harpoon larry's oyster bar

i first ate at the old location in april, i have eaten at the old location twice since. tonight's review is from their new location on j. clyde, parking is horrible with out a doubt, volume of music was way to loud and caused everyone to yell (couldn't hear my wife on other side of table that's how bad it was)! food was salty, portions were still good size. however, i will retract my previous post and say that i will not travel from richmond to here for dinner anymore, there is no way i would bring my kids to this location. we had two different apps brought to our table that weren't ours, they need to get it together.


-----28 apr, 2013-----

traveling through with family and it was recommended by a friend. it was great, service was excellent see rita she was great. food was plentiful and outstanding, i would highly recommend this place. i will gladly make the 45 min trip to here again and soon.

although i am very selective about my seafood, they have killer steamed shrimp, thursday's are the best nights to go if you love shrimp as much as my father in-laws and i do because your first half pound is regular price and you get the second half pound for a penny. great service as well. plus my husband always gets the crab cakes, or loves them because they don't have a lot of filler.

fried oyster bruschetta. title says it all, fried oyster bruschetta...was so good we had 2 orders. blackened scallops and bacon wrapped bbq shrimp were good...crab quesadillas, not so good. from 6-7p the oysters (we got them steamed) are $.60.

love love this place !!! great crab cakes and oysters! mondays is the day for oysters at discounted price!!

it's a bar first and foremost. i do not care for the food at all. everything tastes the same... nothing special.
dirty.

has gotten worse. it's a shame this place has gone down hill. we have eaten here 3 times and 2 of them were not so good so i don't think we will be back. it would also be nice if they cleaned their ladies bathroom.

absolutely amazing! i've gone here for years and i've never been disappointed. i always get the blackened mahi sandwich and hushpuppies and it's delicious!

a great dive. i've been eating at harpoon larry's for over 9 years now. the one thing i can say is that it's consistent. if you like a neighborhood bar with a comfy feel, this is your place. they have specials on certain nights, like .50 oysters on mondays and on thursdays you can get a pound of their awesome large, plump steamed shrimp for $9.96. if you're looking for a variety of seafood in one entree, i highly recommend their killer combo. it is a steamed combination of a crab leg cluster, shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels and craw-fish. it is the perfect size portion of each. their salads are well made and fresh. this is not a 5 star restaurant, but if you're looking for a great place to pass some time with friends drinking beer and eating some steamed seafood, you'll love it. the atmosphere is very casual.

decent. this place is a fun little seafood dive. it definitely has a dive feel going on inside but the staff was friendly and attentive. i had the soft shell crab sandwich, it was good but nothing special. there wasn't a ton of flavor in the breading, but the tartar sauce is obviously house made. the fries and bun were also obviously sysco fare, but still tasty. i think i need to come back for dinner and try the beer and fresh oysters, that seems to be what this place is really good at. overall its a great place to grab a quick, decent seafood lunch without breaking the bank.

oysters!. while their fresh and steamed oysters were good, their fried oysters were fantastic. i got an oyster po-boy so good, i ordered a second meal of breaded oysters to take home with me. their hushpuppies and slaw were also very good.

two handed heart shape. oh harpoon larry's i love you. i live for your lunch specials and when i can't make it there i call just to imagine what i am missing.

sincerely,

big fan

killer seafood. best seafood in a local dive atmosphere. great beer selection, servers and bartenders. they really take care of me every time i am in town from pittsburgh visiting. they'll even change the tv channel when the penguins are
on during the playoffs.

excellent local showcase. this is an excellent place to take business clients to get a taste of great seafood and hampton's local vibe. i've tried the shellfish, salads, fish, chowders and even burgers...all excellent. with the option of fried, broiled, grilled, sauted, or blackened, how can you go wrong. the sweet potato fries and red potatos are superb as well as the hush puppies. they have one of the most succulent steamed prawns (too large to be called shrimps) on the planet. my clients walkaway super impressed and make plans to comeback all the time. thanks harpoon for becoming part of my business strategy!

disappointed. after reading stellar reviews of harpoon larry's, my husband and i went for lunch recently. we've been stationed overseas for years without good shellfish available and we've been looking for a great, dive-y, local, non-chain seafood place. apparently, one of the oyster shuckers was out that day and we waited, and waited, and waited for our oysters. two dozen took about 45 minutes. i could have shucked 'em myself faster. if they had been busy, i would have understood, but they were not. they were good, but i wonder why we were charged $1.50 each when the board said $9.99 a dozen. the calamari was overcooked and thickly breaded (though the portion was huge) and my husband's burger was partially burnt. our waitress was wonderful, though, apologized profusely.

all in all, a disappointing experience. we won't be back and our search for good seafood in hampton roads continues.

we had out of town guests that wanted to go out for seafood so we brought them here. i am vegan, so i didn't partake, but something that happened with the staff left a bad taste in my mouth. there is very little on the menu for me to order (not to staff, put a veggie burger on your menu please). i wanted the peanut butter and jelly samdwish with fries from the kids menu and a salad with no cheese. i was told by the waitress that i could not order off the kids menu because of my age. i told her about my dietary restrictions and was still denied. i asked for a manager and the manager denied me as well. so i ordered nothing. i sat at the table, watching my 6 friends eat while i sipped a tea. my husband left a quarter for the waitress. word of advice, if you are a vegetarian, skip this place, take them to joe's crabshack. there they can order fantastic seafood dishes and the chefs will make something off menu and delightful for you!