Madigan's Waterfront

We sat right next to the window and the view was great. We saw all the boats come in and the geese swimming along the river. We had the peel and eat shrimp and seafood pizza for an app and they were both delicious. I had the lobster mac & cheese for dinner - there was whole lobster claws in the pasta! My husband had the surf & turf and the lobster tail was enormous with more meat than he expected. Highly recommend this place esp for special occasions as it is a bit pricey. more

I loved everything, The food was great, we had shrimp and crab nachos that were fresh and crispy. My burger was cooked just right and my wifes crabcakes were full of jumbo crab meat. The drinks were cold and the music on the deck was pieceful. Even the ducks were having a good time. You can't beat the service or the view. we will be back. more

Great place to eat... Is even good for kids... I had a good time a really nice view for seafood I definitely recommend this place... Aso great filet mignon... The service was great more

Wonderful place to sit outside while enjoying cocktails and/or dinner. The bar is small but usually has live music and always draws a crowd on weekends. more

Madigan's Waterfront is a very pleasant riverside restaurant in the quaint village of Occoquan, VA. Madigan's is an excellent stop during a visit to Occoquan and is definitely a dining destination itself Seafood entrees are the mainstay and include Crabcakes, Sea Scallops au Gratin, Stuffed Shrimp, Stuffed Flounder and a featured fresh catch of the day. Steak, chicken, and pasta dishes are available, too. Snadwiches, burgers, and salads are also on the menu. (If you are not up for a full crabcake dinner, the crabcake sandwich is a fine alternative.) Madigan's does crab very well and I can recommend both the crab cakes (nicely seasoned and full of crab meat rather than filler) and crab chowder. The main dining room is decorated in a gazebo or atrium style with trellises, hanging plants and wood floring. Dining on the waterfront deck is most enjoyable in spring and summer, but is popular the year round. Sunday Brunch is served from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Live music featuring local and regional bands is scheduled in the bar and lounge area on Friday and Saturday nights. more

Lunch four times over the last couple of years, and never a bad meal. The last time was in the back room by the window overlooking the river...... and it was wonderful. We elected to have several appetizers as 'shared variety' with a lite fruity Blue Moon to take care of the road dust. We've always had later lunches so service has never been a problem. Atmosphere is relaxing and always repeatable. more

Madigan's Waterfront is a wonderful restaurant. The scenic view of the river was an added bonus. The service was excellent from the friendly hostess to the excellent wait staff. My husband had the Dirty Chicken which was full of flavor. I had the Tilapia Bruschetta which was superb. After dinner we went into their newly renovated bar which looked amazing. WOW! It was a wonderful night! more

FOOD, SERVICE,VIEW, ALL EXCEPTIONAL more

We had our company holiday party at Madigans waterfront and it was top notch! Excellent food, service and enviorment. Our menu included the dirty chicken, vegatarian platter ( portabello mushrooms stuffed with goat cheese and pine nuts), grilled salmon and the prime rib. Dessert included a great pcs of cheese cake and excellent choc mousse. Everyone had a great time and loved the food. The price was excellent for the event (better than any other price I found in the area). We had our event on a Friday night so the band was playing after 9:00 but we could hardly hear the music unless the door to the bar was open. The one down side is the bathroom is located in the bar area so you had to leave the restaurant area and walk through the smokey area to use the restroom. I didnt really consider that an inconvenience as the other part of the event was so good, no one seemed to care. I highly recommend Madigans for a nice dinner or for a company event. Its also a great place to do for a night of live music and dancing. All in one. I will say that its a much nicer and classier enviorment than Tims or Oasis if your looking for a nicer enviorment. If your looking to drink and eat crabs and throw down, you might want to go to Tims. more

Cathy Madigan was great to work with and I would highly recommend Madigan's Waterfront to anyone planning a special event. I appreciated Cathy's enthusiasm and take-charge attitude and she alleviated a lot of my stress! The venue was beautifully decorated and the food was wonderful. Throughout the night, Cathy and her staff made sure we and our guests were enjoying ourselves!\r more

Once again Madigans was a hit with our friends. We all shared some crab and shrimp nachos & brie and fruit. The chicken oscar was great but I think the cowboy ribeye was the best choice for the meat. Danny had the surf and turf which was hard to eat because he had to hold the rest of the table away from his lobster with a fork. One of these times I'm going to try and save room for dessert. Great job Madigan's more

wonderful food and service. The view could not have been more plesant. I will be back. more

I loved everything, The food was great, we had shrimp and crab nachos that were fresh and crispy. My burger was cooked just right and my wifes crabcakes were full of jumbo crab meat. The drinks were cold and the music on the deck was pieceful. Even the ducks were having a good time. You can't beat the service or the view. we will be back. more

Madigan's Waterfront is the PERFECT venue if you want to have a ceremony and reception on site for no more than 80-90 people. End of story. Cathy Madigan, one of the owners, acts as your wedding planner for the event. She is there well before you wedding helping to get set up and make everything beautiful, she is there to make sure your ceremony goes smoothly, and helps to organize the events of the day so that everything stays on schedule and you don't have to worry about a thing. We did pictures before in the courtyard with a gazebo starting at around 3:30 with all of our family and extended family. We were also able to do pictures later on the docks outside the venue which made for some really pretty photo opportunities. The ceremony started at 5:00pm it was over by about 5:20. Our guests started drinking and the wedding party went back outside for a few more pictures. The rest of the day was perfect. It ended at around 10:00pm, probably a little bit later since we were having so much fun. We had about 75 guests which was perfect for this venue. There were several levels in the venue to help separate the eating area, cocktail area, dance area, buffet line and cake area. It was also nice that there is a large wrap around deck that is totally private and for your guests to use if they want to go outside to get fresh air or look at the river. The price per person included just about everything including the cake. She doesn't nickle and dime you for the use of her chairs, linens, china, etc. She was also able to provide you with a DJ that she uses frequently for a very reasonable cost. The food was amazing! So good. I would definitely suggest the Roast Beef Carving station with the ""Horsey Sauce"" and the pasta station. They were a huge hit with my guests. The cost of booze is based on consumption FYI, not open bar. For most people having a wedding this would probably be fine because the cost of alcohol per drink was very very reasonable. But, lets just say we went a little over on our anticipated bar bill. Our guests repeatedly used the words ""Perfect"" to describe our venue and the reception as a whole. We had such a blast and it was quite literally the best day ever. We are still in awe at how perfect everything went. I also wanted to mention that we blocked rooms off at the Hampton Inn which is about a mile away from Madigan's. It is the best hotel option in the area and is also the closest. The hotel was able to set up a shuttle for my guests so they could get to and from the reception at no additional costs. The rooms are updated, clean, there is an indoor pool and hot breakfast in the morning. Since we booked a bunch of rooms they gave us a complimentary suite! Everything was perfect! more

My sister-in-law insisted that we come here for Father's Day brunch yesterday because she heard good things about the buffet. Let's just say that based on the other reviews, this was far from my first choice, so I was prepared to hate the place, but in the end actually turned out to be good. The reviews that said that it took a long time for them to get seated were right on. Maybe it was just the holiday, but the line to get seated for the reservation-only brunch buffet was pretty long. It took a while to get someone's attention, and unfortunately we didn't know that you needed reservations for the brunch buffet, so we wound up sitting on the back deck for their regular lunch menu. The restaurant was half-empty, so there was no problem getting a table. We were greeted promptly and courteously by our server, and had no problem placing our order. My wife and I shared the Crab Alfredo and Petite Open Face Filet. The first dish was a little light on the crab, but what was there was good, as was the alfredo sauce. We ordered the filet medium-rare and it came out medium, which is what we expected since our waiter actually warned us that they tend to overcook the beef. The quality and tenderness of the meat was very good. The only downside to this dish was the bearnaise sauce, which tasted like it came out of Campbells Soup can, not fresh at all. Fortunately it came on the side in a separate plastic container. My sister-in-law had the chicken quesadilla, which I tasted as well, and it was quite good, the chicken tender and tasty. However the tomato salsa that came with it was not fresh either, so it was good that, like the bearnaise, they had put it on the side. My father-in-law had a roast beef sandwich, which I didn't get to taste but he said it was good. Also a couple of the dishes came with fries, which were good as well, they tasted fresh and were not soggy like at some restaurants. I'm not sure why so many people were impressed by the scenery, because from the back deck there isn't that much to see. That section of the river isn't actually that pretty, especially since it's right next to a big honkin' bridge. So in the end, I would say it was actually good. The service was good, and the food was good except for the things I mentioned; they really need to work on their bearnaise and salsa. From the other reviews it sounds like we got lucky that we actually didn't have the buffet. The prices of the individual entrees were quite reasonable as well, with most under $10. We all had enough to eat, and since we didn't order any alcohol we spent half the money that we would have for the buffet. more

After a fairly extensive search for a good reception venue I selected Madigan's for it's location in historic Occoquan on the river, the quality of the food we had eaten in the restaurant, the charm of the upstairs reception area that would be pre-decorated for the Christmas holidays, and the reasonable pricing. Cathy was willing to negotiate on the pricing due to our reception taking place on a Monday afternoon and since I would be bringing my own wedding cake which is normally included in the price. I was even able to swap the extra desserts that are typically part of the menu for a champagne toast instead. I also made one equal swap for one menu item I didn't care for. The open bar was paid on a per consumption basis instead of a flat fee per person which I also appreciated. I was also able to negotiate a price for younger children as well as toddlers/babies at no cost. I didn't really like paying a $1 per person cake cutting fee to bring in my own cake, but that price is on the low end of what you can expect at other places. One guest had a food allergy and she made sure the recipe for the one item that included the ingredient was changed for our wedding day. She had a few different handouts with guidelines, menus, timing of meetings, etc. that made the process go smoothly. I rely heavily on email and sometimes it would take more than 24 hours for her to respond but none went more than a few days without response--I think voicemail may be a better way to reach her. Cathy was always very professional but started to loosen up a little by the end. She is not your typical warm and fuzzy, bubbly wedding coordinator so don't get offended by her 'all business' approach to the meetings. She gave me helpful feedback on my tentative timeline for the day and their previous relationship with Nelson Coffman DJ services made that part of the planning process easier for me as well. Each of the four meetings with her were very efficient which I appreciated. With another wedding reception the day before mine that wanted to change the colors of some of the decor, Cathy was still willing to change it back to her original decor in time for my reception since I preferred her color scheme compared to the other brides'. The site was lovely with all the decorations and Cathy made sure we kept on schedule the entire afternoon. Despite choosing to just have hors d'oeuvres for our short, midafternoon reception it appeared that everyone went through the line at least once before food started to run out and I enjoyed tasting all the menu items myself. A waiter specifically came to our table to get our drink orders which we really appreciated and we, of course, went through the buffet line first. We had requested one high chair at three different tables and those were set up in advance to our arrival. I did not have a huge amount of table decorations but everything I did provide was set up exactly to the specifications I gave her and we were able to borrow a few things like vases and candy dishes (she also has toasting glasses and cake cutting tools available if needed). Candles on a mirror under a hurricane globe are also included at no cost. She has a number of different linen colors. I was hoping for gold ones when we first met which were not available but when she decided to purchase a set Cathy sent me an email to let me know she now did have the gold tablecloths I had been asking about. It's still a bit shocking just how much reception venues & food cost even for just hors d'ouvres but with all the added services included I think it was a fair deal. If I have future events that need a venue and catering, Madigans will certainly be on the top of the list to consider. more

Madigan's Waterfront is an excellent venue for a reception. It truly is the total package. We opted for a seated/ plated reception and it was wonderful. I get compliments daily on how great the service was, and how amazing the food was! The steak were cooked to perfection, and the stuffed flounder was to die for. Cathy was great to work with. Very flexible, and forgiving. I was a mess days leading up to the wedding, and totally dis-organized (don't move just weeks before your wedding!) But every thing went smoothly and looked fabulous! I'm so glad I chose to have my reception there! more

My fiancé and I went here the other day b/c we are thinking about having our wedding reception there. I did read the reviews beforehand and was disappointed b/c I really like the location but we decided to check it out anyway. We had a really good experience. Our waiter was totally awesome. It's beautiful sitting on the deck at night. I had the crab soup which was some of the best I've ever had and the shrimp and crab nachos which were so good I can't stop thinking about them. My fiancé had the jambalaya. It was good as well with big juicy shrimp. The chicken in it was just ok but the rice and flavor was excellent. The only bad thing I can really say is their bread kind of sucks. Now, it is possible they treated us so nice b/c they know we are considering doing our reception there but the food was definitely good. We've decided to do our reception there so I hope it works out.... Oh, I did take a look at the inside bar and it did look like redneck city like somebody else said but... this is close to Woodbridge so what can you expect? Besides, rednecks can be nice too. :) more

I shopped around in Northern Virginia, and Madigan's provided the best price for a catered reception. The site is smaller then most (comfortably sits ~75 people). It is upstairs from the restraunt, on the waterfront. Cathy is friendly and helpful. She acts as a coordinator during the reception for no additional fee. I was impressed by the professionalism of her staff when serving throughout the reception. The food was wonderful. A wedding cakes comes free with the site. I picked my style of cake out from a book (really nice on my budget, too). It tasted fine and looked nice. She is a good friend with a DJ who has worked with her for over 20 years. You have to pay for his services seperately, but it was nice to find someone reliable so quickly. more

I went with four family members at about 4:30 on a Saturday. It was not busy when we arrived, but was getting more crowded by the time we left. I must note that we all enjoy good seafood. To start, we had the crab and shrimp nachos - they were delicious. My dad also had the crab chowder and enjoyed it - it was very thick and creamy. For dinner, I had the seafood pasta. It has shrimp, crab meat, and scallops with penne, in an herby white wine sauce with parmesan sprinkled over it. It was delicious. The scallops were cooked perfectly, which I do not find very often. At restaurants, they tend to be overcooked and dry, but not these. I did bring about half of it home. Two of my dining companions had the appetizer of mini crab cakes for their entree - three mini crab cakes that made for a perfect-sized entree. The were crispy on the outside and moist and flavorful inside. Another had the stuffed flounder - it was rich and VERY large. I didn't try any, but she really enjoyed it. And finally, my dad had the big fish sandwich. It was huge - and really really good. more