Madison's — Restaurant in Port Royal

We were searching for casual seafood on our last night in the area, somewhere not too fancy, but with air-conditioning and a clean restroom. The reviews looked decent and the menu was paper so it seemed like it fit the bill. "Locals Eat Here," a sign proudly announced, so we thought we might have found a hidden gem. We were greeted coldly by the hostess who's first question was do you have a reservation? It was late, the place was empty... not off to a good start. We of course did not. She looks dramatically at the empty restaurant and offers outdoor seating, in June... We have two kids 7 and 9. We're were dressed beach casual. I guess it didn't comport with their vision for the dining area. We drove 45 minutes and said sure, we will sit outside. After all, we're hungry, here, and we want to eat a nice meal out as a family.

The wait staff was sharp, knew their menu and followed the typical pattern of waiting, drink orders, more waiting, food orders, more waiting, food, a few checks, and lots more waiting for the check.

We watched as other less glamorous patrons were seated "outside," the lady who brought her dog and drank a little too freely. The young married couple who were average looking, probably not wealthy, but easy to push around.

Inside we could see through the windows the attractive patrons, the socialites, etc. having Instagram moments and a fancy free time with attentive service, smiles all around, and a general sense of how awesome this grand experience was.

The food was decent enough. It was competently cooked but not well seasoned. Fried foods were lightly breaded and tender, but bland. Grilled food was on point. The sauces and bespoke condiments were hand made and... interesting.

Overall it was a 3 star dining experience. Not worth the cost, and served with a side of discrimination.

If this appeals to you have at it. You will love it.

I think the general management is trying to make this an appealing place to more upper class patrons. The local newspaper articles hanging on the walls decrying the wonder of the Chef is a clue.

If you are a family with younger children, sweat during the course of your work, or know how to cook and expect good food for your hard earned...

Went last week with some friends and was excited to try their seafood pasta as it has mussels, shrimp and scallops in it. Let me say first that the parking is atrocious! I have no clue where all the people parked that were in the restaurant when we left... Dark, sandy and cramped parking lot. The sauce was a cream sauce and has artichokes and mushrooms in it. I was skeptical at first because with sometimes seafood pastas and soups can taste very fishy. This was perfectly balanced! It was a bit bland though. The dish has a lot of mild flavors and needed something with a bit of a kick or something to tie it all together. They gave me maybe 7 mussels, two of which did not open when cooking- I was shocked the chef sent them out as anyone without seafood knowledge may have tried to eat them and gotten sick. The mushrooms were huge and fresh which was awesome. The gluten free pasta was amazing as well. Great texture and flavor. Held together well in the sauce. The sauce was thin and didn't cling to the pasta. There was a bunch leftover and a piece of GF bread would have gone a long way to eat all the sauce left behind. It felt a great waste seeing as how the dish was $23. Per usual I had already started to dig in and forgot pictures! We had the crab stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. They were mostly cheese but you could taste the crab. They were pretty good although I would have liked to have more of them for the price. At first the service was good- fast seating, fast drinks, but then it dropped off. I don't recall the name of our waiter- but he disappeared after a bit and we ended up being there for two+ hours. The table next to us never got their check- they were a party of at least 6. I could hear they were very upset about their waitress never coming back. They just got up and left- not sure if they ended up paying or not... Our waiter when he came back did apologize for taking so long to get back to us and you could tell there was an urgency. The bathrooms were clean, the atmosphere was VERY crowded but clean. Their menu made it hard to decide what I wanted to eat though- everything...

I’m local and have been here twice, the first time being 5 or 6 years ago (or sometime after they’d recently opened.) It was not good then, but I figured it was because they were new. I haven’t been back because of that first experience, but decided to give it another try this past week. I won’t be back.

Our server was friendly and attentive, but everything else was bad. I walked up and employees were out front smoking. I walked in and there’s random knickknacks and sticky surfaces everywhere, and a weird smell that wasn’t food. It just didn’t feel or smell clean, or like food. It kind of smelled like old oil.

The host was on his phone, on speaker, talking to a friend and kept telling him, “I gotta go I gotta go” before greeting us. We sat down and it was freezing cold, so much so that we heard other guests complain and ask to move tables away from the fans. We sat there shivering and counted 18 flies at the window next to us. The review before mine also mentioned the flies and how bad they are. The doors and windows weren’t open, so it’s not like they were flying in from outside.

We ordered an app of fried calamari which tasted like old fryer oil. We ordered entrees and neither of ours were good. In fact, mine made me very ill. I won’t say I got food poisoning from here, as that’s a very strong accusation, but I didn’t eat anything else, and the trips to the bathroom/vomiting only lasted 2 hours, so it was definitely something I ate from here.

This place has a straight up dive bar feeling but with ridiculous prices (our meal with waters was $80.) My husband eats anything and everything and never complains but he brought up how bad it was a few times over the few days following our visit.

Maybe for tourists this place is okay, but for locals- I’m warning other locals: It’s not good, food is poor quality, and it seems like they just don’t care about cleanliness.

Maybe it was an “off night” as the review before mine mentioned, but I’ve been twice now and had the same thoughts. Giving two stars because the waitress was lovely and staff all...