The Fish House

It’s a shack with outdoor seating that serves great fried seafood. Easy to miss driving by. Vacationed nearby and heard about from a regular. Cool and rainy so brought back to the hotel: bisque, catfish and shrimp with sides of cold slaw and cheese grits. I’ll pass next time on the grits but my wife liked them. The rest was very good. Lightly breaded with good flavor and freshness. Probably even better if eaten immediately. No complaints on service and thought the price was low for what you got. Ambience is «acquired taste» but that’s part of the charm as long as the food is good and priced reasonably.

Fresh local seafood cooked up fast with great sides and desserts. Extremely welcoming and sweet people.

Definitely some of best side of the road seafood! It’s tucked away far in the back! But worth the little drive. Open only Thursday-​Saturday I believe. Could be till sunday. I will order the shrimp and clams all the time, so good! Also some of the best fried green tomatoes! My husband had the captains platter, and he really enjoyed it! Can’t wait to go back and try all the others!

Horrible experience ! Bland flavorless fried fish. Saw fat bald kitchen worker pick his nose. Eek! Never eat here!

Really really good! Their fries are always piping hot and the fish sandwiches are awesome. The atmosphere is fun and divey and there’s always a bunch of people. We came at night so we had to contend with mosquitoes for our seating, but it was delicious so it didn’t matter.
Have only been here once so I can’t speak on any of the other dishes, but I really want to come here and try their smoked mullet as I’m a big fan.

This is probably the BEST fried fish you’ll get in the Central Florida area. I would even be willing to put it up as one of the best in the state. You may read some reviews and people actually complain about their being too much fried food, well that’s their specialty, «FRIED Fish» which they have perfected and is always consistent. I don’t know how they get it the perfect golden brown, but they do! Staff is awesome prices are great. This is a MUST try!

Great little find for fresh fried fish! Only open Thursday’s, Friday’s, and Saturdays! Picnic tables outside, and there is plenty of shade to bring your dog to join you. Well worth the trek off the main road!

Fish House is a must-​go for a change to the fast food, don’t want to cook nights. Fresh fish, and yes it’s deep fried, and the smoked fish spread is wonderful. Pick-​up a menu during your first visit so that you can call in your order and save time in the future.

Bistec Burracho delicious! Fresh veggies were perfect. Now for Guava cheesecake! Great service, fast and friendly on a Friday night.

Amazing! I got the shrimp platter with fried okra and fries and the hubby ordered a captain’s platter. Everything was delicious and very fresh!

Love Fish house! Always fresh.. made to order! I’ve tried just about everything.. it’s all good. But favorite is scallop & shrimp combo. Yum!

Coconut pie is absolutely delicious! It’s a little pricey for some items and it’s only open Thurs, Fri,&Sat…but I love supporting local food/​family owned business’. I would recommend checking this place out!

So-​so hole in the wall in Ruskin Florida. Out in the middle of nowhere. Great reviews so we went. We weren’t really impressed. Shrimp was good but soft shell crab sandwich and fish fillet sandwich were bland. Don’t bother ordering a dessert. Red velvet cake tastes freezer burnt and the key lime pie was bland with no flavor at all in the crust.
Nice little spot but expensive

The fish is great !
I get the large combo meal so I have some for breakfast the next morning unless my husband gets to it first !
You can drive up and order at the window or call it in and have your dinner ready when you arrive .
Very busy during Lent !
I’ve eaten here for at least 10 years and the food is consistently good .
Very nice people …
Highly recommended !

This place is pure Americanna, roadside meals that simply are great! I started going after reading about it in a local paper. The portions are outrageous. This is a place that sticks to the basics. I have tried several of the platters but really like the pick two option. I usually order the fish and chicken. There is enough for two or one really hungry person. The battered fish is not greasy and the sides are all great although I have not tried the Okra because I don’t like it. Do not make you decision based on ambiance. Just try this place !

Everything is fried but done oh so well. Laid back atmosphere and yes it’s picnic tables. Eat there every month and I love it. Can’t do fried any more than that. Last time there had the soft shell crab. Yummy, what they do they do very well.

We have had this on our go to list since we moved here and finally had the opportunity to stop for dinner. The tables were crowded, but people move in and out quickly. I am not a fish eater, so I had the chicken strips with fries and coleslaw. My husband had the grouper dinner with fries and baked beans. We both were disappointed with the breading, as it was bland. The grouper was very fresh, but just small bites, not a piece of grouper which we thought was odd. Chicken strips are chicken strips, so nothing special.
Not really sure why everyone likes it here so much. The prices are nothing special. Our two dinners were $ 28 plus $ 3 for drinks.

One day about 10 – 12 years ago, this popped up almost overnight, in the middle of nowhere on Shell point Rd., in Ruskin.
This is a family owned eatery, I really wouldn’t call it a restaurant. It is a small building for cooking, that has communal picnic tables & serves only fried seafood. Rest assured if they say grouper, it is grouper.
On my most recent visit I had the grouper sandwich, added some hot sauce and an order of coleslaw on top of the grouper. Fish was fresh & cooked perfectly. I am not really a fried food type of person, but here I will continue to make an exception.
The coleslaw is dynamite and has a bit of a bite, maybe horseradish. Next time try the coleslaw on top of your sandwich, supper yummy & crunchy.
What’s a girl to do? Eat good seafood wherever you may find it, even a roadside shack!

While driving from Tampa to Fort Myers we looked on Unilocal and found this place. The owner was more than pleasant and very helpful and on point with her suggestions.
I had the shrimp dinner, my buds had the Captain special that consisted of fried oysters, clams fish and shrimp.
Fish was flaky and cooked to perfection. Baked beans and coleslaw was great!
Coconut cream pie was RIDICULOUSLY GOOD!
Would definitely go back!

Outdoor seating only !!!
This was not our first trip to the Fish House, but when my son asked us if we wanted to go with him & his family there for dinner, how could we refuse!
Everyone is crazy about this place. And it is a great place. Staff is super friendly. The portions are very generous, and for fried food, it is NEVER greasy! I have no idea what they use for frying, but it works. I got the Basa fish dinner which is really fish and chips. Tons of Basa nuggets (didn’t know fish came in nugget size!) with god awful shoe string fries. Cole slaw was great. Tartar sauce was a bit off. The fish, though plentiful was tasteless. Literally, no flavor at all. So I gave away most of my fish, didn’t eat the fries and devoured the cole slaw cuz I was hungry! Needless to say, I left there still hungry, so we stopped for ice cream on the way home, which I would never do after a meal that fills me up.
This is a very rustic place. A shack on the side of the road with picnic tables outside for seating, which I love by the way. The temperature makes it a bit uncomfortable, but you know what your in for when you come here. This would be the perfect Beach restaurant with the décor and an ocean breeze to cool you off. Worth a try if your into fried seafood!
Tips to the owners: A better fries would be nice and perhaps put a little flavor in your batter so fish as mild as Basa has some flavor.