Rusty Bellies Waterfront Grill, Inc. — Restaurant in Tarpon Springs

If I could actually give it for point 4.5 stars on here i would've here is my review. This is a definite must go to place. Great for day trip date night, nice group. Get together. Try to get here a little bit earlier.Cause on the weekend, this place gets packed. This place gets a 4.7 For cleanliness, I was sitting on the outside deck area, and they had ceiling fans that has They had lights aluminum siding, wood and all I can say it is, I didn't find any dust any spider eggs, spider webs There wasn't even any flies. The bathrooms will clean everything. About the place shows cleanliness, especially outside of the restaurant. And usually, that's where all these places start lacking and start getting lazy. This place is definitely me. Did not I feel comfortable and nothing to criticize. The service and the waitress impeccable before we can speak she. Won over a complimentary basket of hush puffies, which I can say, hasn't been the best. I try some of the best hush puppies I have ever had.Has been in holmes Beach area. I'll put the name of that one down somewhere. But these comments second, and that's a good place to be, but now she was attentive, she was responsive. I think I didn't have to ask for anything really. There was napkins behind utensils. Usually they forget something all the time. Not her. Her name was sienna.Sweet, beautiful person made my book.Is it so enjoyable Food his wig gets really good.We ordered three appetizes calamari, Buffalo shrimp, mussels in garlic wine sauce LOL all I can say it's my opinion. Summer The best appetizers I have eaten out here and I've lived in hillbore county. And travel all around the West Coast of Florida up-and-down, and I must have been to over a 150 restaurants with my wife and they were so delicious, perfectly cooked each and every item. I didn't have not one complaint at all. The source on every item. Was delicious Even the garlic wine sauce and the mussels at first I was like they're good. But but then I found myself consistently just drinking the sauce out of the shells of the mussels dipping the bread because it became Infectious an addictive, totally delicious The Buffalo shrimp was just some of the best out of a lot of these places I've ever been to I don't know what they do, but whatever they're doing, they need to keep on doing it. I walked around and listened to people and see what they were eating. All the portions looked amazing. It didn't look like you were gonna order a plate of food and then leave there hungry and needing to go someplace else. I didn't hear one complaint I didn't get to order an entree. Because after those 3 items, we were stuffed So my take is 4.7 stars across the board it must go to spot ambiance view, location, food atmosphere, staff. All memorable in a positive fashion. I left there regretting, not grabbing an entree to go. Drove all the way home 40 minutes regretting. Not doing that, just go early enough. Where you can? Get a table and not wait too long. Could they get busy or hint? Is the outside bar area, and the seashell table area, it's first come first. Serve go grab one of those old spots first. This is my date. My itinerary jumped on one of the dolphin cruises. I think it was a 2 hour and a 1/2 trip to seashell island the place is right across the street from hella. Then we went to the rusty bellies to eat. Then went to hella's greek restaurant for dessert, they have amazing dessert took a walk, listen to some music. Walked around the plaza. They have a very nice plaza there. Unfortunately, everything else was really closed. My wife board a coffee mug and a sponge highly recommended.It was nice.The sponge I was like, seriously a sponge.We got loofah at home. End just enjoyed conversation speaking about the restaurant. The dessert, the walk topping Springs is a different. It must go to and if you go get over to rusty bellies, you will...

This was my first visit to Rusty Bellies & I was really looking forward to it.

I had researched them on the web and even called ahead to see if we could make reservations for 2, but you can't reserve unless it is over 10, SO we set out to be there on the early side? Before their projected rush started?

We got there for 5:30 in the hopes we would catch the sunset - but instead we were waiting at the bar for close to 2 hours - packed, no seats and no view.

It's a casual, fun atmosphere, beachy and there's a musician outside... we made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves, but overall it was a bit of a let down.

Per their website, I was sort of expecting more artisan styled food presentations (they have pictures of ceviche with orchids etc) but we didn't see anything like that and we never expected to wait as long as we did.

The SIZE of the restaurant is deceiving in pictures. It's much smaller inside than it appears outside. It's probably why the wait is so long?.... (and there IS seating outside at the bar too, but you're still on the waiting list for those tables too and I wouldn't want to sit out there when it gets hot outside)

The menu is primarily fried, grilled, steamed etc and I CAN say that what WE had was fried and very good - light and not greasy... also being born & raised in New England I can say with confidence, their fried clams were as good as back home ... but I don't think I would want to wait that long again to eat. Maybe if I was CRAVING fried clams... MAYBE...

I almost felt as tho I should have eaten before we went to go eat? I was nearly sick waiting that long and having a drink on an empty stomach isn't a great idea. We were famished by the time we ate and wound up taking most of it home with us.

Service? No complaints at all. Courteous, prompt, and attentive.

The restaurant seems clean, we liked that they replace the tables with new 'paper' table coverings between parties...

If we had to do it again? I'd most likely go somewhere else.

I might go back in their off season when they said it gets slower but can't honestly say I'd say this was a 5 star experience. I have to give it a 3 for middle of the road most importantly because the wait is SO long, especially for beach side type bar and seafood. I also didn't realize until we got there that there are dozens of eateries in that...

The best restaurants with a history continue to maintain tradition and quality... I'm excited to review this restaurant and say that they are upholding both tradition and quality and you can still go back and visit your favorite Rusty bellies knowing that it is still awesome. I personally have never been and grew up in the area knowing about its reputation. I've always heard good things. And those things are spot on... I had the grouper Johnny something which had a cream dill sauce and was fantastic blackened. We ended up eating the green beans with shiitake mushrooms and french fries. Okay. The french fries were okay but the shiitake mushrooms with the green beans were awesome. The other dish I ate was a grouper sushi roll which to my surprise was fantastic. I'm pretty picky about sushi and they had some of the best rice on a sushi roll I've had in a minute. The people I was with had a shrimp seafood boil traditionally Cajun etc. They had a great time with the crab legs and it looked like a blast. We also had the edamame with chili lime seasoning and we liked that a lot. The other appetizer we ate was the artichoke dip with homemade tortilla chips. Our server I believe was named Justin and was really on top of his game. And we even got to sit by the water inside so we had a good view. My one big disappointment is that they didn't offer gluten-free bread. It's such a simple fix and would help a lot of people have sandwiches and other items. It is 2025. I would figure that this restaurant would be on top of things. I do recommend catering to people with dietary needs because they make up a large part of the population now. Especially seniors in the area. Sometimes when I visit a staple restaurant in an area I expect to have a mediocre to maybe a terrible experience, but that wasn't the case this time. I can't wait to go back and visit when it's not as busy. Which maybe never. It looks like they have a large following and quite possibly are always busy. Whatever the case. Kudos to this place for keeping up the hard...