We had a good experience at The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar in Mobile, Alabama. I recommend this…read moreplace.
This is a nice restaurant serving Gulf seafood and Southern cuisine with sustainable sourcing. According to the restaurant, it was a James Beard Foundation "Smart Catch Leader" three years in a row (2021-2023). Also, executive chef Jim Smith was nominated for the 2026 James Beard Award for Best Chef: South.
The restaurant is located in the Oakleigh Garden Historic District, a quiet neighborhood in the downtown area with oak-lined streets and Victorian-style homes. The Hummingbird Way has that clean, modern, "farm-to-table" look and fits right in.
I had dinner with a group of seven on a Thursday night around 7pm. We left before 9pm. During our visit, the restaurant wasn't very busy. We had the back room all to ourselves.
Here's what I had:
Libations (cocktails)
* The Hummingbird ($12) - gin, St-Germain, soda, lemon, and lime
Oyster Bar - Raw - $3 each
* Murder Point (AL)
* Grande Batture (AL)
* Wild 504s (LA)
* Farewell Cove (ME)
* Fire Lake (PEI)
* Shigoku (WA)
Biscuit Service
* House Buttermilk Biscuits ($10) - with whipped butter, cane syrup, and smoked sea salt
Soup
* Turtle (LA) Soup ($20) - sherry, farm eggs, and herbs
Starters
* Late Harvest Tomato Salad ($18) - mascarpone, cucumber, spring onion, shaved zucchini, sherry saba, and pickled herbs
* Yellowfin Tuna Crudo (AL) ($24) - Galia melon, coffee, walnut, EVOO, sweet pepper, basil, whole grain mustard, lemon, and black pepper
Mains
* Oyster Omelette ($20) - rolled French omelette with fried oysters, creme fraiche, arugula, and herbs; added caviar (+$24)
Dessert
* Chocolate Chip Cookies for the Table. $3 each.
* Blind Faith cocktail ($16) - peanut-infused Bumbu rum, Abita root beer reduction, and chocolate orange bitters
In general, from the food to the drink, everything was delicious and presented beautifully. I love raw oysters and thought the oysters here were terrific -- fresh and flavorful. I loved how the biscuits were served with both butter and syrup. I think I liked the Turtle Soup more than anyone else who tried it. It wasn't bad, and I thought it was worth ordering. Our server Liz W recommended the Tomato Salad to me because of the mascarpone and I thought it was a great recommendation.
I was disappointed in the portion size of the Oyster Omelette, particularly because it was listed as a "Main." Liz told us the caviar was Russian Osetra. I did find the omelette to be a bit heavy because the oysters were fried, so maybe that's why it was small. In hindsight, I would have chosen a different entree like the Butter-Cured Double-Bone Elk (NZ) Chop with English pea puree, charred red okra, and port wine beet sauce ($60), which one of my friends got. It looked really good.
The warm Chocolate Chip Cookies were fantastic, as was my dessert cocktail. If you're looking for a tasty dessert cocktail, the Blind Faith is a good one to get.
To give you an idea of other menu offerings and price points, some of my friends had the Fried Alabama Blue Crab Claws with cocktail sauce ($20), the Alabama Blue Crab Claws marinated with chili, lime, and herbs ($20), and the Alabama Blue Crab Cake prepared with Mississippi rice grits, sweet soy butter, and pickled mushroom salad ($42). Also, someone had the Frog & Waffle, which consisted of chicken-fried frog legs with jalapeno waffle, radish, mustard veloute, and cane-lemon-sherry syrup ($18). I couldn't eat the crab because I'm allergic to it.
Service was excellent. Liz was great.
The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar opened on January 7, 2020.