The River Shack — Restaurant in Charlestown

I really hate to leave this awful review of the customer service at the River Shack. But, more than that, I hate having my hard earned money go to waste on food that was prepared incorrectly, at a business that is so unwilling to FAIRLY right THEIR wrong.

I ordered nacho fries that were supposed to come with, well if you can imagine, Nacho toppings. I also asked for ground beef, which was an additional charge. After picking up my food and making the 20 minute drive back home, I open my fries to see that they only had lettuce and olives as a topping. I immediately called the restaurant to get a refund on my nacho fries, because now I’ve paid about $15 for french fries with lettuce and olives (even though they didn’t charge extra for the ground beef, thankfully), which is still a bit of a stretch. Especially for my dollar. The shift manager was nice enough about the situation, offering me a restaurant credit if I would come back to get it. I was unable to make the drive for a second time, so I asked if I could please just have my refund. She told me that a woman named Becky would be contacting me on Monday to help me resolve the issue. Becky never called me. I ended up having to call the restaurant and had to go through about three people before I could finally reach Becky. Unfortunately, Becky had a very poor attitude and, as I was explaining the situation to her, she rudely interrupted to ask me if I was done yet?! She proceeded to offer me a five dollar refund because, according to Becky, I was only missing two of my toppings on my nacho fries. And according to Becky, I probably ate them anyway. At this point, I’m not even worried about getting a refund or any kind of compensation for my order. But I think people should know what they’re getting themselves into when they spend their hard earned money at a place like this. Being a small family business cannot be an excuse you use for why you perform so poorly. It should be even more reason for you to treat your clientele with respect and politeness. I cannot believe that someone on the management staff is allowed to speak to a customer in such a manner. And I say “allowed” because let’s be so for real, we can see that the owner is going to completely back his rude staff because he himself is equally as rude, as shown in all the replies to the negative reviews below. What kind of self respecting man gets in the comment section and tries to confront customers who are rating their experience at your restaurant? Get outta here, man! Do better! It’s so sad that it had to come to this. But if you can’t do right by your customer, and on top of that, you’re going to be disrespectful and rude, please expect them to come for your character. Yours is trash, Becky. Have the day you deserve, girl! ✌🏼 And to the owner, before you feel the need to jump in a comment and defend Becky’s substandard customer service skills, or to ask me why I’ve never left a positive review, but I’m so willing to leave a negative one… You’re right. I am very willing to leave this negative review because when I visit in person, I’m polite, I verbally express my gratitude to the staff, and my gratitude and satisfaction is reflected in their gratuity, as well. But when I need assistance, when my order is incorrect, when I reach out for help but, no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get in contact with anyone on the management staff who is able to KINDLY assist me, when this is my only outlet to express how completely frustrated and upset I am with this terrible service….well, sir, you have only yourself to blame. I can’t help but laugh because I see advertisements that the river shack is hiring for the season. I hope y’all don’t send your kids there with this being one of their first jobs and expect them to learn any kind of respect or customer service skills. If this is how the management acts, imagine what they let the staff get away with. No, thank you! And after reading the comment below mine, and the one about the bench breaking… Good luck y’all. I truly hope you survive. Not...

We have eaten at The River Shack’s adjacent restaurant The Wellwood and have enjoyed its well-prepared and tasty food. We decided to give River Shack a try. I ordered the crab bisque, the fried white fish basket with waffle fries. All three of my food choices came with a very unpleasant surprise: thoroughly seasoned with crab seasoning, which was a red colored seasoning, a bit spicy and tasting like Cajun plus Old Bay type seasoning. The River Shack’s chef has a very heavy hand with this seasoning and there is no escaping it, and it was unexpected and quite disappointing. There was no reference that the crab bisque soup, the french fries, or the breaded white fish would be so laden with unwanted spices. No reference on the menu, no explanation by the server, no choice given to have traditionally prepared fried fish with regular Waffle fries. In other words, the kind you would get at most every other restaurant that would serve these menu choices - crab bisque, waffle fries, and fried fish. I happen to not like Cajun or Old Bay seasoning, so the entire meal was a complete waste for me. My husband felt the same way about his food, he had asked before ordering If the food was spicy and was told no. I gave some feedback to the server about the food and told him I did not care for the seasoning at all, and asked him to have the chef describe the seasoning is so that from now on, I will know to ask if that type of seasoning is used in the restaurant cooking. Never have I seen such a pervasive use of strong, aromatic, savory seasoning without it being forewarned or explained on the menu. The meal cost around $85 for the two of us; I will not be going back to this establishment. And I post this review to forewarn other unsuspecting patrons who may wish to avoid a very unpleasant...

We have been coming to River shack for at least 10 years and have seen a decline in quality over the years. We keep coming back hoping for a better experience but this first visit of the 2023-2024 season has sealed the deal: we will not longer be returning to River shack after years of being loyal customers. We were told this year there will no longer be “all you can eat crabs” because they are trying to save us money. Well, we ordered 6 Medium sized crabs ($48), a 4-piece chicken ($18.25), an order of hush puppies ($7.50) and two Malibu rum buckets ($32.00)… oh and two crab vinegar dipping sauces ($6.50)! (They even charged my husband for an extra honey mustard - which they never brought him. They used to do an all-you-can eat crabs, chicken, hush puppies, corn and fries for like $69… now you are getting nickel and dime’d to death. Added to this is the fact that they need to replace their picnic tables because they are really unstable. Last year we watched one give way on a family while they were eating and today our party of 10 braced for impact every time someone moved for fear of ending up on the ground. It’s really sad to see a place we used to look forward to visiting just take a turn for the worst. Two of us in our party… 6 crabs, 4 pieces of chicken, hush puppies and two rum buckets: $169…. :( How is taking away the all you can eat deal good for...