Blue Marlin

Our waiter’s recommendations were spot on. The salmon was perfectly cooked, the steak was flavorful, and the scallops were incredibly tender. Every dish was delicious, and the atmosphere was warm and inviting.

Excellent food! My two colleagues and I were all thrilled with our dishes. One got the Salmon stuffed with feta (new special), another the fish with grits, and I had the scallop pasta (very, very good). Nice staff and great outdoor seating for warm evenings. Indoor seating seemed fine but a bit too fishy smelling even for this fish loving crowd (probably just need to charge an air filter).

I’m currently visiting here on 11/2 while in town for work. The drink was nice. The crab cake wasn’t lump crab but it was good. The gumbo was good. And my entree that I ordered of the “specialty catch” never arrived after waiting an hour hence my last photo of my “dinner” aka an empty table. Maybe they had to fly to Australia to catch the Australian sea bass 🤷🏾‍♀️ who knows 🤷🏾‍♀️ I wanted to love it but I’m leaving disappointed. Edit: I expressed my disappointment to the manager Julie and she rectified the situation.

Nice seafood restaurant with plenty to choose from. Those are not biscuits in this pic they are grits and are delicious. We had great server. Definitely recommend reservations, not required but you will have a wait on Friday or Saturday.

Our server was very sweet. Bread is served before meal, ours was not cooked through completely though. We ordered She soup, firecracker flounder and salt and pepper catfish. Our problem was the flounder came out with about 1/4 of grease still sitting in curves. After requesting napkins to soak it which it took many, for just half, it still just tastes like oil. No flavor, very mealy. However, Our sweet server traded it out quickly and made it right. The catfish plates were out hot and tasted okay. The French fries were our favorite thing. Cooked to perfection! The slaw was very bitter. The she crab very fishy or crabby but lacked the rich flavors. Grits and collards both so so, everything just so blah, not seasoned well, or premade items most likely. The sweet tea is good. The place has a good atmosphere. Prices are even fair. About $16/ea with tea. We drove 2 hours to come, so I won't return. Also, the 3 black fingerprints on our soup cup makes me think the line guys aren't keeping their hands clean. Also, all metered parking.

Went to this establishment for dinner tonight. For the appetizer, I had the firecracker shrimp which was every bit of fire, but extremely delicious! For the entrée I had the Seafood platter which was very flavorful. The crab cake was very good! The service was very professional!

We stopped by Blue Marlin for some food on Saturday early evening, like 5pm. The place is huge, with plenty of seating. The service was good and the food was good. Food: We ordered the appetizer sampler with green tomatoes, firecracker shrimp, crab cakes, and pimento cheese. It was all pretty good and tasty. My feedback would be to plate the fried things separately. Or sauced separately. The sauce, heat, juices from the tomatoes and oil from pimento cheese soaks into the batter and you get soggy breaded food instead of crispy and fried. I also ordered the shrimp and grits. It was OK to me. I wanted to taste the grits and the shrimp, but the sausage kind of stole the show a bit for me. I know it's their staple and I'm not a huge shrimp and grits connoisseur so take that with a grain of salt. I ordered the market catch (red snapper) with peach chutney with sides of potato fingerings and vegetables and it was pretty good. The vegetables were perfectly cooked (not too raw but not mush). The red snapper was cooked a little too much so the meat was tough and kind of chewy. But everything was flavored really well. Service: The service was great, everyone we interacted with was friendly and professional. She came back often enough to check on us. Atmosphere: The place is pretty nice, it's pretty cozy but people aren't elbow to elbow. Outside was raining, but it looked really nice too. Overall, we liked the food, the service, and the atmosphere. I'd probably be back if in the Columbia area again.

Cool atmosphere, good service and a great location. the shrimp and grits was excellent with plenty of shrimp. Crab cakes and she crab soup was just ok. Nice stop for cozy seafood downtown Columbia with a well stocked bar