Crystal River Seafood
Great Seafood – Reasonably Priced – Served with a Smile
Welcome and thank you for taking time to get to know who we are.
Sam Bajalia has spent the last 30 years of his life in the restaurant business. His first job, as a dishwasher, gave him the drive to learn all aspects of the business and he quickly worked his way up to District Manager.
Sam’s father founded a restaurant in 1983, two blocks from the St Johns River – thus the name: Sam’s St. Johns Seafood Restaurant. In 1987, Sam Jr. headed to Tallahassee to open his first Crystal River Seafood Restaurant. Over the next ten years, he and his wife, Amy opened 4 restaurants in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. After their first child was born, the pull to go home and be close to family was too great. They relocated back to their native town of Jacksonville, where everyone joined together and decided to run the company as a true family-owned and operated business. Since both names had been successful, it became Sam’s Family of Seafood Restaurants, after Sam Sr.’s passing in 2005. Sam Jr. now runs Sam’s Family of Seafood Restaurants and holds to the core beliefs that he and his father shared.