Best darn seafood in Southern Illinois! The best fish sandwiches and red beans and rice. The other entrees are excellent too. Great staff too! read more

Great fish and love their food. And the service is awesome, everybody was friendly. Again?I can't say enough about the food.The food was incredible.I love their fish read more

We stopped in from out of town. We are always on the hunt for great seafood and we found it in Benton Illinois's' Jack Russell Fish Company. We started with the Cajun and the blackened skewers both were excellent with a healthy amount of spice. Our waiter was quick with the refills and very friendly. We ordered the crab bucket which was great to share. Quality crab and lots of big shrimp. Everything was cooked perfect. The shrimp was well flavored you won't need cocktail sauce. Service was quick and food was great. Will definitely stop in again. Great seafood. read more

Great food, great service, limited menu, but everything on it has been mastered by the cooks/cheif

Rustic place and a very good meal. Would go there again in the future. The service was quick and efficient.

Very overpriced and very small portion. I ordered a $9 Philly steak kind of sandwich...came on a soft hamburger bun with less meat than a Mc double! Took one bite, thought it was kind old musky taste...put sauce on it..for a second bite...Nope! Waiter ask how I liked it...told him it was terrible...he charged me $4.50 because I took 2 bites! Wife had crab cakes...they were not made in house but frozen...I'm guessing From Sam's... Very nice Ambiance and very clean! Will Never go back. read more

Jack Russell Fish - The Philly steak style sandwich! - Seafood Near Me - Benton, Illinois

We're staying at a local campground and we're looking for somewhere to go for a nice, casual lunch. This fit the bill. I had the blackened tilapia tacos. They had nice planks of tilapia, fresh cabbage, black beans and a little pico. They also came with little cups of remoulade. I only ended up eating 1 of the tacos. They were yummy though and they were fresh. We'll for sure come back here again when we're in the area. read more

Great seafood, friendly knowledgeable staff. The Red Snapper Cajun seasoned was awesome. Recommend the oysters in the shell too! We will be back read more

Jack Russell Fish - Seafood Near Me - Benton, Illinois

Super food and outstanding service. We plan come back frequently to try all their food.

It was ok. Had the 24 shrimp peel and eat appetizer. That was good. I think that the gourmet crab cakes were imitation crab. Kinda was squishy like that. The salad as a side, I was charged extra for it, was iceberg lettuce and 2 onions and really greasy croutons on a tiny plate. 75 cents extra for that .What?? Really that costs more than a cup of cole slaw or potato salad? And if you get the vegetable of the day it is also .75 extra also. Not interested in going back. I'd rather eat at the bar across the street. read more

We had dinner there in mid September 2022. Catch of the day was excellent but the fries were terrible, the menu for a fish place is limited and too many non-fish options. Place needs a good cleaning painting and remodeling front windows were dirty with many flies on them. Outdoor seating area was closed. Server was excellent. I guess it is as good as seafood gets in Benton, IL. With a little work, they could be 5 star seafood restaurant. How about a dinner salad? Lobster roll, seafood dinner salad? Summer salad specials? Prices are good. More to seafood than breaded fried cod and tilapia. Basa, Swordfish, Marlin, Tuna steaks, Shrimp & Grits, Jumbalaya, Etoufee, etc... read more

This place doesn't even deserve one star. We were in town for the Street Nationals car show in June and we saw it was "Voted #1 Seafood restaurant", so we decided to try it. Afterwards we wonder if the only thing they have to compare it to is a Long John Silver (and even then LJS is better). We made "reservations" because their website recommended them. We got there on a Saturday night about 7:45p and no one was there. It was a tiny hole in the wall that had horribly outdated decor. The waitress said to sit wherever because the table that was saved for us was given away... Considering there was no one else in there, why couldn't you save it for us? I asked the waitress for a drink menu and she says "Pepsi, coke", etc... I said "I mean alcohol" and she said (like I was dumb or something), "oh we can make whatever you want". I said "Malibu Bahama mama please", figured I better keep it simple-It was gross cheap rum... We tried to order and they were out of fried shrimp. Seriously??? But they had regular grilled shrimp skewers. Red flag that the fried shrimp is frozen. I got crab cakes, I didn't know about you, but they aren't supposed to look like Tyson breaded chicken patties. My husband got the catfish, it was gross. My friend got the grilled shrimp skewers-only thing that was good, but still not fresh. Her husband got a poor boy, it was also nasty. You could tell they were annoyed by our presence in their establishment. The food sucked, service sucked and atmosphere is not very nice. It's all frozen fried food and the alcohol is all cheap rail (when I asked for Malibu). The funny thing is their "patio" is literally an ally with two tables... To top it off, three of four of us got sick. Not even 30mins after eating there we were in the hotel room bathroom and one had to go to the lobby bathroom because it was so urgent. Thankfully it left room for real food later, when you consider McDonalds real food (and we NEVER eat there), you know it's bad. I wouldn't suggest this place to my worst enemy... read more

Underwhelming. That's the word I can best use to describe our experience on Saturday, July 19th around 3:30pm. We were the only table in the establishment for the first half of our visit. I ordered the chicken wings as an appetizer. I had a few wings that were much larger than the others, and while eating those pieces, the chicken that was closest to the bone, it was cooked, but it was ice cold. Which tells me that these wings were reheated. Which is unfortunate. If they were freshly cooked, they would have been decent wings. Not great by any means, being as the sauce is just Franks mixed with some butter. My entree was the black bean tilapia, with a salad and cole slaw. The salad was cut up basic iceberg lettuce. As basic of a salad as you can make. The croutons, I could tell were made in house. I could tell because when I bit into each one, all I got was the taste of about a tablespoon of oil. They weren't good at all. The tilapia was seemingly standard issue frozen fish. Bland and not impressive. The beans and salsa weren't cooked long enough. Beans were hard, and there wasn't much salsa to go with it. Could have been left over from the day before. The slaw was the best part of the dish, but if I had to put money on it, I would say it was pre-packaged, and not made in house. Very unseasoned dish overall. My wife ordered the crab cakes. And these were the most underwhelming part of the experience. Crab cakes are awesome, I love them. But I've never seen breaded, deep fried crab cakes before. On the plate I could have mistaken them for breaded chicken patties. They were basically disc shaped cheese sticks with a few lumps of crab inside. Very disappointing. And I don't believe it says anywhere on the menu that they are deep fried. I may be wrong about that though. These probably came frozen in a bag as well. The service? Well, there wasn't really any service at all. We ordered, ate and got our check. Not once did the two different waitresses who were waiting on us stop by our table and ask us if we were happy with our food, or if we needed anything. They did take our dirty dishes through our stay, but never asked us if we needed anything. We didn't get one refill of our drinks the entire stay. Weren't even asked. I did get a sweet tea to go, but it was far too sweet to drink. I won't be driving to Benton from Mt. Vernon to eat here again. It isn't worth the drive. It is a shame that Southern Illinois doesn't have a great place to eat that serves fresh seafood. read more

Best Crab legs ever!!! Great service and great food. All the food looked so good. I also had great onion rings!! read more

Good seafood is pretty rare in Southern Illinois, so it was nice to find this gem. I've found the service to be good, the beer cold, and food tasty. The alligator appetizer is a must, since finding alligator around here is REALLY difficult. They run not-infrequent beer specials and have a bit of a cajun flair to the restaurant. It's fun and tasty. It's a bit hard to find - look for the place that says "Fish Restaurant" and you're there. read more

Great food and service. Went there with a group of seven and got great service and the food was great.The Old Tavern Fish Sandwich is great

Great fried fish sandwich and onion rings. Cold beer and friendly people. What else could you ask for?

Highly highly recommend this place! I went on Valentines Day to treat my 16 year old son to crab legs for the first time. Omg! The food was to die for! Great staff, great food, and I love the cozy atmosphere! Highly recommended! read more

Nice atmosphere. The staff is extremely friendly and fast. The fish is superb. Their drinks are great. Overall, simply a nice place for a relaxing evening out. read more

I drive here as often as I can to get my raw oyster fix. Sometimes they run out so I get the crab legs. Potato salad is awesome in a dill sauce. Service is always wonderful. The owner often speaks and asks how the food is. read more

Jack Russell Fish - Draft specials - Seafood Near Me - Benton, Illinois

Went here for my dad's birthday party - a group of 14 plus a bebbeh. Service was a bit slow, but it was pretty busy in there - and the waitress was really accommodating and sweet. Beer was cold, I highly recommend the black bean soup, and the clam fritters were delish! I ended up getting the Greek chicken, which was A-OK but the potato salad stole my heart. I mean, we're not talking 17th Street potato salad, but it holds it's own. A solid restaurant. read more

Great food. I usually get the crab legs with their awesome potato soup. The fish is good too.

Good food and always tastes fresh. The famous cod sandwich is huge and never tastes frozen. This place reminds me of like a crab shack on the east coast. They also have live bands in the summer at the beer garden. read more

Fantastic food. Great service. Emmy did an excellent job serving us and recommending items. The oysters were perfect!

I always enjoy going to Jack Russell Fish Company. The have great fish. The have outdoor dining, and have enjoyed great music out on the patio. read more

Excellent food but really lacking in the beer selection. I would expect more craft brews from a place like this. A bigger beer selection would easily bump it to five stars. read more

Gotta say our second visit was not as good as our first, food was ok at best , the margarita, and Bloody Mary was either a mix or just bad ingredients. Service was still good but other than that I couldn't recommend it if I went by this visit alone read more

We have always had great fish here. Of course we are from this area and have no expectations of fresh fish as those who live on the coast. I like coming here and enjoy the food. I recommend the clam dinner. Jack Russell Fish Company is a great place that everyone who likes fish should try. read more

I won't be going back. If you like over priced frozen food than this is your place to go. I would expect "catch of the day" would be fresh food but it was frozen frog legs that tastes bland dry and no flavor. Got the cod as well and had the same taste as what you get at the local frozen food section at your local grocery store. First time here and it be my last read more

A group of us ate here yesterday evening. The food and service were excellent! Definitely worth a trip in for a nice dinner.

Bland, Bland, Bland We at there tonight and I was left unimpressed. My date ordered the catfish dinner and I had the tavern fish dinner which was cod. The salad was good, the fries were good, the slaw was good. The fish (at the fish restaurant) was not. It was completely bland and my cod was rubbery. The only flavor on my date's catfish was the fish itself. I don't 'know if they left it out of the mix or what, but it was just like they rolled the fish in plain cornmeal and threw it in the grease. As for service, it was mediocre. My date's drink sat empty for the last 10 minutes of the meal and was asked if he wanted a refill when we asked for the check. read more

Noon on a Friday and we were the only ones there. Not a a good sign. We were not greeted upon entering and had to search for a staff member to seat us. Ashley G. was our waitress. She did not smile once and was unfriendly throughout our visit. Tip....If you don't like people.... don't work in the service field. I gave 3 stars because the food was decent. read more

I just left this restaurant,The cod I ordered was the worst I have had. Bad batter, poorly seasoned and way over priced. $16 for two filets the size of hot dogs. My date ordered the catfish. It was a bit better but seemed under cooked, nothing to brag about. One visit was one too many for me! 5 Yucks! read more

They have the best wings ever! Never soggy, always crispy and fried to perfection! I actually haven't ordered anything that I'd never get again, the food is always consistently delicious. read more

Pleasantly surprised, quaint little place off the beaten path. Salads were crispy and fresh, enjoyed the shrimp cocktail, snow crab legs and oyster poor boy...all in all good experience and highly recommend the key lime pie! read more

I've only eaten their twice. Both times the food has been ok. It seems a little pricey for what it is. I wondered why on a Wednesday night at 6:30 their was only 15 people in the whole restaurant and they were all pretty well eating fried wings. That was really surprising since it's a fish company and no one was eating fish. I did try one of the wings and it was crispy and good, the owner mentioned the sauce was frank's which is what I suspected. My husband ordered the grilled garlic shrimp and they were tiny! Good flavor but too small. The patio is nice but could use some updating. They have a tiki bar but no one was working it. Pretty much wasted space. I doubt we will be back. It just wasn't worth our money. read more