Sam's St Johns Seafood of Ocala

We've been coming here a number of times over the years. Really enjoyed the food so last year we had a chance to purchase their gift cards on Black Friday you buy a $50 gift card and get a $25 gift card free. So I purchased $150 in gift cards, and got $75 and free gift cards. They said that they never expire which was awesome which is why I purchased a large quantity because we planned on going back often. Well things have come up and we have not made it as much as we had planned. we went in to order yesterday only to find out that they no longer honor half the gift cards that we were given, saying they were only good for 90 days. That's not the stipulation we got when we purchased them so now we're out $75 in the free gift cards. This is horrible business practice, and once I use my pre-purchase gift cards we will not be coming back here again unless this is rectified. the manager started that she cannot do anything about it. I got the number for the owner and he has not returned my call. A very sad way to treat your customers

Delicious, fresh seafood served by friendly staff at a reasonable price. I love this place!

Food was awful. Sea Food and no Melted. butter? They use melted margarine which is one molecule away from plastic. Fried scallops were actually breaded scallops that were baked. My steak was drowned in Worcestershire sauce. The lobster was as good as it could be without melted butter. The green beans taste like they came out if I can with smoked flavoring. Rice was like out of a box. But on a lighter note the cheese grits were pretty good and the hush puppies were decent.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 2

Came in and I now forget the younger girl with curly hair name she was our waitress and was great. She was tentative and kept up with us. The food was all over the place. The chicken tenders were bland and close to being overcooked but the crab cakes were good. We got crab legs to share and those were good and good crack not soggy and soft. My husband got catfish and he said it was good. The sides were loaded with flavor though. The gator tail app was good and tender.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5

Great food. Diner like atmosphere. Server and hostess aren’t the friendliest of people. But still a good place for some great seafood. The buffalo Fried Shrimp was awesome! Nice and saucy!! I do recommend for great food!!

Parking: Gets busy pretty quick.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Visited about 1 week ago and I was highly disappointed. My husband and I tried this spot out for the first time and the hushpuppies tasted like someone made coleslaw and then the hushpuppies without changing their gloves. I have a sensitive taste to foods I don't like which was the coleslaw. We had it as a starter and then 2 were on my entree. The two that were plated were perfect with taste versus the coleslaw infused puppies prior. I ordered buffalo shrimp that tasted like straight Tabasco hot sauce. I then ordered fried shrimp and some of the shrimp was undercooked and no seasoning was used. We used to visit their Summerfield location and learned that the location has closed down. Dining there was always a hit and I'm not interested in visiting this Ocala location again. No pictures because the food was looking a hot mess presentation wise.

Stuffed mushrooms don't even know what they were stuffed with but wasn't crab...menu by oz was just stupid...won't be back

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

I give three across the board we had a new waitress for one sorry but someone needs to help train her to keep up with service especially when there is only 20 people total in the entire place 2nd the food was mediocre at best had a giant hunk of ham fat in my baked beans once removed the bean bowl was almost empty the scallops tasted like they were boiled with hardly any flavor we like ours to at least taste like butter the catfish that was thin sliced was cooked correctly the fat filets were mooshy and I'm guessing the price of eggs and bread got so high when you come in they give you some kinda crab or shrimp dip and crackers no rolls. FYI THE DIP WAS THE MOST FLAVORFUL PART OF OUR TWO MEALS! SORRY ITS TRUE!!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Very good food. The staff was short that day, but did a great job keeping up with everyone. I definitely will go there again.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 4

I was sat near sever door, as it swung open there was a girl standing at the food prep counter, she did not have gloves on and had her hands on the food, she also took fries off a plate before it was taken out to a table. very disgusting

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 2

Went to dinner Jan. 25th At Sam's in Ocala. My wife ordered scallops and i ordered fish an grits. The wife's food came out ok, my fish was cold, i tried a bite and it was like chewing rubber, so i thought well maybe it was just that bite so i tried another bite, cold. We ate our meals and the waitress never came back to check on us. When she brought our check i told her the fish was cold, and she said "do you want another", I said no, we have finished our meal, she handed me the check and said have a nice night, turned around and left. When we checked out after paying i told the cashier the fish had been cold and the waitress never came back to check on us, and left.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1

Hadn’t been here in a couple of years but was in the area so I popped in for dinner… the fried shrimp platter was amazing!! The hostess was rude to quite a few people and the server, although friendly, never came back once food was dropped off…

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Clam Strips, Cheese Grits

The food was cold!!!

Horrible experience. Won't go back!
I made the mistake of asking for a booth instead of a table on a Monday night.
Our server (Beth, the Manager) didn't appreciate that. She was unpleasant from her first interaction with us. It only got worse when my platter for one arrived to the table room temperature. I didn't want to eat room temperature fried oysters, so I asked them to fix it. They didn't want to fix it but they did drop my seafood back into the grease and re-fry it until it was dark, hard and extra crunchy. I didn't want to eat that either so I asked that my meal be remade. I then changed my mind and decided to just cancel my order. I've never done that before but I've also never had service that screamed leave now and never come back. I went to Wendy's. It wasn't what I originally wanted to eat, but it felt safe! We paid $119.00 for three appetizers, three sweet teas and two half eaten meals. When we got home both my husband and my son had severe stomach issues from their meals. I'm glad I listened to my gut instinct and ate a Wendy's burger. Most people know that every restaurant will occasionally have a bad night where nothing goes right. Great management knows how to treat customers even on those bad nights. This isn't one of those restaurants.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 1

I went here about 11 or 12 years ago and never went back and couldn't remember why until tonight when I revisited.. I didn't even fully make it to my car before purging.. (sorry winn Dixie parking lot people)

My grand baby who normally eats anything wouldn't even touch her food so that should have been red flag 1..
I ordered crab claws and it wasn't what I was expecting. They also served my table their food and I had to wait on mine because supposedly the wrong order got put in. They were tiny slivers of with barely any meat that was fried. The Mac n cheese was $1 box from a grocery store, I was expecting it to be "home style" not white trash style especially because they up-charge for it.

The waitress was on top of refills for my husband's drinks but not me...maybe she just didn't notice my empty glass..

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1