Clifton By The Sea

07/24/09

What happened?

by bropat at Citysearch

I have been eating at Clifton for 25 years. It was always known for great food. We ate there about 3 weeks ago and the fried shrimp and gumbo were not acceptable for the bay area. Might sell in Montana. The red sauce was unidentifiable. I have had several friends say the same thing i.e. the crab claws were not near the same.

What happened? Did the chef quit??

• Pros: Good service
• Cons: food has crashed

03/20/09

new ownership -restaurant lost it's good food

by plynnp at Citysearch

took an out of town friend to Cliftons by the Sea. Ate outside on deck where there were at least 5 cats around us and spinach, crab, artichoke dip was cold. Sent it back and again it came out cold. It was 6:30pm and they had run out of the beer we wanted to have. Wanted the crawfish since it was in season, I got the half & half, crawfish etouffe and fried crawfish tails. The fresh crawfish tails were large, but even though the waitress said the etouffe and the fried tails were from the same batch of fresh crawfish, they were small and tasted like frozen seafood. The grilled redfish looked dry. I was at this restaurant last summer and it was much better. You have to walk through a bar with a lot of smokers to get to the main restaurant. If Fertitta bought this place, it is going down hill. Waitress was slow with our bill and could not get through the tables so would pass it up around the edge of the deck! Then menu is not the same and the food is not fresh and it comes out cold. DON'T GO! My husband was up at 3am throwing up.. probably due to something in the food. FInd another great seafood place and there are a lot of them! This one has gone down hill with the new ownership.

• Pros: see the sunset and gulf
• Cons: terrible service, too many cats & cold, bad food

12/28/08

Great food, Great view!!

by sarahpal81 at Citysearch

My family and i just went to cliftons this evening and enjoyed everyting about this place. The waitstaff was fun and attentive, the restaurant was clean and had a nice diner feel to it. We found out that the place is under new ownership by some lovely people. The stuffed snapper was cooked perfectly, and there were so many choices of sides i didnt have to settle on something i did not like. The apple pie was well received by my picky eaters, ofcourse who would say no to icecream, whip cream and sizzling sauce surrounding the pie. All of this also sits right on galveston bay, so you have some of the most spectacular views. I will come back for more!!!