St. Johns Seafood and Steak Review

G r eat food and friendly staff happy hour is 2 4 1

Went for an early dinner with a friend. Music was so loud you could not even talk. Mahi sandwich was so dry you had to take a sip od water in order to swallow it. Waited forever to receive our check and pay. Very disappointed.

The Food is excellent and the staff was awesome. They have a gentleman playing guitar and singing. He also sounds Great.

Good location. Great staff. Terrible, tasteless food. Very disappointing

Excellent food and great service. Rick made my wife and I feel very comfortable and welcomed. We look forward to returning.

First let me start by saying I only gave this sh*thole 1 star, because there is not an option to give negative stars. We came here as we recently moved to the area and were looking to find a restaurant on the water. This is quite possibly the absolute worst dining experience we have ever had. Rude host, rude server, rude what appeared to be a manager. The server did not explain anything on the menu and rushed us to order. I started with a margarita, because hey it happened to be my birthday - bad choice unless you like sweet & sour mix out of a bottle poured on ice cubes - I returned it and got a bottled beer. My wife and I ordered a cup of bisque because when we actually saw our waitress 20mins after we ordered a drink she said it was great. Took a bite and honestly almost vomited. I'm still not sure what was in it and I currently feel sick to my stomach now that were back home. Then for our entree if you want to call crab cakes with shells in it and a grouper sando that was dry as a bone as an entree. We ordered one shrimp basket for our 5 and 2 year old to split. It came split as requested, but then when it was time to pay they charged us for 2 kids entrees. This hour of misery cost us $70 bucks. ***NOTE: This is the first review that I have ever written about a restaurant. I'm writing this, because I feel as a consumer I should let everyone know how big of a dump this place it.

EDIT 2/13/19 TO OWNER RESPONSE:

1) The Patron was not to my liking, because it was sour mix poured on ice cubes in a dirty glass. Thank you for not charging me, because I returned it immediately.

2) The seafood bisque I ate and we did not consume, because we were not sure what actually was in it - WE WERE CHARGED. When the bill came they charged us for a bowl and a cup. When I told the server it was incorrect we were still charged for the bowl, but credited for a cup.

3} My 2 children were served a split shrimp meal which we asked for to our server. The split meal came in two plates as we asked. However, when it was time to pay - we were told those were two separate meals and we were charged full price for both, which we did not request.

4) I mentioned twice to the server that the crab cakes had shells in them. Both requests went unheard. Again, ate 2 bites and gave the rest to server to throw away.

Finally, my first review ever. The reason why I posted in the first place - is because not only was the food horrible - BUT more importantly, your staff was even worse than the food. Good luck!

Absolutely Great would eat there every day if I could

Service was a little slow, but food and free entertainment was great. I'll be back!!!

Don't waste your time terribly bad service and it wasn't even busy. Dirty bathroom, smells bad......

Amazing food, even good crab cakes, in fl. Yes, I was surprised too! Maybe a few more servers on busy nights though.

The quality of service, food, and ambiance are each fantastic! The prices are fair for the high quality of food. This is NOT a tourist trap, but is a truly excellent place to eat.

I don't think this place is the best, there's nothing amazing the food, is the same you could get anywhere, I cant say I would recommend it to my friends or family it just okay

I hate the food of the restaurant but i just like the water view

Ate outdoors, beautiful Great food, drinks , service

First time visit with the family down for Spring Break. Made it just in time for sunset on Lake Monroe with great view from screened dining patio on the lake. Food was good no complaints from anyone. Reasonably priced and staff were friendly.

My first time in this restaurant. Spent half the day in Sanford for shopping and a show. We decided to try St. Johns River Steak and Seafood. First impression was very favorable. Beautiful restaurant with great views. Best view in Sanford and one of the best in Central Florida, in my opinion. We started with conch fritters. Light and delicious as they should be. I grew up in Miami so I've tried a lot of conch fritters. These were probably the best I've ever had. I ordered fried shrimp with caeser salad and onion rings. The salad was okay. The onion rings were excellent. I've found a new restaurant for seafood. Thrilled about that. Service was awesome and they even had live music on the patio. Usually I'm not thrilled about live music because more often than not it's too loud. Not so in this case. We were able to have a conversation during dinner without having to shout over the music. Overall it was an outstanding dining experience. I will be back again and again.

Sad to see that none of the servers or staff were wearing a mask. We left as soon as we walked in. We have a pandemic here guys! You should be taking care of your staff and customers. Don't be the next restaurant to close due to an employee or customer testing positive due to your negligence.

Excellent food and service. Only complaint would be the hostess, made reservations, very cold and "put upon" attitude over the phone and in person, not a good representation of the servers and the quality of the food. Very much enjoyed our meal and our server was completely on it despite how crazy busy they were. I would tell your hostess to cheer up and smile a but more or fake it.

Our meal was totally ruined by the chef's insistence upon putting a hot cajun sauce on every thing , even the vegetables.
I feel that the patron should be consulted first before the addition of these spices

Great location, inside and outside dining, friendly staff, they had a guy playing easy listening music who was very good, had steak kebabs and fish and chips both cooked perfectly

Nice little place with good food and service! Awesome views of the river!

Food and the view was excellent, but the service was not very good on this trip. The server was very forgetful and flustered at the simplest requests.

Some of the best food I've had since we've been in Florida

Service was super slow and if you want and adult beverage do yourself a favor and order beer or wine. The night we went our drinks were horrible. Two people ordered steaks that were way over cooked. It was not worth the money but the view is nice.

Food was ok, my steak came out completely cooked and asked for medium. They have those tiny little scallops which I really didn't care for her.

The portions are getting smaller and the prices are going up

We had a great experience. A very relaxing atmosphere and the staff is very friendly. I had the fish (haddock) and chips and my boyfriend had the bacon cheeseburger. Both were fantastic and we only waited 10, (15ins tops). The view of the St. John's was a beautiful backdrop for our anniversary. Highly recommend this spot.

Good food, decent prices. Service was slow after a 45 min wait.

The staff was friendly and chef John makes a great buffalo shrimp. I loved the stuffed tilapia. Jennifer was a wonderful server!

Dinner along the waterfront was fantastic.
The views, food, and service were incredible! Kimberly, our server, was excellent and attentive. My meal came out incorrectly and honestly I am glad it did! The herb half chicken was great! Cripsy flavorful skin with perfectly cooked fall off the bone meat. I don't know what the chef does, but it might have been one of the best half chickens I've ever had!

Food was disappointing for the price. Drinks weak for the price.

Our food took an exorbitant amount of time. The waiter was polite. By the time we actually got our food it was luke warm at best. I didn't even take home the leftovers. My daughter ordered tuna and it was way over done and dry. Our waiter said the food had sat under the heat lamp for quite awhile. She sent it back and didn't order anything else. Her Bloody Mary wasn't good either. My iced tea was spoiled. Negative experience all around and I'm not sure I'll go back at these prices. The entertainment was great.

Nice view! geat service. I ordered crab leg special 1 lb. with corn, potatoes, corn, garlic bread and sausage. It was good the pound of crab legs was short, the sausage was store bought. The drinks were good and actually had alcohol. I would give the food 3 1/2 stars but the the other positives bumped it to 4 stars

One of Sanford's hidden gems. Great food, awesome view. Courteous and helpful staff. We stopped by for fireworks and stayed for the Rum bucket!!

Slow service didn't have 5 different items in the menu