Hudson's Seafood House On The Docks — Restaurant in Hilton Head Island

My son took me to Hudson's for lunch on Father's Day. It was my first time to Hudson's, although I've wanted to try it for some time. We had a wonderful lunch!

On Father's Day, there was an hour or more wait for outside dining on the dock. It was a very nice day to be outside, so it was tempting, but we opted for inside dining since there was no wait at all. Our food server was friendly and attentive and really added to the enjoyment of our lunch.

So, let's take a look at everything we ordered. First I ordered a cup of New England clam chowder. It was a very nice chowder and I liked that the taste of the clams shone through. I've tasted some clam chowders in which the clams were rubbery and tough, and other chowders that are bogged down with heavy cream but hardly taste of clams at all. Neither of these were concerns with Hudson's clam chowder.

My son ordered fish and chips. My son was kind enough to share some of his meal with me. The fish was fried in a light batter to a beautiful golden brown. The crispy exterior surrounded a beautiful, flaky, delicious fish. The fries that came with the meal were also crispy and, in my estimation, it was the best fish and chips I have ever eaten.

I ordered grilled spadefish. I had never eaten spadefish before since I come from California and spadefish is an Atlantic fish. I'd never even heard of it! But it was a beautiful flaky fish, grilled perfectly, and had a nice smoky taste to it. My meal also came with potato salad, which was outstanding. It wasn't sweet at all (I don't like sweet potato salads much), but the taste of potatoes and celery shined through. Hushpuppies also came with our order. They were savory/sweet, but not too sweet. I don't enjoy sweet hushpuppies, but with Hudson't hushpuppies, the savory was more pronounced than the sweet and the two flavors complemented each other.

Hudson's Seafood House on the Docks is a casual, comfortable place to eat. That's perfect for me, because I feel uncomfortable in fancy, pretentious establishments that feature snooty staff and unrecognizable food served in tiny portions. Hudson's has friendly staff, great food, and reasonable portions served in a comfortable setting. I loved it and definitely plan to return. JAN 2023 I'm back, but this time I'm with my wife who is a very picky eater when it comes to seafood. She ordered grilled salmon "well done" and I ordered grilled flounder. Both entrees were excellent with a pleasant smoky char flavor present in the taste of the fish. I forgot how much I enjoyed their potato salad. It has hints of mustard, crunchy bits of celery, and tastes like a really good homemade potato salad from a church picnic. Our server was excellent - pleasant in conversation and very attentive to our table. And our iced tea was crisp and clear. The atmosphere is comfortable but not fancy. The room we dined in had concrete floors and cinder block walls and beverages are served in plastic tumblers. Which is to say that it's my kind of place, unlike those "fancy" restaurants that are stuffy and pretentious and make me feel like I don't belong. All in all, another great lunch...

June 2025-

Service - Josh was on top of things. He was super chill, but he got everything we needed efficiently and quickly.

Food - Kid’s shrimp - 2/5, kids say that last year the kid’s shrimp was 5/5, but for some reason, it was salty and not good Kids grilled cheese - 3.5/5 per my 9yo Fries - 4/5 Hushpuppies - 5/5 Blackened Swordfish - 5/5, flaky, fresh and not overcooked Neptune’s platter - deviled crab 5/5, scallops were delicious 5/5, blackened shrimp was fantastic - 5/5, the fish was Crab cakes - lumps of crab and amazing. Best crab cakes so far this trip - 5/5 Key lime pie - 3/5 Peanut butter pie - 4/5 Bread pudding - 5/5 - contains pecans

Ambiance - nice waterfront view from outside and the weather was perfect tonight. It did get a little dark since it was late when we arrived. They stayed open after 9pm to accommodate everyone.

June 2024- Still divine. We alternate which beach in South Carolina we go to - this year is Hilton Head, last year was Surfside. Next year we’ll go back to Surfside again and I will look forward to coming back to Hudson’s in 2024.

The hostesses were nicer than the last time and actually looked you in the face instead of brushing you off. You have to check in two places: inside the front door if you want to be placed on the list inside and outside by the dock.

My husband and I shared the Neptune Platter. We upgraded our fish to blackened swordfish and upgraded to a crab cake instead of deviled crab. This is not a cheap upgrade y’all. $24 crab cake. But the crab cake is amazing and the most delicious thing in the menu so it was totally worth it (granted we only come every other year so it’s not an all the time thing). The blacken scallops and blackened shrimp were so buttery and tasty.

My kids split the fancy kids peanut butter and jelly. It comes with the crusts cut off already and is a 3 layered sandwich. They thought it was yummy.

We got key lime pie for dessert and another person in our party got the peanut butter pie which was good too.

Food and our server Isabella Low were 5 stars.

The wait time for a party of 9 (they only have 8 tops outside but they said we could squish so we did that since we have 3 younger kids) was 48 minutes, quoted time was about an hour so we were pleasantly surprised. The inside time quoted was 1.5 hours but we took the outside table and told them to take us off the inside list.

The text is a little confusing. It would be nice if the text specified whether your table inside or outside was ready. (See photo)

The bathrooms had long lines and were kind of gross. It would be nice if they were a little cleaner for as much as you pay to go. Or just don’t go to the bathroom to ruin the...

The atmosphere is amazing and there are alligators in the water. So watch out for those.

The drinks are watered down and really don't taste like what is specified on the menu. The raw oysters were briny and clean. But the charbroiled oystes were just okay because the cheese just sits and is not fully melted on them. The char flavor from the oysters is absent. The bread on the poboy is extremely soft and the fried oysters were good.

Some things on the menu they did not have but they should have listed those issues upfront nstead of us having to ask our waiter. We had to wipe down our own table after being told someone else would do it because no one ever came to take care of the table. The hostess was dismissive and instead of opening the umbrella for us, she left us on our own after requesting to be moved to a table out of the sun. My hubby had to go find a rag and wipe it down. Then we watched another couple do the same thing across from us with their table. While I enjoyed the atmosphere, the customer service is lacking and for it to be our first experience, it was truly disappointing.

Update: I spoke with Mr. Grimes who is the owner and explained my experience with his staff during our visit to his restaurant. He was unaware of what happened to me and other people at his restaurant that day. We were not the only people that had to clean our own table before we sat down.

I reached out to him.and he returned my call. We talked and he said that his hostess should have stayed until our table was cleaned instead of her leaving and my husband cleaning it. At that point, he graciously said that he would refund my food bill and I thanked him. This conversation happened and was followed up by text where he confirmed that it would take a few days for the credit to happen. Those text happened on the1st, 3rd and 7th of August. I called my bank on Friday and today and there has been no attempt to reverse my charges totaling $181.00. I have the text to prove that this conversation took place and even my bank has claimed that a reversal or credit does not take this long. If you count from the 1st to today which is the 16th that is more than enough time because you do not count weekends. Today is the 21st and now the bank is sayig that they are claiming that the charges are valid. But is not what the text saying because he told me that he reversed the charge on the 3rd.

Again, my disappointment with this experience and restaurant are dreadful and I truly expected a...