Mariner's Harbor — Restaurant in City of Kingston

My family went there on Monday, early July 2013. Our party consisted of my wife and our two children, 4 and 9 years old and myself. It was a rainy day so not too many people were dinning when we arrived at around 7 pm. The decor of the place is ok, kinda plain, with the typical seafood restaurant themes of model ships, trophy fish on the walls and other nautical iconography. They do have a nice patio area which overlooks the Roundout Creek, but because it was rainy and hot we ate inside. We were seated and attended to promptly and our drinks arrived shortly after. For apps, we ordered the shrimp wrapped in bacon with orange dipping sauce, they serve 5 kinda small shrimp as describe. This dish was tasty though I have certainly had better. The next appetizer was Crab cakes, which were 4 half dollars sized crab cakes that were somewhat tasty, but not worth 10 bucks and not nearly as good as I have had at other (non-chain) seafood places. Our final app, was the "Bistro Salad" which was very delicious, walnuts,apples, and I think dried raspberries on greens with a raspberry vinaigrette, and crumbled bleu cheese.

The entries, which took about 45 minutes to arrive were: 1. prime rib, was ok, but kinda pot roasty flavored (probably cause we asked for medium instead of medium rear) I would not get this again. It came with some very tasty garlic smashed potatoes though. 2. An Angus burger that looked pretty good along with some tasty seasoned fries. 3. Sea Scallops on a bed of wild rice (scallops were pretty good for upstate NY, rice was bland though. 4. Blackend Talapia served with a mango chutney and over wild rice, which my wife liked, but I thought was par at best.

Verdict: Better then Red Lobster and not bad for an upstate NY sea food place that is located 120 miles from the nearest source of seafood. The bill was around $130 which is not too bad but a little on the high side for the quality in my opinion. We had a nice good time and the meal was good. Was the seafood as good as the places we go in Tampa where the seafood is off the boat fresh? In short- no way, not even close. But a pretty decent place for seafood in...

Food was delicious. We had two specials, a scallop and risotto dish and a beef tenderloin dish. Very good. It was recommended by Frank Guidos Little Italy location that had no openings. I know now they are the same owners. Service however was not good at all. It was a Saturday night so it definitely was busy especially considering during the Covid pandemic, seating is an issue. We waited about 30 minutes which wasn't too bad considering. The place was packed. There were plenty of people at the outside bar side by side with people just walking up because they knew someone sitting there or what not then leaving. No one enforcing "social distancing." Also several increasingly loud guests who just could not produce a sentence without swearing every other word which was quite uncomfortable as this is not a dive bar and is in a nice area. We waited an ok amount of time for our food, again they were busy. Getting our check was a whole different story. After finishing our meals we waited for entirely too long of a time just to simply ask for the bill. During which time I watched one bartender eating behind the bar while speaking with patrons which is a huge no no even without a pandemic. And right next to her was another waitress/bartender taking a shot with a chaser behind the bar infront of customers. Honestly. We finally got our bill, waiting for our waitress to come back and finally paid. The whole checkout process was probably around 20-30 minutes. I've been in the bar/waitressing business so I can say you not eat or drink alcohol behind the barn infront of customers especially during a pandemic. Also getting customers out in a timely fashion...

b.overly_delicious @marinersharborkingston Kingston, NY: The days of my youth, late night drinking at Mariner’s, are long gone. I can still see the Phil Rizzuto commercials on tv, over and over in my head. Mariners is certainly a staple of the community and living in the shadow of Mariner’s Harbor Highland’s past.

After sitting down with Sal Guido over a plate of pasta, he explained the ever-changing climate of increasing quality and service expected by the new wave of well-to-do tourists. Whether you want to admit it or not, Kingston has quickly become a tourist town with a swell of customers coming all year. Restaurants have been forced to increase prices but also increase quality to keep up with the evolving dinning scene. Sal explained, “nothing comes frozen or prepackaged, it’s all breaded in house”. A welcomed change from Mariners’ past.

I started off with a basket of hot bread and a plate of fried calamari. Calamari was lightly breaded and delicate. I threw some salt on for good measure. My plate of Fra Diavlo was delicious and well-prepared with a nice mix of shellfish. Not too spicy and a large portion of shells to dig through.

Thinking about sitting outside on a cool summer evening, with live music that Mariner’s puts on all summer, really sounds nice right about now. The strand is always a pleasant place to wash away the stress of a long week or simply celebrate a birthday. I could really go for a drink right now. Hey Sal!!!!!! #kingston #thestrand #mariners #harbor #marinersharbor #seafood #calamari #hudsonriver #ulster #hveats #hvfoodies #eater #vice #upstateny #eatlocal #ulstereateriesunfiltered 📸...