RipTide Restaurant & Bar - Bar & grill in West Haven - 38 Ocean Ave, USA

It was off to a slow start, the stuffed clams appetizer were very bland. But the Blackened Ahi Tuna entree was incredible! Wow! Beware, prices were actually much higher than the website (like kid's meal went from $7 to $10...)

Great little place. Lots of locals. Less than 200 feet from the sand and water. Grilled lobster and cheese was delicious. Lots of lobster, perfect cheese blend, and arugula. Lexi at bar was spot on!

What a great find!!! Specials today was Buffalo fried oysters for an app and egg plant parm for lunch/dinner. Both were AMAZING! Right across the street is oyster river beach. Great view and great atmoshere. Bartender/waitress was amazing and attentive. Tip of the hat to the 2 guys in the kitchen and our awsome bartender!

Great place... Haven't been there in 2 months... But they recognized me.. great food, great selection of beers . Amazing food .. great bar tender... He knows his stuff.... Friendly staff.... Can't get better than this .. Cheers guys... Keep it going . PS: it's always Mondays night - musical bingo at 8pm.. dont miss it .

Good menu. Not just your average beach food like a heavily fried clam strip platter. The Ahi Tuna sandwich is delicious. Just the right amount of Wasabi sauce for that little kick of flavor. Great renovations done since the previous tavern closed. An outside patio and another outdoor seating area on the opposite side.

Had the lemon pepper grouper and lobster roll. Spot on! The music was a bit loud, but I'm old. Good lobster bisque and friendly service. The restaurant was unusually empty. Probably time of year.

Absolutely the worst waterfront location anywhere on the shoreline.. Food is barely edible, service isn’t good and kitchen and servers / bartenders have absolutely no proper communication with each other. I’ve been there 4x and all 4 times I’ve ordered multiple courses.. we very single time the send me all the food out at once. Hot / cold.. doesn’t matter.. They apparently don’t understand “firing tickets”.. literally kitchen and service 101.. They are always empty.. Dive bar next door.. ALWAYS packed.. I don’t even know how they’ve managed to stay open.. Learn how to rein a restaurant.. retrain your cooks and bar staff.. get more repeat business.. You should be embarrassed!!

My girlfriend and I were excited to try out a new waterfront restaurant knowing that Dive Bar next door is excellent. We decided to take a chance on Riptide. We were extremely disappointed. As a preface to all of this, I NEVER write reviews. I am going out of my way to save others from wasting their money as it was really that bad. For appetizers, we ordered fried calamari and clam chowder. I say this without exaggeration, the fried calamari was the most disgusting and poorly executed attempt I’ve ever experienced. 90% of the calamari were tentacles which is absolutely not normal, and beyond that, were nearly inedible from how soggy and rubbery they were. My girlfriend barely could get one piece down without choking. Absolutely disgusting. The clam chowder was a flavorless sludge with extreme amounts of black pepper. For the main course, I had the “Masterpiece” which is a chicken cutlet, mozzarella, roasted peppers, arugula and herb mayo on a grinder. I have quite literally made better sandwiches in my own kitchen. The bread was stale and the proportions were so off that I never was able to get a bite of everything at once. My girlfriend had a burger which was serviceable at best. It was cooked to her liking, but was missing the chipotle mayo she asked for. The bacon was overly crispy and nearly burnt. As for the atmosphere, the inside is nicely decorated but is very loud. They have multiple acoustic panels all over the walls which seem to amplify the sound, making it nearly impossible to hear one another. Overall, Riptide should be extremely embarrassed by their low effort food. It’s clear they’re just capitalizing on their waterfront location and sending out bad food. They merely act as a backup for people that would rather not wait to get into Dive Bar. Absolutely avoid at all costs.