The Reef At Manhattan Harbour

I really enjoy this place. Probably the best harbor on the river. The staff is very knowledgeable and always goes over the top to help. They are also VERY organized  so even after hours when the staff has gone home for the night they have wheelbarrows placed so you can carry stuff from your boat to your car easily.

On several occasions they have been already closed and the young men actually saved us by reopening to fill us up with gas. They also give a 5% discount on gas if you are a member.

All good things. If you are a boat owner or just a passenger you will feel very taken care of here.

Best Frozen Margarita's  and service is slow. Blackened grouper sandwich was good but it needs a different bun(to big).

I was told about The Reef at a party after possibly one too many drinks by everyone in attendance.

"Oh man, it's so great. You sit outside and you drink drinks and there's a pool and you take your drinks into the pool and then you drink your drinks in the pool," this person said to me.

How could I resist a place like that?

The Reef is a no frills summer spot for exactly what they said above. You drive past Bellevue into Dayton, KY and basically as far down as you can get until you hit the river. Then there's The Reef, a restaurant built into a dock (and you'll see boats come in and go out for the entire time you're there). There's a dry upstairs part with a giant bar and a section for people to play music (while we were there, there were two guys doing decent covers of things like Mellencamp and Springsteen.)

On the bottom level is indeed a pool and people were indeed drinking in the pool. It was a very strange mix of people in the pool though - young people tanning and sipping on hardcore alcoholic beverages and families running around with kids. I guess this is a place for everyone.

(There was a sign near the pool said that it was only for members and patrons of The Reef, which I guess means if you buy anything, you can use it. We didn't even try, happy to sit above.)

The Reef has your normal mix of summer mixed drinks and domestic beers, served in plastic cups of course. Snag a menu and you'll see it's full of, again, summer staples: burgers and nachos and all the stuff you crave sitting outside. We go a dip sampler and it was solid - buffalo chicken dip, spinach artichoke and a seafood dip. None of them amazing but not terrible either, and they came with both chips and bread, which I loved.

This place isn't going to wow you, but it's not trying to. It knows exactly what it is and it does it well. I think that deserves a solid four stars.