River Smitd`s Chicken & Catfish Restaurant in Lubbock

I've been told that River Smith's has great tasting food. I've been there twice and I can't agree with that statement. The service is good though just bland battered food and over cooked seafood. Hope it regains it's great taste until then, I'm going to Dimba's.

Worse experience with staff. They were rude & disrespectful. We ordered 2 plates with one plate that included a salad. My wife went to the salad bar to get some bacon bits & a male staff Gabriel rudely ran from across the restaurant to tell my wife that she was not allowed at the salad bar. I asked to speak to a manager. I spoke to the manager & he absolutely didn’t do anything. Never going back to River Smiths!

Really and truly the best friend chicken! I visit here Everytime I come to Lubbock, it's nothing fancy, just good cooking at a fair price. Lots of food so come hungry!

the service was good the food was really good, and see the fish in the Large aquarium was awesome

Nice place. I highly recommend.

I order on favor app for a 2 combo and neither favor nor the river shmits menu specify if it came with sides or not. Won't buy again unless y'all can make yourselves clear

Good food and good service to go. Would be nice to have flatware and napkins in the packaging though.

Good place Good food clean area kid friendly they give you alot of food for little price always liked coming here for there fish and chicken customer service is always great and cant complain

Food was ok. They have a 20 minute wait for chicken so you get a free order of onion rings, that was nice. Really like the aquarium with fish to watch as you dine.

These people are good to veterans. They gave my hubby a free side of onion rings. He's a Vietnam Veteran. The food was great and I love how the place is decorated. The prices were very reasonable. I recommend this establishment to you if you are ever in Lubbock. Truckers, no one bothered us when we parked in the far end of the Walmart parking lot.

Good fish I ordered the captain basket it was delicious 🤓🤗

The food is decent. The best part of the meal was the fried mushrooms and wow they were huge and very good!! I ordered the chicken bits and white fish with mashed potatoes and was disappointed that the mashed potatoes tasted like instant potatoes. The gravy was congealed and was not very warm at all so it was pretty unappetizing. They have a variety of flavors of tea which I thought was great since I LOVE TEA! Next time maybe I'll just order the mushrooms and be satisfied with that, they were enough for a whole meal anyway.

Good food for the most part. Hit or miss depending on what you order. Good service though.

I like the fact that you have to wait about 5 or 10 minutes to get your food. It comes out fresh every time. Not "fast food." There's nothing like fried catfish for some good old comfort food. Or if you want something a little more healthy, the blackened grilled catfish is excellent.

The fish is so fresh and worth the cost!

Excellent jalapeño burger and peach iced tea. First time visit gets free onion rings. Filling and delicious. There was no wait and plenty of seating. It’s a walk up order and sit down place. I like the catfish aquarium.

Love their chicken fried steak...a must try....highly recommended...

Ordered the blackened catfish and they barely gave me any food. They gave me one small piece of fish and such a small amount of rice. For the amount I paid it was most definitely not worth it

The food was really good. I ordered the blackened catfish. The service was quick. We had a LARGE order and everything was correct. The mariachi band was a cool touch too

Outstanding food and atmosphere! Everyone working here was so nice! Cheaper combo dinners but so good!

Soup, Salad & Catfish plus drinks all for $35 !! Real bargain and pretty good food ! Lots of Carbs but Hey, tastes good ! This place was really busy and you can see why. As novices I was pretty happy with our choices. We had the Captains Platter & Catfish plus shrimp popcorn with soup & salad ! The secret was to take Combo 2 which was plenty for us both. Lots of family groups and a real good find, plus my first try of Catfish, not bad at all, Y'all !

We were in town and looking for something good to eat. We found this place, the food was really good. We especially loved the fried zucchini, I wanted to eat them all. We made the mistake of ordering the 2 whole catfish plate thought. It is exactly as it says WHOLE so we got all the bones that come with the fish and it was hard to enjoy the fish. The fries were ok, I expected better because everything else was good. The teas were not so good either, and the Pepsi tasted like it was sugar free or diet. The salad bar was ok, not the best selection I've seen. If we're ever back in town I cant say we'll be back, but if we do we'll avoid the catfish we ordered.

Fresh and delicious! Good bang for your buck too.

Great food! Great Staff! Timely service! !

My son bought me a 2 piece whole catfish dinner. Oh my goodness it was horrible. I tried to eat it but I couldn't. I been eating at River Smith's since it been in Lubbock. NEVER have gotten a meal like THIS... The fish taste like MUSH. The fish was sooo soft. I figured it was OLD FISH. I won't be buying any more from there. Would of taken it back but I don't have a car. All that money went in trash. Sorry for the way it looks like cause I had to get it out of the trash.

Service was wonderful the food was find of bland but it was cooked great

Food was okay but very reasonable price for seafood. Service is little slow but they don’t want tips so that’s okay. Just don’t go if you’re in a rush. Pic is double catfish platter. It’s too much for one person.

Awesome fish place with great food, good prices and a nice atmosphere. This was my first time here. I wanted some fish and Lubbock is pretty slim on options when it comes to fish. If you don't want LJS and don't want pay for over priced food at Red Lobster, you are pretty much out of luck. I did Google search for fried fish and it brought up Rivers Smiths. I decided to try it out and am glad I did.The staff friendly and they give free onion rings to first timers. I had the blackened shrimp and it was amazing. The free onion rings were the best I have ever had. They have a great choice e of teas, like Mango Passion Green Tea and Coconut.My first time here but it will not be my last.

I always get the fried catfish, either whole or fillets. I'm never disappointed. The fish has always been seasoned well and fried to a crispy golden brown. Thank you for your attention to those types of details!

I ordered my family meal for delivery through Favor. The wait was already ridiculous but then they gave my food to someone else. When I finally got my order almost an hour and a half later it was wrong. The chicken was burned and flavorless it was just greasy.There were no sides, just 3 napkins that smelled like pickles 2 honey packets and 3 ketchups. So all I got was a box of chicken no meal. The resteraunt did offer a $10 credit for the next time I go in but this was a really bad experience. I don't drive so this really ruined our dinner plans.

Fresh. Hot. An taking all safety precautions

Showed up 7 minutes before closing time and wouldn’t serve me. Referred me to opening hours. I hope owner reads this

This is our go to place when we come in town and for some reason the food was so good we ate here twice today 😂. The service was pretty good and Damon went out of his way for customer service. Cant wait to come back next time we are in town.

One thing I don’t like about River Smith Is the management for one y’all think jus cause y’all have little authority you can treat people any kind of way an it don’t work like that at all them staff that works for y’all should get treated with respect jus like y’all want respect y’all should show it jus cause y’all have the right to give authority don’t mean treat your staff any kind of way an that goes from the big boss to the little boss

I liked it better than some chicken and fish. I love their puffs. I like that they offer takeout through delivery services such as Postmates, and other. Really good catfish.

I have been to lubbock a lot because I drive an 18 wheeler. Yesterday was the first time i ate here and let me tell you from the moment you walk in to the moment you leave its like you are family amazing stff,food,prices i ended up eating 3 meals while i stayed at the hotel across the street. Next time im in town definitely eating here again

Was totally surprised to find a Mariachi band playing the night we went. That was hands down the BEST Mariachi band we've ever heard! Two of those singers are opera quality voices, and all quality instrumentalists as well.

Great food! Definitely underestimated how much food I was getting but it was worth every bit.

One of my favorite places to eat and they off a senior discount.

We are from out of town, just driving by and rest for lunch. It's a family friendly restaurant, big potion of food. The whit fish meal I ordered was okay, fish was a little dry, green beans were watery. But overall still a good place, staff were friendly.

The white fish and clay strips were good

Pleasant dining room but that's about it. Fast food quality and ungenerous portions. As we say in Texas this place is all hat and no cattle

I love this place so much...i usually order 15 piece boat load for take out... I always customize it...no one ever complained about me doing so and my order is always great n fresh...i love the fact its cook to order and not something sitting around...takes me about 20 minutes to get there so i call from my car at home and about the time i pull in its ready..all of your staff are friendly and great...i will continue to come back regularly...we absolutely love you guys

Keep forgetting to take pix. Love the white fish dinner. You can actually see n most of taste it. Awesome cashiers!

It never fails. Everytime we go eat here they get my stuff wrong. Today the chicken bit were raw. Sent them back and they still came back raw. So i switched it out for a burger with mayo. Well guess what they got it wrong again. Like how hard is it to get an order rt. Not only was my chicken bits under cooked but so were my grandson's. 1 star is way too much for this place but it wouldn't let me post without rating it. To top it off they weren't even busy.

THE SECOND TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED, ORDER OUR FOOD FOR LUNCH EVERYONE AT THE TABLE GETS THEIR LUNCH, MINE DIDN'T SHOW ASK THEM TO CHECK ON IT AND THEY ACT LIKE THEY ARE TOO BUSY TO CHECK. I ASKED FOR MONEY BACK AS I HAD TO GO BACK TO WORK.. THEY SHORTED ME THREE BUCK ON TOP OF NOT GETTING TO EAT. I AM DONE WITH YOU GUYS. TOO BAD THE FOOD IS GOOD, BUT THE EMPLOYEES ARE THE WORST.

You won't find better folks then the staff. God Bless y'all for what you do. Great food

avoid the fried food....needs salt or something to be able to eat it. Ive had better mich more often....the blackened looked better, if there is a next time I'll try it instead of the captain's platter.

Exelent place. Food is delicious. Omg their fish is absolutely delicious, totally recommend it. Employees are great so friendly and helpful. Thanks guys

It is Awesome! Staff is Attentive & Very Friendly!