table.. we received our food at 9! That's right 9! We ordered 3 burgers (2 med, 1 well done, the well done being for a child) and 2 tunas.. all 3 burgers came out wrong (wrong temp and wrong toppings, one burger had wire brushing in it, which owner argued, saying there's no way) tuna was ice cold, and not seared cold, like fridge cold (which again owner argued saying there's is no way) . Server was great and apologized over and over ( which she should not be apologizing she's not the one in the kitchen) owner (female) finally came to the table, asked us how our dinner was. When we expressed how it was, she began to argue with us, saying there is no way that things were wrong. At one point addressing the server as if she was the one who made our food. At this point, we had enough and knew it was not going anywhere! The owner did take off 1 burger and 1 tuna.. which was appreciated. After being talked down too, we all expressed at the table, that we would rather just pay our bill and leave! Not one time were we rude, disrespectful or mean in any way to be spoken to the way she spoke to us. Absolutely wild experience! We truly love this place.. but this has definitely set a tone. Edit... Her response says it all! Facial expressions were because we were absolutely appalled at the fact that she was arguing about our experience! While ahi tuna is supposed to have a cool center the fish was ICE COLD.. FRIDGE TEMP FROM TOP TO CENTER! When asked to take it back to heat it.. it was microwaved.. which then turned it gray.. but once returned that pink center was cool, not FRIDGE COLD! The wire brush was in the burger.. she argued with us stating it was a hair from the onion(which burger was supposed to have no onion) .. even though you could perfectly see it was a copper wire of some sort! Mind you it was found at the end of the burger. The reason we didn't take the offer of new food, is because we were done.. 2 hours to get our food, and they waited till the absolute end, to approach our table! By that point we had eaten what we could and she was speaking to us by this point like we were awful people.. WHY WOULD WE STAY ANOTHER HOUR! Especially after being talked to like she was! We couldn't get a word in! So as you can tell about her response from here, you can only imagine her response in real time!!! Horrible display of an owner!

We love this place! Always so good! Raw oysters are fresh…read moreand if you go on Friday Saturday or Sunday they are only $1 each! Best deal around! We've eaten here about a half dozen times and everything we've ordered has been really good. Seafood, fried okra, seafood gumbo, peel and eat shrimp, and the onion rings omg! This is my elderly mother's favorite place. If you are in the area do not miss out! Stop by and thank me later!

Hard to please hubby said his ribeye was very flavorful. Blackened salmon was also very good…read more Sweet tea was spot on. Staff were friendly, but after the second compliment it started to feel disingenuous. Thats ok, I appreciate the effort and for the price I deserve a fake compliment or two, lol.

Our friends suggested going on a day trip to Cherry Pocket Steak 'N Seafood…read more It proved to be a unique experience. It was my first alligator sighting since moving to Florida four years ago. The place was full and lively but we were seated immediately outside on the covered deck. Our server was very friendly and outgoing. Her recommendations were very agreeable. Despite being very busy with other tables our server was most attentive. The table was very pleased with their meal choices. The food was fresh and tasty. We enjoyed the view while listening to live music. We all had a wonderful time. I recommend Cherry Pocket and look forward to another visit.

Quality of crab legs was good- but a bit pricey- service and company quality was A1... Child…read morefriendly easy parking and good food

ANOTHER FAMILY SEAFOOD ADVENTURE!!!…read more Another great night out with great food!!! There were 6 in our party and we went to our fav. Seafood Boil place "HUNGRY CRAB" and we were again not disappointed!!! The food was great as always!!! We ordered 2 Seafood boils. 1 Garlic no heat & 1 Garlic mild heat. Both were cooked to perfection. The crab was pulled out of the shells easily. The mussels and clams were good, but most of the clams had sand in them. That's Not on the establishment tho. They can't see inside of them, lol Potatoes corn and craw dads were Yummy as well!!! Our server Natalie was spectacular she can by every so often to check in with us. She was pleasant and personable. We will ask specifically for her next time we go, you should to!!! It's a bit pricey, but the portions are well worth it. Especially when you have so many people dining out for Seafood. This is the place to go for a great Seafood Boil!!! AS ALWAYS TRY IT FOR YOURSELF!!!

Food great! Service was horrific our waitress was condescending rude and crossed the line. I…read morenever give negative feedback but your waitress went too far. She treated me with disrespect. For an owner who shows support for Trump I am shocked that as a handicapped senior I was treated as if I was bothering her by asking a question about your menu. Sorry I had surgery that makes it difficult to read and hear. She made it very clear she couldn't be bothered. She was obnoxious, I think as a woman this is the first time it has cut me deeply and I have put up with a great deal of obnoxious degrading behavior. Congratulation she won the prize. . I could go on but the damage is done!

We stopped in the Crooked Bass after visiting the Bok Tower and reading so many wonderful comments…read moreabout it on the Polk County Restaurants Website. We found the relatively large restaurant mostly full when we arrived. There were multiple rooms with a full bar on one side with lots of people having a great time and lots of great food in a place that still felt homey and cozy with a water skiing cow and Statue of Liberty. My wife came for the Crab Leg Special that included 2 lbs of crab at significantly cheaper prices than other restaurants in the area. The crab was fresh and cracked easily and pulled easily like it should. As good as it gets in central Florida. I opted for the larger Low Country Seafood Boil that also included the Crab Legs and added Prawns, Corn, Uncle John Sausage and Potatoes. The prawns were huge and I chose the Old Bay Seasoning versus Garlic Butter and another boil seasoning option. At market price, it was still reasonably priced and tasted great. Our lovely waitress was very attentive and insisted we save room for dessert. We were so glad we did as we shared the most wonderful Crooked Apple Pie Ala Mode. The spiced apples were cooked in a crispy Fried Tortilla Bowl, covered with Vanilla Ice cream and topped with Caramel Sauce and Cinnamon. As good as it gets. They also have an Orange Creamsicle Cake, Key Lime Pie, Cheese Cake and Peanut Butter Pie that are all made in house. As we left, live music started. This is an iconic place that must be experienced when in Polk County and we look forward to eating here again soon.

The ambiance and view is wonderful. Service is only topped by the food. We highly recommend the…read moremahi sliders and the fish and chips. Again, service is wonderful and we will return.

Beautiful location, great drinks, average food…read more I wanted to love this place. It has great Yelp reviews and is located right on the water. The drinks were very good, service was super friendly, it was the food that fell short. Here's what we got and what we thought. My husband started with the harborside margarita, which was great. He then decided to get a fishbowl margarita. It's 52 oz so it's huge. It was only $15 which was stunning for that amount. He couldn't finish it and left about 1/3. I got a watermelon smash. It has a good amount of alcohol and was delicious. I'd probably branch out and try something else, but it was pretty good. For food we started with the meatballs. It's all beef and was the highlight of the meal. The kids loved the bread it came with. I got a lobster roll and found it had too much dressing to let the lobster shine. It was $30 and disappointing. The coleslaw was ok. My husband got a filet with a Caesar salad. The Caesar salad also had too much dressing. The filet was ok. I didn't love it but our younger son did eat a bit. My older son got the French bread pizza with fries and didn't like the pizza. I wasn't a fan either, the cheese tasted pretty meh to me. He ate some of the fries. Overall this place is great for the atmosphere but I don't think we'll be back soon because of the food.

Awesome Local Florida Seafood!…read more When I first started eating from this food truck they used to serve fries with the protein. Since the accident with their truck and they have been using the smaller trailer truck they stopped serving fries. Instead they replaced it with 4-5 Hushpuppies and a small sauce container of coleslaw. To me its not worth buying the plates without the fries because you feel its less food for the price you pay. My favorites are : Crab bites / crab cake balls. They increased the price to $10 and you only get 5 pcs now. Apparently the size is bigger than before. The new size is golf balls size. Fried Shrimp / you pretty much pay $1 a shrimp. You get about 10-11 shrimps per plate. They are huge shrimps. This costs about $11. Fried Grouper Sandwich / this is my favorite when it came with fries. Because I don't eat the bun - I eat the grouper like fish and chips! The grouper is huge! And tasty! It is one of the popular item on the menu! The cocktail and tartar sauce and the coleslaw are house made. To me the blackberry lemonade and coleslaw tastes like publix. I only follow them to grab eats when im craving but since they stopped serving fries I slowly decline following them nowadays. The cod fish and chips most of the time the fish is tad overcooked .. and no more fries! So I stopped ordering it. As much as I hate to not support the locals .. until they bring back fries in the plates, I wouldn't support as much anymore.

Grouper sandwich delicious and big enough for two. staff was wonderful. neighborhood is having…read morethem back often!!!!!!!!!

We chose this restaurant after checking out reviews and getting a recommendation from our hotel's…read moreclerk. We are glad we did. We arrived a bit after 5 pm, too late to take advantage of early bird food specials but in time for happy hour (which ends at 6). This gave us 2-for-1 pricing on draft beer and house wine. We were seated immediately. By the time we left (around 6:30) there was a wait. We ordered drinks, and these and rolls were delivered with cinnamon butter and pats of plain butter. I ordered the Tuesday special, grouper "fingers," salad (soup is also a choice), and a sweet potato. My husband had linguine with chicken. Our server, Carmen, offered cinnamon butter for my sweet potato. Salad is tossed and plated at the table. It arrived well ahead of the entrées. We had the house-made ranch dressing. Overall, it was a pretty bland salad, mostly iceberg lettuce. The grouper was wonderful, lightly breaded and the perfect crispness. The portion of 3 filets was more than adequate. A small tub of Ken's tartar sauce was included. The cinnamon butter and sweet potato made an excellent combination and a great foil for the grouper. Everything was piping hot when it arrived. I wouldn't hesitate to order this combination again. My husband enjoyed his linguine. Given it was about an hour between when we were seated and when the entrées arrived, we thought the pace was rather slow. But the quality and quantity of food made up for it in my opinion.

I would've never thought that Lake Wales has this gem. Although it's spacious and holds a lot of…read morepeople, it still feels welcoming with attentive staff, art, decor and something to look at in every wall/table. The food was fresh and delicious, from the soft-warm-fluffy rolls to the creamy mouth watering cheesecake. The crab cake in the broiled platter was my favorite. My only complain will be that the cocktail and tartar sauce was not freshly made as it was from a packet and that the salad was previously frozen as some of the lettuce didn't thaw all the way. Nonetheless I will definitely return to enjoy another dish.