half shell oyster house

this was my first time eating here and the food was fine.  but theservicefrom the check in was horrible.  we had a party of 13 to celebrate my mother in law birthday and was told it would be about 15 minute wait.  well of course that wasn't true.  we waited over 45 minutes.  to add insult to injury, the manager politely sat a group in the back that had not been waiting anytime.  once my husband saw this he complained and another server told him that the manager had personal ties with that party.  we were finally seated and the server was great. the food was great but don't plan on going back anytime soon.

this was my second visit to half shell, and it was just as good as the first. it was after 6 on a sat and there was already a 20 min wait to be seated. the décor is a pleasant new orleans vibe. the menu slants toward seafood but is large enough to find something else if need be.serviceis very good but most surprising with a packed house was how quickly the food arrived.

we started off with the crab & lobster dip which is incredibly rich and delicious. it comes with bread rounds that i prefer were toasted. we then had the gumbo and half shell salad as substitutes for one of the sides. both were excellent. the entrees we tried were grouper and the grilled seafood sampler. the grouper was herb and parmesan encrusted over sautéed spinach and covered in jumbo lump crab meat. it appeared to be a small piece of fish on a small plate, but it was stacked high and very filling. the side vegetables are almost large enough to share. the seafood sampler contained shrimp, oysters, grouper, and crab cake. the pieces were small but overall satisfying.

highly recommended and i look forward to returning. hard to believe this is a chain.

very, very good! i had the mahi mahi with pineapple salsa. the fish was good but that salsa was absolutely delicious and i already want more. key lime pie for dessert was the perfect way to finish. servicewas excellent. i will be back.

went here with an old friend from the navy visiting the wife and i. he loves the food from the south ever since we took him on an oyster tour in nola last year. we loved the flavors and all of our apps, drinks and entrees we're delicious. wifey had shrimp n grits, shipmate had the reds, deep water shrimp, that do indeed taste lobster-like, and i had redfish orleans. ourservicewas perfect - the waitress was attentive, knowledgeable of the menu and perfectly timed the flow of our meal. my only negative feedback would be that the oysters are tiny for the price. the sauce is amazing, but never seen oysters so small before. charging $2.00/each for them is just adding insult to injury. i'd love to eat here again, but would rather get oysters at acme house or drago's.

we were here with a group of 8. all the food ordered was good. theservicewas excellent. i have said all i want to say, but zomato requires 140 characters.

we ate on a weekend around lunch time.servicewas pretty slow. we got the fried green tomato and crab cakes app. it was really good! the entrees had great flavor, they were just barely warm though. that was super disappointing. i did tell the waitress and she apologized. it was one of the most expensive lunches i've ever eaten, because there's not a lunch menu available on the weekend.