Bait House Tackle & Tavern — Restaurant in Clearwater

I've been wanting to try this place for a while and finally decided to give it a try. Honestly I'm pretty disappointed. This place is incredibly difficult to get to because of how bad traffic is. It was supposed to be a 15 minute drive that turned out to be over 35 minutes. When i just on the other side of the bridge. Then I encountered the horrible nightmare that they call parking. I get that places get busy and thats totally fine but here There is no parking anywhere. So you have to circle and circle the lot and wait for someone to leave to be able to park. I also drive a large truck and they dont allow you to back in and that makes parking even more difficult because of how tightly the cars are packed in. So you have to do a 4 point turn to try and squeeze in. Then you have to pay for parking but the catch is you can only pay for 30 minutes at a time. So after 40 minutes of driving when I was 3 miles away then waiting for a spot. then after every problem I've encountered we finally made it to the restaurant that had a 40 minute wait. So before we even sat down to eat we had to go back and pay for parking again. you have to play this extortion game and go back and forth from the restaurant to the pay for parking stand over and over again. Then you have to try and rush while you eat or get up from the table and go back and pay for parking again for the 3rd time. And believe me they have multiple people circling the lot to come write you a ticket. This is not a welcoming environment, especially for locals. It was incredibly stressful. Very irritating. The parking situation makes me feel as a customer that they do not want me here. Its like they are trying to rush you out and this is enough to make me never come back. The food was so so but not worth the hassle the time wasted and the frustration that it brings along with it. I was excited to come here but left saying ill never come back. Traffic i can get over the food being so so Is disappointing the back and forth to the pay station the stupid rules for parking on top of everything else made my experience horrible and honesty...

This was probably one of the best place so far we have been to in South Clearwater Beach. I got the Seafood cake burger which was delicious. The ciabatta bread was spot on: great chewy soft tender crumb. The cake was delicious and well seasoned though with the size of the bread it was a bit messy to eat (but still well worth it). The side of steamed broccoli was steamed well but completely lacking in seasoning. Luckily they provided salt and pepper grinders at the table to season them yourself.

My husband and his brother got the catch of the day Reuben (the catch being wahoo). My husband does not like wahoo but he enjoyed every bite. The first was perfectly cooked and well seasoned. The sauerkraut was delicious while the perfectly pan toasted bread gave a crunchy buttery texture. In fact, he kept eating despite saying he was full. A friend got the drunken shrimp which she thoroughly enjoyed. She said the cajuny season was perfect and paired well with the ciabatta. Though listed as an appetizer she felt this was enough as a meal itself as well.

My son got the adult cheeseburger (only because the kids burger only comes in one temperature and he likes his burgers medium). They nailed the medium cook and he managed still finish it. Overall, he rated it 4/5.

My daughter got the grilled chicken sandwich which she devoured and rated 4.5/5. She also enjoyed the yellow rice which I was told was by our friend (who also chose it for a side) was well seasoned and not too salty.

Drinkwise they have some sodas, lemonade, beer and wine. No mixed drinks which is fine as none of us really drink much.

Overall we enjoyed the experience while eating outside by the water and the food was great. I would recommend making sure to stop in at this little eatery while visiting Clearwater Beach! The trolly conveniently had a stop near the restaurant which is located right by the marina but can easily be reached by foot depending on where you are staying at the beach.

Overall we...

Menu is very limited - mainly the "fresh catch" of the day prepared in multiple ways, such as in tacos, a quesadilla, a sandwich, or even by itself with sides.

Came mostly because a local person suggested it. He specifically mentioned the Drunken Shrimp stating how good it was & that it was his favorite thing to order from here. Gotta agree that the Drunken Shrimp was great! Unfortunately, everything else was just okay - good, but nothing great. I ordered the Spicy Tuna Nachos because it was one of the recommendations from the waitress. Although it is an appetizer, she said it was large enough to be a main dish. It did NOT hit the mark for me. It was not spicy nor really tasty - really bland, to be honest. The dish consists of a piece of seared tuna on top of a tortilla chip (one piece of tuna to one tortilla chip, LITERALLY!) - no cheese or anything else besides a drizzle of what they call their wasabi soy sauce. There was so little of it in comparison to the size of the tuna piece that it really didn't give/add any taste. Granted, there were enough pieces (each piece approximately 1"x1") to fill me up.

Lastly, if you're looking for a place to get out of the heat/humidity, this is not the place. There is only a small outdoor seating area, albeit on the water. When we went, it was great out - low humidity although there was quite a wind, but it was warm & refreshing. Don't go if it's sprinkling or raining as there isn't any protection from getting wet, especially if there's any kind of wind. Overall, if you go, just expect mediocre food except for fresh fish & the...