We decided to check this place out after using the marina. The food was not very flavorful. Fish sandwich was mostly bread with very little small piece of fish. shrimp p'boy was with tinny little pieces of shrimp. Overall, not impressed. read more

Rick's On the River - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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Finally decided to check out Ricks, so I checked out their website. Checked to see if they allowed dogs, but it did not mention anything. Called up and they mentioned pets must be outside-- no big deal, that's normal. I finally arrived and was turned around. Pets are not allowed on their outdoor deck, but completely outside. Pretty upset at the lack of information and not being dog friendly. My golden behaves better than 90% of the children present on that day. My pup has it's service tags, but I don't feel like using it for this situation. Most likely won't be coming back since there are more dog friendly places locally. What a shame. read more

This is becoming a favorite place of mine. Our bartender Rachel was awesome. Really nice drinks and good food. I love sitting outside and as always friendly staff means a lot to me, come check it out. read more

We took our boat out a few days ago and stopped at ricks on the river for dinner. We had our dog with us, so we decided just to order out and eat on the boat. Despite the food being bland, I was charged $.50 per each of the carry out boxes. If it wouldn't be for such an ideal location this place wouldn't last another week. My feeling is it is a horrible restaurant with horrible pricing. Do you really need to charge your customers $.50 for each carry out box. I spent over $100 but still had to pay six dollars for the carryout boxes. read more

Rick's is a great spot to hang out and enjoy the view with a cold beer. The food is good if it was just a little better this review would get a 4. Raw oysters were great! The catfish is crunchy and nice but probably not home made. Comes with plastic container of cole slaw and a ready made container of tarter sauce. I don't understand why a restaurant would not make their own and make it a better meal. The fish sandwich was good also but no explanation as to what specific fish. Fries were a little soggy again nothing special. We waited quite some time to get initial service, but then she was very attentive. A fun afternoon all in all! read more

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Great outdoor environment for relaxing on the water. It would be nice to see some local fish on the menu like redfish or grouper. It would be cool to also see some local beers on the menu as well. The staff was extremely attentive and helpful in making a choice for lunch.I will most definitely come back and try something when I'm not working. read more

Rick's On the River - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

Attentive staff and relatively quick service. The outdoor wood tables with affixed seats have to be one of the worst most uncomfortable seats I have ever sat on and very limited room for your legs. The food was decent for typical bar food. Parking was questionable and to be expected from the boat trailers, etc. The band, which was mediocre, was energetic and loud. Wasn't a fan of having an out of key singer stand behind me while eating but it was it was what it was. read more

A friend of mine brought us here and this place was fun. Awesome atmosphere with outside seating. Beer was cold and the staff was friendly. Shrimp po-boy was good, could have been put together better as it kept falling apart. Fries were seasoned perfectly. I will definitely be making many trips here when my family and I move to FL. The ambiance near the water made the experience very relaxing. read more

FYI This is a boater's rating. We usually love taking the boat up the Hillsborough River to see the city and grab a bite to eat. I have been to Ricks multiple times. The dock space is abundant but tight so dont try to come in here buzzed unless you have good insurance. FOOD: The menu is a typical bar menu with 80% fried or from the griddle. Po Boy's, Oysters, Sandwiches. One warning is when a restaurant calls a fish sandwich its Ricks Special! This is because they can sub in any fish to make the fish sandwich and you could get cod when expecting Mahi. Wait staff works really hard but they are understaffed and mistakes will happen. Beer is not that cold and no glass mugs. It is a good stop if out on the water all day as they will probably have LIVE MUSIC. Just know it is not fine dining, or specialize in anything and your expectations will be met. read more

Delicious lunch on a Sunday afternoon. Great place to hang out. Service was fast and the beer was cold. Nothing more could be asked for.

Sat at the outside bar, and got ignored for 10 Minutes.... pathetic bartender, outside on Monday... ... but, changed my review, after moving inside, and getting great service, and food. Oysters Rickafeller, all Day!! read more

Always a good time!!! Thank you Kat for being an exceptional server!!! Pure Culture Vodka thanks you!!!!

Place was good! Wings were amazing and very juicy, got their chicken breast sandwich with lemon pepper. Too much lemon pepper

Ricks on the River is a solid casual seafood restaurant on the water with live music. You can reach it by car or water taxi! The seafood is super fresh and the primary seating area truly is outside. The only downside, if you can call it that, is that Rick's is always busy and so service is often slow (hence why I didn't put it at a 5star). It seems they always need just one or two more servers in order to handle the crowds, but they are in such demand that there's always a crowd! Check them out and do yourself a favor, pick a nice weather day and get there by water taxi from one of the downtown stops - you will love the ride. read more

Lindsey was great. Highly recommend this place. Good and drinks were awesome. Atmosphere was really cool too

Fantastic service!! Clarissa was awesome!! This is a great place. Great potato skins and the drinks are great. Clarissa kept the drink refills coming and was super attentive. Great hang out for after a few hours on the River. read more

Rick's On the River - Great patio! - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

So for a limited time only Rick's on the River is offering a crawfish boil! I've had crawfish in the last but never a crawfish boil so I was intrigued. For the very reasonable price of $13 I received a ton of seasoned crawfish, boiled potatoes, corn and sausage. It was supper yummy and definitely the bit of effort that it requires to eat the little morsels of flesh that require some maneuvering to release them from their shells. For you quarantine we had to do curbside pickup and I will say the person taking my order was wearing a mask and even offered to sanitize my hand after I swiped my credit card. Looking forward to enjoying the water views once they are open for guests again. read more

Rick's On the River - Crawfish boil yum - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

I lived in Tampa all of my life and have never been to ricks. I loved that it was on the water. I enjoyed seeing people pull up on their boats to have lunch. I ordered the fish tenders and fries. With half a dozen of raw oysters. My food was really and our server was very kind. We had a large family there and she handled everything really great. read more

Rick's On the River - Oysters Raw - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

Hilary the bartender was great- she kept our drinks full, and made our day so much fun after a day of boating.

We went to Rick's cuz we wanted seafood that was open late. The food was ok. Plain, nothing special about the food. But the ambience was nice. You can tell that used to be the happening spot cuz you can ride up on your boat and grab some food. But there was only two other tables there besides us. Sad to see such a beautiful place go down. read more

Staff is very rude and do not allow emotional support animals. Documentation was even provided, but ignored. We were not even offered the option to sit out on the deck! I think they were also mad about having to work on Xmas so that didn't help matters. It was my first and last time going there and it was a total waste. And from what I hear, the food sucks too. read more

I set out to find a "chill" Friday night spot in Tampa and decided to go to Ricks on the river for some fried seafood, live music, and the outdoor atmosphere. We found an outside table quickly and sat down. Several servers walked by us but no one approached us. Our flag on our table was flipped up to show we needed service. After 15 minutes of no server coming to our table we went up to the server station and asked for menus. We waited 15 more minutes and not one person acknowledged our table. After waiting 30 minutes without being acknowledged, we decided to leave and go somewhere else. Based on this experience, I will not be returning to this establishment. read more

This place is terrible. From sad food to bad drinks. We ordered the smoked fish spread to start and were given a small souffle cup with crackers, (see attached picture). This place is a literally a hole in the wall. I thought it was going to be nice, semi classy etc and not at all. The inside is dirty from the bar to the bathroom. Good luck if you come but if you can stay away please do so. read more

Rick's On the River - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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Madison please, serving food don't wear shirt with 8-10 spills of food all over it. Not appetizing. Food was good.

You can drive up on your boat and park!!! What a great place to sit in the deck and enjoy the rain. The oysters Rockefeller were fantastic.

My boyfriend and I went last night, (Monday) a first time for both of us. Although it was not busy, the service was a little slow and the waitress/server seemed to be a little flighty but she was just as nice as she could be. We had a good time, and will most likely visit again. read more

Food was ok. Service was pretty good considering they were very busy and the ambiance being on the water takes the cake. Always like being on the water read more

We stopped after a boat ride. Really good fried shrimp po-boy and onion rings. Nice views of the river. Very fun.

In all the time I lived in Florida, I had not been to Rick's on the River so when we recently returned, the husbeast had to take me there. First of all, the patio is uh-mazing. Great view of the river and boats coming and going. There is a handy little flag you can raise when you want or need service but it was pretty dead when we went (early afternoon on a weekday) so the staff were very attentive. We ordered 2 dozen oysters and they were all delicious. You could tell they were fresh! Their happy hour was decent too! Pro-tip: Boat to it. Happy hour is pretty darn good. read more

We came here for my birthday and were disappointed terribly by the food. The coconut shrimp was ok, popcorn shrimp was horrible, wings were dried out, the burger was also not good and fries lackluster. All expensive for what it was as well. This place is great for the view and that is all- don't expect a good meal. I would suggest upping the quality of the food so that the restaurant can match the view! read more

Ricks on the River is a staple of river dining, and a nice little place to have dinner when you're hungry. All the waitresses are polite, and the food is very tasty, with generous portions on everyone's plate. The scenery at Rick's on the River is beautiful, and they have live bands bringing in many different styles of music. They have a lot of meals that include fish, shrimp, chicken, burgers & salads - they have it all. I really like their raw oysters. I think the best time to go is in the evening. When there's a full moon, the river is very shiny, and the city is very bright. A lot of people come by boat, but car parking is plentiful too. If you haven't been there, you must try to go sometime. read more

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I've been a couple of times and it's always a great vibe. You can dock your boat from there docks and also rent pontoon boats next door. They have cheap drinks and a great happy hour . I stopped in today with a group off co workers and everyone was well impressed with their meal. Majority of us had the fish cooked in our respective way and omg ! I had blacked fish and I was able to have a side of fruit as an option vs fries . My boss had a burger that she ate within 4 mins so it's safe to say everything was really good. Thank you Ricks'S for the great food and good service . read more

Rick's On the River - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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We went on a recent weekday night as my girl was celebrating a birthday and was craving fresh oysters on the half shell. We sat out by the water and had a great waitress (I think Breana?). She was super fun and helpful as this was our first visit there. She picked out amazing fresh oysters and shucked them for us and made suggestions for sides. When we told her we were in the Tampa area for a couple of days to explore, she gave us a list of shops and restaurants she thought we might like after talking to us. Would definitely return and look for her! read more

THis is a VERY casual place. There are docks out back so one can boat up and seems to be a place well attended by locals. Now, you won't find anything here very unique but the fish sandwich my wife had and the wings(hot) with a side salad were pretty dang good. Our server (and I wish I could recall her name) was just charming. If you don't mind lunch served in plastic baskets with wax paper on the bottom or on plastic plates, I invite you to try it. Its fun, casual and the food is pretty good! read more

Joe was the most disrespectful disgusting manager I have encountered. I had asked the waitress if I could bring my ESA animal in and she said yes. Half way through dinner JOE comes in and says we need to leave. He then continues to ask me what my disability was. Such a disgusting disrespectful comment! Not sure if he's racist as well as I am Asian? Anyways complete lack of professionalism. Thanks for ruining my lunch with my dad!!! read more

I stopped "hitting" Ricks several years ago for MANY MANY reasons...however...tonight's experience renewed my faith! I met some beautiful people & all thanks to Selina S. the waitress who took such good care that our experience was exceptional! read more

Rick's On the River - New American Near Me - Tampa, Florida

This place is horrible . Whole staff incredibly rude. They dont even follow their own operation hours. They just open and close their kitchen When ever they please . How when you're open till midnight? dont bother placing a to go order because the rude heifa that picks up the phone will hang up on you like she can't be bothered to do her job. I really don't understand how this place is still in business. Dined there before and was going to give it another try because the food wasn't half bad and they're open late . I assumed things were lacking from a lack of staff like everyplace else but this is just a normal occurrence. read more

Brutal...when we asked what fish was on the fish sandwich and the waitress said, swai, (imported farmed fish from Vietnam) we should have left then. We were given packets of mayo, mustard, and salad dressing and the Fresh Fruit Caribbean Salad had canned fruit on it! The French fries were disgusting, the crab cake was also disgusting! read more

The 'cuisine' is just average fried food, but priced as if it were good. Staff is rude and arrogant, and barely competent at best. The nice location (near the river) is the only thing they have going for them. Otherwise they would have been out of business a long time ago. read more

What is not to like? A dive bar, live band on the beautiful Hillsborough River, water taxi from downtown will take you here or take you downtown. Live music on the outside patio, TV for sports watching inside. The kids love it. Basic bar fare with a fishermans twist, smoked fish dip, stuffed potato skins and the star is the blackened fish sandwich. My only complaint is the dip is the smallest portion of dip I have ever been served! Oh and raw oysters, yum yum. read more