The River's Edge Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Riverview

Drove by here when I visited the Showman's Museum a couple of weeks ago and decided to bring a friend and give it a try.

While I'm not personally a fan of these sort of biker/dive bars, we decided to give it a try anyway and see if it was worth the trip.

The inside was empty and loud, with some pool tables and booths, but we came to sit on the deck and enjoy the nice (enough) weather. We were told to sit anywhere and soon after our waitress came to take our drink orders.

Maybe it was because we weren't day drinking or maybe it was because we didn't fit into what their target market, but the waitress seemed more annoyed that we were there than happy for the customers on a Wednesday afternoon. No welcoming demeanor, no trying to make a connection, just, "do you know what you want to drink/order/drink, etc?" The soda came in a can instead of a fountain, which is always annoying. I wish I would have known that before I ordered one.

I had the blackened Mahi sandwich from the waitress' suggestion and found the fish to be pretty well cooked. The tarter sauce tasted like mayo with relish in it, though, and didnt come with the sandwich as I had to ask for it. Not that the mahi needed tarter sauce, but the bun needed something.

The bathrooms were OOO and they had some temporary restrooms brought in, so I can't speak to how clean the regular restrooms are, but there were ashtrays on many of the tables and that kind of made me glad we were there when it wasn't busy so we didn't have to smell anyone smoking.

All-in-all, nothing was bad, it just wasn't great. I kept getting the feeling that they wouldn't have cared for our business at all, or that our being there was somehow...

Waterfront, Relaxing, Great Shrimp On our way down to the Fort Myers area we wanted some light lunch at some waterfront place. We found this place on the internet and gave it a try. It sits right on the Alafia River and according to our server, has had its share of damage from recent storms. More from storm surges than wind, but they are up and running. The neighborhood near the restaurant is in pretty bad shape for the storms. Clearly a favorite stop for motorcyclists based on how many were there on a Wednesday afternoon. Lots of waterfront seating at tables with umbrellas and boaters have plenty of piers to tie up to. For our light lunch we had a Full Order of Peel and Eat Shrimp ($20.30) and the Fried Pickle Chips ($8.35). We estimate this was a full pound of 16-20 size shrimp. They are tossed with Old Bay seasoning and we had an option to get them either cold or warm – we picked warm, with butter for dipping. They also came with a nice zippy cocktail sauce. Great flavor and as we saw, most people coming in to eat ordered shrimp. A few onion rings slipped into our tasty pickle chips basket. A very comfortable place to dine and look out on the water and watch...

Located in the most exclusive neighborhood in gibsonton. Local domestic violence, drug abuse and burglary rates outnumber the city of Tampa per household. Fantastic view of the ever popular and environmentally friendly Mosiac phosphate processing plant. Where the company knowingly dumps a minimum 60 thousand gallons a day of toxic waste into the alafia river.. That is baby numbers compared to the levels of waste dumped just twenty miles up river by our friends at Mosiac. Enjoy also the enormous phosphor gypsum stacks across the way, they are on all the tourists list of places to visit. Nicknamed Florida's beloved radioactive mountains. Yes these towering dump sites will be slowly poisoning the surrounding environment and communities for eternity.. Dont forget to try the local caught seafood consisting grouper tumors, toxic sediment filtering shellfish and blue algae fed shrimp. You can taste the quality gibsonton has to offer. Better ask for blackened and hold the cancer and red tide please... Grab yourself a couple rabid stray kittens on the way out. Yes this place has everything a family is looking for. Midget wrestling and drunk bar fleas...