Rodbenders Rawbar

As an amateur fisherman of both fresh and saltwater, I immediately fell in love with the atmosphere. I’m sure as you can see in other reviews photos the place is well decorated with tackle, mounted fish, aquariums and old fish finder and sonars. The staff was friendly and made great recommendations for appetizers and main courses. The craft brewed beers on tap were well varied. We ordered calamari, wings and hogfish sandwiches. My calamari and fish sandwich were extremely good. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the wings, But everyone else seemed to really dig them.
For the customer:
Try the hogfish, it’s not often that it’s on the menu anywhere and it really is good. Enjoy the atmosphere because it really is original and unique. Don’t be afraid to take the recommendations of the staff, often they know best.
For the business:
This place is pretty epic, but if I could improve in some areas, I would personally change the aquariums. They’re looking like some real attention is needed. I’m sure that some of the budget could be set aside for improvements there. Also, the background music/​TVs were a little annoying and I wasn’t a huge fan of the sports bar attire. With a little more class, you might bring in more families.
Overall, I would put this on the short list of places to eat on a budget next time I’m in town. Good job guys.

Very clean, friendly.
I love the nautical decoration.
Food is very good. There is fair amount of parking at shopping center, but, the place usually is fairly busy.

My favorite wings. one of my favorite places to eat at. Staff is always cool and the prices are great.

I’m shocked at some of these reviews… I have been bring friends and family and out of towners here for 12– 15 years it is an independently owned restaurant with its own unique style… classic fishing rods, mounted fish, even a world record caught by the owner. the menu has something for everyone. If you want a sandwich or a burger or you want stuffed flounder or dolphin in the weeds any price range or style they’ve got it. I see nothing ever dirty there. I’m shocked seeing how people wrote that they find it dirty and old… have they ever been to captain’s tavern? That is the most expensive seafood restaurant with a Rotty little interior. that is the uniqueness of these independent restaurants. I don’t want to go to Red Lobster… staff is always been HELPFUL and FRIENDLY. there is a section for family dining and a section with a bar and jukebox. Please find out for yourself.

Though the décor is outdated and may give you pause when you first walk in, this is a consistently good, reliable place.
The waitresses and staff are always genuinely sweet, friendly and helpful.
Food is consistently good. Me and my significant other have had several seafood plates and all have been satisfying and good tasting.
Only complaint is that I’d like to see them expand their beer selection.
They also have non-​seafood items if you happen to be a seafood lover going out with a non-​seafood lover. (Took my teenage son with us one night and he was happy despite being a staunch «no seafood» guy.)
This is a casual, relaxed atmosphere with a kind of slight «dive» feel to it. Prices are reasonable for seafood.
So if you’re looking for a casual restaurant with reliable food, and reasonable prices, I’d give this a shot. I’m actually going back there this weekend.

This place is awesome! I’ve been eating here on and off for years. Their honey blackened wings are our absolute go-​to! However, the rest of the menu is great; comes with appeal and variety. Looking for a good seafood spot with reasonable prices? Rodbenders is the one!

Food was below average, service was bad and poor selection of draft beers. Ordered a Corona Light bottle and it was hot.

Place is like something from Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. First, the place is old and rundown, and smells that way too. It doesn’t give you that warm and fuzzy feeling of sitting to eat in a nice clean restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, vintage is one thing, rustic is one thing, but dirty and stuff is something else.
Service is mediocre at best. Definitely not an establishment that’s focused on keeping the customer happy. You have to constantly look for your waiter, and then good luck getting what you ask for in a reasonable amount of time. The wait staff is just rude and has a bad attitude, across the board.
The food is basically horrible. Just about everything is obviously previously frozen. There are very few things that are served fresh, including the seafood and vegetables. They obviously do not have a skilled chef back there, more of a line cook that’s just throwing things together with little or no interest. Seasoning, flavor, those are all concepts that are lost upon this place. The food is a bunch of thrown together frozen junk.
The Sports Grill down the block, the Cuban place across the street, the barbecue joint the other direction, there are a bunch of better options along the Old Cutler strip. It’s a shame that an old established place like this one is not keeping up with the times, with the amount of good restaurants slowly opening in the area this place will be history if they don’t shape up. Save your money, and spare yourself some food poisoning, and go eat somewhere else.

I ordered takeout and I was told it would take 45 minutes to an hour. I arrived in 45 minutes and I had to wait, which was fine! I did feel that servers were a bit cold, unwelcoming, unfriendly, and I didn’t feel like they wanted my business. The place inside is stuffy, it feels moldy, old, and dusty. It doesn’t look like it’s been properly cleaned for years. Other than you ordinary wipe the table with the same rag and vacuum. Now time to review the food, I ordered the dolphin sandwich, buffalo wings, calamari, and fries.
Let me just say, the food is not fresh at all!
I have read reviews stating food is fresh, the only thing fresh is the tomato, that’s it.
«(a) The term „fresh,“ when used on the label or in labeling of a food in a manner that suggests or implies that the food is unprocessed, means that the food is in its raw state and has not been frozen or subjected to any form of thermal processing or any other form of preservation, except as provided in paragraph © …» (FDA)
The food was not fresh, bland, and small portions. The dolphin was obviously not fresh, not seasoned, it was dry, left my taste bunds with a desire to savor some flavor. The calamari were rings of joke! It was dry, unseasoned, and miniature rings lol. Fries were soggy and the wings, eh, nothing to brag about.
When I go somewhere to eat or pickup up food, I’m hoping to have a food experience fulfilled. If I can cook better than the cook making the food at the restaurant, it won’t make me want to come back. I’m no chef just a women that’s been handed down old recipes and that googles new ones.
Save your money on this joint, cook at home with fresh ingredients and/​or good luck on your Unilocal adventures.

Have been here twice. Food is fresh and delicious. Their dolphin sandwich is delicious and at a better price then other seafood restaurants. Have also tried their fried shrimp, conch, oyster, steak quesadilla all delicious.

I’m sorry but idk what people on Unilocal think good food is because this place was nothing to brag about. The wings were average by far nothing more. Same thing with the fries they tasted blah and there grouper sandwich very bland. The atmosphere was very dated but thts cool it gives the place some character bt tht pretty much it. The main reason why we even tried this place is because of the reviews on Unilocal.But now I’m wondering if these reviews are even legit.

Absolutely love this place. It’s right off of old cutler. Its not that big of a place but a perfect hang out for good food and cold beers. All ive ever had from here are the wings (second best wings ive EVER had) and the fried mushrooms… well noone else can compare. The food is just seasoned right and not alot of grease which I hate.
So come on out after a long week of work. find a parking which shouldn’t be too hard and relax with a cold one and a perfectly great chicken wing in one hand mushroom in the other!!! Enjoy!!!

After my Dad had been talking about Rodbenders for weeks (he probably eats there more than he eats in his own kitchen)…I had to check it out. Think about when you have a place where everyone is happy and they just want you to have a great time — well that is exactly what Rodbenders is all about.
The soups were amazing and the fish was tasty. There were so many things on the menu it was almost hard to pick for just one meal. I got the snapper which was great. My Dad gets the oysters a lot and always orders the soup of the day. Quick service and always on top of their tables.
One of my favorite things about this place is the awesome fish tank they have! Also — great place to catch a game.
I can totally see why my Dad goes there so often.

It’s been a while since I had been here but was in the area and looking for quick low key dinner. We arrived around 9 on a Saturday night, most of the dinner crowd had left but there were a few families and tables hanging around. The place has definitely seen better days. Everything looked like it needed a good cleaning and update.
The service was always good from what I remember, but not this time. All of the waitresses wanted to get out of their, and stood next to our table making plans instead of attending to us. It took forever for us to get our orders in and even longer for the food to come out.
To eat we had the tuna nachos which were really great and very reasonably priced considering the amount of tuna. I really enjoyed these but they are a little messy and pretty spicy. For the main course we had the wings which were as good as I remember them and the grouper stuffed with seafood. This was big let down, the fish didn’t taste very fresh and the stuffing was bland and mushy.
Overall I would come back for lunch and maybe grab some wings or sandwich, but nothing more.

I always try something different when I come here. Tonight I had the grilled chicken melt on rye. Yum! It came out piping hot, oozing with melted Swiss and grilled onions. Paired with sweet potato fries that had such a yummy brown sugar and cinnamon dipping sauce. As if you were eating sweet potato at thanksgiving. If course I had my usual glass of Pinot Grigio, which may or may not go well with my sandwich, but it’s my favorite. The service was awesome, atmosphere was quiet for a Saturday night. Which was perfect for me. Overall I was very pleased with everything!

The service was not good, in fact I had to get up to ask wait staff in the bar area (I was sitting in middle dinning area) for plates & silverware after our food had been served to us! Then again to ask for condiments, some the waitress should have asked when food was delivered…
We did not like the oysters! They were not cold at the should be, which caused some concern to eat! We (2 of us) normally could eat 2 maybe 3 dozen. We only had 1 doz. they just were not tasty!
The bacon warped scallops were delicious is the reason I rated the 2 stars! And the BBQ shrimp tasty but small and over cooked.

Tried this place after searching through Unilocal and I’d say it is worth stopping at for some lunch. I had the honey-​blackened wings, like many reviewers recommended, and they were really good. Fresh, juicy, good flavor. I also added sweet potato fries, they were a good thickness and perfect «not too soft, not too hard» crunch. My dad had the shrimp poor boy sandwich. He was not as impressed, said the shrimp tastes like it was those frozen fried shrimp, not the fresh battered ones. Disappointing but still tasty.
The atmosphere was nice, pretty fish tanks and decorations. Definitely a «dive» so casual attire. Waitress was really nice and attentive.
Overall I recommend stopping there and try the wings or maybe even their fresh seafood. It’s a good price for the food. Obviously if you go to an expensive place, the quality should be top notch, but for a quaint little dive, it wasn’t too shabby.

SO glad that I came here & found this place thanks to all my Unilocalies: D
This is definitely a dive, no windows, and a typical non-​Miami experience. I loved it! Everything is served on cheap plates & baskets but the food is high standard!
Stumbled onto here for Father’s Day with my family and we had a great experience! I definitely want to come back again already.
I definitely recommend the Dolphin Fingers as an appetizer or a small meal for kids. They’re not tiny, very tasty and meaty. Mmm!
We got an array of dishes (since we were a party of 6): Snapper sandwich, Crab sandwich, Scallop scampi, Shrimp scampi, codfish nuggets, tuna tataki, etc!
ALL of it was so good. No complaints at all, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the food. Service is also fantastic. Our waitress lent my girlfriend & I her sweater because we were so cold. Can’t wait to come back.

I had wanted to try this place for awhile but haven’t been able to make it out. Today was the perfect day, had to come down to visit a friend so decided to stop for dinner. Loved it!
Parking is ample and place is clean.
To start we ordered the seafood chowder and honey blackened wings. Both were delicious. I have to admit that the wings are the best I’ve had. The honey glaze is addicting.
For the entrees we ordered the dolphin sandwiches all cooked different ways. Blackened, fried and grilled. All were excellent.
The service was commendable. Our server was was so attentive. When I asked for honey mustard for the kids she made sure to ask if any of them are allergic to bacon.
Apparently the honey mustard is made with bacon, and might I add it was delicious.
This is a cozy casual spot. Really enjoyed it and definitely will be back

Been BACK, Time and Time again, GREAT neighborhood Food and Bar .
Food is Great !!! If their main Chef Is there. Good liquor selection. Simple. Easy lay back, great service place. Total original Miami casual rustic nice dive wear, Love it!!!
AND A JUKE BOX MUSIC YOU CAN SET THE MOOD, for 3 bucks, 5 bucks gets u like 7 songs .
On any major game sport times, NO JUKE BOX.