It was our first time at Riverside and it was amazing. The food was amazing. We had so many different items as well. Fried shrimp, oysters, calamari, etc. However, the best part was the drinks. We had about five different types made by John Hargan, who was the bartender on duty. If I could give the drinks more then five stars, I would. There was also live music. It was fairly good. It had guest and employees moving and dancing, which of course made a great atmosphere. Price. Food. Drinks. Music. Perfect. Do yourself a favor if you are in the area, try this place. read more

The perfect blend of water view, relaxed atmosphere and seafood! John will treat you right at the bar, too. Kid and dog friendly as well.

We are new to Tallahassee and cane to St.Marks to visit- food was good and atmosphere was really fun. My husband used the restroom and said it was absolutely disgusting. So that would be the only downside. read more

Great dive bar atmosphere and awesome seafood. The oysters, cold beers, and atmosphere are why I have made my way here often over the past 15 years. read more

This food is bland but edible, but the service was pretty bad. There is nothing worse than the server bringing you the wrong order, then arguing with you - telling you that YOU ordered the wrong thing, not that she made a mistake. I'll never go back again. Very disappointed. read more

Good food, nice atmosphere! Our waitress was very attentive (she would get a 5 haha). I ordered a blackened grouper sandwich and my date ordered a Cajun fried shrimp pinky (shrimp was a 5 nom nom!!) but in order for me to give s "5" when ordering a sandwich, there needs to be something really special or different about the sandwich like a yummy sauce or onion shreds ....something besides lettuce/tomato and mayo. It was a good sandwich though. Second time we have been there and I'll definitely go back....neat little hole in the wall place on the St Marks River! read more

Really, really slow service. Three people at bar. Two tables with two people each. Took forever for waitress to come to table and take order. Food was good as usual. read more

I've been to this establishment a few times and let me just say, the ONLY thing good about this place is the view. I've lived around here all my life so I know good local seafood. Riverside doesn't have it....or they need to find cooks that know how to prepare it and cook it properly. After a day on the river, some friends and I decided to stop in and have a few drinks and grab a bite. Let's start with the Calamari, shall we? I don't think it was even fit to use for bait! No rings, just fried tentacles. They had a very strong fishy flavor and were like chewing on shoe leather. Not fit for a fish to eat. Next up, Blue crab fritters....where's the crab? Exactly how old IS your grease anyway? Cheese fries, gross. So, I'm browsing the menu and I see, 1 pound peel and eat shrimp, HEY! That sounds good! Then I see, $17.99. The day I spend $17.99 for a pound of shrimp, I've lost my dadgum mind! So, I ask the sweet waitress (who was new) to ask where the shrimp came from. She came back and said Jason told her to tell us that they came from the waters over in Africa somewhere. Really? That's some customer service you've got there! I found out later that they purchase their shrimp off of Angelo's boats. Damn what a mark up! HA! After tasting the appetizers, we decided not to order any entrées . On to something other than food. The bathrooms in this place are absolutely FILTHY! I've seen better bathrooms at a roadside truck stop! And just a suggestion, if you're trying to sell a hand scrub and you have a sample bowl of it in the bathroom for your customers to try, how about keeping that sample bowl fresh and CLEAN. Looking at that alone would make someone lose their appetite. I don't think I'll be back, but if I do make it back...I'll stick to the beer, at least the beer companies know what their doing. read more

2.5 stars. Food is not that great but the atmosphere is cool and our several was really nice. The only steamed or boiled shrimp they offer is u-peel and you have to get whole pound. The draft beer selection is REALLY bad-only bud light or miller light or yuenling. We got some grilled shrimp skewers and raw oysters. I feel pretty sure the oysters had been sitting around in a fridge pre shucked for a while because of their appearance and they were not cold enough. The grilled shrimp were decent but not great. I'm willing to bet that the shrimp don't come from anywhere around here-farm raised from Asia bought from Sysco. Also, they were out of lemons. How does a seafood restaurant let themselves run or of lemons? I don't know about you but I put it on everything - oysters,shrimp,fish.... We were there on July 4th in the early afternoon after riding the 16 mile bike trail from Tallahassee and it wasn't very busy. My girlfriend was quite happy with her giant "Manatee" size "Mermaid Water" - a green tropical flavored cocktail served in a 12oz Mason jar. read more

Good Enough Riverside Cafe is nice and our server was very friendly. We started with the smoked mullet appetizer which was very good. I moved on to the fried oyster dinner, again very good. The wife had the gumbo which was "pretty good". Nothing was particularly a standout. Everything was solid enough to return if in little St Mark's. read more

Stopped here for lunch on Labor Day. There were no seats by the River or inside with some air conditioning. We sat outside in the covered area. After 10+minutes of waiting, I went to the bar and ordered our drinks myself. Finally a waiter (who originally told us it wasn't his table) came and took our order. The food came out fairly quickly but the sides were wrong and one order was cooked incorrectly. It took FOREVER to get the order corrected, and requests for salt, catsup and butter were pretty much ignored. And drink refills were also ignored. Pretty much lousy service. $48 for lunch with 2 beers each. And it took a long time to get our check. Next time we will sit by the River and just have a couple beers. read more

My girlfriend and I stopped in here after a great morning at the St. Marks lighthouse and this honestly ruined our day. I've never been so uneasy in a restaurant. The food was fine, but more on the bad side. The grilled shrimp from the shrimp platter were dripping in butter, the fries were soggy, and everything was just very below average for the cost. Also the fried pickles wouldn't stay intact, making them very difficult to eat. The staff in there was scary. My girlfriend looked at me with fear in her eyes because of the sketchy characters. Service was also bad. Our server took our orders pretty quickly but someone else brought out our food and we sat there for about 15 minutes after finishing waiting for the server to come back. With no luck, we had to flag down someone to get our check and get the hell out of there. When the waiter came another 10 minutes later to finally give us our check she told us there was a "free hotdog" charge on the check (we didn't order a hot dog) but it was free so not to worry. At that point I would've payed $1000 for that hot dog to leave. She also asked us if we had gotten our food yet... we had been finished for over 20 minutes and she didn't even notice. I've never left a restaurant so quickly in my life and I will not return. We spent the whole car ride home talking about all the weird things that happened. Wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy. read more

Went in today for a beer and there was live music going on. After 30 minutes of bad music, the dj came on and said "there's the smoking section." He continued..."And for you Spanish speakers. There's-o the-o smoking-o section-o". Maybe it's normal in the south. But as a native Spanish speaker, especially as the only one in attendance, I found it offensive. A non-Spanish speaker mocking Spanish by just adding an 'o' to the end of an English word? Seems to come from a place of ignorance and passive everyday racism.... So in closing if you like bad beer, bad music and racist humor this is the place for you! read more

My fiancé and I visited this small-town gem on a road trip from Tampa back to our home in Seagrove Beach. We stopped here because a) there weren't many more appealing options and b) it sounded like a place that we'd enjoy. The atmosphere was nice, minus the barnyard stench that lingered from the front door to the docks. The cook smoking right outside the front door didn't help much either. We took a table inside by the water. Our waitress visited us after making a pit stop to a table that was occupied by her friends - she made a reference to blow jobs and then got our drink order. The food was normal bar food - we got the calimari, then my fiancé had the turkey Reuben and I had a bacon cheeseburger. My order was wrong, but all was not lost! It was all "okay", but again, we understand that it's not the Ritz Carlton. We had also been in a car for about 5 hours, so we both would've happily eaten the floorboards out of a shit-house. All in all, I think we'd go back for drinks, but we're not rushing there any time soon for the hillbilly seafood cuisine. On a side note: use the restroom before you leave the house. The ones provided are right next tithe kitchen and resemble a broom closet in a crack-house more than an actual bathroom. I was worried that crabs were literally going to jump from the toilet seat onto my body. Only to later come across a sign that read: "Warning: Killer Crabs!" Give it a try! read more

Good food, good music, terrible, terrible, terrible bathroom. one small nasty bathroom. i used to go there a lot for the great bands that they get, however i've just about stopped due to the bathroom situation. read more

A cool little place on the water and perfect for beers and the live entertainment but the food is horrific. First our waitress didn't even know the name of the river the place stood on. Second the food, is just unedible. You would think being on the river the oysters would be decent. Nope. Some looked like they had been shucked by someone with shaky hands; all ripped up and the belly's destroyed. I got the salmon sandwich and all it was, was breadcrumbs and shredded salmon that had the consistency of tuna. It was gross. I didn't even eat it and the waitress asked me if I liked it and of course I said no, so she offered to replace it but by that time I lost my appetite and wasn't interested in anything else. She never even offered to remove it from my bill. Let's just say I would never eat there again. Like I said, if you want some beers, live entertainment and multiple mosquito bites then check this place out. read more

Great experience. Road in at 8am before opening, got a coffee and greyhounds. The breakfast was tasty café food, nothing special. Overall it hit the spot. And the staffs was super nice and very accommodating. read more

I thought this place was really good. I got 2 eggs, grits, toast, and bacon for $5.49 and a coffee for $1.79 which I thought was pretty reasonably priced. The food was pretty good, coffee was decent, but I've definitely had better. Also, the waitress was not the friendliest. She said she was tired from the Stone Crab Festival last night, but she seemed a little cranky too. read more

I have to give this place 5 stars.... 2 times a year we head down from NJ and the oysters are great,.... even the scallop basket with the fries is good.... portions are good and the service is friendly and fast.... i look forward to going here everytime.... we are not drinkers so can't rate the alcohol experience..... read more

We were visiting Crawfordville for the first time and someone along the way recommended for us to eat here. I was excited because we were coming based on a recommendation from someone in the area. Sadly, we were extremely disappointed. I only wish I would have taken pictures of our food. It wasn't just the food. The service was poor. Our waitress was far from friendly and the wait for the food was longer than we had hoped. We ordered several appetizers, one was calamari - which was fried beyond recognition. It was absolutely horrible, don't waste your money. Then we ordered oysters thinking we were close to the ocean so they must be good. Another disappointment. Don't waste your money or time here either. They came out and were the size of a nickel and appeared to be from a can. The wings were fried so much that they were a chocking hazard. My. husband ordered a pitcher of beer. It came out warm and there was nothing to keep it cold so we asked for a bag of ice. The waitress literally threw the bag of ice in the pitcher. The beer splashed out of the pitcher and onto the table. Our bill was not small, as we were a party of 6 and were so looking forward to a good meal after a long drive from central Florida. I think we would have been better off going to the dive next door, Cooter Stew. I am not one to post negative reviews but this experience was horrible and I wouldn't wish it upon my closest enemy. read more

This place should get 0 Stars, Terrible service, terrible food, terrible everything. I've been going to St. Marks for years but will not make this a stop on the way home anymore. The wait staff is lost and constantly pissed off. We brought our own fish in to cook and they lost it. How do you lose someone else's fish filets? TERRIBLE!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS! read more

The best part about this cafe is the setting. It's so relaxing to go there after spending the day on a boat. We normally order some oysters and drinks and just sit there and watch the boats go by. read more

Sold 3 star place. The view and cool breeze makes it a nice getaway. I could do without the server chatting me up and telling me about his life for the entire time. I get it, you work hard. We do too! I had a hamburger (frozen and under cooked). My husband had the grouper sandwich. It was the thinnest filet of fish I've ever seen. After a couple of beers, our tab was $50+. We can abide the subpar food for the atmosphere and will be back. read more

We have been here several times. They have wasted away.The oysters used to come on the half shell, no more. They are served out of a bucket and are terrible. Won't be back. read more

Right on the St. Marks River, great views. On a Monday night they are loudly playing a top 40 radio station. First mate basket was big enough to split, solid fried food basket but nothing amazing. Fries have a little Lawrys or something similar. read more

Riverside Cafe - First Mate basket - Seafood Near Me - Saint Marks, Florida

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Unfortunately this was an absolute disaster of a lunch visit for my group. After a great motorcycle ride along the coast we went to the lighthouse and Wild life Management park. We found this on the gps as the closest restaurant and thought why not.. it says riverside, must be on the river.. and it is.. great location and cool looking building.. thats where it stopped. Seat yourself in a place that holds over a hundred people? sure, we sat ourselves and waited.. Almost 20 minutes before anyone showed up.. Ordered 4 beers and and an app. 10 minutes later, beers arrive.. 20 minutes later, beers empty, still no app, still no order taken.. Finally appetizer shows up, we order food and another round. No napkins, no utensils , no plates for sharing. Had to go to bar and find someone. another 40 minutes later our lunch shows up, its now almost 3pm. Ordered a black and blue burger no bun extra lettuce. The burger was obviously frozen and when they say blackened it meant burnt to a crisp.. couldn't cut it with a fork and barely with a knife.. I didn't eat it. The grouper sandwich literally crumbled after one bite and fell out of the bun onto the table. The mushroom swiss burger was just as bad as the blackened burger, only half of it was eaten. The bacon wrapped shrimp has a quarter size piece of bacon, hardly "wrapped" but tasted pretty good. we sat, and we sat, and we sat and finally had to find someone to get our tab. This was the worst $65 lunch I've ever had. The location is great and I think they know it and seriously don't put much into the food quality. on the way out I stopped at the bathroom across from the entrance.. Don't do it! Just don't.. stay out of that bathroom.. WOW read more

Poor service and even more pitiful food. The food seemed to be frozen seafood from grocery store rather than fresh. Waitress hated her job probably because business is terrible from bad food. read more

We thought this place was great! The corn nuggets, other guys chicken sndwich and po boy shrimp sandwich were excellent. Those corn nuggets we talked about for days. Wish I new how to make them! We were able to sit outside with our dog and the wait staff was friendly and terrific. The inside has a lot of local character, very cute. Check it out!! read more

Fantastic food, great atmosphere, right on the water. It's a great place for lunch! They do have signs posted that it gets pretty loud and rambunctious at night so I probably wouldn't come around then even though they have live music read more

Food was great, service was especially great and the ambience was fun and interesting! What more could you want! Good job! Oh and if you're a kid, no shirt no shoes required!! read more

Ordered our food and then was told it would be an hour wait for food. We will see. I just ordered clam chowder to hold me over it only took 30 minutes. The food was good we had blackened fish sandwiches. They were delicious. I would recommend this place if you are not in hurry. Tammy did a great job very friendly. The atmosphere was very nice. read more

This place made some major improvements. Instead of there being a courtyard they added a huge structure around it with palm style roofing. It really looks awesome and tropical. The food wasn't bad. I had a grouper sandwich right out of the apalachicola on a soft Keizer role with tartar sauce, lettuce and tomatoes. It was seriously yummers! We started with the smoked salmon dip which was good however think it could benefit from some diced onion in there. You may be asking yourself why is this getting 3 stars? That would be the bathrooms. A few hundred dollars worth of tile would go a long way. The white paint is now brown from a lack of cleanliness. The sink was held together with screws and the experience of "taking care of business" was unfortunate. It's obvious thousands were spent on upgrades but its unreal that the bathrooms were neglected during upgrades. I will return and hope to it least the have slapped a fresh coat of paint on in there. read more

I ordered salmon dip and got fish flavored cream cheese. Ordered a dozen oysters steamed and got a plate of warm seasoned oysters out of tub. Oysters are supposed to come on a half shell. Finally for paying $90.00 dollars for two people i was expecting a lot more. Service was good but that was it. read more

They need a 0! I was there eating and was told i could not use the bathroom that it was for kids and women. I was told to go use a portapotty outside the restaurant that is illegal and very dirty. Will never go back an will tell everyone not to go there! read more

We ate lunch at this place.I read the reviews but tried anyway.It is really a night club dive. The food is not good. There are employees smoking as you walk in the door. The smell of fuel was strong.We ordered fried mullet and seafood chowder. About 5 minutes after ordering we were informed no seafood chowder so we substituted seafood gumbo. It was really a vegetable soup. It was ok to eat. We waited 40 minutes and everyone seated after us were served so we asked the status of our main meal. Waitress left to check and 5 minutes later informed us that they were just unloading the mullet from a boat, had to clean it then cook it. We said no thanks paid the bill then left. Why we weren't informed that they had no mullet we could have ordered something else. Management is non existent and or very lax.Would not ever eat here again. read more

Was at the restaurant for dinner with a group of 5 adults and received our meal an hour later. We brought in 1 1/2 pound of fresh caught redfish for them to cook as an appetizer, they lost the fish and brought some left over old fish from the back after our meal was served two hours later, which was not the redfish we brought in! Who knows what type of fish it was. Also one person in the party ordered 8 wings and they promised half of them to drumetts. Only received two drumetts. The worst part about the dinner was the waiters lie and who knows where your food is from. Worst restaurant I have ever been to! I will never go back. read more

Nice view but the food is over priced bar food. Worse yet is the service! There's a male server/bartender who thinks he's really special. He's rude! Go across the street. Nicer folks! read more

Friendly service and pretty good seafood. Only wish they had more local catch. And though their hush puppies are good, they do overfry them a bit too much. read more

Everything about this place is perfect. Our waitress was an absolute doll, the $10 pitcher of beer was GREAT, and the scallops and shrimp were tasty & delicious. It's a fun road trip out there too. Go go go!!! read more

We stayed away from this place for years because of prior bad experiences with service. We ended up there last weekend, with low expectations (hooray for low expectations!), and we had a fantastic experience. Maybe they are under new management? First of all, the service was great, the server was friendly with a great personality, and the manager seemed to really care that the customers were having a great experience. The food was also very good, and of course, the view is hard to beat. The place also looked much cleaner than before with lots of nice touches that gave it character. Maybe we just got lucky, but we'll definitely try it again sometime soon. read more