clark's fish camp

just read the lowest reviews and look at the dates… the place is rapidly going downhill. there are no replies to thebadreviews, they don’t care.

satisfying past-disappointed now. my family went to clark's for my husbands birthday dinner. arrived early so it wasn't very crowded. my husband and i have been many times in the past and have enjoyed looking at the different animals. when my son was young, he was in awe at all the exotic animals. at 18, he was less than enthused to see "stuffed" animals staring at us from every direction. he said it made him feel guilty for eating there. i was looking forward to having broiled scallops but was told by the waitress that because i was ordering the scallop "basket", it had to come fried. that was disappointing that the cook wouldn't throw them under the broiler. my efforts to eat healthier went out the window when that big plastic basket of fried food arrived. my husband ordered the jamaican jerk shrimp skewers. they forgot his fries. he thought being a jerk recipe, it would be a rub perhaps allowed to marinate before grilling, instead it was just a jamaican spice sprinkled on the mere 10 medium sized shrimp. needless to say, he ended up eating some of my son's food as well as mine. my son had breaded chicken planks that were way overcooked. some parts were inedible because he just couldn't chew them, they were so tough. the waitress was nice enough but we waited way too long to receive our check. there was only one table of about 8 people next to us and by the time we left about 5 other tables filled up, mainly couples. not enough reason to keep us waiting for so long. as far out and remote as this place is, i think we'll choose a closer resturant with better quality food. by the way, she told us the "cook" was the one who brought out my husband's fries. he must've been 19 yrs old, if that. guess he had a problem with broiling scallops if you ordered them in a basket instead of a platter. i chose to go with the basket because i knew the platter would be way too much food, so, mybad(and it was). next time if we're going to drive out of our way, we'll head to trent's on the westside.

great food. if you want a great meal at a fantastic place, check out this restaurant. there is something for everyone. i love to check out local places when i visit a new place.i'm very picky when it comes to restaurants and food. i can honestly say that the food is great, terrific service and beautiful decor with the taxidermy specimens. if you miss clark's while you are in jacksonville, you will regret it. whoever is saying they hadbadservice and poor food must have gone somewhere else , maybe long john silvers?

a fish camp that does not offer fresh fish?! need i say more? we ate here on a saturday, no wait, great waitress,badfood. every single thing on their menu is frozen. i asked our waitress what their fresh catch was and she said we don't have one. very sad.

some of the nastiest food in the first coast.. first let me preface this by saying i love seafood. it is my favorite type of food, hands down. i am also not a spring chicken. not elderly in the least, but i say all this to say that i've had my share of good,badand mediocre seafood in my lifetime. my husband and i had been looking for a good seafood spot and he has a pal that said clark's fish camp was good. we should have asked about the last time this friend had been there, because come to find out much later, it had been years ago.

my husband orders our food and brings home carry-out. when i tell you i opened the box and wanted to scream, i mean that emphatically. the strong odor of decayed fish hit my nostrils and singed my nose hairs until they burnt to a crisp and fell upon the open container like sprinkled pepper (that was probably an improvement to the meal). the seafood platter looked like something that had been sitting out in the blazing sun for three days and three nights. the soft shell crab was deflated like some dark orange balloon at a party that had been had about a week previous. now how the heck can an animal with a hard shell look soft and deflated? well, clark's fish camp managed to pull it off! now, let' get to the bake potato...

that thing was black as tar, skinny as a cigarette and old as the book of genesis. i could not believe my eyes. it was money down the drain. the shrimp were not de-veined, notta one of them, and they too looked to be part of some seafood contest to see how many times they could be re-deep fried before someone called uncle. that mess went promptly in my trashcan. my trashcan hollered out to me that it didn't deserve that sort of abuse, and would protest. i felt sorry for the receptacle, removed the items and took them out the garage where they would not smell up my house as badly.

all jokes aside (though i'm serious) my husband said the place stunk, was filthy and he is surprised the health department hadn't closed it down. clark's fish camp should be renamed clark's fail den, because this was a big fail, a stinky fail, an over-priced mess fail, an old food served all day every day fail, a listen to these reviews because they are true fail. get it together, clark! band camp is cooler than you! (((cuing trumpet funeral music)))

long wait with open tables andbadservice, but good food.

bad, verybadimho. you know it'sbadwhen ... you have to file a complaint with the florida division of hotels and restaurants. i have been a fan of clark's for many years, but now i feel very different. i made three attempts to resolve thebadexperience i had saturday with no results from clark's. i did not feel comfortable causing a scene with business guests (yes i would consider having my meat weighed as proof and then being replaced due to poor quality to be causing a scene, which i refused to do) so i quietly brought the food home in a box and promptly emailed clark's the following day, and i emailed again the day after that. two emails were not returned, and a call to a 'manager' today did nothing to address my concerns over prime rib of beef inedibly tough inside and dried beyond beef jerky on the outside of an end cut. i did not request an end cut, and a medium rare rib roast should not be so tough that a serrated knife won't go through it without brute force. i think a chainsaw would have been more appropriate. worse still, noticing that the beef seemed about the size of some steaks i have cooked, i brought it home and weighed it on my kitchen scale at an estimated 25 ounces, not the 56 ounces (3.5 lbs) declared on the menu. now, i may be off by a few ounces, but 25 ounces is a long way from 56 ounces. according to the menu, "think you are a big eater, try the jack's cut prime rib which weigh's [sic] in at a hefty 3.5 pounds of bone in prime rib of beef. and no, it's not free if you finish it." i paid $29.95 plus tax and tip for what probably was the worst piece of meat i ever have tried (and failed) to eat, and i estimate it to have been around 25 ounces not 56. not good in my opinion. the menu also says, "our appetizers are huge, gargantuan, and filling. some people think they are a meal in themselves." i don't consider the 7 small nuggets of fried alligator we got "gargantuan" or even close to it. the $9.95 price and the statement on the menu just don't match up with 7 small nuggets in my opinion. to make matters worse, instead of adjusting the bill or making any sort of gesture of good will, the manager told me on the phone today that there was nothing he could do. he wasn't even apologetic in my opinion, just sort of arrogant and condescending i think. the problems with the beef rib, the statements on the menu vs. what we actually got, and then speaking to this unhelpful 'manager' mean that i will never, ever go back again. i gave them three opportunities to make some sort of gesture of good will or attempt to make the situation right, and they refused to do anything. hope you don't have the same experience. where's the beef?

more emphasis on atmosphere rather than food. i was really eager to sample some of the exotic offerings from the fish camp. quail, rabbit, and alligator were some of those options. we tried the "gator eggs." they are quail eggs wrapped with gator sausage and fried. the sausage was overpowering and very salty. my wife requested rabbit, but unfortunately they have discontinued it for reasons unknown. the charbroiled quail was decent. i had the etoufee. it was a generous portion but lacked some of the exotic flavors i expected. the crawfish and shrimp seemed fresh.

the one thing that kills it for me is it seems as though this establishment relies heavily on its décor to bring people in. that being said, they should make sure its clean. the whole place seems dirty. a walk past the kitchen reveals an even better glimpse on how clean the place is. is not. if you're going to let people walk past your kitchen, make sure what they see is clean. if what i can see isn't, than i can only expect that it gets worse for what i can't see.

our food was decent, but not exactly up to par for the price paid. the service was moderate to fair. being that gratuity is automatically added to the bill, it didn't seem as though the service was willing to go above and beyond... but it wasn'tbadservice either.

if there were an undecided or middle of the road rating, i would vote that way. i wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again, but i wouldn't avoid it either.

clark's fish camp is one of those places that is so overdone and so divey, teeter tottering on the verge of tacky and just plain creepy but somehow - you love it. nestled among a random neighborhood in the swamp grounds of mandarin, clark's a.k.a "the people's place" is a seafood shack on the water serving everything from good ol' fried shrimp to the more outlandish meals like charred ostrich and fried antelope. to view their crazy menu click here you know you're in for something different when you're greeted with a giant stuffed giraffe (how?) and a fish tank that holds the infamous lilly the alligator. if you can think of an animal to be stuffed, it's probably here. we started off with the broccoli cheddar cheese poppers which where golden fried balls of cheesy goodness. they were sobadthat they were good. i could tell they probably used velveeta for the filling but it actually tasted pretty good dipped in their ranch dipping sauce. for his birthday my dad alwayyyys wants a stream

try somewhere else. simply not worth the money and time. i heard all about clark's from some of my coworkers in jacksonville. driving up to the place, i felt like i had chosen the right place for dinner. the parking lot was packed and i could see a line of people outside waiting. walking into the place i saw a small gator in the marsh right outside....very cool to me, as i am from south texas and don't see gators often. walking inside was overwhelming. lots of stuff inside. fish tanks with baby gators and cool looking fish...lots of stuffed exotic animals...too many. very tacky decor, but almost charming. the wait for a table is 30 min, which to me was great for as many people that were there. i had a good feeling early into my dining experience. when we are seated i immediately notice that there are many empty tables. i almost couldn't believe it, as there were so many people waiting for seats in the bar area and outside.
our waiter came by and got our drink orders, but when i tried to ask him about an appetizer on the menu, he acted uncomfortable, as if he was in a hurry to get back to something else. i realized he was slammed. i knew why so many people were waiting. they were completely under staffed. he finally made it back and i asked him to tell me about their crawfish. he said,"what do you wanna know about 'em"? i almost laughed and asked,"are they frozen or fresh"? he says they are frozen (bad sign). i order the raw oysters. my buddy asks how the stuffed flounder is. he says its not very good. says it comes pre-stuffed and frozen (anotherbadsign). i then ask how the jambalaya is. says its ok but i want something like that, i should go for the gumbo (bad sign). i order blackened jumbo shrimp.
the oysters come and are great. small but tasty and seem fresh. the shrimp come out and are nowhere near jumbo. and the were rubber. obviously frozen and terrible. my buddy ordered mahi mahi and i tried it.....dry and awful.

this restaurant looks like its a tourist trap. it's such a good location and seems like its had better days. i would have been embarrassed to serve that junk if i was our waiter. i wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

offensive staff. from the time we walked in the door, we overheard the hostess on the phone rolling their eyes and speaking down to the person on the phone. the waiter of the table next to us was clearly annoyed with his table and so rude to them. our waiter was actually very nice, but was overwhelmed with tables and we got slow,badservice. when the bill came, it was outrageously high (we had 2 entrees, an app and a few drinks) so we asked to speak to a manager. he told us the manager was the bartender and he couldn't come see us, so we went to see him. when we walked up, he goes, "so, you must be the people with the pricing issues. everyone else pays it. good luck finding somewhere better." when we tried to talk to him further, he told us to "f*** off."

we will not be returning under any circumstances. some of the worst service i have ever experienced (on two occasions and with multiple people working there). what a terrible ending to the night and a waste of $100.

note: the taxidermy is cool. if you're willing to pay $9 for a vodka sprite, check it out.

$25 for 3 drinks. service was terrible. total tourist trap... our fried dinner for two was 80+ dollars, go to long john silvers. bartender steve is the worst. seriously i was embarassed to be rippedoff sobadand treated so poorly and leave without making a scene.

i absolutely love this place!! i found my favorite item on the menu a couple weeks ago, and i can't get enough (stuffed flounder #4). whenever friends or family come to town, im sure to bring them here. i've never had abadexperience, never hadbadfood, never hadbadservice! their swamp water drink is absolutely fantastic (be aware, even 1 can get u tipsy!). i love clarks and will continue to visit for years to come.

always great. after clarks had a few bumps in the media i knew from my experience that i would enjoy myself and my meal . i was not let down as usual . the new addition of the alligator tank next to the bathrooms is awesome . it is huge and a sight to see. for me the best deal by far is the popcorn shrimp basket . the size is bigger than most popcorn shrimp $7.95 and you get more than you can eat for $15.95 you can also get all you can eat. they are always fresh, hot and lightly breaded . my friend got the fish camp platter which he though was awesome my other friend got the joans cut steak which is the size of your head . she loved it and took some home to her doggy. i have eated here for 20 plus years and where else can you see full size tigers and bears along with live alligators.if you dont like real life like taxidermy you might avoid becasue they have a huge amount monkeys , birds and all types of exotic animlas what you eat.


-----02 jun, 2011-----

i like the food and the animals. the food is good , not the best but good , fried pickles are awesome and the onion rings with peppers rock .i have been going here for years and years and i love it , never had abadmeal.

unfriendly. i had abadexperience at this restaurant some time ago and still refuse to return. we had a large group from out of town and were thrilled to go to this interesting place. however, the service was terribly slow and we were left unattended for a long time. when my prime rib i ordered med/well, arrived rare, it took me so long to flag down someone to ask for it to be cooked longer, that the rest of our large party had finished their meal. when i complained, i was told to just take it home and feed it to my dog. i paid for the overpriced pet food and vowed never to recommend this place to anyone.