harrison's landing

good atmosphere - mediocre food. my husband and i decided to try the tavern on a monday night to avoid potential crowds during the weekend. i had read the somewhat mixed reviews, but it has a really great location so we gave it a try. it was not too crowded and the evening was really nice weather wise so a great place for outdoor dining.

we started out with the garlicshrimpdip with cream cheese and spinach. it wasn't too bad but the spinach consisted of one leaf cut in tiny strips and used as garnish on top. i had expected the spinach would be incorporated into the dish somewhat like a light spinach dip. not really worth the $7 for cream cheese with a few tinyshrimppieces, spinach leaf and chips.

i had read a good review on the monte cristo and had never had one before so that is what i ordered. the sandwich arrived and it was so very greasy, i had to ask for additional napkins and the two i was brought was not even enough. there was at least 2-3 tablespoons of grease in my plate under the sandwich and as much still in the sandwich. you may say that this is what is expected for a "fried sandwich", but my husband has had monte cristos at other restaurants in the past and said they were definitely not saturated like what i received. i ended up sick most of the night due to the "overload" of grease after eating only one-half of the sandwich. i really should have gone with a salad orshrimppoboy.

he was more sensible in his selection of the mahi-mahi fish tacos and they were decent. i also order ice tea which turned out to be instant and i had to ask for refills as our waitress was alright but seemed to not have enought training on customer service.

overall it might have been a bad menu selection on my part, but we probably will not try the place again. for $40 bucks there is better value elsewhere. if we want the outdoors eating experience will probably go to snoopy's. at least the fried food is not greasy .

this place has ok food. the lobster bisque was pretty good. i ordered the monte cristo and it was over fried and too greasy fort taste. i've had better monte croatia elsewhere. the chef specialshrimpand cajun chicken tenders were too salty. only decent meal we had was the mahi mahi fish tacos. try the pink lady drink. it's good.

we will never eat here again, even though it's a lovely spot on the marina with a floating seating section. it was not crowded on this thursday night but we were told we had to wait.....so we did for over 30 minutes. once seated, we waited another 20 minutes before we gave our drink orders and to speed things up we ordered our entrees too. and we waited another 15 minutes for drinks. but wait! the longest wait was yet to come! we waited 93, yes, 93 minutes for our food! and when we finally got our meal it was awful--fish tasteless and pounded thin and over fried,shrimpflattened to 1/4" and over fried, bland cole slaw and cold fries. really??? our waiter said the "kitchen was killing him" and the young female manager apologized for the wait, but no one offered to comp us an entree or buy us a dessert. sorry dudes your service stinks and food is barely edible. come here to have a glass of wine or an overpriced cocktail, not to eat unless you have four hours to spend on waiting. total for two bad entrees and two waters was $36.44 before tip.

good food, i had theshrimpdiablo. we had a party of 10 and they handled it pretty well. we got to sit on this floating dock/eating surface which had a great view of the water and marina. kids did fine as well.

we came for dinner and were pleased. we wanted to visit somewhere that we couldn't find at home. it's on the marina and even has tables on a floating "dock". the service was exceptional and the food was good. they also offer $3 margaritas. we didn't try them though. the fish tacos were delicious and very big! the grilledshrimpwas good as was the kids catfish bites. overall, it was a fun experience with good food.

went there for dinner. daughter loved theshrimptacos. i had caribbean salad. it was very good. split a piece of chocolate cake that was amazing.

good food but didn't realize the main seating was outdoors. holy smokes we were sweating our buns off! the crab puppies andshrimptacos were great! wish the crabby pattie would have been a little more crispy. overall, good service and pleasant experience.

so after reading then reviews, i decided to try harrison's landing......i found it to be a big disappointment! we started with the guacamole.... when the server brought it to us there was a slight brownish color to the top.... it had been in the fridge for a while and it seemed like the avocados were the ones you get pre-cut and bagged in plastic. not good at all. my dinner (fish combo) was cooked pretty well, although the fish was somewhat dry, there was no lemon for my fish and the sauces were from a jar! . theshrimppo boy was made from frozen shrimp, no lemon and there was supposed to be tomato on it.... which there wasn't. the service was the worst part of the meal.... our server never told us about the happy hour or any specials that were going on.... she never offered me another drink and at one point came up to the table with a tooth pic in her mouth! i will not be going back. should have gone back to water street oyster bar!!

we went at 4 on a thursday. we were seated immediately on a dock that actually floats in the marina. the ambience was great, but the food was mixed. the crab puppies were delicious! the cajunshrimpwere good, not great. my wife's pecan crustedshrimpwere decent, though not worth the $17 price. i would recommend for the setting, but don't anticipate being wowed by the food. the staff was very nice.

its on the t-head marina with a good view of the various boats in their slips and the downttown skyline. nice place to be when the sun goes down and eat someshrimp( i'm not much for lobster bisque myself, but, its supposed to be pretty good...certainly, theirshrimpare good, fresh from the gulf and generous in size ). service is young ( say, 20-26 y/o waiters ) and the manager should really coach those young waiters in how to serve a cold beer or even a lukewarm one. this may be texas, but, many of us have suufficient erudition to drink a beer from a glass and not straight from the bottle ( there may be some rhodes scholars disguised as rodeo clowns out there, but, on the whole, most people who drink beer and who are not spring breakers prefer to drink it out of a glass into which the beer has been poured by the attentive waiter and not have a distracted twenty year-old airhead set down a bottle on the table and walk away. "yo, dude...ah." ). on a day when its 98 degrees out, many of us that drink beer might like it in a frosted mug ( note...frosted mugs are not margarita glasses with salt around the rim...just a simple frosted mug, thankyou, if we want more sodium with our beer, we'll poison ourselves at our preferred dosage, )...just does nicely with the heat, etc.

another small detail, when you hire live music...next time dont bring out some old guy so far past his glory days that he mumbles the verses of the jimmy buffett he's singing and periodically forgets his place . that fellow sounded worse than my redbone hound on a bender, sorry. and maybe its not so cool to criticize his efforts, but, there are limits and....get a better act on stage, please.

i ordered the grilled amberjack because it was the first time i'd seen jackfish on a menu before. surprisingly, its not bad and their cook hhas his grilling time. down perfectly. they could work on the selection of sauces they serve it with, nonetheless. i wasnt much impressed by their cocktail sauce. they do a great batter on theshrimpthat is somewhat reminiscent of tempura batter...or maybe thats what its supposed to be ? they also have a good bar and i found that part of the ambience to be spot on ( despite the painful fact that the waiters have not yet learned to serve a beer ).

there is a fine little breeze coming in off the corpus christi bay in the late afternoon and it makes things quite amenable after you get settled in. yes, there are some regular local customers in evidence. saw a couple of boats come in around sunset. harrison's tavern on the bay is worth visiting and forming youur own opinion of.

i was amazed by how terrible it was!. i like to think of myself as an easy-going person which i guess is why i paid my check, tipped the flustered and surly waiter and went to burgerking. we couldn't make it through our appetizers so we got the check. i didn't know there was a dressing so bad it would keep me from my salad but their caesar did and theshrimpcocktail made me gag. the cocktail sauce was trying for some kind of tropical jerk flavor and theshrimpwere flacid and stinky. i really thought the place would be decent and even good. given the good reviews on urbanspoon i thought it couldn't be worse than mediocre. it was the worst, we felt totally duped. after we left we had a great time strolling along the piers, burgerking, and back to the hotel.

oh well . . . things change!. we ate lunch today and theshrimpwas over cooked. the steak was tough. the fish tacos where on tough tortillas. we have had wonderful experiences there in the past but, since the owner pasted away it has gotten really bad.

i have been going to tavern on the bay since they opened. i always enjoyed the waterfront and open air dining although they were aways a bit overpriced and never (until recently) offered any kind of happy hour specials on wine etc. what i have noticed though, is that quality of service (evident in reviews) since the beginning until now (1st quarter 2012) has drastically taken a nose dive. also, quality of food has plumeted it seems from when they first opened. went there last thursday, got there with a friend about 7:00 waited out front about 5 minutes before being greeted. would have liked a table overlooking water but it was full and we were forced to sit all the way at end of sidewalk next to the dumpster. i am not a big complainer so i quickly found a nice view of the marina to take my mind off the less than appealing dumpster behind us. the waitress came to take our drink orders. my friend ordered a beer and i ordered the long island ice tea....he gets his beer after some time but no long island in site, no ice water either...she apologized and said it would be right out so we ordered food and continued to wait and wait and wait....in the meantime there are a group of wait and kitchen staff sitting on the ground behind the dumpster smoking and the cigerette smoke was blowing directly to our table yet their attitude was like they really didnt care because they continued to sit there and laugh and talk for some time. our food came out we had chips and salsa and the pecan crustedshrimp(which were good and still warm and fresh) but it has been a good 30 minutes and i am having to drink my friends beer becauae although we now have food i still do not have my drink. it was disappointing from many angles and i felt a little ashamed because i had told my friend (who was already apprehensive) how nice it was. also,they used to make really good bloody mary (which is hard to find)the last i ordered one there was a very big disappointment. it seems like there is a lack of staff and also the staff that are there do not appear to really care. id like to see them succeed,i love supporting local business and espessally the more mom and pops. when they opened it was very casual...had a great live music everynight from local talent,small menu and was very laid back and was wonderful. it seems now they have tried to get bigger and are not keeping up with the quality. :(

shrimp. we had a funshrimplunch last weekend--

appetizers--lobster bisque for me, tasty but a little on the thick side
shrimpcocktail for my daughter--this one got high points for the freshness of theshrimpand lovely presentation. i prefer the avocado chopped and in the cocktail, not a spoonful of guacamole on the side, but will forgive that error because theshrimpwas so good

entree--we shared the colossal fried shrimp. okay, the pecan crusting tasted like it was made in house, but the raspberry chipotle sauce on the side was just raspberry jam from a jar. the garlic mashed potatoes were tasty, but a tad cold. my grandson ordered a steak sandwich, which he just about inhaled. he loved it, barely tasted the bread, just ate up the meat.

being on the water was the best part of the meal

my wife and i took my parents here at a "good seafood place" type of request. i had never been so i was taking a shot in the dark, besides it's proximity to the water, i knew nothing of this place. the first thing that comes to mind is comfort food. from their lobster bisque soup, to theirshrimptacos, everything was delicious. nobody was complaining after this trip out to eat. two thumbs up on the food.