Rodes Fresh & Fancy

Not sure what I ate here today.
I ordered Fish and Chips…
Menu stated it would be a variety of different kinds of fish.
(I found that odd)…
Well it all tasted like the same kind, very soft fish little taste, a lot like Swai.
(not what I would order).
This was a very sad experience at a so called seafood restaurant…

Wish I’d read the Unilocal reviews before we wasted one of our dining experiences on vacation in Florida… Appetizer overcooked to nearly burned, TOO LONG wait for our entrees, my entrée tasted so awful I couldn’t eat it…
I wondered why at dinner hour on «all you can eat shrimp night» there were only about 7 tables of people, the rest of the large dining room was empty. Now I know why…
Ordered calamari appetizer. Instead of being light golden like calamari should be, it was dark brown — overcooked to on the edge of burned. The marinara sauce with it had been microwaved and when my husband ate first piece of calamari, burned his mouth because it was so outrageously hot.
Really liked our waitress, she was very nice. Food is brought to table by young Latino boys who look about 14 who just sort of drop it off and dash — no asking if we needed anything or such.
Waited 15 – 20 minutes after we finished our appetizer before our meals came, which was especially ridiculous because the place had so few tables of customers. Started joking about them being in a boat on the ocean, trying to net our shrimp and scallops while we waited at the restaurant.
My grilled sea scallops (about $ 22 – 24) were so soaked in cheap oil that when I tried to eat each of them, I had a horrible taste in my mouth from the cheap oil they were dripping with (it pooled up in the bottom of the dish they were served in). I eventually tried to use my napkin to squish them with, hoping it would absorb the oily yuck, but the taste was still in the scallops. Vegetable was supposed to be a medley of zucchini, etc — but asparagus was what came, which is fine, I like that too, but was expecting what I was informed was the vegetable that day.
As I said, we liked our waitress, and she was kind enough to take my dish of uneaten scallops to the kitchen and asked what happened with all the oil. She offered to have them grill more for me, which was very nice. The explanation from the kitchen was they may have just brushed the grill with oil before cooking them. I don’t know… but let me tell ya, that oil was disgusting tasting. The waitress deducted 10% from our bill because the scallops were so disappointing, which was awesome of her.
If I were rating the waitress, I’d give her a lot more stars than I give this restaurant. Badly cooked appetizer, took way too long to get our entrees, and my entrée was inedible.

New farmers market with fresh produce, local honey, essential oils, BBQ. Indoor market has key lime pies, seafood market, fresh breads, fresh orange juice and more. Super easy parking.

My girlfriend and I wanted a new place to try so we decided here. Everything was amazing. Tyler, our server was awesome and has great recommendations. The theme is 90s fish house. I had the clam chowder and peel and eat shrimp which were amazing. Great and laid back place to go!!!

Don’t really understand all the negative reviews. Had a great lunch a week ago on our way down as we did last year and it was great. Went tonight on the first Friday of Lent. Expected the worst based on the posts and it was quite the opposite! Wait was reasonable, had a drink at the bar while chatting with some locals, got seated in a booth for the three of us, our waitress Nancy appeared promptly. She was extremely helpful, two of us had fried shrimp, one had fried grouper. Food came out fairly quick and was superb. Did I mention it was packed and a lot of locals eating. Total time from walking in the door until leaving was less than 1 ½ hours and we enjoyed ourselves the whole time. Will definitely recommend it and be back. Don’t do a lot of reviews on Unilocal but thought the criticism was not fair and almost didn’t go but really happy we ignored all the negative reviews and gave them a chance.

We visited on a Saturday night and ate in the bar. The service was extremely poor. My salad came 10 minutes after the main course. The waitress barely checked on us. There was lots of staff standing around but no one attending to the customers. The soup and shrimp were very average. It was a disappointment.

Reviews are right. This great place has become absurd with very uneven service and a long wait for bill. 2:10 for a grouper sandwich. Food is still good, but my blackened grouper was half grilled and half blackened. One of our group couldn’t eat the oysters. Sad.

Mediocre experience. Best advice: make sure you have a few hours to kill and good company when coming here! We had the table right next to the kitchen and could definitely see a lack of order in the kitchen which probably accounted for the hour wait on our food. The food also was not as good as we had hoped. If you’re used to fried everything and tons of oil in your food then it may not be as bad. Appetizers– calamari, shrimp, and grouper. All fried, still ok. Ambiance was medium-​loud and much like a fish shack which is good for a fun night out.

After 2 weeks in Bonita, we made out 4^th and LAST visit to Rodes. Always a regular for that last 12 years. Tonight we were so turned off by the service, that this will be out last!
We purposely arrived early to beat the crowds. No one else was there when we arrived. We opted to order snapper, swordfish. Guess they had to catch it. Salads arrived right away, bread was warm and tasty. But 45 min later, our dinners weren’t served. All around us others were seated and eating entrees already. After 30 min our waiter said it coming… it was 15 mins later that it showed up.
No one, including the manager had anything to say except sorry they got slammed. Mmm that was what we were trying to avoid by being first.
My advise to you is forget about it… this place isn’t worth the wait. There are plenty of other choices. I’d rather patronize a place that cares.

Worst meal and service I’ve had in years. 20 minutes to take order, brought clam instead of fish chowder, captains platter had 3 shrimp 3 scallops and a piece of fish for $ 30. Forgot our drinks, brought beer instead of iced tea, brought 5 rolls for 7 people to share, no butter for rolls, finally got 5 butter pads for 2 cold potatoes. Potatoes came 10 minutes after main course. Brought grilled platter instead of fried as ordered. Complained about all of the above and the manager knocked off $ 2 from our bill. Waitress said the place was under new management. My guess they won’t survive another 6 months. In a word, pathetic.

We made reservations for Thanksgiving dinner as my family is up North and my boyfriend doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. We arrived and were seated 10 minutes before our reservation at 6pm. We sat there for over 10 minutes waiting for someone to acknowledge us or make eye contact. There was a table that was sat next to us about 5 minutes after we were seated and they were greeted and served their drinks and we still didn’t have anyone pay us any attention. I’m a server and am highly disappointed with the servers here not one of them was looking around paying attention to anything other than the floor. I wish I had paid attention the the Unilocal posts and not bothered with this place as now I won’t be having Thanksgiving dinner thanks to these «servers».

Wish we had looked at Unilocal before going in there! Learn the hard way! Food is so overpriced! We ended up ordering from the appetizers section.
Food was good but not spectacular for the over blown prices.
Service was ok.
Won’t be returning.

The shrimp was absolutely the best I had while I was in Florida and second place wasn’t even close. I would have rated this higher but the service was absolutely appalling! We came in late afternoon after fishing all morning and were starving. The place was almost empty but it took forever to get drinks then another eternity to place our orders. I was in favor of leaving but the rest of our party wanted to give them a chance so we stayed. If you have plenty of time then I would recommend it as our food was simple but delicious. The Grouper sandwich is huge and very tasty. Just leave yourself PLENTY of time!

Went here for lunch a few days ago at the end of May (definitely the off season in this area).
The waiter was friendly but not pushy, drinks were refilled quickly, and the food was pretty solid. I had the salmon salad (one of the lunch specials) and we all split a piece of key lime pie for dessert. The key lime pie was pretty good, though I’ve had others I liked better in this area. Still good overall, and excellent service when you are one of only 3 parties in the restaurant.

Selling farmed Atlantic salmon is inexcusable and shocking … If you don’t know about the consequences then please read this:
Your supporting the killing of wild salmon, the death of sea lions and birds, contributing to the infiltration of sea lice parasites in all fish and stealing money from the pockets of local fishermen and their families.
Selling New Zealand salmon in the same case it atrocious. Your own country sells beautiful wild alaskan salmon and your choosing to be unamerican by selling fish from the other side of the planet-​carbon footprint anyone?
Shame.

Same rating stands after another experience (someone else chose the restaurant). The seafood was so-​so and the sides were fairly terrible – the worst offense being the bland, overcooked «vegetable medley» side. There wasn’t even an option to substitute – they just stuck it on every plate. It’s the kind of thing that makes people think they hate vegetables. And also, still massively overpriced. Honestly not sure how this place is still in business.
Giving 2 stars vs 1 only because service was very good and the people helping our table were lovely.

The fish was good. The waitress was nice. Hence the two stars
The place is oddly laid out. You enter through the bar, but the dining room is separate through a doorway.
It is bright as a beach with ten or more garish fans whirling distractingly over head. There is a high shelf with a collection of objects from Incan masks to a popcorn can.
Booths run down the middle and tables and chairs around the edge.
The bread was warm dense and not very yeasty. The salad was run of the mill. The swordfish was good but small for the price. The fish bites were good. The veg were either canned or cooked to taste like it. The beans and rice very good.
I will probably never go back.

Went to rodes for our second visit last night. I had the New England clam chowder, it was definitely a «stick to your ribs» type of soup. It wasn’t my favorite clam chowder that I’ve found in the area. If you love being overloaded with clams, I’m sure you would like it. I also ordered the ahi tuna appetizer which was alright, the presentation could’ve been done better. The best thing about rodes is the market that’s connected to the restaurant. Do not leave without purchasing some of the sun citrus harvest orange juice or strawberry orange juice. It is the best juice I have ever had. They also have really great key lime pie.

This is an updated review. We ate here last night and sat at the bar. My wife had the grouper fingers and I had the grouper sandwich. The fish itself was good but a couple complaints. No condiments came. I had to ask for cocktail sauce. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t know many people that get a fish sandwich without tarter or cocktail. You really shouldn’t have to ask. Then when I did come it was about a tablespoon of cocktail. So then I had a bone in my fish. I didn’t say anything because I know it can happen. Also my coleslaw never came. Sorry but I expect more when I’m paying $ 17 for a sandwich. So overall I have to rate Rodes 3 stars based on service, food, and atmosphere

Only good for early bird specials.
Food is good, but prices way too high, esp for a casual eatery like this. Fried cat fish all you can eat was a light breading. Salmon was good, not fishy tasting. Green beans were fresh and tasty.
Service friendly but messed up the order.
Gift shop and seafood market attached.