The Monkey Bar

Not sure exactly how I feel about this place since everything is relative.
This place gets 2 stars and food quality and 4 stars on service so evened it out to 3 stars total. They have a disappointed and limited beer menu on tap which was disappointing and the quality of food we tried was sad. Potato chips were burnt and the corn was water logged. But the views are good and our server was very nice and attentive. So overall, if you’re looking for some drinks and basic bar food, you could do a lot worse around here than Monkey Bar.
Also, parking was great.

If I could give it a negative star I would. Location is fine, alligator is good, service and food totally suck. PLEASE do not try this sh*! hole for yourself… go to the freezer, you’ll be much happier.

Sorry Folks we were there this weekend sat night food and service was the worst ever no kitchen help and waitress would not look at us group of 10.
Beautiful view rooms good. But find another place to eat.

Kind of a scummy local place, but I grew up around here, so there’s a bit of nostalgia for the old «super friendly but still a little racist» that occurs in these rural Old Florida towns. The area has been getting a bit of a tourist-​dollar-​infused revitalization, so expect to talk to old people from Canada about how they don’t have pennies up there. That story gets more fascinating every time I hear it.
Dollar beers (!!!), but you can only order off a very limited menu — and only when the kitchen in the restaurant next door is open. Monkeys chill on the island just off the bar, which is pretty cool to watch. FYI the «Monkey Island Beer» is Coors.

We are staying at resort. First time in upstairs restaurant. Food was good Monkeys better. We had a table across from island. Monkeys act like they want to escape!!!

We ordered the crabs and waited over an hour. The food was good and plenty of it but very load and poor service was charged for things not ordered and found i was billed twice on my bank statement. The monkeys were nice to bad they didn’t run the place

I love this place! I’ve eaten here 3 times over the years and it has always been great. This most recent visit was no exception. All three of my party’s meals were excellent. The waitress was super friendly and knowledgeable. Best Caesar salad I’ve ever had. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because the carpeting is really quite dirty looking and the ceiling had a bit of a leak near our table. So not much to look at but still funky and fun. Will definitely continue to come here whenever I am in town.

Went here during a manatee tour. Has potential but they were severely understaffed that day. Apparently this isn’t the norm. It took 45 good minutes to get our food and mine was wrong. They were slammed and had live music. Probably would’ve been a good time but the service was pretty bad that day. Food was ok. I don’t live there so I can’t give it a second chance. Up to you…

Been here 3 times now over the past 3 years. First year was not bad. Last 2 years they are going down hill. Smell is musty and old. Waitresses tells us as soon as we set down that we are almost out of everything! This was a issue a year ago when we ate here and had to settle for cheese sticks. Don’t think I’ll give them another chance unless reviews get better. Sad they have a good location.

DO NOT WASTE YOU’RE MONEY OR TIME!!!
If I could I would give this place negative stars. The only reason my wife and I actually sat through the comedy of this place (how sad it was) is because we got a $ 50 coupon through
with our deal.
The Pros are real easy… none. Yea you can see the monkey island that has three monkeys, but you can see it just as easily if you go to any of the docks and don’t eat here.
The Cons… everything you can imagine… in more detail below.
1. The time we went there was about three other small groups of people… we had to wait to be seated because they had to clean off other tables that had stuff sitting for who knows how long.
2. we sit and wait about 10 minutes to get a drink order in… they don’t have our first choice of beer on tap and he says «We may have another keg, but it would take a while to get it set up». My wife and I decide to go with other beers that they had bottled since they didn’t seem to have much. Ended up with basic beers we could have easily gotten anywhere.
3. Ordering an appetizer we wanted the calamari. He had to check to make sure they had… luckily they had (or unluckily depending on how you look at it). When it came out there was so much fried breading and salt if I didn’t take all the breading off one of the pieces I wouldn’t have even know if it was actually calamari. Worst calamari I have ever had and I usually like to try it everywhere I go. My favorite part was having to eat the calamari with our hands since they were not bringing plates, silverware, napkins, etc.
4. I order the Salmon BLT and my wife orders a sunset chicken… he comes back saying they don’t have chicken… really a restaurant not have chicken… the most widely eaten meat at a restaurant. So she decides to keep it simple and go with the salmon BLT also, assuming they had it… well 10 minutes later he comes back saying they don’t have salmon. Then we just asked what they did have… not much apparently. we ended up going with the scallops and Philly cheese steak. This is where it gets even better. He has to come out 3 times to verify how i wanted my scallops which i wanted grilled… every time he thought fried. I was very impressed when they came out grilled. Granted he didn’t bring the correct side or half the food that was supposed to come with the meal. The scallops were terribly seasoned, the fry’s were the best thing on the plate. The side he did bring (veggies) were obviously frozen. This was the first time I did not finish scallops because they were that bad. My Wife’s Philly cheese steak had almost no onions, no green peppers and were really dry. On the Upside we did get silverware after they brought our dishes.
5. We had to hunt down our server for the check were completely unsatisfied with everything here.
For the prices, they are completely overpriced. I could find better food in a restaurants trash… as long as it’s not this one. For the prices they charge, nothing should be frozen and the food should be cooked perfectly.
The only person I would recommend this restaurant to is if you love fried food with a lot of salt and 0 taste otherwise.

We had a wonderful time at the Monkey Bar! A delish crab lunch, a bottle of local Florida wine, great, friendly service, a fun, laid-​back atmosphere, a neat view, and the fun monkeys! We stayed at the Riverside Resort, snorkeled with the manatees which was TOTALLY AMAZING WONDERFUL, and had a great time! Can’t wait to return!

Love the town of Homassaso — it feels magical and enchanting.
We went to the Monkey bar to see the monkeys on the island. There weren’t as many as we hoped but it was still fun to have a drink with such an interesting view. And it’s very funky, in general, which I always love.
We chose not to eat here as the menu was basically filled with fried food and nothing appetizing for our palates.
The establishment has two levels and sits right on the river so definitely worth stopping in.

This place has the location going for it but not much else. Slow service and mediocre food. Monkey Island is pretty cool, but wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit this place. My advice is to go there for a cocktail and check out the monkeys and that’s about it.

Live close by go for the atmosphere. Last visit was horrible, food not prepared, service slow and over priced for what you get. Our fish was mushy and horrible. I would not eat here. Cold beverage is about it. Very sad, great location.

You may be a red neck if you give this joint any more than 2 stars. Very dated — food was slow in coming and tasteless. Poor primates a stuck on a very poorly keep mound of dirt called an island — sad.

Location, location, location. This place has decent food, beer in plastic cups, but a great upper deck location overlooking the Homosassa River. Get there around 4pm on a weekend to get an upper deck table and watch the boats come into the docks.
Good fried grouper if you want fried fish and the stuffed mushrooms with crab and cheese were a nice twist.
A nice place to hang out on a lazy Sunday afternoon with really great service.

I gave this restaurant 3 stars because our waitress was very nice and the Monkey island is a cool site to see. Other than that, it is WAY overpriced for the quality of food and the drinks are also pricey! We started with their drink specials. There was barely any liquor in the drinks for $ 5, so we switched to beer. My husband got the steak and it was very mediocre with no flavor! My brother– in– law got the scallops, fish, and oysters. The scallops were very tiny and the fish was dry and over seasoned. I got the mini crab cakes and they were okay, nothing special. The best part of the experience was to just hang out in the Florida weather on their deck. If you want to have a few beers outside, this is a good joint! If your wanting a satisfactory dinner for a reasonable price, go somewhere else.

Cute place to go to take in local flavor. Food and drinks are typical, but Monkey Island is the draw. It’s fun and silly.

This place is all about the view. 30ft from Monkey Island definitely is the highlight of Monkey Bar. But that’s where the good part ends.
Food is not what you should come for. The seafood baskets are very small for the price. On top of that, they are not well cooked or quality food. You get around 8 nickel sized scallops in a ‘basket’ with most of it filled with fried chips and not great hush puppies. Clam strips and oysters are gummy and tiny.
Had a friend who got chicken wings and after telling the waitress they came out cold, they tossed it in hot sauce and gave them back. Guess that’s making them ‘hot’?
Service was decent, not great. The view is the only thing to come for. And worth it as long as your not hungry.

I came here after being tempted by the lovely monkeys on the island and a deal on Monkey Bar’s website boasting $ 8.95 all-​you-​can-​eat fish n’ chips on weekdays until 4 p.m. Upon arriving at 3:40 PM and requesting the fish n’ chips, the waitress tried telling me it ended at 3:30 PM. I told her I could show her the ad on my phone, and she went and talked to others in the back, came back and told me she could honor the price. My guest ordered shrimp. Our orders came back and we both got fish n’ chips. My guest told the waitress she ordered shrimp, and the waitress acted confused — that she thought we both ordered it and that’s why she was hesitant about having enough fish n’ chips (I thought it was actually because she thought it ended at 3:30?) She quickly, and kindly, put in a new order for shrimp for my guest and brought it out fast. My fish n’ chips had a fishy flavor and some of the nastiest consistency I’ve ever tasted. I could see the outline of the spine, aswhere normally fish n chips essentially taste like deep fried batter and a mild, soft fish like cod. I eat fish n’ chips practically everywhere and I’ve never had a batch I didn’t like before until now. My guest found her shrimp to be less than average and an unreasonable price for the small portion she was given.
Overall, the service was nice (friendly staff, fast service), I did not like my food at all, but did enjoy seeing the monkeys.