Lighthouse Restaurant

Had the all you can eat shrimp. It was great, they fix it anyway you want it. I had broiled and grilled. You can get them broil, baked, fried, blackened or grilled. Salad bar is great included in your meal. I will be going back.

We have dined at the Lighthouse Restaurant and enjoyed our meals each time. The salad bar offers a variety vegies, salads and toppings — and is included with the meal, unlike other restaurants in the area. The fish is fresh and steaks well cooked. The portions are generous.

I live close to this place and have been here through a few changes of management. Unfortunately it has gone from mediocrity to poor in my 5 visits. I am a Chicago transplant and when moving here I expected to find good seafood but this not the place.
It is extremely dated… not just the menu but the place itself. There is carpet throughout which is just disturbing as its completely filthy. The décor is awful and covered in dust. Fingerprints on everything, the restrooms are just disgusting and in this department nothing has changed with the latest management.
The servers are never great and are sometimes just bad. I was once given substitutions on a $ 24 shimp sampler without anyone even running it by me. They excluded the stuffed shrimp entirely and just hoped I didn’t mind I guess.
I always try different dishes and have never been happy with one (neither has anyone I have come here with). How this place manages to fill it’s parking lot for dinner I will never understand. It’s just bad. The only thing that’s any good is the salad bar but it doesn’t make this place worth a stop.

I don’t give 5 stars to anyone unless they are just off the chart good. To get 4 stars you have to be very, very good. We stopped in after a fishing trip and were pleasantly surprised. Ordered the fried oysters and shrimp. The plate came with 2 hush puppies which were delicious. I had 11 oysters and 8 decent sized shrimp. They were both fried to perfection and were as good as you will get anywhere. The salad bar was excellent with plenty of choices. The cole slaw and carrot salad were very good. I talked to the owner and he said that he has owned it for just over a year. I have seen the bad reviews, but don’t be afraid to give it another try. We were in on a Monday night and it was very busy. They were not prepared for this and were short staffed. Everyone was apologetic and pitching in to help. Even so, we did not have to wait too long. Next time we are coming back from fishing and looking to eat, this will be tops on our list. It would even be worth the trip just to eat.

Ownership and management has changed in the recent past and things have improved. Last year we ate here and everything was subpar: service, food quality and price. Recently we noticed the «change of ownership» sign out front so decide to give it a second try. Talk about a 180! Salad bar was fresh with many choices. Service much improved. Good quality food that is vastly superior to our last visit. We will be back!

I ate there last weekend… clean & delicious salad bar, delicious entrée of mine & the same thing said from everyone else at my table… only thing I recognized different was they served hot corn fritters that are addictive. Will definitely go back. It reminded me of the way it was when Mrs. Nesmith had it. New Owner, original recipes from the past, some of the same cooks & waitresses from back then… our waitress checked on us about every 5 minutes.

Visited this resturant durning the Sunday lunch time. Place was not busy and only had two upfront waiters for serving customers and cleaning off tables. Appearance was unkept and unclean. Rest rooms was in terrible shape. I opted just for the salad bar which was pitifully maintain with items that seemed to be stale and not fresh. To top offl the experience, the prices were really over priced. Not a good experience and would not recommend this as a place to eat.

The food was good and not greasy, service was lousy, and the temperature was uncomfortably warm. The place was practically empty and we had to repeatedly wave down the waitress for refills on our drinks, and had to ask twice for the second helping on our cod (which was tasty). Over all experience Meh.

I wanted to check a score and get something to eat. The waitress apologizes and says they don’t have a TV. «Are you sure?» She tells me she’s sorry but they don’t have a TV. I walk into the room to the right and what’s sitting right there?
A TV. With the game I’m looking for.
She was cute but she wasn’t that bright.
I should have stopped there but I got an order to go. Grilled fish, baked potato a couple hush puppies and some clam chowder. The portions seemed small for the price and they only accentuated that by serving a small amount of chowder in a container that could have held 3x as much.
The hush puppies were good but the rest was kind of a disappointment.
Wish I’d known about the gas station with the fish tank next door. That might have made the trip worthwhile. Otherwise skip this one.

My husband wanted to sit down for a meal on our way home from the panhandle. It was either the Lighthouse or fast food. It seems like they specialize in deep fried seafood, but I was just not in the mood for anything greasy. I ended up ordering the flat iron steak. While it was tender, they served it almost entirely raw. The steak wasn’t seared. It just looked gray. Honestly, I’d rather have my steak under than over cooked, but this meat was cold in the middle. Normally, I’d order what a place was good at, but I thought the steak was safe considering it says «Lighthouse Seafood and Steaks» on their signage.
The service was friendly and attentive, which helped. I just wasn’t wowed with the overall experience.

They have a different all you can eat every night. also have a good salad bar. try it you might like it. know we did.

Wish I had reviewed before going for dinner. My sweetheart and I went for seafood after driving from Biloxi.
She had broiled shrimp, I did the stuffed broiled shrimp.
Did the salad bar which was very good, maybe set expectations to high.
Shrimps were itty bitty and not much flavor. Poor value. shrimp 15 $ and stuffed for 17 $. Server checked back when we were almost done. Think she had 3 tables of 2 while we were there. Asked her to bring hush puppies she forgot. (They were excellent) Overheard the couple behind us, asked about their soup, waitress said it comes out with meal. Oh boy. Don’t think I’ll be back. Less I want salad bar.

I loved this place before, but since the reopen there are less options, higher prices and the salad bar is even lacking. It’s ok, but not as good as it was :(

I’ve been back since they re-​opened … and there is a significant improvement. Not only is the food better, but they have their liquor license back.
I’d give four stars, but, it’s still pricey for what you get.

3.5 star. If you overshot the Dairy Queen in Cross City and do not have a dog to walk, stop here as you drive up or down Identity Crisis Highway US 27÷98÷19. Friday nights are best. Traditional style family restaurant, large groups, lots of locals to watch and talk with. Good service. Food varies in quality — the side dishes are above average. The friendly wait staff will guide you to what is freshest and best. The store next door has one of the few fresh water aquariums you’ll ever see inside a gas station.
— SammyR

I have dined here twice since they apparently changed hands – and for that matter, changed the interior around some, doing away with the awards for best-​of-​show in local livestock shows and replacing these with generic nautical knick-​knacks, which I find to be a real shame as I liked the 4-​H and FFA awards local kids had won for their livestock. Now it just feels rather impersonal. The menu has also changed a bit but overall remains the same. Still a strong emphasis on seafood but including also steak and quail plus other, expected, dinner dishes. The salad bar is still there and as good, if not better, than ever.
Now, on to the food – both good and bad. The good news is, they have several side dishes that are fully awesome: the potato and onions casserole bake is far, far, better than you could ever imagine it would be via its simple, unexciting, name. It’s seriously good. The green beans, though a bit too salty, are also quite good and the hush puppies are great – warm, yet crisp and just as they should be. However, twice I’ve had shrimp here – once fried and once as scampi – and they seemed slightly overcooked. I could eat it, it wasn’t bad really, and I did not send it back in either case, but this may indicate that the cook isn’t fully paying the most attention to every dish and perhaps that’s why other reviewers are less than pleased.
I will come back, and overall each of the probably ten or more times I’ve dined here I’ve been happy. Of course, that said, there’s not a whole lot of choices in the Chiefland/​Fanning Springs/​Old Town/​Cross City area, now are there?

Wow… that’s all I can say! I thought being in Florida I could get good seafood but boy was I wrong!!! The salad bar was the only thing worth eating. The fried food was hard as a rock and flavor less. The «grilled» food was swimming in butter and not fresh! The service was really bad. All in all, one of the worse experiences for a $ 100+ meal I could expect. You do not have many choices in the area… but taco bell would be a better one!

Basic southern fried seafood place, but not a good one. The salad bar was fresh at least.