The Wharf — Restaurant in Saint Simons

It was my first time and night in Jekyll Island and after a long drive from Atlanta I was ready for some fresh seafood for dinner and a gorgeous view. I went to search engines and the Wharf had good reviews and a killer view, we tried to make reservations but there was no availability through Open Table. Lesson learn, make your reservations a few weeks prior to your trip, especially when your dining options are limited on an island. Thankfully the restaurant was accepting walk ins, we were told 1 hour but were sat in 30 minutes, the inside and outside were pretty packed due to the restaurant spacing out the tables. We were super lucky and were sat outside right at sunset, the outside area is open and they had live music that Friday night.

Service was fantastic! Everyone from the hostess, bartender, and waiter made us feel welcome. We loved it so much we wanted to dine there our second night in town also but decided to change it up. The two guys playing live music just made the night extra special, we felt like we were in a movie or something, delicious food, sunset view, tropical cocktails, and great service. It was a 5 star experience.

Food: we started with the smoked fish dip for $14 and included butter crackers with garden dill (OMG let’s just say we each wanted our own order of this fish dip.) only thing we needed was more crackers. J It was perfectly seasoned and a nice portion. I was on vacation so I decided to treat myself so I ordered the Fried Seafood Platter for $23, it came with shrimp, cod, oysters, coleslaw, and fries. Each item was absolutely delicious and the fried seafood was battered perfectly and seasoned. At first look I thought the portion was small but after a few bites it was more than enough food. And guess what….I actually ate the coleslaw, it was tasty!

Drinks: The Bee Knees was our favorite it’s Gin, Rosemary-Honey syrup, and lemon $10, my sister also enjoyed the Georgia Peach – Bourbon, peach liquor, and lemon juice $11, and I also enjoyed the Jekyll Hop Dang Diggity IPA on...

We decided to check out The Wharf tonight for dinner. I read through some not so positive recent reviews however we decided to give it a shot. Upon entry to the restaurant you are greeted by an oscillating loud Max Air fan and a half empty dining room. This should be a red flag that this establishment is not operating at peak when they rely on an extra fan to move air.

Here is a recap of our meal.

6 raw oysters with 4 crackers.

6 Hushpuppies-Bland, nothing special.

Clam Chowder- Tasted sour, obviously this wasn’t made fresh and had been reheated. My wife sent this back to the kitchen and exchanged it for the Mahi Tacos (more on this later)

Fish and Chips- This was $28 dollars for a single piece of greasy cod fish with a bland tasteless batter on a bed of French fries. In my book this is the most expensive single piece of fried fish I’ve had anywhere in the world. To make a an easy comparison Gordon Ramsey Fish and chips in Las Vegas is 23 dollars for a box of 3 pieces of fried fish with french fries. On the plus side you do get a large amount of fries to make up for the lack of fish.

Mahi Tacos- as other reviews have stated, it’s absolutely shocking that you get one small sliver of Mahi per taco this is made up for by an abundance of slaw and pico on each of the two tacos. Once again you get a large amount of fry’s to make up for the lack of fish.

Or server Kimbra was the only positive experience at the The Warf. She was attentive and friendly. When we notified her about the Clam Chowder she took the dish back and noted that it also smelled bad to her. She even offered a dessert to us to make up for the bad experience.

Cleanliness of the dining room was ok but also doesn’t match up to the price point.

With 2 alcoholic drinks and the above meal we spent $130 with tip. This experience was extremely disappointing and shows the dire state of how this restaurant is managed by cutting corners on food quality and trying to cheap out on the...

The place has a great location. Right on the marsh. Cant tell you how the sunset looks cause it was a overcast evening. The island does seem to care a lot about the wildlife so that might be why they just let the birds harass people on the deck. The bugs are horrible as well. We were quoted a hr wait and thank god it wasn't that long. Im almost sure they are under staffed cause there was plenty of open tables but they weren't sitting people at them. They had a great live band. The place did seem a little small for a live band. Luckily we were sat inside away from the wildlife. The tables were really close together. Me and my wife had to sit on the same side of the table instead of across from each other. So if you dont have the staff take out some table especially if you're not going to use them anyway. Corey our server was great. He was new but nice and very attentive. Food, when im on the coast i love low country boil. Here that is $41. My wife doesnt care for everything that was in this low country boil so she got the shrimp boil, $37. My wife got a cocktail the green flash, $15. We got an appetizer of hush puppies, $8 i think it was 6 puppies and honey butter. Never had them served like that but they were good. Received our food and i was expecting a lot more for the price. The low country boil at the crab shack in tybee would of been enough to feed 2 or 3 people and possibly take some home. Had a decent amount of shrimp. The clams and mussels were good but just not enough for the price. Corn was dry and i had a couple potatoes. My wife couldnt eat her corn cause it was too spicy. She had 2 potatoes on her "platter". I gave her some of my potatoes for her corn. The butter that came with the boils was good. First seafood place ive eaten at that didnt include hush puppies with the food. Also the first seafood place that didnt have tartar sauce with the food. For the price i doubt we...