The Boat House — Restaurant in Fernandina Beach

I went here on a Monday in April of 2022. After walking around downtown Amelia Island, my wife and I decided to grab dinner. We went to the hostess desk and saw that it was staffed by approximately 5 people. We were told it would be a 30 minute wait, which was understandable. The bar was full service on a first come first serve basis so we ended up grabbing a seat there before a table was ready. Prior to taking our seat, I could see many tables that were open but just not cleared. That seemed to be an issue throughout the night.

After we took our seat at the bar we waited for about 5-6 minutes before we were greeted.

Once the bartender introduced himself and presented us menus, it was about 15 minutes before we were asked for our drink orders, and another 10 before food order. After about 30 minutes of waiting for our food order, we were asked if we wanted food…again. We then reminded him we already ordered food.

The food came out after a total of 50 minutes. The food was very impressive. Great presentation, great taste, and perfect temperature. This led me to believe our order may of not been put in originally. We grabbed one more drink after dinner which was a dessert style cocktail. It was also very good.

Once we were finished, we tried multiple times to get the attention of the bartender for the check but had to wait about 15-20 more minutes while they debated charges from someone else’s tab with their manager. It took about 4 people to figure it out but eventually we were presented with the check.

After we paid, the bartender asked us where we were from, which I responded that we were from Maryland. He responded that he had a “mansion in Maryland” and stated where it was and told me to “look it up”. Not wanting to take the time after dinner to look this guys mansion in Maryland I just nodded my head and moved on. Kind of an odd conversation starter to start at the end of the meal but whatever.

Overall, I probably would recommend this place to someone on a Monday since most other places are closed. Can’t argue to food was great, and the drinks were too. Just the service was subpar. I give them the benefit of the doubt and think it is just early in the tourist season so they were probably just figuring out the kinks.

Hopefully they figure it...

It’s a really nice place and we really enjoyed the first time we went. We ordered the Farmhouse mixed greens and the hanger steak. The chimichurri must’ve had chilies or something in it to make it more spicy than any chimichurri I’ve had in the past, but the hanger steak itself was tasty and done well. The salad on the other hand was one of the best salads I may have ever eaten! There was live music that was not too loud, and our server was fantastic, but sadly, I do not have his name. My photos are from this visit. We were so pleased with our food the first time, we went back again that weekend. I asked our server about a special they had, and she could not give me any kind of description that made any sense whatsoever, so I had to ask what looked like a manager and he explained it and showed me pictures. I ended up just ordering the salad again, but this time instead of the dressing being already mixed in, it was on the side, there was no Gorgonzola or bacon at all. When I finally got the server’s attention, she took the salad back and told him to make it correctly. It took so long, when she came back to check to see if it was right, she noticed I still didn’t get it yet. She went up and tried to get the kitchen to bring it out to me before my husband was finished eating, but he was done before I finally got it. My husband had ordered NC flounder and is was pretty good he thought. Unfortunately, I got no pictures of either of our meals the second time because it was so disjointed. They made no attempt to make up for my husband eating alone because mine was made incorrectly and took forever, then I had to eat alone because he was long done. I don’t remember that server’s name except she had St. Patrick’s Day stickers on her face and streamers in...

We went for dinner recently. There is plenty of outdoor seating but it was a hot, humid Florida evening so chose to sit indoors. It was just my husband and I. We were seated in a booth near the kitchen at first. The booth was cramped, we had to sit straight up and the table was against us. We got up and asked to sit at a table which was much more comfortable. The waitress stated she needed to rearrange that booth but then directly seated four other people there who ended up getting up and adjusting the seats themselves. The cocktails were magnificent and they had their own signature drinks plus a large wine and beer selection. The special that night was sea bass, which was what I ordered and is pictured. It was served over mashed potatoes and swimming in a caper cream sauce. The sea bass was beautifully seared, tender, moist and flakey. The potatoes however, were seasoned with something that over powered the entire dish. I could see arugula in them but there was a spice that distracted from everything else. The sea bass should have been the shining star of this dish but the potatoes ruined it all. We had the fried calamari for an appetizer which was just okay. Hubby ordered the gumbo as a starter. It had a tomato base rue and the andouille sausage was super hot. There were specks of scallops and shrimp. He had a fried chicken sandwich for his main dish and said he enjoyed it but wished he had ordered something different. The atmosphere was noisy and under lit. Seating reminded me of the Loop dining room. We were, all in all, disappointed with our dining experience here. We will most likely give it another try just to see if, maybe, they were having an off night and sit outdoors where there...