KingFish — Restaurant in Jeffersonville

I've been here twice, both times were bad. This time was bad enough to write this review. Grandfather took me here for a birthday dinner. There aren't many seafood restaurant selections this side of the river, so he chose King Fish.

Restaurant: It always smells like mildew and old carpet. The interior desperately needs updating as well as the dining furniture. It's a shame that a restaurant with such a pretty view of the river and downtown Louisville doesn't have the dining room to match.

Servers: Very rushed. Since we don't come here often, we aren't familiar with the menu and take a little more time to decide what we want. The server's attitude was very "you're wasting my time" and we ended up just picking something random that looked decent so our server wouldn't be upset with us. The server never came back to our table after our food and drinks were served. Each time we needed a refill or anything in general, we'd have to flag them down.

Food: I ordered crab cakes, he ordered the fried catfish. Catfish was fine, but the crab cakes were burnt. Over cooked on both sides to a dark brown, almost black finish, inside was as dry as a bone, and it tasted like someone had dropped the whole salt shaker inside while making them. That one bite was all I needed to know these weren't edible. I called the server back and explained the issue and asked if I could get something else. Neither me or my grandfather like causing fusses. We're easily embarrassed and if the crab cakes were even halfway edible, I would have just bit the bullet and eaten them so that I wouldn't anger anyone. They brought me an order of catfish and I was more or less satisfied.

Bill: When we were finished eating, they brought the bill. The server attempted to charge my grandfather for the inedible crab cakes that we had to send back on top of the new entree I had ordered. My grandfather not wanting to say anything since we had to say something about the crab cakes in the first place, he was ready to just pay the bill and leave. I wasn't. Already still somewhat angry about the crab cakes, I wasn't going to let him pay that much money for food nobody was able to eat. When brought to the attention of the server, they acted like asking to have it removed from the bill was an offensive gesture. After going back and forth for a bit asking why we had to pay for their mistake, he finally went back to fix the ticket and bring us a new one. We paid and left a small tip, even though they didn't deserve one, but we know how food service employees get paid.

Overall: We'll never go back to this place. If it had only been the one time, I'd toss it all up to someone having a bad day, but similar things happened on both trips and we're not going to waste our time trying to give this place a third chance. I don't know if King Fish actually reads their reviews, but if they do, you'll probably know which server I'm speaking about without naming them since the other tables they had in the dining hall were treated with the...

Unpolished although friendly staff. Reminds me of cafeteria workers. They do their job. Somewhat Dated interior. Pleasant dining room Ambiance. river and downtown Louisville views are major plus. Cheap Scrod fish is terrible. It pays to get better selection. Been several times. A nice meal for special night out. Update: went in late Friday evening for take out. Went in the take out entrance. They need to pressure wash the concrete steps. Waited in line to order. Stunk inside. Smelled like human pee and stinky fish. Benches were present although dated and soiled with years of grime. It Looked like an older cafeteria style eatery, I could see thru into the kitchen. I ordered, paid and waited for my food. Only two cooks in the kitchen. Not a long wait. I got the food home. Cod not so good. Catfish was better. Fries, onion rings and tea were fine. Tea was pretty strong. Hush puppy was just okay. Expensive $25 meal for two. This is sad as it is supposed to be one of the best fish eateries in the area. I do not recommend. We couldn’t finish our meal. Not appetizing. A waste of good money!!! After digesting, we both had to go to the restroom. update: went during COVID-19. went for birthday dinner early week night. looking for ambiance of river view. same interior as mentioned before. dirty window glass dampen the spirit of looking out at the view. they could at least keep the glass clean! food was satisfying except the fried white fish fillet that came with my meal. seemed like it was precooked fish like in the boxes in the grocery store. scallops were over fried too. i raise the rating to three stars. it was no frills dinner although satisfying. returned: due to COVID, tables are spaced out. went for lunch on Saturday. fried catfish and grilled scallops are satisfying. again, atmosphere like old restaurant and dated. nice view and simple pleasant service.

January 2023: Early Friday night out. Parking lot not full. Hostess doesn’t speak english. Service lacking. not very busy for a Friday night. must depend on seniors and tourist. Server had too much body spray on and got fragrance on our drinking glasses. she brought another round and same thing. omg. server goofing around with co-worker and not attentive to her tables. food took a good 45 minutes. wow. way too long. no rapport with server although server smiled and appeared clean. upon arrival the table was cleared by hostess while we stood there at it. no ketchup in the ketchup bottle. condiments should be checked and replaced as needed. no follow up by the server. had to get another server to help. very slow service. food fine. doubt i will return anytime soon. one star for the view. one star for fried catfish. avoid this nonchalant non existence service. other servers in the restaurant...

Rather bland.

Firstly, Google indicates that masks are required for staff. I did not see a single staff member wearing a mask during our visit.

Next, the positives--the restaurant had a beautiful, scenic view of the river, was clean, for the most part (someone had left a pair of soiled underwear on the diaper changing station in the men's restroom).

The food and service left a bit to be desired, however. Our server came to our table promptly after seating and gave us four complimentary hush puppies. They were hot but extremely bland and tasted like fried white bread with a plain coating. The pups lack of taste were a harbinger of things to come.

Having never been to the restaurant, I asked the server for recommendations. I was shocked when she replied that she didn't know--she didn't eat seafood. I was a bit dumbfounded. I inquired if many customers ordered the tilapia; she answered that tilapia were "bottom feeders" and she would never eat "that stuff." We wound up ordering a combo that included fried cod, Cajun grilled cod, and crab cakes. We also ordered fried green tomatoes as an appetizer.

The meal came out well before the appetizer. When we inquired about it, the server seemingly had forgotten to put the order in and sprinted to kitchen to do so (and forgetting an apology, which would have been considerate).

The fried fish was tasteless, bland, and dry. The breading kept falling off the fish any time I cut a piece off. The tartar sauce helped, but I was hoping the spices in the fish would sever the need for loads of sauce. The Cajun grilled cod was decent, but could have used much more spice. The crab cakes were passable, but definitely no Phillip's. I loathe mustard, but I found myself wanting more mustard taste in the cakes, or ... some spice. Again, the overall meal was extremely bland.

About two-thirds the way through our meal, the appetizer arrived. The fried green tomatoes had spice--a TON of salt. They had so much salt it was almost painful to eat. The smokey sauce served with the tomatoes was flavorful, perhaps the best part of the meal. It certainly took a lion's share of the sauce to fight back the saltiness of the tomatoes.

It's too bad--the restaurant came recommended from a friend and the place itself truly is beautiful, but we won't...