St Marys Seafood & More(Georgia) — Restaurant in St. Marys

Im in Kings Bay for a temporary amount of time and decided to give this restaurant a shot with all the positive reviews but I must have went to the wrong restaurant or went to it on a off day because this was not a 4.4 average stars restaurant.

When I arrived there were 3-4 servers and only 3 tables seated. There was no one to greet me and I stood in the entry way for about 5 minutes making eye contact with servers who didn't come to seat me for such an amount of time I thought it may be open seating. If they had been slamed I could understand but they weren't busy at all and I stood there for an extended period of time but It's not so significant to take a star away or blow it out of proportion.

When I was seated I sat for 10 minutes before another server greeted me and would talk to me about the menu and I could hear the servers saying that they "forgot" which server i belonged to so communication within the restaurant is lacking and I've now been there for roughly 15 minutes on a not busy at all day before I could ask questions about the menu. This is the first major star lost. Overall service was 3/5 because of the speed of the food arriving and my server being very friendly and apologized for the excessive wait time.

The appearance of the restaurant is bland and lacks an identity which i normally dont take account of. However when your sitting there for 15 minutes looking at the menu you start to look around for the charm of the interior and this place is lacking in that department as well. 1/5 stars for atmosphere.

Once the server took my order the food came out fairly quickly which was a positive. Until I got into the food, I ordered the platter for 1 roughly $40 (after tax) for shrimp, scallops, oysters, Alaskan Pollock, deviled crab, 2 hush puppies and clam strips with a side of green beans and rice.

The shrimp was very good and by far the best thing on the plate with what seemed to be a chipotle and cajan mix that was really enjoyable but its not a good thing that shrimp beat out everything else i just listed. The scallops were cooked well but were the biggest disappointment and didn't have much flavor at all, I've had better supermarket frozen scallops with more flavor. The oysters and clams and crab were all fried and covered in excessive batter with little taste or seasoning to go with any of those, the batter honestly ruined the taste of all the fish/shellfish. The Alaskan Pollock again had no flavor just like the rest of the items I listed and was a extra small portion. Hushpuppies had great flavor but were dry and hard to take down without water. Rice was undercooked with no seasoning and green beans had a odd flavor that I couldn't even describe, like canned green beans that has some unusual sweet and tangy flavor that doesn't go well with green beans. None of the fish seemed fresh. 2/5 stars for food.

Overall 2/5 stars. It would take a lot to get me back to this restaurant and I would not recommend this to any friends.

Again maybe I went on a off day or ordered items that they don't normally prepare but for the price of that plate and the end product I received it was entirely...

5 visits. 3 were okay, 2 were a nightmare...all at $60.00 + dollars! As I am writing this, it is Wed. 02/15/2023, and I am suffering badly from Scombroid food poisoning from the fish. My wife gave me Benadryl, (Diphenhydramine) for the antihistamine which is used for the counter defense against this poisoning. It is abject misery. I was served 3 pieces of fish, one of which was chewy and rubbery. I ate a few bites, and had to send it back. It had a very dark coloration, unlike the other 2 which were white, flaky, and normal texture. Those few bites are now making life for me miserable. My head hurts, I have the worst stomach cramps, and explosive diarrhea, and feel fevered. No doubt the fish, as I felt wonderful before eating here. On a previous visit, I was served a bloody raw hamburger after asking for it to be medium well. The waitress that day was extremely rude, and refused to fix my food. She just said "well I'm sorry" and went on waiting on other diners. That occasion I called and complained and the manager credited my wife and me a free meal, which was good, and the reason we returned to give them another chance. We also come here because it is one of the only places near where my wife can get food that is grilled gluten free. So we had hoped this place would be a good find. It is not. Also, they will charge you an inflation fee that is not disclosed, and attached to your check. Most dinners are 20$ or more, so your bill for 2 will be around 50-60$ plus tip, plus inflation fee. And you will stand a risk of being sick, as I am right now. I am a local reviewer for Google, and usually I won't write a bad review unless it is really bad. I am already sick, so I write to alert others of possible danger. Remember, we had 5 total visits, and 2 of them the food was ill prepared or spoiled and served. I don't know the exact % that would be, but close to 50% Listen, there are other places to eat in Kingsland, St. Mary's that have demonstrated a care and quality of food prep and service you will not find at this restaurant. Please consider this review before making the potentially bad decision...

We were at the St. Augustine location and ordered salmon. We aske specifically the salmon NOT be overcooked. The salmon served to us was extremely dry all around the edges. My daughter has a medical condition that makes it VERY difficult to eat dry food of any kind. I was able to eat the center of the salmon but the portion was very small (a little over an inch and a quarter x maybe 4"). When the waitress noticed my daughter did not eat her salmon the waitress said she have them make something else. My daughter's dietary restrictions are limited and she informed her we did not have time to wait as we had an appointment. She then informed us, "...well no one else has ever complained!"

We asked for just her meal to be discounted. We waited for quite sometime and she never returned; never even refilled our drinks. We asked for the check and sat for another lengthy time to get the check. Thankfully, our daughter had her car and was able to leave while we continued to wait. I left a 1.00 tip and a note referring to the fact of the lack of service and extremely slow service. Aa I was waiting on my husband to go to the restroom, this waitress came outside where I was waiting and pointed to me and said to another person how RUDE I was and that I only left her a dollar tip because she refused to take MY meal off the ticket! I NEVER made any such request regarding my meal. I just told her it was not good. Now, this "waitress" also told me she was a manager when I asked to speak to a manager!

I called the original restaurant in St.Mary's Georgia and tried to exlain the situation to a responsible manager there that might pass this situation on to higher ups! NO SUCH LUCK....MAYBE THE OWNERS NEED TO CLEAN HOUSE! ...