Five Star Fish Review

Excellent! Brought my family in for supper lastnight and had an amazing experience. The line was a little long but didnt have to wait too long to order. The ladies taking orders were very helpful, friendly and funny. We ordered a variety of food and it was all delicious. Its right on the water with an outstanding view. I will definitely be returning with more family and friends.

Great fresh seafood in a rustic outdoor setting with a great view. Possibly the freshest seafood in Florida.

Great, fresh sea food. I had my first gator sausage here - actually it was a little bit to spicy for my taste, so it also was my last...

This is a place you need to eat at.Very casual, great seafood

Fabulous... an absolute must if you are even close. Check the hours and bring cash. You won't be disappointed.

Horrible and a long line. I understand that a place with a long usually means something but in this case it meant slow very service and a lack of planning. From having a long line and not informing their customers that large crab claws are out and buy not telling just customers to stand to the side while others order their food. Plus having only one person take orders and serve alcohol is a huge loss in profit. Just Poor!

Food is great especially seafood great place to buy your own seafood to make at home as well

The Calamari was great, the Oyster Po Boy was even better!!! It does take awhile for your food to get to you but it is well worth it. TIP: Get a seat at the bar (if you can) that will save you the long wait in line and you can enjoy the 1.48 (yes 1.48) draft beer.

A long wait in line to order and even a longer wait for the food. Then had to ask for the soup.
Not worth the 2 hour wait. When the food came the heavy rain started. it was not a good Saturday night.

Worst clam strips ever and only get small amount. Definitely will not order those anymore. And really do not like the boxes..

Omg! The food is amazing and there is a ton of it. It s fresh and delicious and I could not eat it all. Dining is outside by the water and oh so nice but it is limited. It is cash only but they do provide an ATM in case you forget. Parking can be a issue because the place is quite popular and they also have a market there to buy fresh seafood as well. This was probably my favorite place we went to eat at during our stay.

I dream about the food often, Staff is awesome, waits can be long but its well worth it.
Visited at least 12 times in 2014-15 and its alway's fantastic!
10 Stars!!

Best seafood I have had and the view is wonderful. They serve your food a little differently(go to find out) but it so good!!!!

This is a real local place. Their prepared food is very good (and simple) and their store has an excellent collection of fresh catches. Prices for the fresh stuff seems a bit high, but good quality. Seriously, check this place out. Maybe skip the crawdads, they weren't terribly juicy.
BRING CASH.

Hidden gem! Fish tacos and hush puppies are amazing! Clam strips were good too!

The Cortez Special is the bomb!! Fried Scallops and Clams cheese Grits Cole slaw I order everytime I come here. They are Great staff too.

Want fresh seafood? It's here and you should definitely try it out. Star Fish is an outdoor, walk up and order at a window and wait for some darn good seafood restaurant. We had fried shrimp, fried scallops, hush puppies and fries. We went on a Tuesday around 1:30 and the wait really wasn't bad. The atmosphere was very enjoyable. Right on the water, fishing and charter boats all around. Overall great experience.

Great place to eat! Wonderful staff and awesome fresh seafood! Yummy

The food at the restaurant was excellent. Very casual and this time, they had an ATM!

Local fish shop on the bay with an eatery on the back.

The customer service alone drove us away. We found this place on Google and when we arrived, there was no one present to direct us. We assumed we should seat ourselves and after a good 5 minutes, we received no greeting or service. We made eye contact with a couple employees on the floor and they said nothing to us. We proceeded to the bar where they explained it was a cash only restaurant and that we should have ordered there. This should have been made clear to us from the get go. Hopefully this review will prevent you from wasting your time, like we did ours.

Great out of the way on the dock waterfront hole in the wall type of restaurant. Friendly and fast service. The food is good but not for the health conscious, mostly deep fried foods. My wife had the pompano fish and I had the crab cakes. Both were very good. The crab cakes were made with real crab meat. Very layed back atmosphere. Prices were reasonable.

You better get there early or you re gonna be in a long line and some of the best options might be sold out! We loved it so much we went back the very next night! Amazing portion sizes, great quality fish, and a wonderful ambiance! I can t recommend this place enough!

Our favorite restaurant in the whole world! We always stop at Star Fish before we even drive to the house we rent. The best shrimp and grouper ever!

My first visit to this quaint dockside restaurant was while visiting Anna Maria Island years ago. I've returned each time I'm staying in Longboat Key. You will never have fresher fish cooked to perfection. The prices are reasonable given the quality and quantity. I highly recommend this delightful fishing village restaurant. The staff is accommodating and attentive.

Purchased our bay shrimp for broil and large stone crab. They cracked the stone crab for us. Everything was delicious and we never saw better prices or fresher entire week we're were in the area. I can not comment on the restaurant, other than it is now on our list to try next time we are back.

Horribly slow service and no interest on the part of the management to care how long we waited.

We found this place based on Google reviews and we loved it! Fun. Out of the way. Totally local. Don't miss this great seafood and atmosphere.

If you go during a rush you get what they serve. My grilled mahi was beautiful but was tired and dry. Under the heat lamp? Hush puppies were so hard nearly couldnt fork pierce them. Neat place but they get way to busy! Food suffers

Food was really good. Cash only. Not the place I would go for a romantic dinner, but very interesting and lots of sea birds around it.

My husband and I used to love the food at this place. We have not been in a while and were so excited to go back this week. What a disappointment!!! The food was awful. I hope it is just an anomaly.

What's the hubub?!? I can't square all these glowing reviews with our experience.
Our family ate here on a Wednesday for lunch. The food was not good. I ordered the shrimp & grits and the clam strips. The shrimp & grits we're ok, but certainly nothing to write home about. The clams were particularly bad; like eating a small basket of pencil erasers, but after deep frying them to death in old oil. Bad! The coconut shrimp was overly sweet and over-fried. Our daughter ordered a hamburger, which was ok but small. Long wait times, separate lines for food and drinks, food delivered in to go boxes. Then hopefully a table will open so you can sit & eat. The whole experience was an overall 'Meh' at best. All of these issues would be excusable if the food was good.
Not sure why one would choose this restaurant over the other similar dockside restaurants in the area. The prices were not low enough to justify the mediocre food quality. There are other much better selections within a very short drive.

I love this place. It's certainly nothing fancy, but that's the appeal. Be prepared to wait in line to order and then wait for your food. While you wait you can watch fishing boats come in to the marina, see lots of wild birds, and enjoy the air. The blackened grouper sandwich is the best in the area.

My girlfriend Maggi and I have been to the Star Fish Company three days in a row. The first two days bought fresh Grouper at the market and took it back to our place and grilled it. Oh my delicious. The third day we ate Grouper from their restaurant right on the dock. Before we left we went back into the fish market and bought some more Grouper and added some Shrimp and Stone Crab. Either way Fresh or Cooked in the back you will not be disappointed. I Love This Place

If we could rate this place 10 * we would. Last year we asked local delivery truck driver for fresh seafood and he sent us to Star Fish we drove from Siesta to Cortez and we did it again this year with more family. Fresh fish is no miss and friendly people. First year we were there line was so long but we didnt care when we seen the deck and boats even kids were in love and forgot the wait line. We cant say enough about it we enjoyed every second of it. If you like seafood and just relaxing atmosphere this is the place to go. Meals were perfect size and wine was add on to it. We will see you back next July and of course we made purchase of fresh fish from Market next door. Thank you Cortez we love your place!!!!

Best scallops I have ever had the scenery is fantastic and the service is great I would recommend it to anyone

The seafood is the best in the area (Bradenton & Sarasota) including Anna Maria & Longboat islands.

Very good food and good service...... Cash only (written even in their web site if you take the time to google it), but not a problem, they have an ATM!!!!!! Great......... Wait is a little long but you will forget about it as soon as you will give the first bite.......

Bought fresh fish to make at home which was very good, and picked up key lime pie for dessert and the pie was one of the best key lime pie I had.

just love it. if you are and a hurry go some where else. food is very good, the atmosphere its just phenomenal great service very friendly. price its good for freshness and value. there are not many places like this any more.

We waited about an hour from the line to getting our food, but the atmosphere tells you to sit back and relax. I wish they had more seating. Food is super yummy and filling. We love it, would recommend it, and will be back again.

For 18 years, we have enjoyed Starfish. However the last few visits were not up to what had previously been consistent standards. We called last night just to check the time of closing and the woman answering the phone asked us WHY we wanted to know what time they closed. She was incredibly rude and I don t think we will be going back. Definitely does not have the vibe it used to have when the ladies that worked the counter knew the value of great customer service!

Been coming here for MANY years! Food was delish as usual, but the wait staff VERY VERY RUDE!!!! Two women: One took my order at the window, did not even say thank you!!! The other one, I went to the bar to order a refill for my grandson & me, was ignored for quite awhile, acted like we were bothering her! She didn't say thank you either!! And they were not extremely busy either, not that would have been an excuse for rudeness! I miss the good ol days when the wait staff were happy to see you!

The grouper and the fried oysters where the bomb go back in a heartbeat

The coleslaw is amazing, super great flavor and sweet accent. The hush puppies should be a dessert! The large Mahi fed me for lunch and dinner. So fresh cooked perfectly! The fried oysters have great flavor and their batter is fantastic.

I wish I had known about this freaking treasure earlier!

Don't be scared off if there is a line! Places that have lines have awesome food good things come to those who wait!

Did like there gulf shrimp and grit's . My shrimp did have a little fishy flavor though. Lines are supper long. Hard to find parking and seating once your in too.

Great local place! A real working fish market serving fresh catches of the day. Get there the earliest for dinner hours or you will wait for a long while for your food. Worth it but why suffer. Great food a must for Cortez Florida! FYI cash only business!

Grouper is amazing
Extremely fresh and right off the boat. Nice little seating area on picnic tables for a quick meal. Also love the fact you can take fillets home to cook! They will bag whatever you want! Cash only.

This was literally the best blackened Mahi-Mahi sandwich I've ever had. Great prices on food and drinks. Great view. Laid back attitude. Love this place!

Sauteed scallops+ shrimp dinner is terrific, view + atmosphere is what it's all about. Yum