Mallards At The Wharf

Awesome crabcakes, awesome BBQ «piglet», amazing coleslaw! Our waiter, Sergio, was very attentive. Portions were on the slightly smaller side, but the flavor made up for it. Lunch for 2 was $ 25ish, and worth every penny.

The reviews must be wrong for this place! The service was great, however, the food was horrible! Portions were small and overpriced. We got the crabcake sandwich, which came with nothing on the bread roll with chips! It was a total rip off for $ 13! The crabcake didn’t even look like a crabcake. Would not recommend this place if you are expecting a lot of good food.

happy with the food. we were the only ones sitting inside. service was impeccable. but there is no separation with the bar and diners, making the loud drunks particularly obnoxious. also, is there a problem with the AC? the place was at least 80 degrees inside. still, we loved the personalized service, and our waitress was top notch. taking one star off for atmosphere.

This is simply a review for a wrong restaurant

Great service and food!!! The fried Rockfish and Mahi Mahi tacos were the best! The rockfish was so good, we got a second order. I couldn’t believe the bad reviews on here so we are very happy we went… and since we are from New York, we’ve had it all but your fish is something to brag about.
Our waitress, Jamie was phenomenal! Thank you for the great service and for being so nice to my son.

We stop at mallards every time we are in town. Great people. Fun place. Amazing food. Combined with being right on the water.

One of my favorite places when we are at the Eastern Shore in Virginia. Tasty fresh food and friendly staff. Very relaxing eating outside overlooking the dock. Crab cakes were great as was the sesame crusted Atlantic Salmon. I didn’t have the soup of the day (which was a steak and mushroom cream) but my wife and mom did and they raved.

Not from the area and found this restaurant on Unilocal — great find — entrance unusual but interesting. Service and food were both excellent. If we ever get back to the area this place will be our first stop. Our nephew had the meatloaf and raved and raved about it — even the presentation. My husband and I had the crab cakes and thought they were the best we had in VA. He is also still talking about the Smith Island cake. !

Went there for the first time today, after moving into Harborton (a nearby village). I ordered the fried grouper sandwich ($ 10) and it came out raw. Then the remade it, assuring me it was «extra crispy» but once I tasted it, it did not seem like grouper at all, more like a slimy pollack fillet (even looked like a pollack fillet) and it was terrible. I left almost all of it on my plate. I went home and promptly threw up (no kidding).
They don’t have much competition. Maybe that’s why they can get away with it. Just stay away.

Ask me 5 years ago and I’d recommend this place to my mother, in fact I did. But like they say: you can never go home again. Boy how times have changed, to be fair onancock appears to have fallen apart, but I never expected this from mo. You can taste the lack of caring. I’ve been talking about his crab cakes since I left and was heartbroken to taste what had happened. The building is the same, along with the early afternoon screwdrivers, but if your home sick this isn’t the place to fix that.

I recommend going for lunch on a nice day so that you can enjoy sitting on the deck. My family used to go here regularly back before it was Mallards, but it is a bit pricey now. Last time I went I had a pretty nice salad. The seafood is good according to my friends.

You haven’t experienced anything yet until you meet the musical chef!!! Johnny mo also participates in local community events!!! Big success!!! And a wonderful view as you wine and dine right on the onancock wharf… It’s beautiful!!!

3.5 stars.
Stumbled upon this restaurant on a Friday night after a suggestion to check out the quaint town of Onancock during a drive through the VA Eastern Shore. Sweet local restaurant by the water and you have the option of sitting at the bar, indoors in the dining room, or outdoors on the patio. Arrived just after sundown and it was a chillier evening so we opted to sit inside. Ordered a cup of Eastern Shore crab soup (tomato broth-​based) as a starter, the crab cake sammie (nice size with lots of crab meat), and the grouper with vegetable quinoa. Everything was tasty but not memorable for me; my favorite was the soup (hearty, rich, flavorful). I expected more seafood options but they only serve their lunch menus all day on Sundays and Mondays so options were more limited.
Service was very friendly and professional. I can definitely see why this is a popular local spot due to the lively outdoor patio. Next time I return, I’d like to sit outside to enjoy the views, water, and ambiance.

Go there for the ambiance and the view, not for the food or their beer.
Onancock is one of the hidden beauties of the eastern shore of Virginia, and I was looking forward to visiting there. Asking the locals, I was told that Mallards was decent, and they are probably correct. What turned me down that once I was seated (outside) people sat down at the the table upwind from me and proceeded to ask for an ashtray. I other words my enjoyment of my drinks and food were ruined by second hand smoke. The beer choice was very limited as was the food choice. The crab cake was nice, but it was thrown onto a dry role that had absolutely nothing else on it. Far to often things are OD-​ed with dressing, so this is not really horrible but some minor coating of my bread would have been appreciated. The crab cake had a good amount of crab in it with little filling. The cole slaw was about a table spoon full and yes it was fairly expensive. Again great views, but second hand smoke, yuck.

Great Location, beautiful views, and friendly staff. It is a shame that no local beers on tap. But the food was above-​average. Crabcake sandwich was very good as well as the Fish taco.

Reading some of the other reviews I was expecting some really unique food, but it just wasn’t.
First, the setting is nice and it has great views.
I got the fish tacos and they were just very uninspired. It fish on a tortilla, with some lettuce and a little spicy mayo. It was cooked OK, but there was no depth of flavour at all. I’ve only had a couple of good fish tacos and it takes some real effort to build the flavours together. Compared to some place like Mama Kwans in the OBX, this was just terrible.
The side was a bag of chips (that’s fine) and about 1 bite of a macaroni salad.
I couldn’t believe I paid $ 12 for that.
Wife got a soft shell crab sandwich and wasn’t impressed.
Kids got shrimp and nuggets. Nuggets were obviously right out of a frozen box and into a fryer. Shrimp about the same.
Just really not worth the money and a big let down.

I wavered between two and three. Call it two and a half.
Friendly service but a plain room with little view of the water, such as it is. My wife ordered grouper with salsa, I got a bowl of the «Eastern Shore crab soup — Made the traditional way with a rich tomato broth & local ESVA crab» and a soft-​shell crab sandwich.
The soup was an unfortunate start; it was thin, not rich, with a few vegy’s and a little crab, served at the bottom of a big mostly empty bowl. The soft shell crab sandwich came with no condiment but I was curious to see what it tasted like so I dug right in. It’s my first one so I can’t compare it to others but I can say I’m not tempted to get more.
My wife liked her grouper and said the salsa made it quite good, but I had the last of it and I’ve had much better grouper and fish with salsa. It was so so.
My sides were a small plastic cup of macaroni salad (the chef’s «side of the day» I guess; tasty, but little and who wants macaroni salad with a sandwich, anyway?) and a bag of chips. With her grouper my wife had a side salad that looked pretty good. I suspect it was the best thing on that table.
I won’t be going back.

One of my favorite summertime spots. Sit on the deck overlooking beautiful Onancock Creek while you sip on a cocktail and listen to acoustic music by Johnny Mo «The Musical Chef» Excellent Food in a casual dining atmosphere. Crab Cakes are a favorite dinner entrée and Turkey Sandwich called «The Clerk» is a favorite lunch item on the menu.

What a great find! We came in for a visit to Onancock on our boat and tied up to the city dock. Right next door was Mallards and on their menu was crab cakes «held together only by love» — in other words, no fillers. We decided to give it a try and the crab cakes were out of this world.
The chef, Johnny Mo, is also a musician with multiple CDs out and several cookbooks. After the delicious dinner, we bought his latest cookbook, «Rock the Kitchen» and have used it several times a week on our boat. We’ve enjoyed all the recipes and the cookbook is only one of three we have on board — we’re selective, but Johnny Mo’s book is great for a boat — not long on ingredients and easy to prepare — and they have flair.
We’ll certainly be back.

Mallards is a wonderful, sleepy, small-​town place to visit if you’re just passing through — and I highly recommend passing through while you’re on your way to parts North or South. Take the CBBT and enjoy the Chesapeake Bay on your trip rather than taking I-​95.
A 5-​star review of a mainly seafood place might sound strange coming from a veggie, but the girl loved getting her second helping of crab cakes in 2 days, and I had a surprisingly good veggie grilled cheese. It’s truly right on the wharf — you’re sitting on the dock looking out at the Bay as you dine, and there’s even a bar. I bet it’s a fun place to hang out after a hard day’s work.
Left Coasters and East Coasters alike, take note! The Delmarva Peninsula has wineries, and great seafood — well worth a side trip!