For some time now I was wanting to visit this Mexican family-owned Seafood Restaurant that proudly calls itself Don Camaron (Mr Shrimp). With a cute, friendly, caricature Shrimp Chef design in it's logo, and the slogan: "Fresh Seafood Made To Order," how can one go wrong? Located in an unassuming and relatively small building painted light blue on the outside, and with a simple sign on the roof above the entrance that reads: "COME ON IN / NEW MENU / DON CAMARON SEAFOOD," this very unique seafood restaurant located on Brambleton Ave in Cave Spring, Virginia, is more than just your ordinary Seafood restaurant. It's Mexican heritage cuisine brings to the menu items some flavors that contribute to the seafood taste more delicious than ever before. When driving down Brambleton Ave you can't miss a tall orange sign with the name and logo of the restaurant, placed right in front of their huge parking lot, providing convenient complimentary parking to all its customers. The restaurant building itself looks small from the avenue because is in the back of the parking lot, but once you get closer you will begin to notice the difference. Its log cabin architectural building design seems to give it warmth and as you enter its doors, all the wooden accents in the interior design of the building, together with the blue lighting treatment of the bar, and logo cabin look of the main dining area creates a cozy, warm, and friendly environment, perfect to enjoy a good meal and quality time with family and friends. As soon as I entered the restaurant, a friendly young lady greeted me with a friendly smile, took me to a table of my choice in the dining room, and handed me the menu. One can learn a lot about a restaurant from its menu. In this case, it was a beautifully designed menu, with its name, logo, and slogan on the cover. Open the menu and inside I found a good selection of seafood items, cooked in a variety of styles, with an easy to read font and highlighted with professionally taken photographs of the main items on the menu. Just from viewing the menu you can't help it but to want to return to taste some more of their delicious cuisine. My server, a very friendly young lady with a welcoming smile came by, introduced herself and took my order. To drink I had an Horchata, which is a sweet non-alcoholic drink made with rice and sugar, and very refreshing with lots of ice. They also had domestic and imported beers and wine on the menu. As my main course, I ordered the Camarnes Gratinados (Shrimp covered in bacon and melted cheese), with the two sides of French Fries and Hushpuppies. I found all the items of the menu to be reasonably priced and served abundantly. My food arrived in a reasonable amount of time and you can even watch this in one of my video clips accompanying this review. Everything on the plate was amazingly delicious, quality, and plentiful. The shrimps were fresh, plumpy, tasty, and cooked to perfection. The Fries were the right cut and fried just right to be crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. And the Hushpuppies were amazing. My compliments to the Chef for such an extraordinary cuisine. I believe that the success of good tasting seafood lies in the way it is prepared and cooked. No dinner is complete without a good sweet dessert. So as the grand finale I had a Flan. Now this was no ordinary flan. I invite you to look through my photographs accompanying this review and see for yourself. It was homemade, made with the riches of ingredients, and tasted splendidly. One of the best, if not the best Flan I ever had. In conclusion, I had an extraordinary dining experience and highly recommend this Seafood Restaurant. What the owner and chef of this restaurant have created can't be described in words but experienced for yourself. Let's go visit and give it our support, so quality restaurants like this will flourish and enrich the quality of our lives. read more

See all

Food was inedible and they did nothing about it. They couldn't understand what I was saying and don't know how to cook their seafood. Probably bought cheapest seafood they could find I hope this place goes out of business absolutely awful. Service was awful too. And only two people in the whole restaurant. read more

Don Camaron Seafood Restaurant - Apparently this is one pound of crawfish maybe if it was quality crawfish - Seafood Near Me - Roanoke, Virginia

We had high hopes based off the choices of different seafood dishes on the menu. Unfortunately we have to give the restaurant a one star review. We enjoyed the food while we were eating it, but got food poisoning from the seafood boil. The restaurant is clean and spacious. Our server was very kind and attentive so this is no reflection on his part. This review is solely based off of our desire to not revisit an establishment that has given us food poisoning. read more

We arrived during happy hour. The delightful waitress told us about their weekly happy hour drink specials. We ordered broiled scallops and the black mussels. They were delicious! So tender and fresh. read more

My mom and brother are regulars here and they Iove it! When I was visiting town I decided to give it a try. The service was amazing and very fast. They had a very nice bar and clean facility. I ordered the shrimp and it was cooked perfectly. Very affordable and tasty place to stop for a quick lunch or dinner! read more

I took one star away for slow service but I'm certain that that will improve with time. I try never to come to a place on opening day because they are always working the kinks out of everything. So I came for lunch today and I was not disappointed. The food was hot and fresh and visually appealing. KUDOS to this restaurant being the only one in the area to be able to cook the store bought hush puppies correctly. They we cooked to perfection. When they are over cooked they are hard and taste horrible and when they are under cooked they are soggy or worse still frozen. THESE WERE PERFECT, they were golden brown soft and tender. We ordered the baby fried shrimp for lunch. I ordered the player and switched the potato medley for fries, I wish I hadn't because the medley was delicious . The shrimp was cooked just right, Golden brown and tender. I would definitely return to try more of their dishes and hopefully the service will have improved with practice and experience. Oh I almost forgot, the rice that was served with the lunch shrimp was phenomenal!! read more

See all

First time there. Ordered take out. Ribeye and scallops. Steak was not Ribeye, 4 scallops. Scallops were good, hushpuppies were good. Calamari over cooked, and chewy. Couldn't chew the the steak. Service was great. Ambiance was very nice. Also got grilled chicken and scallops. This plate had 6 scallops. Again they were good, chicken overcooked and very thin. Stuffed mushrooms to, they were OK, not a lot of flavor. ​ read more

Don Camaron Seafood Restaurant - Medium rare Ribeye - Seafood Near Me - Roanoke, Virginia

See all

Easily the best seafood restaurant between the two Krogers on Brambleton. Recommend!

The crab legs at Don Camaron Seafood Restaurant in Cave Spring are amazing! And at the price of $21.99 for 2lbs you can't go wrong! The calamari was superbly seasoned and the crab stuffed mushrooms were pure yumminess! The staff is amazing and kind as well. I had an excellent meal here with one of my besties! This establishment gets an easy 4.5 out of 5 stars from this avid seafood food critic! PS - The restrooms were very clean an well maintained as well. Indoor and outdoor seating is available - Handicap parking as well. read more

See all

If I could rate this a negative 100 I would. This had to be the worst dining experience I have ever had. There was literally 1 employee. Cook, Waiter, Hostess, owner all in one. There was NO ONE else in the restaurant. Worst food and worst service I have EVER had and by the OWNER!!!! Oh and he could barely speak English. We'll NEVER go back!! read more

I am sad to have to do this. My first experience was lunch and I ordered a house salad and calamari. It was very good. There were only two other tables so the servers were attentive. Last night I went to dinner with friends on my recommendation. When we arrives there was only one table in the front and one in the back. Now keep in mind this is a seafood restaurant according to the sign. Menu items simply say fish. When questioned the server has no idea what kind of fish it is. Everything is tilapia. Tacos on the menu are ....are you ready... cow head, intestines, brain....NO thank you. We ordered water with lemon. They were out of lemon. We ordered calamari and mushrooms as appetizers. Both were good. Our entree we ordered rib eyes with various seafood. Mine was ordered rare. DO NOT order rib eye at a Mexican "Seafood" restaurant. Our food comes to the table not only is my steak not rare, it is covered some kind of spices and is very thin. Sides are a gross potato combination and dry rice none of which are listed on tue menu. It would be nice to have a veggie side. Our server drops the plates and leaves. I ask for cocktail sauce another server brings me tarter sauce. Hmmmm my friend flags down a server who brings us cocktail sauce. Our server is not to be seen again until mu friend gets up to find her to get our checks. She brings them to the table and leaves never to return not bothering to tell us to pay at the bar in front. read more

Don Camaron Seafood Restaurant - a plate of food - Seafood Near Me - Roanoke, Virginia

I think this place is the best kept secret in our area, and the past reviews were folks who didn't really know what to order or give it a chance. Really good spot to hit up for Sunday lunch. read more

I have been coming here for a couple of years. The food is great and inexpensive. The service is wonderful.

After being kept away from restaurants, we were looking for something interesting. Don Camaron was a pleasant surprise. Great carnitas, the Caldos was delicious. The bad review must have been a cranky person. Highly recommended, good food Service. The bill was very reasonable. read more

My husband and I were traveling and wanting seafood, stopped in. The three dishes we got were excellent. The menu has many great choices. We got tostadas de ceviche for starters followed with pescado relleno broil (perfect) and Filete a la Mexican Broil (a little bit of everything ). All were perfectly cooked and pleasantly presented. Everything was fresh and tasty. The service was excellent. Plenty of seating in a nice atmosphere. Big parking lot. Reasonable pricing. Would definitely go again. read more

Because of the low ratings here, I went to Don Camaron with low expectations. We heard separately that the food was all fried, like the Harbor Inn in Hollins. It became clear quickly that most of the reviews were mistaken. This is a Mexican seafood restaurant. The menu is patially in Spanish, and if you've never been outside of Roanoke you might be surprised by tongue, tripe, and brains on the menu, but I recognize these as traditional and authentic Mexican meat choices for tacos and carnitas. Anyway, I saw other items that are hard to find in Roanoke like pulpo and ceviche. I had broiled catfish and my wife had tilapia. The portions were large, and the fish was beautifully cooked and very tasty. The tilapia was stuffed with crab meat. Catfish was stuffed with salsa. The menu had a lot of things to pick from that I want to go back for. They had a good selection of broiled and fried fish, as well as shrimp (camarones) , oysters, scallops, octopus (pulpo), squid (calamari), tilapia, catfish, and salmon. I'm sure ive forgotten some. Overall very positive experience, but I do have some suggestions. -first, make it clear that it's a mexican restaurant. That's not clear now until you see the menu -educate the waiters better about the menu. Some answers suffered from the language barrier -this is a perfect place for fish tacos. Move the tongue (lengua), tripe and brains down the list and put the fish tacos at the top of the list. -tv or radio, not both simultaneously Yes I recommend this place, but you have to go in with an open mind, a little sense of adventure, and ideally some Spanish language skills and travel experience/familiarity with real Mexican food and culture is also useful. (Don't be a dumb gringo and gag at the alternative meat choices). read more

A friend and I had a very enjoyable experience at this restaurant. The owner himself took our order, and was very attentive and friendly. We ordered the grilled tilapia with crab stuffing, and it arrived in a timely manner, perfectly cooked and nicely seasoned. The cole slaw that accompanied it was fantastic - creamy and crunchy at the same time. Although I thought it was odd that small fried potatoes and rice mixed with peas and carrots were served together with the fish, the potatoes were delicious. The rice was a bit bland, but I've lived in Latin America, and know that this is the accustomed way of serving it, as a counterpoint to spicier foods. Sadly, the restaurant was out of flan; I had been looking forward to this light, creamy custard dessert. Hopefully next time! Interestingly, a number of the other patrons appeared to be Latinos who were very much enjoying their dinners. I certainly look forward to visiting again. read more

What on earth is it with this location? EVERY SINGLE RESTAURANT HERE HAS BEEN A DISASTER!! That said, like all of the other previous restaurants here (all of which have folded after 6 months), this place is a disaster. Every single plate served to me was pathetic, clearly not fresh, and my hush puppies AND shrimp both had a weird aftertaste to them. Really, like others have said - the food is anything but fresh, and extremely expensive for the abysmal quality which you are served... But really, I'm not even mad - I ate here knowing it would be awful, so I wasn't even disappointed. Some of the menu items are also incorrectly labeled too, which I found laughable to say the least. So yeah, I don't recommend this place. read more

Very excited to support this local business and add it to our Friday dinner takeout rotation. I made the call to order & the employee was very courteous, said would take 20min. We ordered crab stuffed mushrooms for appetizer. Real crab meat, not like the slurry Red Lobster had sunk to (no pun intended). Ours seemed a bit on the watery side, & the crabmeat stuffing lacked flavor. The cheese on top was barely melted. I like mine put under a broiler & the cheese melted so that it is browned all over. I got the fried catfish & hushpuppies, which were great. The other meal was broiled chicken breast & shrimp platter. This was a huge disappoinment, the chicken breast was very dry, & shrimp a tad rubbery. The dish just lacked flavor overall. The onion rings were good. Prices reasonable, but we decided we would just take Don Cameron out of our rotation. read more

Wanted to get some seafood and had been told to check out Don Cameron's! Wow it was so good! Highly recommend! Oysters, scallops, shrimp all so good! read more

Don Camaron Seafood Restaurant - Seafood Near Me - Roanoke, Virginia

See all

I am not a fan of this food. I got shrimp and fries and it was tasty but it was like something you could have cooked at home for $18 for 2 people. I just didn't care for it and honestly I probably won't be going back no more. They have white fish but not whiting fish. If you haven't gone there you may want to try it for yourself and then give it a review. read more

Was very disappointed. Ordered a house salad with the entree and it was just a few pinches of lettuce, a tomato slice and a cucumber slice. I've seen more "salad" on a McDonald's hamburger. For the price, I expected much more. My wife ordered a chicken entree which was very dry. I had fish. The catfish wasn't very good, the whiting was tasty and tender. Overall, I was very disappointed. Not worth the price at all. read more

This was a huge disappointment. It is nothing like the other Don Cameron restaurants. Food is mediocre at best service was OK, went there when they first opened and thought I would give it a second chance, not much changed, half the menu items were substituted with out letting us know. Quality of the food was just disappointing. read more

It was a very nice place and we will be back it was perfect shrimp was delicious catfish was just right drinks were good we will definitely

I was looking forward to trying this restaurant after hopeful reviews. However, I will not attempt this again. I ordered a crab cake and felt like this was a safe choice. I couldn't finish it.. others in my party didn't dislike it as much. However, I haven't heard a soul suggest it again & we are big seafood people so it says a lot. It's a no thank you for me. read more

The service here is spectacular. I recommend you call ahead and order a seafood boil as they are made fresh and always take about 45 minutes to cook. I love the ceviche and the shrimp cocktails. The clams are always good. The drinks are delicious! Sangria is my personal favorite or non alcoholic try a Jamaica. read more

We recently moved back to Roanoke and saw this out on drive so stopped in around 6:00 PM on a Saturday evening. My wife and I both had Shrimp covered with Coconut sauce which we both enjoyed. The salad was very fresh too. It was sad to see one other guy in the restaurant, not sure if this is new. Billed as Mexican Seafood so if you want something different give this a try read more

Excellent service, the food was amazing, presentation was there, was fresh, tasted amazing. I'm lucky I'm very close. Mainly a seafood place, but its awesome if you love seafood. read more

Worst place I've ever eaten at. Save your time and money. Newly opened restaurant with several things to work out. Food was undercook or incorrectly cooked, orders were wrong, and service was slow for the amount of tables seated. There seamed to be only 2 servers. Several people walked in and waited to be seated but ended up leaving because noone greeted them. Also noticed other tables left before their food even came due to how slow it was. read more

I wanted this to be good. I'm always hopeful new establishments, however this was far from decent. We were seated and given our drinks quickly, however after ordering it became apparent people had been waiting on orders for a while. It took us about 40 minutes to receive our order, I order shrimp Ana, which was advertised as shrimp with a coconut sauce. What I received can be only described as a sludge of thick almost condensed soup like sauce with a vague coconut flavor with buried tail on shrimp. Somehow the shrimp were gritty and not completely shelled. My partner ordered a pound of shrimp boiled. It was unsalted and unseasoned, they neglected hush puppies he had ordered and would have been better if they had not arrived. When they did, after a reminder they delivered bullets of soft; cornmeal frozen, premise pups. He had to get lemon and sauce brought to make his shrimp palatable. It was also far from a pound. I wish it was better. I felt bad for the customers who entered and waiting 10 minutes to be given a table before giving up and leaving. We saw a family or two leave waiting for their food, clearly exasperated. Learn from the mistakes and make changes. Right now I cannot recommend this place. They are severely understaffed and unaware of how to prepare seafood or anything by that means. read more

Good Mexican style seafood. Nice selection of fried and broiled. Bar drinks available. Excellent desserts. The staff was friendly and attentive to customers. read more

My family of 5 greatly enjoyed Don Camaron's seafood restaurant! This family owned establishment provided us with personal service and fantastic seafood! The cost was very reasonable and again, the owner, his wife and their family were top-notch. By the way,for you dads' out there, the beers come in really large mugs-perfect to sip on while sitting outside while the family dines. This will be our seafood spot in Roanoke. read more

Excellent place for Mexican style seafood! Upon our arrival we were promptly greeted by a friendly staff member which took us to a large comfortable booth. Our server took our drink orders and asked us what dressings we would like on our complementary salads... WOW even before placing a food order! Very nice. I had the Baby Fried Shrimp and they were great while my wife had the fried Fried Fish which she was impressed with as well! Great hush puppies too!!! I recommend!!! read more

Pleasantly surprised after eating here last. My mom and I ordered a michelada and it was amazing. We also had the fried calamari and stuffed mushrooms, which was also amazing. And for the main course I had the catfish plate with potatoes and hush puppies and I cleared the whole plate. The restaurant is clean and quaint. And I'd definitely give it a try. If you're looking for a sign if you should give it a shot, this is it! read more

Was so hoping this would be good, as Roanoke needs a good seafood restaurant...but that location seems to be the kiss of death for restaurants. Most of the food was marginal but the "clam chowder" seems to be 1/2 water and 1/2 soup...just horrible. I read reviews on this place before going, they generally were not good but I so wanted a good seafood restaurant. I was very disappointed. read more

I normally am never really spontaneous and go somewhere for lunch that I've never been. However everything happens for a reason. My mother was in local hospital, got hungry and didn't want to eat hospital cafeteria food. I drive around a while and found this place. I ordered the chicken lunch special with salad. Salad was the freshest that I've ever eaten. As a former soldier I've been to 26 states and 8 countries and this was the freshest salad. It wasn't very busy though. However my food was great. Chicken was juicy and tender, and the rice was on point, and the potato medley with regular and sweet potatoes was bomb. I recommend this place and plan on coming back with my family next time I'm in the area. read more

We have been looking for a local seafood restaurant, and I think we found it at Don Cameron's. We had the calamari, boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, and fish among three of us. All were prepared well. Those dishes usually make or break a seafood place for us. The hush puppies and slaw were great too. We will explore other items on the menu on our next visit. The service was great. read more

While this is a newly opened restaurant, the ownership was extremely unprepared for business. Our party consisted of 4 adults and 2 young children. We waited for a very long time just to have order taken. Our food did not arrive at same time and when it did, all our orders had something incorrectly put together or poor quality. Ordered broiled catfish and got fried. Wait staff took fried fish back and return much later with broiled of which was cold and raw. We mention this to wait staff and they offered apologies and took fish back to kitchen but never returned with fish. Received potato medley instead of french fries on two orders. Deep fried shrimp were not peeled. Crab cakes were cold to touch. After complaining of service and quality, wait staff did not charge for one fish dinner and did not charge us for sodas. Also, bathrooms were not nice at all. Very unsatisfied and will definitely not return to this restaurant. read more

Went on Friday night and not good!! Service was very slow, took over 10 minutes to get drink order and another 40 to get food! Never could understand what my waiter was telling me my side was going to be and wasn't happy when I saw that it was very bad diced potatoes. Seafood is poor quality freezer selection, fried shrimp had the shell on, nothing was hot, popcorn shrimp undercooked for my 3 year old, scallops were tasteless, etc. I feel like at this point I'm beating a dead horse! All I can say is food was bad! Service was bad! Decor looks like it did with prior ownership, just a few tacky fish nets added. Was so hoping for a good restaurant and something that would last! Not hopeful that it will still be there in six months. Save your money! read more

The food here is just ok. I had the whitefish with a mix of potatoes and my wife had scallops and chicken with mixed vegetables. My meal was mediocre at best. My wife's scallops were outstanding but the chicken was thin and a bit over cooked. The vegetables were plentiful but undercooked and needed to to cut up more finely. We wish this establishment well but I fear that with so many other choices in town with better, more flavorful offerings that it may not last long unless some changes are made to better suit their customers. read more