Poor cocktails, service, and food. Restaurant ipad for waitlist was dead and could not be used to seat us.

Great meal - good seafood ! I have no clue who these people are who talk unfavorably about this restaurant. Living in the Keys and Florida - they have some of the best fresh fish. The coconut shrimp was excellent! And the service was great! read more

The food never disappoints. Although we had to do take-out, it was still delicious. When we picked it up, we still were able to do the salad bar. We were greeted with a smile. Can't wait for it to be back open so I can come back for the atmosphere. read more

You can't find a worse place to eat at than this restaurant. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anybody. The service was absolutely horrific. Salad bar was -10/10. Made my stomach hurt after. Honestly I could go on for days but it's not even worth the time. Just don't come here ever in your life. The water was good tho ngl. read more

We stopped in for a quick Easter day lunch and we not disappointed. Started with Gator Bits and finished with grouper sandwiches. All very good. Our wait staff were very friendly, curious and timely. View of River was nice. Boat traffic provided additional scenery. Sea birds piercing and landing nearby even better. Another visit is needed. read more

Roy's Restaurant - Gator Bits and restaurant. - Seafood Near Me - Steinhatchee, Florida

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Great food and exemplary service! Had an enjoyable dinner with my wife! Food great from salad bar to enter, great sunset too!

Friendly staff, great view, even better food! We love Roy's atmosphere, and the service is friendly; even at their busiest, they strive to make you happy. The salad bar is to die for with fresh ingredients and a great selection of mixed lettuce, veggies, sides, extras, and dressings, along with potato, peas, and macaroni salads. Fresh catch fish, scallops, and much more. All are consistently delicious!! So I was perplexed to read some of the negative reviews. If you happen to be lucky enough to find yourself in Steinhatchee, then Roy's Restaurant is a MUST! read more

The staff was friendly. The food portions were small and lunch for 4 cost us $50+. Pricey for the portions and the food was ok. Nothing fancy or overly impressive. There's a salad bar and a wide selection of seafood dishes. Very clean place. read more

I am running from Hurricane Dorian and when I asked if I could take my dog onto the big open deck that was completely empty, the staff suggested I park somewhere I can see the car and just leave her in it! It is 95degrees, the deck has no customers, and there is a major hurricane bearing down on Florida! I explained I was an evacuee and asked if they had a suggestion since I don't have a choice and they just shrugged. I went across the street to Crabbie Dad's and they treated the dog like a queen and even surprised her with a hot dog! read more

Roy's was nearly destroyed by hurricane Hermine in September. Amazing that the re-do was nearly finished by Thanksgiving. Hardly missed a beat and the fresh atmosphere of the restaurant provided a social buzz of happy customers watching the sunset on the bay from plentiful windows. All that buzz becomes a loud din, making dinner conversation difficult for us hard of hearing types. But, there is......food! Their kitchen output is on the slow-mo plan, so be prepared to wait. Patience is a lesson that gets rewarded here with large platters of Florida's finest seafood and well prepared steaks. My ribeye had char of diamonds from the grill on both sides. Perfectly cooked, though I did need to lightly dust it table-side with salt and pepper. A dinner companions duo of large butterfly shrimp and catfish filets were cornmeal based coating and fried to exacting standards for low Country Cooking. Mwah! Hush puppies with a dollop of guava jelly. A combo I had never heard of but the sweetness added to the light, crunchy pup pacifiers were a delight. Perhaps often overlooked these days is the salad bar. Opt for it at Roy's. Pea salad, carrot salad and Greek style potato salad shine as beacons in the uber fresh variety complete with house made dressings. Desert selections looked inviting, but with half our platters boxed for leftovers, we just couldn't indulge. Service was efficient and friendly; appearing and disappearing at all the right times. My final pleasantry delivered at the end of our meal was a reasonable summation in our bill. read more

Just left Roy's for the second time during our trip. The first day my husband fell in love with the salad bar. Granted it is small, he says the potato salad, pasta salad, and coleslaw were all great additions! I had blackened shrimp both days. The first time on the combo dinner with fried scallops which were great. The second day blackened on the shrimp sandwich. We also tried the boda bang shrimp which was just spicy enough with a sweet touch also. Overall, service was fast and friendly. We would recommend. read more

I've been eating at Roy's since I was a kid. My family loves Roy's, it's staff and the owners Mrs Linda, Nikki and Ben. Roy's is a must when you're in the Hatch! read more

Great place on the river. I had the fried chicken and my wife ordered the soft shell crab sandwich. The chicken and salad bar was great! Wife could not even take one bit of the crab sandwich because it was the whole crab fried and put on a bun. It still looked like a crab. Duh, I told her that's exactly what she ordered. So I had to eat it and she begged me for the rest of my chicken. The sandwich was great along with the chowder. Would definitely go back! read more

Very clean restaurant with great service. Had the oyster sandwich it it was good. Doesn't appear they have any local seafood on the menu. They have Swai on the menu, I wouldn't expect this from a seafood restaurant on the water. This place would probably be excellent if you bring your own fish. read more

Slow service. Cold food. Long wait. Will not go back. They did not even act like they cared.

First of all, all of their seafood is frozen. The fish is rubbery. The shrimp is chewy. How are you so close to the river and have such awful seafood?? It's one step lower than Red Lobster! I took my father there for Father's Day and although half of the tables were empty, we had to wait ten minutes for a table. We ordered our food and hit the salad bar. Nothing spectacular here. But after about 25 minutes, our server came by and said there was a mixup of our order or a lost ticket or something. As a former server, I know what this means; the server forgot to put in the order. So then after another 25 minutes, I asked to speak to the manager. 5 minutes later, no manager in sight, I walk around looking for a manager because we were ready to get out of there. I found her, she apologized, and said the meal would be comped. Our dinner arrived and it was nasty. All of the seafood was clearly old and frozen. The baked potatoes weren't nearly cooked enough to be eaten. Neither of us finished our food. Then the server dropped the check with the full amount! I told her she needed to consult with the manager because this meal was comped. There's no way I was going to pay for that horrible experience and food. Will absolutely never go there again. (Updated to 2 stars because the meal was comped) read more

So, I've eaten here before and we decided to stop in before returning to Tallahassee. I wanted to see the reviews to see if anything changed since the last time I was here....which was out of this world! I saw a lot of 5 stars, and several 1 stars...most of which are around service. The service is great, but this is such a favorite spot for locals as well as people coming in to fish or scallop that it can get very busy. So, sorry for those who expect instant gratification. This place is worth the wait!!! This area is an awesome destination with only a few places to eat. Their salad bar is always fresh, and I had blackened Red Snapper....yumm, and you won't get it any fresher. It's not on the menu so ask for it. They may have some read more

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Excellent choice! Place was recommended by the RV park where we were staying. Not sure why only a 3 star overall. Service was great as our server was friendly, helpful and attentive. Food was amazing. It was served hot and presentation was perfect. The salad bar had an ample chouce of fresh fixings. The view was very nice as we watched boats come in and pelicans flying about. Absolutely recommend Roy's. read more

Roy's is a local haunt that dishes out fried seafood to tourists in Steinhatchee. I am an occasional tourist in Steinhatchee, and I happen to like fried seafood. In that regard, Roy's is A-ok in my book. Steinhatchee is a very small town on the gulf that gets busy for trout season and slammed for scalloping season. It's not the type of economy that's going to support 5-star dining, so I don't think it's fair to slam this for not having fresh beautifully prepared seafood. It's probably all frozen because it probably makes sense for it to be for 90% of the time that this place is open. To be honest, I had chicken tenders when I was here. They were pretty banging chicken tenders, and they were served hot enough to scorch approximately 85% of the surface area of my mouth. The salad bar is good. They have two huge bowls anchoring each end - 1 with iceberg lettuce and 1 with potato salad (!?). The interior rows are filled with veggies, cubed ham, olives, pasta and salads of different types. The view is awesome and the sunsets are amazing. There's a bar inside and live music outside. The prices are high, but face the facts - you are on vacation and in Florida. read more

This place can be great... or not. It is very hit or miss. We rented a place for 2 months here in Steinhatchee and have frequented this restaurant a number of times since we've been here. The first couple of visits were great. Food was delicious and the salad bar was great. Next couple of visits were not as good because we ordered soup (always good) and salad bar. Unfortunately, the salad bar was very picked over and there were just remnants of most the offerings in the bottom of the serving dishes. That was very disappointing. Will probably go again before we leave town, but I think I'll stick to the sandwiches which are good. They have great fried oysters here. The service isn't always very fast, although they have always been pleasant. We had to wait an hour one afternoon for our lunch because the kitchen was held up putting out a take-out order for 50 hamburgers! It's worth a visit though. Especially at sunset! read more

Cute place for lunch. Didn't make it for dinner as they close pretty early. We saw a lot of that in this small town. Excellent shrimp salad sandwich. Loved the views of the river. read more

This restaurant is very laid back and casual. We went with our 1 year old daughter and enjoyed our meal very much. We shared the seafood and corn chowder bowl, which was delicious. We also shared the seafood platter which included TONS of broiled seafood, the salad bar, and cheese grits. I also got a side baked potato. Given the amount of food, the price was very reasonable. Everything was delicious. Next time we are in the area, we will be back. read more

Roy's Restaurant - Seafood platter with TONS of broiled seafood. - Seafood Near Me - Steinhatchee, Florida

Okay. My wife and I found Steinhatchee by accident. Love this town. So much so we're buying a house here. That being said, we've eaten at three of the restaurants in this town (all of them good) and I keep coming back to Roy's. Great service and the best fish. Their salad bar is to die for. Given my consistent positive experiences here, I find some of the negative reviews perplexing to say the least. read more

I have never talked to an "owner" that was as rude as the one at this place! I was patron and just treated like I was dirt on the bottom of her shoe. I've never felt like that before. I will never come back! Food is simply not worth it! read more

Good experience here. My friends brought me here while staying at their place. Since Steinhatchee is a very rural area I am rating them a three star. I am phobic of salad bars and when I requested to change my order from salad bar to a cup of soup I was a very happy customer. I ordered the fried shrimp and they were cooked to perfection. Service was laid back, meaning slow but, I don't like to be constantly checked on either. If you want a quiet and laid back experience I would recommend you visit Roy's. read more

If nothing else the seafood is surely fresh - but why is everything fried?? It seems like a waste to ruin good, fresh seafood by frying it. The location can't be beat, we got to watch the sun set right over the water while waiting forever for our waitress to come and ask us if we wanted dessert or a check. While everyone was friendly, things could have moved more timely. We were told not to miss the pie - but it too was nothing to be excited about. I've had better at home or from the super market. Overall a bit of a disappointed after being built up by the natives. read more

As previous reviewers have said the best part about Roy's is the view and the service. Beautiful view of the mouth of the Steinhatchee River and the surrounding area. The waitress was very nice and the food came out quickly. That being said, the food is not bad, considering their specialty is fried seafood, which seems to be the way they do it in this area. I went with a local and had the fried mullet, which I would never think of trying anywhere else, and it was pretty good for fried fish and the portion was huge. Since there is not much else in the area, it is worth a try for the view alone. read more

Great place for family, groups or just a nice evening for two. The have a delicious salad bar. All you can eat. Everything is fresh and very clean. Great service. Price is good. read more

They cooked our scallops and served them several ways so that we could try our catch in a variety of ways. The service was great and the salad bar was so good that I am left craving a 2nd and 3rd trip. Hat's off to this restaurant providing good service and attention to its customers in the busy season of the year. Other restaurants in town were to busy to serve us. read more

Roy's Restaurant - Our catch cooked up by Roys - Seafood Near Me - Steinhatchee, Florida

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Fair warning about their grouper fingers: DO NOT get them broiled. Fried and they're tasty. Broiled and they're overcooked, dried out, and unappetizing. It's kind of painful to pay $25 for poorly cooked fish, a tiny side of okayish cheese grits, and a basic salad bar. My mom and I both ordered the grouper fingers. She ordered her fish fried. I had mine broiled. If it wasn't for the mediocre salad bar, I would have left hungry. We probably should have said something to our server before we paid, but she was so nice and very busy. Enough about the grouper fingers. On a different night I had a cup of their clam chowder. It's yummy. I would have eaten all of it, but my five year old daughter decided she like it better than her order of scallops. The scallops were a bit on the greasy side, but tasty. Our server on this night was super outgoing and very friendly. Roys is great for drinking a beer and looking out over the water and nice servers, but don't expect to get what you pay for when it come to the quality of your dinner. read more

Went to Roy's and had their Crab claw dinner. It comes with a salad bar and baked potato. Everything was excellent except for a few of the crab claws in be super tough. the salad bar was really good and then our potatoes were late to come so we do not even eat those. read more

The food was good, but the service was very slow. They are definitely understaffed, which we all know is a universal issues right now. The front of house staff was a bit cold, leaving us feeling less than welcome. Our waitress was very nice and kept apologizing for the long wait. Would give it another try in the future. read more

This was my first time at Roy's. We were excited to try some local seafood. We ordered a Captain's platter BROILED. We also had the clam chowder and onion rings. The clam chowder was nothing special. In fact it was bland and watery. (I would hate to speculate if it's canned soup.) It was at best mediocre. At $6 a bowl it was a waste of money. The salad bar looked unkept and not at all appetizing. We decided to pass on this one. When our Captain's platter arrived, it was FRIED. We ordered BROILED. We were honestly so hungry that we decided to eat instead of sending it back. The food was actually delicious and so were the onion rings I ordered. Overall our experience was ok. If they focus more on accuracy when ordering and on saving their clam chowder this place might get our business again. read more

Best part of this trip was the view. Roy's was recommended by a few people stating they had good seafood. The two fish items we had were good. Service was poor, even though restaurant was not crowded. Asked for real butter got cinnamon butter, sweet tea tasted old, pea salad bland. We were excited when they had a special on crab and corn chowder. Chowder was very watery and tasted like they added hot sauce to it. No crackers had to ask. No refills on tea. No tartar sauce for either fish entree, no rolls or biscuits. Prices were overblown for quality of food - absolutely! read more

Roy's posts their hours as open until 9. First night we stopped at 8:30 and were told they closed early due to being out of several items. On our third night we got there at 8:20 and they told us there kitchen was backed up and we're not taking any more parties however the restaurant was not crowded. This is a small tourist town and not a lot of options for dinner. We depend on the restaurants to be open for the hours they post. read more

Roy's is right on the gulf with nice, big windows looking out onto the water. Each window has a stained glass piece to add to the flavor of the restaurant. The menu is showing numerous appetizers as well as three soups (clam, corn and fish chowder). They serve full meals as well as sandwiches. Service is very good - everyone makes you feel like a "local". I don't think I would drive out-of-my-way to eat here again, however, if I were going to be in the area, it definitely would be worth stopping by and trying another entries. read more

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Being from Jacksonville, I've had good seafood and I've had great seafood and this was ok seafood. Pricey, average seafood but a gorgeous view of the sunset. Oh, but their potato salad was fantastic! read more

Roy's Restaurant - Sunset at Roy's. - Seafood Near Me - Steinhatchee, Florida

We chose this restaurant because of the view and the good reviews on google but once our food came we were not impressed. We got fried fish and it just wasn't good, no seasoning or flavor and seemed frozen. Our bill ended up being much more than we expected for a dinner. We left our table with all of our food still on our plates. Would not recommend. read more

Got there last night around 5:30, got greeted right away and had a table within 5 min. You must go early I be been told, to beat the crowds, their is basically like 4 places to eat in the whole town. Salad bar is really fresh and tasty. We ordered two seafood platters, one is enough for two people. Platters were good and service was friendly. Would return for sure , just like everything else in a small town, a little pricey but that is to expected. read more

The raw oysters were warm and the broiled flounder was cold. Over priced, way way over priced. My stuffed Flounder was stuffed with "krab ". For the price I paid that should NOT have been stuffed with fake crappy mixed with stouffers stuffing. Crap food, high prices. I managed restaurants for a long time and it's management 101 that on a gorgeous day on a weekend, you don't have a slower time. They had one waitress for the entire place and it was slammed at 3pm. Took forever to get our food, she tried hard and I give her credit. read more