Rhett’s River Grill & Raw Bar

Great food, good service. Tasty seafood dishes and a kid’s meal with shrimp. Not ordinary.

We had a great dinner at Rhett’s! I loved my shrimp sampler platter and hubby really liked the catfish! Our server, Lynda, was awesome! We’ll be back!

It was me and my boyfriend’s first time at Rhett’s and we had a very good margarita. They have a daily happy hour on their house margarita and rail drinks and bottled beer.

I went to Rhett’s for lunch on a weekday. I had a little over an hour to kill in-​between appointments and over my lunch hour so I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and have lunch and get some work done. My server was great. I told him I needed wi-​fi and a quiet space where I could work on my laptop. He found me a quiet spot and took my order and respected my time by not interrupting often, but only to refill my drink.
I had a small caprese salad with grilled salmon and it was delicious. The salmon was grilled and seasoned perfectly. The small salad was definitely large enough for a lunch entrée. I was surprised by how crowded the restaurant became for lunch, especially on a Thursday afternoon. They have a HUGE menu, so many choices to choose from and probably 20 different types of sandwiches. I’ll go back next time for dinner and try their raw bar.

I have never had a bad meal, nor bad service at Rhetts.

Their crab bisque is the go to. Haven’t tried much beyond that. I don’t go there often but don’t have many complaints when I do. Next time I’ll be a little more adventurous.

We just left Foxfield and didn’t want to go anywhere too crowded cause we were hungover. Stopped here on our way home and was not disappointed. The service was excellent. Crushed ice in the drinks. Big menus. I got the burger and side salad and was delicious. Friends got salmon and crab Benedict. Lots of rave review for the crab but both good. Solid choice to stop

The absolute best duck entrée I have ever enjoyed – perfectly prepared, and lightly sautéed.
My wife, likewise, had an exquisitely prepared salmon dish – void of the typical strong salmon flavor presented at other wannabe restaurants.
Last, but not least, was the Bananas Foster – an absolute must-​have! Save room for this tasty and uniquely-​prepared, palate-​pleasing work-​of-​art!
A special shout-​out to Lynda (our server)…she made our dining experience extremely enjoyable. She was very attentive and friendly while giving us time to enjoy our dining experience!

We arrived 1.5 hours before closing, so it was empty. Our server was nice and polite, atmosphere was random items on the wall with a sea theme. Huge menu, four pages long, known for seafood. The bathrooms are clean. Parking is free, but there are no lamp posts.
My husband ordered the pork shank special with Brussels sprouts and porcini mushrooms plus mashed potatoes. I ordered the shrimp feast that comes with three types of shrimp– coconut fried shrimp, scampi, and a butter sauce style Italian shrimp. I was hungry so I forgot to count the # of shrimp, but for the cost, it’s worth it. I took three home. The shrimp feast comes with grilled asparagus and Jasmine rice – they were okay sides. The prices are a little high, but the shrimp feast is worth the price, pork shank special as well. The pork shank had a great presentation and my husband brought home leftovers!

Very good food and service… My favorite 1 ½ lbs crab legs for $ 28…
Not to mention their selection of seafood is wonderful…
Besides that they do have chicken & duck on the menu…

I was with a friend taking a break from a event. This place was across from the venue and had decent reviews. It wasn’t my favorite place. We arrived near 430 and the host said that they would not be able to serve dinner, which starts at 5pm, and asked if we would order of the appetizer menu. The food was mediocre, fried, and meh. I had the soup, fish and chips, oysters rockafeller… nothing really stuck out to me. I wouldn’t go back…

No crab on all-​you-​can-​eat crab night at 7 pm. Cannot give less than one star. Can you say «bait and switch»… Jon

Been here a few times. Love the She Crab soup. The best I’ve ever had. Oyster Rockefeller was disappointing and I could not finish them. I like the salads and the atmosphere. The staff are trained and friendly. 3.5 stars would really be my rating.

Stopped off in C’ville to see my son and his girlfriend and he suggested Rhett’s. Man, what a great choice. Easy to find, and super friendly staff. We were there for lunch, so perusing the lunch menu, they had plenty to offer. I had a cup of the She Crab Soup and the Fish Tacos with Seasoned Tuna. First, the Soup was DELICIOUS! Lots of large chunks of real crab, and the seasoning can’t be beat. Likely one of the best She Crab Soups I have had, and being from a seaside community, I feel that’s saying something. As for the entrée’, also TERRIFIC! They provide you with a meal-​sized tuna fillet split between two soft shell tacos with fresh salsa, and a little bit of spice I honestly couldn’t identify, but enjoyed immensely. The side of slaw was also very tasty. I know that when we go to visit, this could be a regular spot because they already loved it, and his recommendation has made me a fan!!!

Used to be my favorite restaurant in Charlottesvile. However, the last 2 times I have come here, specifically to get oysters, they have been sold out of oysters. It is always blamed on the Thursday night special of half-​price oysters.
Not sure why this inventory problem can’t be foreseen and solved by now.
The menu is very complicated with certain items being available on certain days at certain times. They will not make even the simplest of exceptions.
They routinely offer living social deals but the wait staff never seems happy to honor them.
It is one of the most expensive restaurants in Charlottesville but for no good reason that I can think of.
Goodbye, Rhett.

Took a chance and stopped here en route and are glad we did. The service was friendly and good. Enjoyed the crab Eggs Benedict, accompanying hash browns and slice of watermelon & pineapple. Hubby enjoyed the bacon. We could’ve used a little more hollandaise sauce, but otherwise delicious!

I have passed by Rhett’s while driving back and forth from Lynchburg, Since I usually stop in Charlottesville, I decided to give Rhett’s a try. I was somewhat apprehensive since the place didn’t seem too busy at 5pm in the afternoon on a Saturday. I decided to give it a try anyway.
Once inside, the hostess asked if we had a reservation. The place was nearly empty so this was puzzling. The hostess then explained the restaurant was anticipating a rush since it was following UVA commencement. After some wrangling. the hostess seated us. While we were there, the rush never materialized. O.K.
We were greeted by a friendly young woman who was very helpful in explaining the menu choices and offering recommendations. I opted for the shrimp platter with coconut, steamed and sautéed shrimp. Although the shrimp wasn’t exactly plentiful, they were very fresh and meaty. Very good, especially since Charlottesville isn’t exactly close to the ocean. The menu is a good mix of seafood, steaks and Southern classic comfort food that is sometimes hard to find in this area.
The restaurant offers a clean and pleasant atmosphere — a very cozy hideaway location that seems a little out of place in a somewhat generic looking strip mall.
All said, I enjoyed my Rhett’s experience.

This is our 2^nd time going here over the past few years. I’d say the menu is hit/​miss in terms of quality. One of the initial red flags for us was the large number of menu items. In my experience, places that have 40+ options just do everything mediocre. I would prefer a menu that has 10 – 15 things done exceptionally well!
The atmosphere is good. Nice and clean. The servers and staff were all very friendly and helpful.
Regarding the food, we were not impressed. The appetizers we ordered were steamed shrimp and mussels. The steamed shrimp were good but the mussels came out COLD and were in a broth that didn’t have much flavor.
The kids ordered child’s linguini, which I thought $ 10 was robbery. They added scallops to the meal for $ 8 which were tasty.
My wife ordered the filet mignon special and it was not good. They cut a filet in ½ and served it with risotto piled on top so much you could barely see it. Not good presentation and not the way a filet should be prepared.
I ordered the tuna filet special, which had a good tasting pineapple salsa on top, but the problem was the whole plate (rice, tuna, edamame) was stone cold. The kitchen needs to time things better so things aren’t sitting for a long time in the back!
To top it off, the meal price was $ 170 which is far too expensive for this place!
In this day and age, I’d try someplace else that has better reviews on Unilocal.We didn’t heed the warnings of a 3 star review when coming here, but lesson learned!

Wife and I had lunch here on a Friday after the rush… like 2:00 to 2:30 ish.
The server was good, but a little abrupt and fast talking. The kitchen speed was a bit slow as at least one other reviewer mentioned. Our server was doing everything he could to expedite and had his eye on the kitchen the whole time so it was not his fault.
We were very happy with our food. I had a half dozen oysters raw. You can’t mess that up, although I thought the chef was supposed to release the oysters form the shell for ease of eating. These were still attached. Perhaps they leave them attached for «proof of life» so you know they are not staged out of a jar on shells they didn’t belong with. I am familiar with shucking so I had no problem dealing with it.
We shared a special app. Fried green tomatoes with a creole sauce topped with crab meat. The fried tomatoes were good and the creole sauce was an interesting take, but crab meat gets lost in that type of flavor profile. It sounds fancy but using crab in that way should be re-​thought by the chef. I ate my shared portion by separating the crab form the rest of the dish so I could taste it.
Wife had the shrimp po-​boy. She said the shrimp was cooked perfectly which is actually hard to find in a sandwich serving at a lot of places. She was very happy with the sandwich.
I had the grilled cheese. Can’t remember the exact menu name but it had like 4 cheeses, tomato and bacon on it. It was very good.
We chose the fries with our sandwiches. Their fries are very good, double battered, seasoned fries. We took half of our sandwiches and fries home for dinner because we were so full after this good meal.
Had to give four stars because all of our selections were very good and our server was hard working. If only the kitchen were faster and the lighting was better (very dark… I like to see my food) I could have given five stars for a near perfect lunch on this day.

Not exceptional but not terrible either, Rhett’s River Grill is, at its worst, merely okay and at its best average.
My girlfriend and I came for their brunch last Sunday after taking advantage of a Living Social Deal ($ 15 for $ 30). Not knowing how crowded it was for brunch on a Sunday, I made a reservation for the (albeit late) time of 12:30pm using OpenTable. Turns out we didn’t need to worry as the place was half empty when we arrived (they also didn’t receive our reservation, not good for a 2014 OpenTable Diners’ Choice award winner that prominently features the badge on its website). After clearing off the table we were seated in a booth in the back. The restaurant has a nautical theme, with low lighting and a spacious interior, as well as patio seating outside.
We started our brunch with an order of the Fried Green Tomatoes (a little steep at $ 8). They were delicious — breaded and fried with a delicious sauce on top. Next were the two brunch items we ordered, Lump Crab Meat Benedict ($ 13) and the «Hangtown Fry» ($ 15). Both dishes were delicious, but it was a strange combination of food we got on our plate. The Lump Crab Meat dish featured a poached egg and crab meet on top of an English Muffin, along with bacon, hash browns, a piece of cantaloupe, and a piece of pineapple. The dish was pretty good (especially the bacon) but as you can see from the picture it was a weird assortment of food on the plate, and they skimped a bit on the portion sizes. The same observation holds true for the «Hangtown Fry,» which was a bacon omelet with fried oysters on top (not cooked in or anything) along with two sausage patties (too dry), hash browns, a piece of pineapple, and a muffin. Is the fruit supposed to be a garnish? Why is the serving sizes so small, especially for brunch? Very confusing dish combinations.
Overall, we only had an average experience. We were also the youngest people there, as Rhett’s seems to attract the older church crowd. I do want to mention our server, Greg, was fantastic and very personable, even though he was severely overworked. It seemed the kitchen was slow getting the food out. There are far better brunch places to go to in Charlottesville — only come here for the seafood.