Shell Shack

This is our first trip back since the Shell Shack opened a couple of years ago, and what a wonderful difference. Our service was superb, the food was better than expected, the atmosphere was comfortable and friendly. The restaurant did get busy and the staff was bare bones, but they worked their ends off making sure everyone was taken care of. I highly recommend giving them a visit.

BEWARE! THEY CHARGE AN AUTOMATIC 20% TIP IF YOU ARE IN A GROUP, EVEN IF YOU ARE ON SEPARATE CHECKS!! I didn't look closely enough at my bill to notice the extra "service charge" until after I got home, so we inadvertently tipped an additional 20+% on top of what they already charged us. The server was good but not good enough to deserve a 45% tip. Besides that, the food was decent but they use a LOT of seasoning and are very overpriced on most items. The majority of the menu is listed as "market price", which is very strange for things like fried shrimp and catfish. I don't know what market they shop at but the prices are 50-100% higher than comparable restaurants in the area for the same food. Drink prices are also above average, even with the $1discount during happy hour. This is definitely NOT an upscale restaurant (one big room, concrete floors, etc) so I can't imagine how they justify charging a premium price. Maybe their menus and pricing come directly from the home office in Dallas or something. Either way... first time visiting, probably won't be back. There are much better seafood options in Tyler.

It's a bit spendy. It's seafood. Seafood is expensive! This is such great, authentic seafood, that I didn't mind the price. Nothing tasted like chicken, but I didn't order anything chicken! The wait staff was superlative. Attentive and eager. Put it all together and it's well worth the $75.00(+/-) I paid for two diners. I'll be returning to this *restaurant!*

The food was simply okay. Nothing special about it at all it’s just boiled seafood with a bunch of seasoning and butter on top. It’s extremely over priced regardless of the market price. It extremely over priced at the end of the day. The gumbo was good. If we would have ate in house i would have sent the seafood back i was literally choking on all the seasoning. I would probably try it again and just get something regular off the menu or maybe get the sauce on the side or something. Definitely want get the sauced poured over my food again. I should have taken photos of the food but i didn’t. The corn was extremely over cooked i took one bite of that and the sausage was nasty. The menu states that it was supposed to come with pasta but it didn’t. I am was just visiting from Louisiana so i didn’t really push the issue.

My husband and I tried it for the 1st time tonight for our anniversary dinner. We shared the Date Night with garlic and mild. Our waitress didn't explain about the seasonings, we were not expecting the a saucy seasoning. It was messy, it was spicy, not mild. Our waitress spent half her time flirting with a couple of men at the bar. The restaurant itself needed a good cleaning, food on the floor, liquid under the table next to us. Tables not cleaned off after customers left. Will not be going back.