Rum Runners Cove

Service was fast food was delicious. We sat on the outdoor patio on the first evening of summer. Live music was nice.

If I could come up with negative stars on here that’s what I would start this out with. Just walked out of this horrible restaurant. The girl that was claiming to be our waitress did nothing for our table except ask us if we «FIGURED» it out yet when she asked for order (I guess because we weren’t ready the first time that she came by). I walked up and interrupted the 5 employees sitting around the front door doing nothing to get crayons for the children’s menu they gave the 5 year old with us. We had to get our own napkins from the bar. We had to go up to the bar to get drink refills. When our food arrived not looking at all like was mentioned on the menu, we finally asked for manager. Surprise there was no manager on duty. Then 5 employees stood around questioning each other about what to do after they told us they will call the manager. That was the final straw. We got up to walk out and suddenly the person calling herself a waitress came to life and asked us if we were ready for a check. She became very confrontational when we told her you are not going to be eating there.
Sad that Erie PA could be judged by such a horrible restaurant when we have the potential for great tourism in this town.
So if you are from Erie or not from Erie… steer clear of this nightmare!

Have to say I am here every year, this is one place where you can sit with friends, laugh, and have a good time. Service is slightly slow but the food is worth it. This time the bartender came and took our order at a group of 8 and he knew the menu better than the waitress that was working.

stop in from time to time and always have a decent meal. Yesterday the seafood chowder was delicous but the burger needed seasoning. service rather slow considering there were very few customers.

Located at the foot of State St. on the bay, you can sit outside, watch the boats & listen to the band on the weekends in the summer. The beer list is very basic and cocktails are served in plastic cups.
The restrooms are located in the back and on the way there you get to see the kitchen. If you do, the view may change your mind about ordering food. It does not appear very clean.

I use to work here when they first opened…
Appearance has definitely improved and alot more aesthetically pleasing.
Server was nice.
Crab cakes were cold. they made new ones that were good.
Pecan crusted chicken salad was good.
As a fellow manager of a restaurant, why are you taking tables instead of helping your staff you’re taking money out of their pocket. Management shouldn’t be serving tables.

This was an overall terrible experience. I went with a group of 12 friends, so I expected dinner to take a little longer than normal, but the service we received was horrendous.
This particular Thursday afternoon, Rum Runners Cove was not extremely busy. After we all arrived and ordered beverages, we waited 20 minutes to receive them. It took our waitress over 10 minutes to take all of our orders and when she left, we hardly saw her back to fill our drinks. When we did reorder drinks, it seemed that she just guessed as to what we needed and never brought back the correct or enough. After about 50 minutes of waiting for our food (again, I understand our party was larger, but they were not busy), it finally started to arrive. About half of the table got food. After 10 more minutes, I asked the waitress if we would be receiving our food soon because at this point, we had been waiting an hour.
She did not apologize. Rather she said «Well, YOU guys wanted to wait until everyone arrived to order. There is one food runner, and we are short staffed.»
When I asked her why she was unable to help bring food to our table she replied,
«I have other tables to wait on, HONEY»
At this point I asked if there was a manager I could speak to, to which she said, «ACTUALLY, no. She’s not here.»
This was it for me. I was too irritated to even try to enjoy the rubbery chicken sandwich I had ordered.
The redeeming factor of the night was that the bartender was helpful in adjusting my bill, removing my meal and taking off the gratuity the waitress had added to our separate checks. I understand gratuity is added to larger parties, but the service received warranted none.
The day after, I called the manager, who expressed serious concern over what I had experienced. She ensured she would speak to the waitress, and she apologized profusely for what had happened.
While I appreciate the bartender and the manager trying to clean up the waitress had made, there is a 0% chance of me returning to Rum Runners Cove.

Food was ok. I had the grilled Mahi Mahi, which was alright but not seasoned at all. Definitely sub-​par service! Slow! We ordered an appetizer but it never came, then came with our dinner, so we sent it back. Servet took our plates away and asked if we wanted the bill, we said yes. 15 min later, no bill. She came back by and questioned if we had it. (Wasn’t she the one supposed to bring it?). Bills arrived and were mixed up — dining with another couple and they mixed up our entrees and drinks. Very nice atmosphere dining outside, but overall disappointing experience.

Drinks are okay but the food is bland and poorly done. This us the second expensive not great meal.
For two of us with apps it was $ 80… Super steep for pasta with shrimp and a pile of dry crab/​shrimp on a hidden portobello mushroom that was laced with vinegar.
Deck is great though. Service was wonderful. Kitchen needs massive overhaul.

The four of us ate dinner at the restaurant. We ordered spinach dip, steak tips (3) and fettuccini with chicken. The chips were stale. The steak tips were terrible. I could not get past the appearance. The pasta was overcooked. We wanted to eat there because of the location. I would not eat here again.

For the love of everything holy… avoid this dump!
Essentially what you have here is a tourist trap. A tiki covered haven with a view, playing live «music» that draws on every instinct of a tourist to stop and spend some money.
DO NOT FALL FOR IT!
The food isn’t even mediocre. Waffles fries smothered in stadium style pumped out nacho cheese with scallions and black olives… YUM! What a delectable appetizer on the shore of Lake Erie.
We ordered two Margaritas on the rocks… our waitress asked us «Regular margarita’s?»…confused I answered yes. She returned with unsalted pint glasses with no limes and about 4 ice cubes. The taste… DISGUSTING. Straight store bought mix. Bitter as hell.
My kids ordered two lemonades… they were undrinkable. We ended up leaving without ordering entrees.
Please. Please. Please. Trust me. This place is nasty from the top to bottom… dirty floors, horrible gimmicks, and waitresses wearing flip flops.
Save your time and money… turn around at the front door and head to Smugglers.

We expected to get a quick bite to eat with a nice view. Hostess/​servers/​manager could care less about seating us and having a good experience. Said it would be a 20 minute wait when there was more than 5 open tables and no one else waiting. Mixed frozen drink was half melted and tasted like cough syrup. Did not have glasses for beer, got a small plastic cup. It about 30 minutes to get two drinks. It took an hour to get terrible food. The chicken cordon bleu was flat and dry. The ahi tuna was so undercooked that it had to be cut with a dull steak knife and was chewy. The waitress immediately said she would not take it off the bill. The manager came and said she can’t do anything because the menu says its comes out rare. I’ve had tuna plenty of times, this was not right. The bill came out to over $ 50…not worth it.
Poor management/​manager which creates bad servers and hostesses. Food over priced for how bad it was.

Nice location, service was ok food was below average. Ordered sweet potato fries that came with a sickly sweet marshmallow sauce. Burgers were all bread little meat and tomatoes were old! Cooks were sitting outside the kitchen at the entrance to the bar on their phones!

This place is filthy and the service is absolutely the worst. Take a look at the kitchen. I wouldn’t eat anything from this filth pit. And I hope you’re not in a hurry because the service is the slowest ever. Always a couple of people hanging around the bar– obviously friends of the help. The help could care less about the customers unless you know them personally. Unless you like a beautiful sunset, stay away. Stay FAR away!

Stopped in for lunch today with five friends. It was a beautiful day and the restaurant was not too busy. Approximately 75% of the tables were occupies. There seemed to be a full complement of servers, yet the service was extremely slow. When our food was served we had no silverware or napkins. After three requests we were given a «handful» of forks but no napkins. We finally took it upon ourselves to go to the (empty) bar and bring a napkin dispenser to our table. It was empty! Went back to the far end of the bar and found some napkins. The only way burgers can be ordered is medium-​well done. Ours were dry, bordering on crispy. As we we were leaving, all but one paid with credit cards but one paid with cash. When our server returned to the table, the change it was short and rather than offering to bring the correct change… she just stood the there (waiting for her gratuity)!
Sadly, the Cove is the premier location for a restaurant on the Erie waterfront. This restaurant is a disgrace to the City of Erie.

WORST FOOD AND SERVICE!!! we went twice over the summer… trying to give the place a chance hoping our first experience was a fluke considering the aesthetics of the Cove was so inviting!!! NEVER again and honestly feel it is a disgrace for them to be operating in such a fashion the owner and managers should be ashamed! Witnessed wait staff spilling drinks, food was under cooked and presentation less that appetizing. Female wait staff looked like the rolled out of bed and came into work which is a shame since it was 6:00 in the evening! Do yourself a favor and walk across the street to Smugglers wharf and have an enjoyable meal!

Eh it’s okay. Normal bar food. Nothing amazing. Good prices. Quick dinner with kids. Apparently it gets much more fun at night.

Didn’t really expect to eat here during my stay in Erie, but we were beat after a day on the wine trail, and Rum Runners Cove is connected to the Sheraton parking lot, so …
It was about what I expected. A Key West type of motif. Lots of locals around the bar. Drink specials.
Not a destination. But not terrible.
The buffalo chicken dip actually was quite good. I probably should have stopped there, but I dove in with the Italian Chicken Mozzarella. The twin chicken filets were grilled and very good. But the alfredo pasta was very bland, and the breading on the mozzarella crescents did not have a good taste at all. Whatever spices they used, they didn’t work.
My wife ordered the perch and had no complaints. She liked it.
Some would give three stars with that assessment. But two stars fits the description: «Meh. I’ve experienced better.»

When we walked in there was a sign that said «please wait to be seated» however we waited for several minutes before another customer (we assumed a regular) came over and told us to have a seat and he would make sure the waiter came to help us.
Our server was less than enthused to see us and didn’t even take our drink order while we looked at the menu. We waited a while for him to come back, ordered our food, and had to call him back because he failed again to ask us about drinks.
When it came time for the check he brought us the wrong bill. We asked for the correct one and when he returned with the slip to be signed it was the wrong receipt again!
Despite the terrible service the food was pretty good. Nothing too exciting though. And the location was very nice with a good view of the lake.

OK I enjoyed the music, and the boats pulling up is a cool idea, however, it is super tiny. Like I’m talking size of my living room small. I feel like with the space they have, they could make better use of the seating arrangements.
Other than that, cool bar, really like the rum runners. They tasted really good on a warm night. I didn’t try the food, so this is purely my drinking experience. The view itself should get 4 stars, it is so much prettier than Cleveland, and the people generally seemed happier than people at our bars. Probably because their poverty level isn’t close to ours, ha anyways… I think it’s a good hangout spot in Erie.