Poor Boys Riverside Inn Review

I've recommended this restaurant many times. Finally got back there recently.

I've always loved the old atmosphere there and the views from all the windows. Once you walk in and see those views, you feel like you're somewhere else.

Service was a bit off. We had a waiter who informed us he'd only been there 4 days and it was apparent that he had not been trained well. He was very nice, but there were lag times in course deliveries that were obviously kitchen issues, but he just didn't seem to want to remove course plates from the table until he brought other food, though we asked him to do so. Ours was his only table. It was odd.

I only took one picture and got a few from a friend who took some others.

We started with a platter of fried crab claws with 3 sauces of tartar, white remoulade and cocktail. The claws were full and meaty and golden brown. Excellent.

I had a cup of seafood gumbo which was very good. It had a lot of shrimp and jumbo lump crabmeat, especially for a cup rather than a bowl.

Two people got the charbroiled oysters knowing they probably wouldn't be very large. They were very small as expected, overcooked and had very little sauce. My gumbo was brought immediately, but the oyster app took about 30 minutes to arrive. The waiter kept telling us they were in the oven. They were in the oven too long. The other serving of oysters looked much worse than those in the picture.


Two of us had the crabmeat au gratin. It was not as I remembered it. The sauce was heavy and barely okay. It was obviously overcooked and had very little crabmeat. The sauce had started to separate and was a bit greasy rather than creamy. We both had a lot of sauce left having fished out the crabmeat we could find. The stuffed potato appeared to have been in an oven for several days. Hard as a rock inside and out. If I'd have thrown it through a window, it would have gone through and traveled far.



The picture below is from the website and is as I remembered the dish.


One person got the seafood platter. Everything on it was way overcooked. The crab claws look nothing like the ones we had as an appetizer. The stuffed crab was so overcooked, the whole thing came out of the foil shell when the person tried to get a bite. The picture doesn't show how dark the food actually was. Dry and dark. It came with a cup of gumbo which could have been brought earlier. The waiter forgot about that completely. When it arrived after reminding him, it was nothing like mine. Had a few shrimp and a lump of crab.



The other person had the sauteed crab. This was the winner dish. The crabmeat was beautiful with good flavor. The serving was generous.


The meal was a mixed bag. Sadly, it did not inspire a return visit with anyone. Maybe it was a bad day. All the other meals I've had there have been so good.