Captain Lou's — Restaurant in South Haven

Great views with outside seating near the river and a busy drawbridge! It was fun watching the boats (and ducks) go by as well as watch the drawbridge being raised and lowered. This was the best part of my boyfriend's and my experience. Several menu items were not available even though it was still early in the evening (We arrived around 4:30 on a Tuesday.), so that caused us to have to change what we were going to order. The waitress was short with us as we had to take a moment to go back over the menu to see what else we would like to order instead. We placed our orders and sat watching the boats, drawbridge, and ducks while having many conversations as there was plenty of time to do so. We were clearly not worthy of the wait staff's attention and seemed to be putting them out just by our presence. We were told they all work the floor instead of one person being your devoted waiter/waitress; however, none of them seemed to be worried about us. While waiting for our food, we watched other parties being served their food and drinks, eating, and leaving with other groups taking their places and doing the same. No one seemed to be concerned that we still hadn't received our food after an incredibly long wait, so my boyfriend finally went to the bar area and asked about our food. Miraculously, it showed up about five minutes later. Unfortunately, it was far from being hot and fresh. It looked and tasted like it had been forgotten. Finally, it took us a long time to catch the wait staff's attention so that we could get our check and leave. When the young lady finally brought it to us, she also brought her unpleasant attitude as once again we seemed to have put her off by being there. I highly recommend you skip Captain Lou's and visit one of the other local eateries. We had positive experiences at all the other places...

Worst experience ever. Felt offended and discriminated. I was very dissatisfied and disappointed with the service I received. After hearing a lot of good things about this place I decided to check it out. It was very busy, we had to wait to seat ourselves which wasn't a problem. When we finally got a table It took the waitress quite a bit to get to our table. 10 min after being seated another family sat next to us. Immediately a waitress came to their table and offer drinks 3 min after that another waitress finally came to our table. We proceeded to order drinks and food(since we took advantage of the time we waited.). 45 min later the food was not at our table but guess whofood had their food first. That's right the other family's (did I mention we were the only brown/Hispanic people there?) during this time no one stopped to check on us, they were checking on other tables and we were never offered more drinks (we were also the only ones not having alcoholic beverages.) Finally decided to ask the waitress who took our orders ow much longer was it going to be for our food. She sighed and went to check. 5 min later she came back and basically just dumped our food on the table, said nothing and left( 45 min for fried food?!?!?!) At this point I feel offended and to a certain extent discriminated :-(. I asked for the manager/supervisor. I informed him of the situation and initially he tried to make excuses but at the end he stated that he was very sorry and wanted to take care of the bill. I did not complain to get a free meal!!!! I did tell him that I felt very frustrated, angry,discriminated and offended. I paid my bill in full and left. I WILL NEVER GO BACK and will tell my friends of...

I visited a few weeks ago and was pretty impressed. Good food and good vibes.

When we went, the place was just opening for the day at around 11am. I found the parking to be incredibly difficult. If you are not a boater or visiting the maritime museum then you must park across the street by people's houses or go across the drawbridge to the downtown area.

When entering the place, there are many different parts to sit. You can sit outside by the river or you can sit inside where there is a bar and there are dollar bills hanging on the ceiling and walls. Keep in mind that there is not a lot of space and you are kind of crammed in. There is another bar where you can sit but it was not yet opened when we arrived.

For food, we got the southwest egg roll for an appetizer and they were excellent. They were perfectly bite sized and had great texture. They were very flavorful also.

I ordered the cajon perch and they were very big and filling. They were cooked to perfection. I really couldn't taste the cajon on the fish though.

Keep in mind, that this place is a bit pricey. And while I did not drink alcohol at this place, it seemed as if making a night of drinking here would not be very feasible if on a tight budget. With that said, there is definitely a party vibe at this place. I ate here when the place first opened for the day. Into the night hours, I'm sure it's a much more upbeat feel.

Overall, the place is not perfect. I totally get why someone would rate this place lower than 5 stars. The parking, high prices, and party vibe would definitely be a turn-off for certain types of people. However, in my personal experience, the food was very good, the service was prompt and friendly, and the atmosphere was...