skipper's smokehouse

fun kitschy florida place. awesome music venue. ive seen several concerts under the stars, beneath the trees dressed in twinkle lights on a warm summer night. hard to beat that.
but it's also a fun casual place to grab some fried florida treats. as previous reviews stated, parking can be a nightmare. get here early and on a non concert night, you should be fine as long as you dont mind a tight squeeze on gravel.
fried is what they do and do it best. fried fish, fried shrimp, etc. it's a no frills kind of place but the service is down home friendly and the beer is always cold.
the best deal is happy hour. cheap beer, cheap wings and cheap oysters. yes, i ate fresh, raw oysters here and they were darn good. the wings are hot and their hot sauce is no joke. waitress had to bring my hubbie wet washcloth for his sweaty head. but he loved every burning moment. feeling adventurous, we tried the bbq gator ribs. first bite good, saucy, tender. but after a few more bites pulling meat off skinny reptileribsdidnt sit well with me. (and im a full on carnivore) we ate more than we left behind, but honestly more because if you slather anything in bbq sauce it tastes marginally good. i would not order them again. also steer clear of the soft shell crab. the breading is gooey and puffy and just not good. shrimp, fish, wings, oysters and the grouper reuben and a bunch of beers and you're good to go!

really good place for some down home good southern seafood! excellent service and really quick turn around! we had fresh drinks in less than 2 minutes! gatorribsand mahi reuben were so good! great oysters! everything was very reasonably priced!! will definitely be coming back soon with friends!

quaint, quirky, and fun!!. it was my first taste of alligator. their smoked gatorribswere fall off the bone tender and delicious! the cajun crayfish were also amazing, as were the hushpuppies. the atmosphere adds so much . . . reminds you of a little run-down shack in the bayou, where the folks are friendly, the food is fantastic, and the music is superb!

delicious!. i couldn't go to tampa without going to skipper's smokehouse. i had seen them on the travel channel on man vs. food so of course i just had to try the smoked gatorribsand also the oysters on the half shell. this is a very casual place, i repeat, very casual. we had gone early in the evening and not many people were in the restaurant, but the bar was full. the decor is eclectic and interesting, we had fun trying to see everything. the gatorribswere so tender, and the texture reminded me of pork. they were very good. the oysters were on a tray of ice with cocktail sauce and horseradish. although i did try these, i used a little of the extra sauce from the smoked gatorribsto put on the oysters. that put them over the top and were out of this world! i had such a moment of heaven sitting there with this delicious food. this was a truly unique stop while visiting tampa. i do say if i return, i will be returning to skipper's, definately!