This experience was so good it gave me a tingly feeling in my nether regions! After many nightmare experiences at the restaurants on SGI (Hello Mango Mikes), this meal was a breath of fresh air. Our server was great and the food came out fast. read more

The best place to eat in Appalachicola!! Great food, great view, great service! The drinks are good too and save room for the key lime pie!

Very unprofessional. Seats not even filled and still understaffed. Any true American would be prepared on such a patriotic Memorial Day weekend. read more

Ummm. Its a no. Popcorn shrimp terrible. Service slow and have too many tables per waiter. Portions small for entree so they load up the basket with pre-prepared processed french fries. Waiter failed on special instruction. Its expensive for what you dont get... Lunch rush with numerous open tables should of been the clue. Zero management/ownership presence. Docks are cool. Ill skip the restaurant next time. read more

Me and my family came here twice for dinner during our recent 3 night stay In Apalachicola. Wonderful setting overlooking the water and the wildlife. A Pelican sat very close to us and an Alligator swam by. I loved the grilled Grouper, sweet potatoes, fried Occra, cheese grits and everything else. Friendly staff. We loved the Bingo night as well. read more

Grilled grouper was absolutely horrible. Not sure it was grouper. Others in group said their food was okay. They did take it off bill, left and got ice cream! read more

Service was substandard even in Covid times. Food was cold and our tables meals were served at different times over a 10 minute period. Server came to our table twice, once to take drink orders and once to bring food. Never asked if we needed anything like silverware, cocktail or tarter sauce or even the bill. We had to ask multiple employees to find our server so we could pay and leave. read more

Ordered a shrimp basket and it came 7 shrimp and a couple extra tails on top of that. Food tasted pretty good but the price was not worth it for the poor service. Margaritas we're supposed to be on special for $6 but when our bill came they charged us for top shelf margaritas and would not change our bill. Safe to say not coming back. read more

I live here. The Half shell Dockside started out very good. That has changed drastically. Service was bad. Waitress looked and acted over worked and not caring. 15 dollars for a hamburger and 7 french fries ! Wow tourist prices !! WOW ! Guys You have to get up in the morning work hard and smart to be good. Just working hard is not the answer. It leads to burn out. Papa Joes went this same route. Not trying to be neg but you need to look hard at your business ! We want to see you succeed but we wont candy coat it for others. Good luck. read more

Had raw oysters on the half shell and they were fresh and delicious. Fried shrimp and fried oysters are delicious. Must try home cooked Mac and cheese and home cooked collard greens. Everything I ate was totally delicious. I was with a party of 9 and nobody was complaining about their food. If you are visiting here you must try it. Will probably try to visit again before vacation is over. read more

Food was really pretty good but best of all we took in the fish we caught and cleaned earlier that day and it was fantastic. Service was friendly read more

Started off good ordered cheese curds and asked for remoulade instead of marinar. Food came with marinara anyway but server immediately got the remoulade. For our entree we decided to share a captains platter, which was described as grouper filets, shrimp, oysters and a crab cake, the server said it was a lot of food, definitely enough to share. since neither os like oysters, we said when ordering 'the fewer oyster, the better' not wanting to ask for a substitution. When the order came out, we received 6-8 of the smallest shrimp I have ever been served, they must have been 31-40 if not smaller, one small grouper filet, a crab cake that was 80% or more of breading and literally 40-50% of the plate was OYSTERS !!! We didn't complain except when the server came to take the plate I mentioned that we wouldn't have ordered this if I knew it was half oysters. She just looked and said she would get a manager. The manager comes over asks what the problem with the dish was & I repeat it was halh oysters. He says 'no it wasn't' and I say look at the plate, it's covered by 50% of the uneaten oysters. Then I say 'also, the menu says grouper filetS and we got one. He says that's just a typo , that's the way the dish comes and walked away. This was the worst dish/experience I've had in a long time. read more

Good outdoor seating with a great 2 person band. Not sure what the deal was but our waitress must have had a better offer since she disappeared part way through our meal. OK food, much better around Appalach read more

We should judge restaurants not just by what they do well but by how they react to problems. We're traveling and went to the Half Shell based on Yelp reviews. Things started out well. The place is clean and appropriately informal. They were busy but service was prompt and professional. We had a nice table facing the river. We got a dozen oysters, 6 raw & 6 steamed; they were outstanding. I ordered a fried oyster basket; my partner ordered oyster stew. The food came pretty quickly but they brought her gumbo instead of oyster stew. We asked them to correct that and then sat, and sat; not tracking the time but more than 30 minutes. Someone came by and asked how were doing; we indicated there was a problem. Shortly afterward they appeared not only with the cup of oyster stew we'd ordered but also with a big bowl; both were full of oysters, the broth was rich and exceptionally good. We would have been happy with that but then the manager comped our entire meal. Amazing! A unique experience in many years of restaurants, all over the world. read more

Great food in a laid back atmosphere. Good quantity of food on the plate. The fried shrimp were excellent. Tried blackened scallops and they were good but the fried ones were better to me. Wait staff was friendly and helpful. Highly recommend this place for a drop in dinner. read more

We came in on a rainy Sunday afternoon to a packed house. Just wanting to grab a few drinks and hang out. Fawn, at the front, was so nice and made our experience here amazing! Will definitely be back because of her! Had a great time here hanging out by the water. 5 stars for sure! read more

Half Shell Dockside is delicious! We had a party of 6 adults and 2 children under two. Between the 8 of us, we had raw oysters, shrimp poboys, crab cake sandwiches, oyster poboys, crab claws, and hush puppies. Everything we ate was wonderful; everyone left full! The server was very nice and attentive. Because it's so new, there was no crowd, while all the other restaurants were packed. We loved not having a wait and still getting great food and service! Highly recommend!! read more

We were looking for something new to try. We were pleasantly surprised. I got the whole fried flounder, plantains and baked potato. My husband got the grouper sandwich and fries. I enjoyed having an option other than fries and both the baked potato and plantains were really good. Both my husband and I really enjoyed our fish. It was our waitresses first night. She did a great job! We were able to sit inside on a covered enclosed deck. It was a pretty view and away from bugs and humidity. We would definitely go back. read more

I loved this restaurant!! My family and I enjoyed this place very much and my husband and I plan to be back soon! The atmosphere is awesome....as is the service and food! Our waitress was very nice and super attentive. We even had a good conversation with the owner and learned a lot about the restaurant and where the food came from. Between 6 (of 8) of us we were recommended their margarita pitcher (we decided on margaritas since it was cinco de Mayo). They were the best margaritas I've ever had...the tequila they used was so smooth and mixed with their homemade lime margarita mix it was PERFECT!! I had the fried grouper and it was amazing. I normally like to dip my seafood in cocktail and/or tarter sauce, but didn't need to with their grouper....that's how you know it's good. No one in our party had any complaints about food, drinks, service, atmosphere, etc. Definitely will be back! read more

The remodeled restaurant looks great. Roll up garage doors to the river really add to the atmosphere. Unfortunately it took over an hour to serve the food on a slow afternoon. We were expecting great seafood; unfortunately it was a mixed bag. Some food was cool when it arrived. They absolutely will not allow ANY substitutions. Service was friendly read more

Went to this restaurant on the recommendation of a local shop owner. The restaurant is nicely done with an amazing water view. We got the hush puppies and dockside oysters-both were delicious! Had local beer from oyster city on tap. Service was great as well. read more

Very disappointed. Seated at 7:04pm, got our food at 8:50pm. Waitress was rarely to be found. Had to get up and ask person at bar for for side plates for appetizers. Many tables were seated and finished before we got our food. When asked about our dinner we were told, it is being checked on, the kitchen is backed up. When asked the 2nd time about our dinner and to speak to manager, as we sit here now....she still has not come out (that's been 30 minutes now). read more

AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!!! Waited over an hour to even get a server. Got helped by a different server each of the 3 times someone walked up to our table. Got our food but never got silverware despite asking 2 of the servers. Manager offered a 10% discount for our troubles. read more

Disappointing :( Went here for dinner as a party of 8. Got fried pickles and cheese curds as starters and those were the best things we ate there. However, not many places can mess up fried food. They were out of oysters. My grilled grouper was chewy. read more

Walked in the door at 5:45pm. It's now 7:26 pm. We ordered oysters Rockefeller and they were good. Got our entree, oysters and shrimp, NO SHRIMP. Waitress says it's the cooks fault! Service is poor!! We will be going back to the Red Pirate for good food and good service! read more

really good food and really poor service. Not crowded but drinks took forever. Fish arrived before appetizers and way way before sides. By the time sides got there fish was cold. No plates no nothing. read more

This place has amazing food, drinks and service. Staff is so friendly and helpful. Food tastes amazing. This place is definitely a place I will return to every time I'm down here for vacation. read more

If I could give this restaurant negative stars, I would. While seated at our table, our waitress accidentally dropped a full alcoholic drink on the floor next to us. I am not exaggerating when I say my sister and I were covered in alcohol, which was one thing. My 5-month-old baby was in her car seat next to me and got alcohol on her face and in her eyes, which was a whole other thing. This was an accident and I understand that. The real issue here is that the waitress didn't even look at us after she spilled the drink. She didn't acknowledge us when she walked past to clean up the spilled glass, nor did she acknowledge us as she walked away after sweeping up the mess. She hardly apologized when my father mentioned that the drink splashed all over us. All over my baby. SHE DIDN'T APOLOGIZE. I was actually shocked, and obviously very upset. I don't know about anyone else, but in my mind a paramount requirement of waitstaff is curtesy. And this place lacked that altogether. I didn't get to eat, so I can't speak on the food, but if you're looking for decent service, look elsewhere. read more

Food was great and they serve local brewery beers. Enjoyed it and will be be back. Just wish we could have heard the Alabama game instead of music. But oh well! read more

This place has more fun than a 18ft tiger shark on school of lazy sailcats. Gators in the creek got your back; while Theresa and Jess whip up up your sazerac. Pickle back, no nickelback, we'll be coming back! Party on! read more

We waited two hours for food, and by the time we left two people in our group were sick. Waitresses and waiters and nice but food is just okay and very overpriced. read more

This place is a total waste of time!. We tried to call many times over the past week to check the hours and the phone was out of service. Came in told hostess we were going to the back. Plenty of tables back there but server rudely told us we had to go back to the front of the restaurant and get seated. We dined here last year and it was ok-good food but slow service. We have been coming to this area for a month every year for 6 years. After experiencing great service at other restaurants in town at places like Up the Creek and the Taproom and Tamaras we were surprised to see such bad service. read more

Just another seafood eatery. Nothing special. The restaurant itself is very clean and nice. I had combo platter with fried shrimp, oysters and grouper, fries and salad. The salad bar was nice clean, but the ranch dressing was watered down. The food was cooked well just nothing special, same ol same ol fried seafood. The hushpuppies were way to dry. I was told it's a new place so maybe theyll work the kinks out. It has the potential to be a nice place. read more

Came here on the suggestion of a local shop person and we are glad we came! Delicious food and wonderful service. Our waitress, Lina, was very friendly and helpful. Highly recommend stopping here if you're in Apalachicola. read more

Very disappointing lunch. We were seated on the I inside next to the bar entrance. Very slow service. Waited quite awhile for our drinks. That should have been a sign. But no, we stayed. Appetizer onion rings came cold and greasy and small portion for the price. Told our waitress we didn't want them, but she didn't remove them from table (but did take off bill). Hamburger tasted like fish (believe the roll was grilled on same surface as perhaps where fish were cooked). Grouper basket poor quality...poor taste. Poor service from our waitress, as well. Requested our bill then left. Will not return. read more

My first time at half shell. Had the steamed shrimp. Very good shrimp. Gulf shrimp are the best. The view at atmosphere is amazing. I recommend it. read more

first time at Half Shell Dockside and it was great! Our server was fantastic (we had 15 people) and the Stuffed Shrimp was very good!

Great atmosphere! Indoor and outdoor dining options. Food is great! Key Lime Pie is to DIE for! Blackened Shrimp was amazing. Great management and wait staff. Can't wait to go back! read more

This is our first trip to Apalachicola and we arrived on Sunday afternoon. About 5 we decided to go get dinner. We went to town to find that almost everything was closed on Sunday. So we went to Half Shell Dockside, arriving about 5:30. First there was no rhyme or reason to how they took customers, my husband went to put our name in, there was no one at the front. So we stood in line for over an hour, with no one telling anyone anything. They just took people when they had a spot, whoever was first in line, no matter if it was 2 or 15. We finally got to the front of the line, it appeared many skipped up in front while we were there. They seated us and we waited another 20 or more minutes before I finally found someone to wait on us. No one in all this time asked if we were being helped, offered an explanation or anything. The girl that waited on us was doing her best and we weren't her table, but she had mercy on us. By the time we got our food we had been at the restaurant at least 2 hours. The food was ok, nothing to write home about. We were starving by the time we ate. I know businesses, especially restaurants, are short staffed, but there could be some common courtesy and at least an attempt to make your customer feel they were valued and would be helped. We won't be back. read more

Great place in Apalach for lunch or dinner. The food really is better than anything in the area, can tell it's homemade and the management cares about quality. We come here every year for the beach, so glad to have a place with better quality food than the island. The location is also really cool - right on a channel off the bay, can eat on a deck right on the water. We'll be back!! read more