Harpoon Larry's Fish House & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Virginia

World-Class Terrible. Go ANYWHERE Else!

This was my first time visiting and upon entry, I was confronted by 4 completely anti-social women standing around at the hostess station, presumably there to greet new patrons.

Not one of the four even acted like they wanted to be there.

Then, I had to deal with this grumpy little hostess who was completely put out that I wanted a table. She asked if I'd sit at the bar, I said I'd prefer a table and she literally turned her back on me and walked away. Stood there for a minute or two while two other hostesses completely ignored me, then a new person came up and took me to a table.

Then the terrible experience REALLY started. I ordered the seared ahi tuna and a half dozen oysters on the half shell. The oysters actually still had mud in them and the tuna had about a 1" long piece of plastic in it. Looked like a piece of plastic easter basket "grass" with glitter on it. Told the server and her entire response was "hmmm" and then she turned and walked away.

Ordered the "She Crab Salmon". Description was "Blackened over she crab with garlic toast". Menu says most entrees come with side and hush puppies so I ordered garlic mashed potatoes with it. Told server I wanted my salmon "medium; not dried out but not raw either".

What I received 20 minutes later an almost completely raw, not even warm to the touch, 2" wide piece of fish, not blackened at all, with 2 tiny morsels of crab meat less than half the size of a postage stamp. And it was perched atop a slice of soggy, untoasted white bread soaking in what can only be described as white flour gravy - you know, the kind that Denny's would pour out of a can if you ordered their biscuits and gravy.

No 2-minute follow-up from server to see how everything was so I sat for almost 15 minutes staring at a piece of cold, raw fish waiting for her to show up again.

Finally she came over, i showed her the fish was cold and raw, and it was missing the garlic mashed potatoes. She returned 15 minutes later with a slightly warm piece of fish and a bowl of mashed potatoes.

Got the check and she charged me $3 for the mashed potatoes. Asked why I was being charged and she said that was one of the items that a side WASN'T included, although she never once mentioned that.

Paid $83 to have to deal with hostesses with an obvious chip on their shoulder, plastic in my food, muddy oysters, raw fish when it was supposed to be cooked, white flour gravy out of a can, charged for things without my knowledge, and deplorable service from poorly trained servers and hostesses who clearly didn't even want to be there.

Normally I'd write this off as "someone having a bad night" or something, but this was systemic; every single interaction with every single employee at this place from start to finish was T E R R I B L E.

From the time I walked in the front door until the time I left, I got nothing but deplorably crappy service from grumpy hostesses and poorly trained servers, plastic and mud in the food, undercooked fish, zero actual customer service, and charged for things without my knowledge.

If you're looking for a nice evening out, or even just a decent meal, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else...ANYWHERE ELSE...because Harpoon Larry's is, by far, the worst customer experience I have found in the entire state...

Not a good experience. First, they were extremely busy, and one would think this was a very good place to eat. The ambiance, is a fun place, however, I had to turn my hearing aids off because it was extremely loud because there's nothing in the place to absorb the sound. My wife and I were yelling to talk to each other.

I started with a half dozen oysters on the half shell. They tasted local... Which is fine.... But they tasted like the water they came out of. Although I have to say our server warned me that they were a bit briny when I asked. With a little lemon and cocktail sauce it covered it up for the most part. But, they also brought a vinegar base dipping sauce which was quite good, and it cut the brininess.

All the seafood was fresh, I had specifically asked for my food with no seasoning and just garlic butter, a little salt and pepper. This almost derailed to ship, but they did it, and it was okay, which is why generously gave them 3 stars overall. But, there was so much more they could have done. Everything was supposed to be pan-seared, but there was no indication that it was seared. So, even with that, it was a rather bland. Let me say the only reason I did this is because I have a stomach issue. I cannot handle heavy seasoning and I should not eat fried.

My wife's shrimp pasta dish had so much seasoning on the shrimp she could not eat it, it was so hot. After eating three shrimp, she started burning severely in her throat. The pasta was dry and bland. Overall, she said it was not worth the price, and has had better food at Red Lobster and Captain D's.

As far as our server he was fantastic...The only thing that remotely bothered me about him was when he came to pick up our plates he noticed that she didn't eat much, but he didn't say anything, he picked up her plate, walked off, and he never inquired if she enjoyed her meal or was there anything wrong, or asked why she did not eat it. He then brought us the check. She didn't want me to say anything to the manager because it has been a rough day because we've been at the hospital all day. We tipped him accordingly due to the fact that he had been very attentive, and because he was so busy, he did keep up very well considering.

Unfortunately, we're down in that area a lot due to family members going in the hospital these days. Maybe they're fried food is better, although I'm not supposed to eat it. I don't know, I guess I expected more as busy as the place was, and the fact that it had 4.5 Stars on Google. The kicker to the whole thing is I had to stop at Burger King to get my wife something to eat on the way back home, she was still hungry. Then she had to take two Tums when we get home to get everything to stop burning. All this, After paying over $20 for her meal alone. This is what bothers me the most.

Let me also say that the menu is a bit pricey... So if you're expecting to get out of there for less than $100 you don't need to go there. This would not bother me at all if the food had...

We had two experiences with this restaurant. The first was nice with a very nice waitress and decent food. The second was the worst meal I had in years to the point I felt disappointed and angry and was still talking about it with my husband in bed that night.

We have no doubt that other five star reviews were accurate for those customers' experiences, but one bad meal can stop someone from ever going back. We never will go back there. The services were bad and food are terrible.

The waiters were not professional and attentive to start with. The two of them seemed to just be there for the heck of it. We guessed maybe it was because there were hardly anyone there that night on a Monday. They didn't check on us other than bringing us food and when my husband asked them to come over.

The appetizers came luke warm and the cheese in the cheese sticks were not melted. The outside of the cheese sticks were hard. The coconut shrimps looked black and tasted a bit dry. The stuffed mushrooms were not hot at all.

My husband ordered raw oysters and they took a long time to come out and they came out with the main meals. Usually that is the first thing served everywhere we went, and it is an appetizer.

When the main dishes came out it was worse. My soft shell crab was flavorless and over cooked. They did not taste good and I literally felt a little sick eating it and didn't finish them. The shrimp scampi was the worst. The sauce was like water with no flavor, only a light yellow color. The shrimp was tasteless also like they were made of plastic or something. The pasta felt as they were not quite cooked enough. My kids love pasta and they didn't even want any after the first bite. The hush puppies were burnt and a dark brown color, almost black. My husband had to say something and the waiters said sorry and will bring us some freshly cooked ones on the house. When the new hush puppies came out, they looked better, but only two out of four were decent. The other two were undercooked with mooshy centers. The Broccoli tasted good for the top layer, and the rest two thirds were so salty both my mother-in-law and I couldn't finish them. The only thing that was decent was the fried Shrimps, I didn't hear my mother-in-law and my husband say much about them.

I was very upset because we decided to go there that night based on the previous experience. We had other choices were debated to go to and we ended up at Harpoon Larry's Fish House & Oyster Bar Because we told my mother-in-law it was good. She is 80 years old and we ended up taking her to a terrible dinner.

I was also upset that our dinner was over $200 and an automatic tip charged. I used to be a waitress and I am a big tipper because I know it is a hard job. But an automatic charge for such substandard service and two kids who are two and five? No, we will not go back.

Everyone has bad days, but a restaurant shouldn't. There is no excuse for substandard service and product in the...