shrimp basket

there are better seafood restaurants out there.. the shrimp basket has quite a selection of steamed, grilled, blackened and fried seafood on its menu so i was expecting good things. my dining companion opted for the fried shrimp basket while i opted for the "healthier" grilled shrimp basket. we each received shrimp slaw, 2 hushpuppies, and new potatoes as a side. the meal also included a container of drawn butter as well as coctailsauceupon request.

the slaw was good and reminded me a lot of the taste and texture of captain d's recipe. the difference is that shrimp basket includes the mini shrimp in theirs. the shrimp doesn't really offer anything more in the way of flavor because there were only a couple in the entire portion, but it did give it a different texture in the bites where the shrimp was included.

the hushpuppies are small. really small. they are somewhat bigger than a marble but much smaller than a golfball. the flavor and texture of the two included in our meals were good though. we just wish there was more of it.

the new potatoes were covered in butter but other than that they were very bland. we each added pepper to try to help but it was just not enough. i strategically did not add salt though.

why no salt to my potatoes you might ask? because there was more than enough salt to go around for everyone on my shrimp. the grilled shrimp tasted as if they were rolled around in a salt box before being thrown on the grill. upon speaking to our waitress about the seasoning she told us that she usually attempts to just "wipe the salt off" when she orders the same dish for herself. i don't think that's even possible considering the amount that is on there.

the fried shrimp were somewhat better. my dining companion offered me a taste of the fried shrimp in apology for my salty shrimp. still, they weren't anything special in comparison to other seafood restaurants in the area.

the service was good. our young waitress was very nice and made sure we had what we needed. it was not enough to overcome the taste of the food though, and ultimately that is what counts the most.

slow, understaffed, and dirty. let me begin by praising the gulf shores shrimp basket - we have been there many times and always had great food and service! we moved to foley about 4 months ago and have dined here 3 times - each time it gets worse! saturday night was the last straw! we arrived at peak time - 7:30 to find a 15 minute wait which was much faster than lambert's 1 1/2 hour wait! we went to the bar which was about 1/2 full for a glass of wine while we waited. we sat next to a large mess evidently left by an earlier diner. the mess stayed untouched at the bar until we had been sat, eaten our apps, and were 1/2 through our dinner. we sat at the bar the entire wait for our table but never saw a bartender, nor did any of the servers who came behind the bar to help themselves ever make eye contact or speak to us.
fifteen minutes later we were called for our table without being served at the bar - probably should have left at that point! we waited about 10 minutes for someone to greet us but the table already seated beside us waited about another 15 minutes before someone greeted them.

our "server" appeared to be a young manager and asked for our order. we finally got to order our wine, but specifically asked for the wine to be served in plastic cups since while we sat at the bar being ignored for 15 minutes we noticed the glasses hanging from the glass rack were nasty - too dirty to drink from! i then observed the server/manager go behind the bar and use one of the nasty wine glasses to measure the wine into the clean plastic cups - sort of defeated the purpose!
we ordered apps which arrived in about 10 minutes, but the oysters arrived fried instead of raw. the correct order arrived about 15 minutes later., wanting worcestershiresauceto make my cocktailsaucewith i looked around but there was no one to help. i wandered the restaurant looking for it and ended up in the kitchen area. servers came and went but never acknowledged me or offered help, and finally i saw the manager back there and asked him where it was. he handed me a bottle and i went back to our table. we did see a server when our food was delivered and another brought our check when we were finished. throughout the meal tables remained dirty for long periods of time, and garbage littered the dining room floor and went unattended and unnoticed overall the place is a dump with no direction and not near enough staff. i suggest you drive into gulf shores if you insist on eating at a shrimp basket!

steamed shrimp bargain as an appetizer -1/2 lb about 19 pieces, or platter with fixin's 22 pieces. delicious! shrimp cole slaw slightly sweet & good, steamed potatoes buttery & smooth, gumbo is a thick brownsaucewith great taste & no chunky okra present, i like to add 6 drops of hot sauce. crab cakes grilled are tasty, use remouladesaucesparingly not to overwhelm the dish. glad i went here, other reviews complain about fried dishes, but there are enough options to stay away from this. my guests did have shrimp po boy, said it was great, tartersaucegreat with fried shrimp.