Oswego River Meadows & Marina

Pros

• The Oswego Marina is cute and quiet.
• It's within walking distance to several restaurants and bars.
• The staff is super friendly.
• Guests say they'll be back next year.
• Ace Charters is awesome and Captain Jimmy Samia knows his stuff; salmon fishing is great.
• At the pier, fish are cleaned and filleted after the trip, which is very convenient.
• The marina staff are very helpful, especially to new boaters.
• Gas is reasonably priced.
• A stay at Oswego Marina is highly recommended; the staff are nice and the facilities are clean and well organized.
• The port is well protected from waves and evenings are quiet.
• Mast stepping and unstepping are smooth and well managed by Tammy and the team.
• The marina is scenic with nice views and well?maintained walking areas along the water.
• Tammy and Gary go above and beyond to assist guests with docking, pumpouts, and other needs.
• The marina has a convenient location for starting the Oswego Canal and is a good boating base.
• The grounds and facilities are clean, and 50 amp service with water is available.
• TK Charters offer great fishing excursions; Bernie and crew are awesome.
• The facility updates (new fuel dock and updated bathrooms) are well received.
• Guests have had memorable, enjoyable times with friends at the marina.
• The marina is a great place to put up or take down a mast.

Cons

• The marina came across as consistently shorthanded, with too few staff to handle operations.
• The facilities could be cleaner and better maintained.
• The bathrooms lacked air conditioning and felt like a humid oven, making showers uncomfortable.
• The mast-stepping experience had a negative vibe, with sarcasm about billing and a sense that staff abandoned the job before completion.
• The staff's sarcastic humor and billing jokes gave customers the impression of disdain and poor service.
• The dock fingers were not in the best condition, detracting from the docking experience.
• Trash disposal was inconvenient, with a long walk to the dumpster and no trash containers nearby.

Review

Oswego Marina sits at a well-positioned crossroads of water and town, a hub for anglers, cruisers, and day-trippers alike. The mix of reviews paints a picture of a place with real character: a cute, quiet marina that benefits from a supportive crew, a nearby cluster of restaurants and bars within easy walking distance, and a location that offers easy access to fishing charters on Lake Ontario and the Oswego Canal. Visitors repeatedly note the friendliness of the staff, the convenience of the port, and the sense that you're in a practical, welcoming boating community rather than a glossy resort. For many, Oswego Marina becomes not just a stopover but a friendly base where evenings are peaceful and the harbor feels well protected from the chop.

For guests staying a night or two, the consensus is consistently positive about the experience onshore. The reviews from Laura and Tim Fox, who stayed with their boat FoxSea, highlight a cute, quiet setting with a marina that's "close to a cool Fort" and abundant dining options within walking distance. They praise the staff as "super friendly" and indicate they'll be back next year, underscoring the value of a welcoming, easy-to-navigate port that makes a short walk to meals and sights a breeze. Another guest speaks to the practical side of Oswego's charm, noting how the marina is a good launchpad for exploring downtown Oswego and enjoying easy, hassle-free access to services while staying in a harbor that feels safe and well-protected.

A big drew for many visitors is the combination of on-site service and nearby fishing opportunities. Ace Charters is repeatedly singled out as a standout experience, with testimonials describing salmon fishing as excellent and the staff as knowledgeable. One reviewer proudly proclaims Ace Charters as their "July fishing charter headquarters," while another adds that Captain Jimmy Samia "really knows his stuff" and that the crew always has a great time on the water. The proximity to the marina makes the experience seamless: guests can unwind in Oswego after a productive day aboard a charter boat and enjoy the town's offerings without a long drive. The sense of community continues with mentions of other local charters (like Cannibal Runner Charters in some reviews) and the overall appeal of booking reliable, well-run trips from this area.

Beyond the fishing and the views, the marina's facilities and operational support draw steady praise. The waterfront amenities - clean bathrooms and showers, a laundry room, and a well-organized dock area - are repeatedly cited as solid, practical assets. A recurring detail is the convenience of an efficient mast-stepping service: one reviewer specifically notes that they were stepping a mast with the help of Tammy and her crew, who provided patient, step-by-step guidance and access to useful equipment like deck cradles. The ability to get a mast re-stepped with help and guidance is framed as a major value add, especially for newer boaters who appreciate a calm, knowledgeable touch when handling complex work on a vessel.

Staff dedication is highlighted in several stories, with individuals like Tammy and Gary emerging as standout personalities. Tammy's leadership is described as "fantastic," with colleagues going the extra mile to assist with docking, fuel co-ordination, and even manually helping to lower a radar mast when needed. One guest recounts how Gary and Tammy helped them navigate gusting winds to move a boat into the gas dock, spun it around for pumping out, and went the extra mile to ensure a safe and smooth experience. The willingness of the staff to rise to the occasion - whether it's assisting with a challenging maneuver or offering practical tips for maintenance and equipment - contributes significantly to the marina's reputation as a service-oriented harbor.

Not every impression is uniformly glowing, though. A single, lengthy critique captures a more mixed, even challenging, experience. The reviewer describes a "vibe" during the mast-raising process that felt tense and sometimes dismissive, with sarcastic humor and jokes about upcharges that left the crew feeling undervalued. They recount a sense of being encouraged to shoulder part of the effort themselves, a perception of impasses and communication gaps, and an overall impression that the service could feel transactional rather than collaborative. That perspective also notes some operational gaps - like trash disposal being inconvenient and a need for better airflow and comfort in the bathrooms - and contrasts it with the positive outcomes when the job was finally completed. In the end, the reviewer acknowledged that the mast was stepped and the crew did deliver on the necessary work, but they are candid about the experience leaving them with reservations and a warning to prospective visitors about the "vibe" during high-pressure tasks.

Taken together, Oswego Marina emerges as a robust, practical hub for boating enthusiasts, with a strong track record for friendly, capable staff and a suite of services that make it easy to enjoy Lake Ontario and Oswego's waterfront. Guests consistently praise the location for its proximity to dining and nightlife, the safety and shelter of the harbor, and the ease of pairing an overnight stay with a day on the water. The marina's strengths lie in its people - Tammy, Gary, and the broader team - whose hands-on approach and patience with both new and experienced boaters help demystify complex operations like mast stepping and docking in gusty conditions. For visitors who value a welcoming, service-forward marina with reliable access to charters and onshore amenities, Oswego Marina offers a compelling, well-rounded experience.

Looking ahead, potential visitors can take away a practical snapshot: expect helpful staff who can guide you through the basics and the trickier moments of boat handling, plans and charters readily available, and a location that makes it easy to sample Oswego's dining options and harbor views after a day on the water. It's reasonable to anticipate a clean, functional facility with recent upgrades in some areas, balanced by the occasional note about staffing levels during peak times. Some guests may encounter strong opinions about service style or moments of tension under pressure, but the bottom line remains that most visitors leave with a sense of accomplishment and a plan to return, already caching Oswego Marina as a reliable anchor for their boating adventures.

Restaurants

• Five Guys Burgers & Fries (4.9 miles)
• McDonald's (4.9 miles)
• Friendly's (5 miles)
• Burger King (5.4 miles)
• Chick-Fil-A (5.4 miles)
• Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill (5.5 miles)
• McDonald's (6 miles)

Cafes

• Starbucks (5 miles)
• Freedom of Espresso (10.7 miles)
• Starbucks (11.3 miles)

Pharmacies

• Wegmans (5.2 miles)
• Rite Aid (5.8 miles)
• Walgreens (5.9 miles)
• Medicine Place, Fulton Medicine Piace (7.4 miles)
• Medicine Shoppe (7.5 miles)
• Hargraves Pharmacy (7.6 miles)
• Kinney Drugs (8 miles)

Physicians

• Mondo Optical (5.7 miles)
• Dr. David Paul (5.8 miles)
• Syracuse Gastroenterologist (6.8 miles)
• Stuart Trust (7.9 miles)
• Oswego Urology (8 miles)
• Oswego County OB-GYN PC (8.2 miles)
• North Medical (8.3 miles)

Places of Worship

• Fulton First United Methodist Church (6.8 miles)
• State St United Methodist Church (7.4 miles)
• Holy Family Rectory (8.1 miles)
• The Vineyard Church (9.4 miles)
• St Paul's Lutheran Church (10.6 miles)

Hospitals

• Oswego Health (7.1 miles)
• Oswego Hospital (7.2 miles)
• St Josephs Hospital Mental Health Services (10 miles)
• Specialty Surgery Center Of Cny (12.8 miles)

Parks

• Van Buren Park (7.4 miles)
• Foster Park (8.2 miles)
• Long Branch Park (8.9 miles)
• Clay Park Central (8.9 miles)
• Hamlin Marsh (10.7 miles)
• Onondaga Lake Park (10.8 miles)
• Heritage Park (11.1 miles)

Transportation

• Lakeside Taxidermy (7.5 miles)

Theaters

• Midway Drive In Theatre (12.3 miles)