On the River Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in Freeport

We had heard many great things about On The River so we stopped by to see for ourselves. We chose to have dinner on a Saturday evening. The restaurant was about one-third full when we arrived but got busier after our arrival.

SERVICE: The service was perfect. We were greeted as we entered the restaurant and were immediately seated by a friendly hostess. After we settled in, our friendly server met us at the table and started our beverage order. Our food arrived quickly and was piping hot when it hit the table.

FOOD: The food was really great! Our meal started with small bowls of coleslaw and cast iron cornbread. Both of these items tasted fresh and were delicious. The main course for everyone was seafood. We enjoyed several different recipes of shrimp and catfish. The shrimp was well prepared. The grilled shrimp is seasoned well and full of flavor. The fried shrimp was lightly battered and tender. The stuffed shrimp is a unique item with a bold flavor. The Cajun shrimp is seasoned in a slightly spicy mix and tastes great. The catfish was also lightly battered and buttery soft. We had the cast iron cookie and blueberry cobbler for dessert. Both were amazing. Bring an appetite because there is no shortage of food in their meals.

ATMOSPHERE: The restaurant is well maintained and clean. That being said, it is a really neat old building. The hardwood floors and decor take you back many decades to when life was simpler and you could just enjoy a great meal at a fair price down at the local cafe.

We were very quickly enamored by On The River. This restaurant has everything including good ol’ fashion charm. Whether you are in the Freeport area or willing to make the easy drive down, make sure you stop by On The River for a great meal at good price. This restaurant easily...

My husband and I found this place while passing through Freeport and were excited to give it a try! We were impressed when we walked in by the atmosphere! It was clean and had a very cozy feel to it! The hostess was kind and we were sat almost immediately. Our waitress came quickly with a smile and very helpful with Narrowing down our meal selection. The cornbread that was brought out before our meal was very good. This is where things quickly went south, I was hopeful that my salad would come with homemade dressing but tasted very store bought! I should have asked instead of assumed so that wasn’t a huge deal, it’s just dressing lol. For our entrées I ordered the stuffed shrimp and my husband had the cat fish and shrimp platter (can’t recall the name) I only ate one of the shrimp do to the texture seeming taste more like wet bread crumbs with some small pieces of crab tossed in! Just not at all what I was expecting and not very pleasant to my Pallet. The french fries were way greasy so I didn’t eat those either. My husband enjoyed his shrimp but was put off a little by something about the fish. We eat Catfish often and that didn’t taste like catfish. Needless to say we were disappointed when our bill came because we new we would be making another stop. I really hate to make a bad review on a place that so many ppl have spoke so highly about. The place and ppl were all great we just weren’t fans of the food. Maybe the kitchen was having a off day today...

A cozy restaurant with a 'cluttered rustic' aesthetic, and about what you'd expect of any long term local place just about anywhere.

They provide both a military discount and a first timer discount, so a 20 dollar meal wound up being 11. So no excuse not to tip the bill in that case.

On to the food....

The corn bread has jalapeno in it, either juice or extract, I'm not sure. It's just enough to provide a bit of flavor and aroma. It's nowhere near as spicy as cornbread with jalapenos in it, so it has it's own flair. And it's some of the best corn bread I've ever had that hasn't been "plain".

The dinner here is blackened catfish with rice pilaf and vegetables. Nothing much special about the rice pilaf, not bad but not super oily, so that's a plus.

The vegetables we're seasoned fabulously and admittedly a bit softer than I'd like, but they'd make it for easy chewing from kids or old folks. That said, best veggies I've ever had at a restaurant.

The blackened catfish was done very well, and was perfectly flaky, these people really know how to cook fish right, I cannot recommend this more highly. And it wasn't overpoweringly spicy. When the meal was brought my waitress offered tartar or cocktail sauce, and already had both on her tray, good looking out.

The only negatives with my experience were the hush puppies... They were strangely crumbly. But I don't much care for...