Hurricane Oyster Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach

The Hurricane Oyster Bar & Grill can be hard to find for anyone not familiar with the area. It is in Grayton Beach, Florida—just off Highway 30A. The actual address is on Logan Lane. If unfamiliar with the area, you should probably use your GPS.

The restaurant is funky but comfortable, informal and a friendly atmosphere. Outdoor dining is an option and the outdoor patio overlooks a small pond (see photos). It and provides more ambiance but, even in Florida, the weather can be uncomfortable outside so take that into consideration.

I started off my meal with a dozen steamed oysters. I have tried and written reviews of several local restaurants in the last couple of weeks searching for very good oysters. These were the best oysters I have found so far.

They were steamed but not overly cooked. They came with butter and horseradish and cocktail sauce. For the most part, I just ate the oysters as they were served on the half-shell (see photo).

A dozen steamed oysters are not that filling so we followed up with a basket of shrimp and fish. This came with a large helping of french fries. My dining companion had a cup of the "soup of the day" which contained crab and she indicated it was very good.

The fish was yellow-tail. It was fried. Served in a basket. It was not overcooked so was moist and had very good flavor. The fried shrimp were some of the best I have had recently—they tasted fresh and the kitchen did not sit around waiting for them to get rubbery from overcooking them.

There were too many french fries for two people with relatively small appetites to eat so we ate about half of the order.

On our latest visit, the waitress was very good. She was friendly, knew the menu well and provided us with large glasses of iced tea throughout the meal.

The atmosphere is very informal, shorts and t-shirts are common. There is a good selection of wine and other alcoholic beverages. The iced tea came in a very large glass; very efficient as one glass was more than enough and it was not necessary for the server to have to refill the glass several times as is the case at many restaurants.

The food was well prepared and tasted very good. The restaurant has a "beach vibe" of informality but...

Got an expensive oyster (raw) plate after having asked the waiter what size the oysters were. Well she said they're not so big that you'll have to cut him in half. They were tiny. One was less than the size of a postage stamp another even smaller. I kid you not. I would be embarrassed to serve something like that. Ordered a grouper fillet addition, what came out tasted as if it had been defrosted after two years of deep freeze, dry freezer burn. Waitress removed it thankfully. Others at the table enjoyed their meal. So not all bad and the staff were very nice. Edit: a response to Hurricane. Hurricane: "we don’t control the size of the oysters." You do control what size you serve and no denying it. Everyone at the table had a good laugh at my expense knowing how excited I was about having "salty oysters", and the barnacles that were served. Hurricane: "As far as expensive were the cheapest place on 30 a. Shop around the area and see." I did, and ate there instead. "Shop around the area and see." right back at ya. Hurricane: "We don’t serve grouper we do sell fresh snapper" You are right! My mistake, but everyone at the table agreed whatever it was it was something like freezer burned and jerky at best, and your nice server took it off faced with tasting it. It would have been too much to complain about the oysters too. She didn't choose them. But Y'all put me in that position. Your patrons should not have to ask for the manager. When you are at a dinner do want to have to do that, honestly? Nah, let's have a nice meal. Your place has a fun vibe and great atmosphere, just remember that the food matters too. I'm sure it does when you choose a place to...

Came here for lunch and for my dad's oyster fix! This is a pretty popular joint, and we were told a more local hang out spot. We had a bit of a hard time trying to find the actual entrance to this place; once you're inside, it's got a bit of a dive bar feel.

Be forewarned: if you're not a seafood fan, there's really not much on the menu to eat here, especially if you want a chicken dish that isn't wings. There are a couple of steak-type options (a ribeye, some tacos), but by and large it's fish, shellfish, etc.

Also important: they don't take credit cards; it's cash or check only.

Even coming at around 2 PM on a weekday, there was a 20 minute wait. We received a text when our table was ready.

We had the grilled oysters, one of the large salads (I forget the name but it had orange slices on it), and fried shrimp plates with fries and corn fritters -- basically hush puppies. I also had a side of fruit, as I was mainly eating off others' plates.

The oysters were okay, tasting mostly like garlic, Parmesan, and lemon. The salad portion was huge, and it was fresh and tasty. The fried shrimp plates were about on par with any other fried shrimp plate/basket you can get in the area. Fries had a slightly spicy seasoning and the corn fritters were the more sweet style. The fruit cup consisted of pineapple, cantaloupe, and honeydew. I'd pass on the honeydew, but the other two fruits were sweet and ripe.

Most people rave about the oysters, but none of us except my dad are huge oyster fans so I can't speak to it that much. It's probably worth a try if that's what...