Backwater Fins — Restaurant in Homosassa Springs

My wife and I wanted to go out to celebrate her new job, so we chose this little joint. Had absolutely no issue with the way the place looked from the outside...very well cared for, cozy looking place. As we came in the front door we were greeted and told we could sit anywhere, so we go towards the back where we heard some tunes coming. As we walked past the salad bar at about 5:30pm we noticed the staff was tearing it down. They said it wasn't keeping the cold stuff cold enough. To some people, that may have been a red flag, but I took it as a sign they REALLY cared enough about their customers and the food quality to keep check, and to take action when necessary. Sat by the back window, ordered a couple beers while looking at the menu, Drummer Mike stopped by, asked what we liked/didn't like as we were the only ones in the back at this point. His beats were good, threw some steel drum effects in, was really helping the vibe, let him know that anything was fine except sad slow country music.

We started with the stuffed Cajun Angels and more beer, all was going great, although $14 was a little pricey for 5 normal sized shrimp, they were decent, although nothing Cajun about them, we were still enjoying ourselves. I then ordered the SAILORS DELIGHT COMBO 17.99...A combo of Gator bites, Frog legs, Mullet and one fresh Blue Crab Ball. My wife got the Red Drum Fish. I got coleslaw as a side, wife wanted a salad, salad wasn't possible though because all their ingredients for it had become too warm.

Then those main courses came and the fun stopped. I had NO frog legs on my plate, but did have an extra crab cake. When I asked where the frog legs were, our server told us the menu was out of date, that she probably should have told me when I ordered it. She offered to take it off the bill, but I was not going to do that to them, as I had a nice full plate of food still, although NOT what I was paying for, I opted to bite the bullet.

Then we started eating. We had ordered blackened, but there was still no flavor to it. Fish was so overcooked it was like cutting a dry chicken breast. Gator bites were like chewing gum, and the pieces of "Blue Crab" meat had that telltale imitation crab orange/pink color (so I do not think it was fresh blue crab, or even crab for that matter.)

Wife was so disappointed that she pushed her plate to the side, I kept trying to make the best of it, but after several more bites, pushed mine away as well. Our server (forget her name) was very kind and apologized for the quality and asked if we'd like something else. We declined. She offered to take a meal off the bill and we agreed, figuring we enjoyed the beer, were fine with the Cajun Angels, and I did not want to screw the restaurant for the cooks error.

We got the bill and she left the most expensive meal on there...the Sailor's Delight one that was incorrect to begin with. At this point, we were done. I paid the tab and still tipped the waitress, as she didn't do anything wrong really, just the beer re-filling was a little slow and had to go to the bar to get one after waiting ten minutes with my empty glass at the edge of the table 3 steps from the bar.

Very disappointed in the food after reading the great reviews, this was our first visit...and most likely the last. Oh yeah..to top it off, as everything with the food was going south, Drummer Mike decided to put on some old sappy sad country music while he stepped away, further degrading my wife's celebratory mood. Went from Reggae and steel drum sounds to old, unknown country songs that made you want to cry in your beer.

Big...

We live in South Florida and came to Crystal River for a quick getaway. We were looking for a seafood restaurant on the water. We found Blackwater Fins online. I checked the reviews and noticed that for the last month or so, their reviews were not so good. I also noticed that the owner was making a lot of excuses for customer’s complaints. Despite the negative reviews, we decided to try it anyways. We always try to support family owned business over chain establishments. I can tell you that we were very disappointed. Here is how our visit went.

Arrived around 6:30ish. Walked in to find it very empty. Not surprised as it was a Monday evening and most places are either closed or have a lack of customers on a Monday’s as they’re slow days. We wanted to sit outside and waited at the hostess podium for a few minutes until a lady sitting at the bar said that we can sit anywhere. He went outside to the deck and sat down.

A minute or so (this is a plus) a nice waitress (Lisa I think) greeted us and took our drink order. We decided to get iced tea’s first. I asked for lemons several times before she finally brought it out. She thanked me for reminding her as she kept forgetting it. Next we ordered the blue crab bisque, which was delicious. The side salad was okay, but my problem with it was that the purple onions were cut in huge chunks. Not appetizing when it over powers the dish.

Lately, we order the backwater swamp. We were so looking forward to this, only to be disgusted when we were presented with ice cold food that was supposed to be hot and steamy. The sausage was actually uncooked hotdogs, the “mud bugs” were still frozen, the skin on potatoes were frozen in the middle and the mussels were cold. The only thing that was kind of warm/hot was the shrimp. How does this happen at a seafood restaurant. We were one of two couple there eating and one table had a small group of four. Not busy at all for a mistake of this magnitude to happen.

The waitress was so upset and made excuses that the kitchen staff is new and needed to work the kinks out. Well, why are you not hiring experienced cooks I ask. Lisa did offer to have a new one made as she was scraping up the food that was dumped on the table. I do not believe a new one would have been made as I know that they would just heat up the slop that we were just served. We declined and decided that we would go elsewhere.

Do you think that the manager would have come out to speak with us? Heck no, no manager in sight. Poor management to say the least.

At the end, we were billed for our soup, side salad and two iced teas. If it was me, I would have told my customers that we were very sorry and that there was no bill to pay for the inconvenience of driving out to my restaurant and being served potentially contaminated food. Again, poor management.

We will never return and I can tell you that if you’re reading this, heed the warning and go somewhere else. It’s a shame because this is a great location and has so much potential of being a go to hot spot. I could see this restaurant being on Gordon Ramsey’s kitchen nightmare show. I just hope we don’t get sick for eating a few bites of this so called seafood.

Get it together!!! Waste of...

We ordered 2 dishes of blackened haddock. The haddock came to the table and was not blackened. The waitress said she’d check in on it and come back. She came back 15 minutes later and said they’d give us 10% off. I said that wasn’t sufficient. The manager came over 20 minutes later and said she’d have taken it back if we hadn’t eaten it. Of course we had eaten it because it took so long. The manager said it was the first she’d heard about it, which was a total lie, since I heard the waitress telling her right after we noticed it. The manager was the worst. Totally rude and a liar!! If she worked for me, I would fire her. Just admit the mistake and correct it!!

Update: I read the response from Owner below. What a total crock of you know what!! There was NO seasoning on the fish. None! She won't even admit that! She is a total liar and even the waitress knew it. We ate the meals because nobody came back to rectify the situation other than to offer 10% off! Let me tell you something, manager... when you screw up a customer's meal, you admit it, take it back to the kitchen and correct the problem. Nobody wanted a free meal. It was my Mom's birthday and we just wanted a good dinner. We wanted to pay for the CORRECT meal. Nobody, not ONCE, offered to correct the meal.

Your attitude is gross. Your manger/hostess is not only a horrible manager, but a horrible liar and a horrible person. And if you, as the owner, are not smart enough to see that, good luck with your business. "Next meal?" LOL.. I won't return to your lying restaurant unless she is fired.

I've written 132 reviews for Google and have never, until now, requested someone be fired. That should tell...