You come for the Calypso music, deck, bay views, and drinks. It's a family favorite. The food is good. And, you linger as long as you can.

Great atmosphere on the bay and live music. Food is okay. Fish tacos was a little skimpy on the fish...average taste. Beer selection is on the smaller side. We got right in during a busy night. read more

We were staying @ Bethany beach and decided to try somewhere new. Where do I start? I will say our server was nice, a little goofy... But attentive. We both had the buffet and a lot of the food was over cooked. The crab meat stuck to the legs making it impossible to get anything from them. The butter tasted funny (almost like plastic). The fried shrimp were way too crunchy to eat. I actually heard one of the female cooks tell the male cook that he had the temperature too high on the shrimp and he laughed. F**k my $36.00 meal I guess, right? Not a lot of selections. But you can't go wrong with the soft serve ice cream... That was amazing, but I could've went to The McDonald's drive thru for that. WHATEVER you do don't try the brownies- SO DRY. Luckily it's been about 5 hours and I haven't gotten sick yet. YAY! read more

Drinks were good. Food was just ok. Chicken quesadillas were weak - not very much filling inside - just a few bites of chicken. Chicken tenders for the kids were crunchy and not much meat. read more

Never a big fan of RR. Seems like they are trying to be upscale but really just ends up being kind of trashy...yes, even for DB. It just attracts the girls who wear hooker heels at the beach (PROTIP: This ain't Play Lounge in DC). And guys who wear wife-beaters to go out...so Baltimore/Southern, MD trashy. Yuck. read more

Food was good but the management left much to be desired. The night we were there a storm blew in and knocked out power throughout the area. Not the customers' fault, not the restaurant's fault - however, the restaurant management failed where they could have shined. Our food was still in the kitchen when the power failed. 3 out of the 4 of us got our meal, the 4th did not. Instead of offering her something from the buffet in exchange for her meal, the management said she'd have to pay full price for the buffet. She decided not to do so. Good thing because we heard another customer complaining about paying $80 ( the cost of the all-you-can-eat-buffet for 2) only to get just one trip. Apparently, they ran out of food at the all-you-can-eat buffet. The worst part is the managers were nowhere to be found. They were sending wait staff to tell angry customers the bad news. FAIL! Our waitress told us that the management team was trying to work on getting the power restored. Right! If the whole are was out, how would they make a difference trying to restore the power. In my opinion, those managers dropped the ball. They could have won over their patrons with some good customer service and face time, instead, they hid like cowards and made others do their dirty work. They've lost me as a customer and I'm guessing a room full of others, too. read more

Got the buffet. Just about everything was tolerable at best. Avoid the 'seafood balls' or whatever they are. I grabbed one thinking it was a mini crab cake. Yuck. Way overpriced, even accounting for the beach area markup. read more

REJECTED AT RUSTY RUDDER! I was excited to visit Rusty Rudder as a few friends told me they had live music and a great view. I stopped in around 6 pm for dinner and thought I'd listen to some music and enjoy a great meal. Well, was I wrong! I sat outside (of course, that is where the music is and the view!). The waitress gave me a menu that consisted of a few appetizers, salads and sandwiches. I asked for a dinner menu and she said , "oh we don't serve dinner on the outside dining area." What???? It is 6 pm and you are not serving dinner? I asked, "Do you have a dinner menu?" She responds, "yes, but you have to sit inside." I looked over the menu and saw a few entrees I would like and asked her again, "are you sure you can not bring me this dinner entree?" "Nope, you have to go inside" No band, no view, nothing I wanted inside. So, I asked another waitress and two hostesses and they all said, "Sandwiches outside. Dinner inside" WHAT A JOKE! I guess they only want to sale drinks and sandwiches. I saved $26 bucks (plus drinks and tip), but was I was in total disbelief and disappointed that I could not order a meal and was rejected! Would not recommend this place if you want to get dinner. read more

Super slow service. Weak drinks. Didn't have any food so can't comment on that. Skip this place an try something else.

Cool atmosphere, and the buffet had some good crab legs and steamed shrimp. However the raw oysters were tiny, and the sushi rolls were all rice. My wife's ahi tuna sandwich was terrible. She only had 2 bites and sent it back. Friends though had the club and chicken sandwiches. They looked really good and the fries also were good. I'd go back, if it were to hang out on the deck and listen to a band, but not for just eating. read more

Spent a fun and pleasant Sunday evening at the Rusty Rudder! Listened to awesome live music while dancing on their deck! Had a great time!

Service slow. Butter too salty in clams. Outrigger drink was very sweet. Views were nice.

Went to the outside bar and asked for a mojito and got all kinds of attitude about how they didn't make them outside and told us to chose from the drink menu. Almost like they were bothered that we would even ask for anything. Told them no thanks and literally walked 60 ft to the Lighthouse Restaurant, who also didn't have mojitos, but had a great time with Summer the super awesome waitress. read more

Sadly, I got food poisoning from the seafood buffet -- probably the oysters, which I put in my mouth and spit out but I guess I didn't spit fast enough. Steer clear, particularly if you want to avoid four days of nausea, fever and head aches. I wish I'd avoided it... read more

Great place for a late lunch or happy hour on the deck. The sunsets over the bay are punctuated by live reggae music. The evening seafood buffet, while expensive cannot be beat. read more

If you have respect for any woman in your life you will not be a patron to this establishment. Went here for a bachelorette party and woman, outside of our group, disagreed with the choice of a Linkin Park mash-up and the DJ stopped the music and yelled "F*ck you bitch" over the mic. When we asked one of the male bartenders about wanting to talk to the manager about being offended about the entertainment he said he was too busy to address our concerns. We told him that 20 women were about to leave because of the obscenities and he responded "oh well, you don't f*ck with the DJ here". We left immediately. Not sure if it was DJ Manny or DJ Hector (based on the billboard promo outside) but I would not recommend this bar at all. Icing on the cake...we paid a cover to get in tonight. read more

Had my wife's party their , the staff was great ... The food was even better,,, we will be coming back very soon

Beers were reasonable, outdoor setting was good, and place did rock. However, watching the back deck bar tender and staff throw empty paper cups/trash into the Bay instead of the trash can and seeing same bar tender sneak shots til she was blotto was just so...high school. Come on Rusty, you can do better. Seeing that trash floating around was b.s. read more

I didn't like this place. All of the seats were taken out and put to the side for the night, so it was standing room only. The band was pretty bad and bar service was slow. With so many choices in the area, I won't be back. read more

The family and I went here this past summer and choose the all you can eat option and we thought everything was delicious! It has the BEST dessert bar I've ever seen at a buffet! read more

Food was average. Waitress was average. The big turn off was watching the two employees in the ice cream bar. The male open the top of the fixings container, stuck his bare unwashed hand in it and just starting feeding his face. Disgusting read more

Two weekends ago (June 23, 2012), while visiting friends in Dewey Beach, I had a rather unkind experience with the evident owner of Rusty Rudder / Que Pasa / Lighthouse Restaurant / The Cove. My group of old highschool friends and I had just finished eating at his restaurant -- The Rusty Rudder -- when we were parting ways to head back to our homes after the weekend of meeting up. We were making sure that everyone had everything that they had come with in their respective vehicles, and were saying our goodbyes, when a very obviously intoxicated woman (along with a group of other women, who had also just come from The Rusty Rudder) fell in the path of my friend's car. The woman, while on the ground, proceeded to urinate herself while blocking the one-way exit out of the parking lot. It was at this time that I approached the group to make sure that the woman was alright and to get them out of the flow of traffic (which, up until now, was just my friend's Volkswagen attempting to leave). As the woman got up and moved out of the path, and I started walking back to my vehicle, a black German sportscar pulled behind my friend's Volkswagen and began honking and yelling for us to move. I responded, beginning to explain the situation to him, as he got out of the vehicle and started exclaiming things about how he was the owner, how we weren't welcome at this establishment, and how I was no longer welcome in Dewey Beach. At this point, I -- admittedly brashly -- shot back that "just because your car is big doesn't mean that your [fill in here] is". He then proceeded to get back into his vehicle and block the path of the exit (even opening his car doors to make sure I couldn't squeeze by, which, in as large of a van as I was driving is an impossibility to begin with), ultimately disrupting the flow of traffic more than it already was due to the prior scene. He then got out of his vehicle, walked towards me, blocking the road with his body, while trying to take a picture of my license plates as I reversed away from him -- unsure of his intentions at the time. After he yelled something about "taking a picture of my plates so I would be towed if I ever came back", I stopped reversing. As he took the picture of my vehicle -- despite my requests for him to not film me, my friends (in the vehicle with me), or my vehicle -- he approached a Dewey Beach Police Officer who had come over due to the scene that was unfolding. He then told the police officer that I was "drunk, belligerent and disorderly" in what he called "a family establishment", in a low-blow attempt to pin me with any illegal violation whatsoever. He then got back into his car and sped off, chirping his wheels and driving erratically through the parking lot, then crossing Route 1 to go to what I can only assume is his ocean-front house. After another approximately 5-10 minutes of talking to the officer, I was finally allowed to leave to head back to Maryland with my girlfriend (who lives in Hockessin) and other friend (Towson). To summarize: as a customer, I feel terribly disrespected -- especially having just dropped $250 on what was an awful dining experience of luke-warm seafood/sides and overly-drunk happy hour go'ers vomiting in the already disgusting bathrooms -- to be told by the owner that I was no longer welcome in his establishment/town for merely attempting to assist a fellow customer. Having worked in the food service industry as both a waiter and bartender from mid-2005 until just a month ago, I realize the value of customer service. Regardless of my evident 'ban' from the facility, I will never be returning to any of the restaurants under his corporate umbrella (Lighthouse, Cove, Que Pasa, Rusty Rudder, et cetera), nor will my friends. I will go out of my way to post this extremely negative experience, in its entirety, on websites such as Yelp/JudysBook/TrustedPlaces/etc, and my group and I will be extremely hesitant to visit Dewey Beach in the future. Out of respect for his personal privacy, I am withholding the owner's name -- however, you may be interested in knowing that he recently announced his intentions to run for Senate as an Independent on Greta Van Susterin's FOX show. read more

A Dewey Beach must. The Rusty Rudder is an instant classic for all ages at all times.

We have been going to Dewey Beach for the past 5 yrs and usually try to get to the Rusty Rudder at least once. The first time we went was good. The food was ok but the outside deck was nice and the band was great. Unfortunately, this year was not good at all. The food is dismal. The outside deck was filthy and there were multiple bugs floating in my husbands shot of Scotch. Disgusting. The music took a hit this year too. We were very disappointed this year. read more

Ups: Location. Parking. Downs: the restaurant. Crinkle fries, like comic sans, should never be used professionally. Didn't try the buffet. Rockfish + crab+ lobster dish is like playing rock, paper, scissors and trying to use all three at the same time. You can't really win. It ended up uninspiring and bland. Crab Imperial more like Crab in Peril. Vegetable of the day was a melange of soppy squashes, red onion, green pepper, and a lonely broccoli. My grandmother keeps a better selection of beer, and she only drinks coffee. There's so many restaurants there. Don't choose spontaneously. It had a lovely mural. Lots of old people eating in the dining room. read more

My husband and I were in Bethany over 4th of July weekend. We stopped in here on Sunday because we had passed it a few times going to Rehobeth and liked that it was on the water. So, I would probably give this place a 1 or 2 star rating, but it gets 3 for the view of the water. We didn't eat any food and sat out back at the bar. The bartenders were less than professional and dirty. I saw them making mixed drinks with the blender by covering the top with their bare hand instead of a blender lid. At least put a glove on, disgusting. The place looked pretty dirty overall, I probably should have ordered bottled beer, but I had draft. I don't think I would ever eat here because of how filthy the staff seemed to be when simply making drinks, which is a shame because they have a great space on the water that could be something amazing...but it's not. read more

Music on the deck is nice. Don't get the "blackened" fish tacos. They are overcooked and dry.

Our waitress Kate was great but everything else about this place was meh. Overpriced mediocre food, unfriendly hostess and other servers. Skip this place- many more options to choose from. read more

Very friendly staff at lunch, decent food, weak gin and tonic in a plastic cup (Eh, it's club at night, so nothing breakable, I guess.). Nice view from deck. HOWEVER, NO ONE AT THE RUSTY RUDDER ASKED US WHERE WE PARKED. DEWEY BEACH, LIKE MOST DELAWARE BEACH TOWNS, FROM WHAT WE NOW HEAR, VICIOUSLY ENFORCES PARKING. FOLLOWING OUR LOCAL FRIENDS' PARKING, WE PARKED NEXT TO THEM IN THE NEARLY EMPTY LOT JUST OUTSIDE THE FRONT DOOR TO THE RESTAURANT. THERE WAS A THUNDERSTORM WITH BUCKETS OF RAIN, BUT THAT DID NOT STOP DEWEY'S PARKING DEVILS FROM LEAVING $35 PARKING TICKETS ON OUR CARS. WE HAD NO IDEA ABOUT "PERMIT PARKING". WE REALLY WISH THE RUDDER'S STAFF'S FIRST QUESTION TO ALL GUESTS WOULD BE, "WHERE DID YOU PARK?" THE FREE LOT, WE FOUND OUT TOO LATE, WAS DIRECTLY IN FRONT, ON ROUTE 1. A CALL TO THE RUDDER ABOUT THE TICKETS WAS MET WITH A VERBAL SHRUG. ATTITUDES LIKE THIS WILL COST THE RUSTY RUDDER INCOME. THEY AND OTHER BUSINESSES SHOULD PETITION THE DEWEY BEACH GOVERNMENT AND THEIR GESTAPOLICE TO STOP ABUSING THEIR CUSTOMERS. WE LEARNED OUR LESSON. WE'LL NEVER STOP IN DOO-DOO BEACH AGAIN UNTIL THEY WELCOME TOURISTS, NOT ABUSE THEM. read more

Have not been to the Rudder in years! Was certainly nervous with the mediocre reviews, but we had an amazing meal as a family! Live entertainment was a bonus! Service was excellent and food was very good. Worth the try for sure!! Bring your appetite and save room for the sundae bar! read more

2.5 stars: Rounding up because our waitress, Autumn, did a nice job. The drinks are good, but the food leaves a taste in your mouth that you usually only experience after going dumpster diving for a one night stand. Good service, good drinks, good atmosphere, but if you're looking for food, the kitchen was slow and the food was awful. read more

I give the Crusty Crudder one star because the scores don't go any lower. We went with a small child in a stroller, and the manager/hostess kept giving me the evil eye. Apparently, she did not like the stroller, but didn't say anything about it. We requested a booth, where there is plenty of room for a stroller at the end of the table. The witch seated people that came in after us at those booths. I assume it was to "teach me a lesson" for having the nerve to have a stroller. Definately not a kid friendly restaurant. When we finally ate, the food was pretty nasty. I expected quite a bit better for the price they charge. This place could probably be OK if you go out back and get really, really drunk before you eat. Then you won't notice how rude the staff is, and how bad the food really is. read more

The only reason this place is getting a 2 is because of the location. View is cute. But, the service, drinks, and food were horrrreeennddoouuusss. We sat at the bar, waited for 5 min for someone to acknowledge us but no one did. So we moved spots hoping for a better chance. Mind you, it's a Sunday afternoon and there was barely anyone at the bar. So many empty seats. They weren't THAT busy to not even acknowledge. At our 2nd spot we waited another 5 min for the bartender to ask us what we wanted. My margarita tasted like sour punch and the boyfriends orange crush tasted like cough medicine with artificial flavoring. The nachos were disgusting; cheese wasn't melted and chips were all just stuck together. Truly it wouldn't have been as awful if the bartenders bothered to look up and care about the customers. read more

The only thing good about this restaurant is the view. The service was absolutely horrible. The food was over priced and only fair at best. We will not be returning!! read more

Very disappointed. We've been coming to Dewey Beach for about 20 years. The Rudder is always a must go, or I should say was. Surprised to find they got rid of the land and sea buffet. That was the main reason we went. Then the new menu selection was basically a bunch of bar food, but at least twice the price. The food we got was mediocre at best. And then the bag of chips that came with the sandwich made me laugh. Then they had the glass wall open to the outside bar.....on a 93 degree day with super high humidity. So the inside of the restaurant was sweltering. Given that everything was served on plastic plates, we're never going back. Dinner for four was $150....crazy. read more

I have grown up in Rehoboth and knew that Rusty Rudder was a very well known restaurant. I decided to take my two friends to the restaurant and I unfortunately wish I never did. Our waitress was the rudest person I have ever met in my life. She never stated her name and immediately said "what do you want" when we sat down. Then proceeded to literally chase us out of the restaurant after there was a misunderstanding about the tip. I was embarrassed to take my friends to this restaurant. The view was great but I was appalled to how our waitress treated us as customers. I would not recommend nor will I ever be returning until this waitress is fired.:) read more

This was possibly the worst restaurant i've ever had the displeasure of dining or should i say regurgitating at. I must say the atmosphere is very nice, it's a very modern and well looked after establishment. But, the service was terrible. Our waiter came to the table with a awkward, i hate my job attitude, and he kept trying to steal plates away from me or take them way too late. the food itself was honestly gross. the clams and oysters were overcooked and rubbery from sitting out to long. the crab legs we're mildly warm. the rest of the food was subpar. they should've charged 10 dollars at most instead of 40. i will not be going back to this establishment.... ever. read more

The buffet gets worse every year and the price keeps increasing. Waitress was nice but food was subpar. Go to a chinese buffet for a quarter of the price and you will be much happier! read more

The atmosphere is nice and the drinks are good, but sadly I got food poisoning from eating the crab imperial. Went to dinner with 4 people and all of us were let down by the food, thankfully I was the only one that got sick. If you want a nice place to hangout by the water and drink then this is a good place, but if you expect a good meal you will be sadly disappointed. read more

Love coming to the Rusty Rudder. We usually hit this place up around 10pm for some live music & dancing. Love the orange crushes!!!