clark's fish camp

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 thetimewe 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, my bad (and it was). nexttimeif we're going to drive out of our way, we'll head to trent's on the westside.

firsttimeis also the last. i've heard of how interesting the restaurant was, with the numerous taxidermy animals and such. i went with some friends of mine, and while my food was good, the attitude from the waiter and the "manager" was utterly sub-par. prime rib, even medium (since they could not provide medium rare as requested) should not be dry and grainy. waiter excused that as being cooked less than other restaurants' medium, but this was dry in the sense of well-done. so-called manager essentially called a party member a liar and claimed that he had consumed 2/3 of the meal, whereas that was not the case (and was evidenced with a photo from before we started eating after the plate was brought back out to the "manager's" displeasure). a free meal wasn't demanded, just what he had ordered. "manager" refused to state his name, in addition to making disparaging remarks as he walked away.

while this was my firsttimegoing to the restaurant, it was also my last. if the owners keep those kinds of managers employed, they do not deserve my return business. essentially the attitude was "we serve plenty of people, we don't care about you", and that's uncalled for. my meal was quite delicious and satisfying, the terrible service from "steve" (as told from "josh" the bartender) will keep me from returning.

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, bad and 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 lasttimethis 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)))

yuck, yuck and yuck!. i am one of those people that always give every place and everybody a second chance. well, i gave it to clark's and that is all they get! here's a suggestion.....spend moretimetraining the servers and hostess, cooks in the kitchen and cleaning the bathroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

let down!. what we ordered:
appetizer: charred snake (python) - it was like chewy gator tail, had no flavor other than the soy sauce mixture that we put on top of it. over priced for the portion we were served, considering there is an overabundace of these snakes in south florida.
- note: they did not have any exotic game meat. we wanted kangaroo..

meal 1: jumbo shrimp (caribbean style) - if you have ever had barbecued or blackened skewered shrimp, you've had this dish.. $15 worth of nothing special. my side ceasar salad was similar to what you would get at a ruby tuesdays; iceberg lettuce, croutons, and ceasar sauce. my other side, yellow rice, was so greasy that i was glowing by the finish.

meal 2: stuffed flounder (with crab) - did they really use artificial crab?! i think they did. it looked nice, tasted nice, but really? fake crab? not cool, especially for a seafood restaurant.

drinks: we didn't get any after hearing a customer complain about an $18 margarita (obvious exaggeration but it scarred me since the prices aren't displayed on the menu)

service: our server was just pushing us through. he took notimeto talk to us, and was moving so fast that i could hardly ask any questions.

atmosphere: cool, lots of taxidermy. dissapointing since none of the animals on the wall were available on the menu.. cool location and feel though.

would i go back? no. would i recommend anyone to go? yes, it's one of those places you have to go to once, i would just recommend to not get your hopes high, and call ahead to make sure they have wild game available.

i would never go back though. the food was average and overpriced. do yourself a favor, go grab a bag of frozen shrimp, smother them in old bays, dump them on the grill, and enjoy. don't waste your money on atmosphere.

don't take your peta friends. walked into the restaurant and i was immediately hit with what smelled like 3 day old a$$. it might be the aligator tank. i don't know. taxidermy everywhere that could use a periodic dusting. have eaten here 3 times. everytime the food is cold by thetimeit gets to the table. it could be because the justin beeber looking kid that delivered the tray to our table (group of 12-15) brought a tray for another table and it takes awhile to figure out where the food goes. all the fried food tastes the same. maybe change the grease. serves pepsi instead of coke. must be run by communists. get coke! i think i would have enjoyed my scallops more if they had been stuffed and mounted as part of the decor.

offensive staff. from thetimewe 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, bad service. 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.

i am local and have grown up eating at clark's! my father used to buy bait there when it was actually a bait shop! i can't tell you how many times our family has dined there over the years! a couple of years ago we went and was wanting a table on the patio and we were told that we couldn't eat outside! never had we been told that! it was a nightmare experience after that. everything was horrible from the extremely rude server, disgusting food that took an eternity to get served and ended with the manager yelling at us in front of the whole restaurant! we swore we would never return! tonight we thought we we would visit our old staple restaurant and hoped there were some changes made. wrong!!!! horrible experience again. we had the same server that we had in that last visit (ergi is his name and i only know that because it was on our bill)

first off the hostess called our name and asked us to follow her; however, there was another large party standing at the hostess stand and we couldn't get around them intimeto follow her. she left us in the middle of the restaurant looking around...trying to see where she had gone. finally, we found her and she looked annoyed that we had not kept up. we were seated. ergi got our drink order and came back to get our food order. he should've warned us not to drink our sodas so fast because we would not be offered a refill! our platters came out and it was the weakest platter i have ever seen and the sides forgotten! when ergi finally came back to the table we asked if we could get some cold tartar sauce (sorry, i didn't want the one sitting out in the sun all day that was on our table.) he rolled his eyes at us came back and slammed the bottle on the table. never saw him again to tell him that my fried oysters were all lumped together in one big ball and the batter was still wet. another server came over to our table to see if we needed to pay and to tell us our server was busy. we decided not to address the situation with the manager afraid that it would just be like the last experience we had where we were told everything that went wrong was our fault. we tried giving it another chance and that will be the last! it is a shame considering we had so many amazing family memories at clark's! i will never be returning!

never ceases to please!. i've returned to clark's just about everytimethat i'm in the jacksonville area. my lasttimethrough, we saw that they'd added new exotic meats to their menu. we always try the kangaroo, which is a favorite of ours... but we also opted for the llama. their entrees are certainly amazing, and have never disappointed, but the exotic meat appetizers are always the stars of the show. we've experienced the alligator, crocodile, turtle, python, kangaroo, and llama... i love the taste of reptile meat, but the kangaroo and llama are my favorites.

we also tried some of their oysters on the half shell... well, full shell, really, since one cracks them open oneself. very good, very clean and fresh tasting.

if you've not tried clark's then you need to. their entrees are awesome, and are made with more traditional meats, for those with nervous or unadventurous palates. you won't be disappointed!


-----08 feb, 2009-----

what can i say, but "wow!". amazing food! lots of great entrees, and a great selection of exotic meats for those with an adventurous palate. i only wish i lived closer!

disappointed again. first went to clarks a few years ago and loved it! food was great, loved the animals all over and the service was wonderful. my family and i have gone back about every six months since then and i will never go again. the food and service dropped drastically eachtimewe went. our server only stopped by to get our order. food was delivered by someone else (yes i know the food runner is supposed to get the food out), no one ever checked on us and i had to ask someone else for drinks for our party of 8. we even had to get someone else to track down our server for our bill. food was semi-warm when it got to the table and only my 4 year old daughter liked her meal. never again!

hello prime rib. earlier this week a friend dined here and posted a photo of the prime rib on the facebook. i couldn't stop thinking about it, so i headed in this afternoon to check it out. i was seated quickly and when the waiter asked me what i wanted to eat, i told him i was ready to order. jack's cut prime rib and water to drink. the waiter was really friendly and the opposite of pretentious. within a few minutes i had a cup and pitcher of ice water sitting on my table. within 10 minutes the prime rib arrived. this is a flintstone size serving, my understanding is that it is 3 lbs, but it looked a hell of a lot bigger than that. it was good, real good. i've been looking for a high quality gigantic serving of prime rib for years, and i have finally found it.

i will probably try to limit my intake to one or two prime ribs a year, but the menu is huge so there are a lot of other things to try. as i was eating, a very very large family of four was seated directly in front of me. their first topic of conversation was regarding how great the "large" booths were. "you have to be an anorexic to eat at friday's" one of the ladies said. her 400 lb husband then went on to describe in detail how hard of atimehe had sitting in the booth at friday's, saying, "my stomach was all up on the table and i could hardly breathe. good prime rib, good entertainment.

the bullet: food a, price b, service b, vibe a+. for a place that is on the water, hard to get to and just horrible parking issues, the funky decor and excellent menu are worth it all. yeah, you'll have to park 1/4 mile away if youtimeit wrong and then wait a bit for a park bench table but who cares? have a drink while you wat and feed the gators and make fun of all the boat launch shenanigans. anything on the menu is very good but probably the best item is the prime rib. i know, weird for a fish camp - but then that fits here.

hmm....?. if atmosphere were the guiding light for restaurants, clarks would take the cake. beautifully set on the riverside, the interior has more of museum or african safari presentation than a fish camp. stuffed animals of different shapes and sizes are fit into every available space giving a novel feel and let you wonder..., just how fresh is the meat on my plate?

despite being a fish camp, meat was my focus during my visits to clark's. i had been informed of a great selection of exotic meats available and i just had to give them a try. it is here that i developed mixed feelings and questions. during my first visit i had the charred snake and llama. both were served with a nice but identical dipping sauce. i thought that odd given the stark differences between the meats, they would have something individually made to compliment them. however given that both items were terribly overcooked, it did not appear much thought or knowledge was given to the preparations.

through coincidence i had the opportunity to return to clark's a few weeks later. thistimei had opted for the charred antelope and gator ribs being two more dishes i had not experienced before. unfortunately they were out of the ribs, so i elected the charred ostrich as an alternative. thistimeboth were cooked perfectly, a nice brown on the outside, pink on the inside. however i was now presented with a new issue.

both meats were served with the same dipping sauce as in my first trip, no surprise there, but what really struck me was the meats were of the same size, shape, texture and flavor (flavorless would be more accurate) as the supposed llama i had been served previously. the only difference between the ostrich and antelope was a little stick with the word antelope on it placed in one of the steaks.

now while this was my first encounter with the alleged llama and antelope, i have had ostrich before and it tasted nothing like what i was presented. i am not saying for clark's is pulling something here as there are plenty of reasonable explanations for my concerns. however i am left wondering about the truth of what was set before me.

on a more positive note, we also had prime rib stuffed mushrooms and crab stuffed flounder. both were nicely prepared and flavorful. the waiter/waitress' were away only little more than i cared for, but certainly nothing unreasonable and were consistently friendly in their service.

perhaps one day, someone with most experience than i with exotic meats can confirm or deny my concerns. while i am left with more questions than answers, i still recommend clark's for the novelty of the experience if nothing else.

unfriendly. i had a bad experience at this restaurant sometimeago 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.

dont waste yourtimeor money. my first and last experience at clark's fish camp. went there and it was really busy, usually a good, and had to wait for 35 minutes before getting our table. since everything is based around a bar, there was lots of smokers around me. secondly it took forever to get our food once the waitress remembered we were alive (crappy service, seen our waitress 3 times in about an hour and that was when she was bringing our food). we ordered chicken wings and some of them still were bloody. i decided to try the swamp fest platter, which is nothing but super fried everything, i mean everything on the whole platter was fried. the menu never mentioned that. it was all fried. the table next to us sent their food back because it was cold and some of the food they ordered at first, they were out of. you are better off going to long john silvers.