Shucker's Oyster Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Fernandina Beach

I'll start with the atmosphere because it was the best part.

Beautiful water views of the Amelia River. No matter where you sit in the restaurant, indoors or out, the view is fantastic!

Inside the building itself is light-filled open and airy.

The high ceilings seem to mitigate the noise. The restaurant was 3/4 of the way full when we were there, yet I was still able to carry on a delightful conversation with my husband without shouting and without either of us repeating ourselves incessantly.

We both had fried shrimp. They were fresh, big, fluffy, golden, crispy and absolutely perfect.

Sides were hit and miss, but the portions were large.

My husband had sweet potato fries. They had good flavor; but, they were not the least bit crispy like a fry should be. Instead, they were limp and soggy.

He also had the mac and cheese. It didn't even have good flavor. It was simply sticky, overly gooey and gross. He ate 1 bite. I did the same.

I had a baked potato. It was fresh and hot.

But I asked for butter and got vegetable spread. I asked again and got a liquid mess of something that looked like melted butter, so I used it.

However, as the portion I didn't use sat and the table, I expected it to cool and become somewhat solid again. It never did. So, I don't know what in the world I ate on my potato.

I also had green beans which I thought had excellent flavor, albeit a tad overcooked.

We also both had dessert.

Key lime pie for my husband. He enjoyed it.

I enjoyed my bite except for the lime coulis drizzled generously on top. It added nothing and took away from the flavor of the pie.

It also had raspberry coulis, which I thought was pleasant and a nice contrast.

I had the brownie sundae. The ice cream and whipped cream were both delicious but the brownie was very dense and heavy.

My husband said the same about the portion he shared with me.

The service was excellent - with servers helping each other out to insure the freshest food and most expeditious service possible.

The only glitch in that system came when I ordered unsweetened tea and was served sweet tea by another server.

Our server was good-natured, polite and extremely attentive without being intrusive.

That combination is always appreciated.

All in all, our second meal at Shuckers placed them firmly on the "Re-visit" list for our vacation to Fernandina Beach.

If you go:

°Have shrimp. Blackened, fried or grilled...you won't find fresher shrimp anywhere.

°Avoid the Mac and Cheese.

°Try the Sweet potato fries but ask for them crispy.

°Skip the lime coulis on the Key lime pie or ask for it on the side.

°Don't expect butter or...

Went last night it's probably been a year since I've last been . Ordered the usual, tuna nachos. Huge mistake. Why did they mess with it? I got a plate that I would call "makes no sense nachos". Actually, they changed from a flat plate ( and everything mixed together) to a small basket. It had dry nachos on the bottom, half a scoop of seaweed salad on top left corner, and a slab of tuna sitting on top. Any sauce? There was about three dots on the tuna. I asked the waitress for a dinner plate and had to take each individual chip, cut a shred of tuna, put seaweed salad, and eat. Time consuming, a mess on the table, and it was dry and tasteless. Asked waitress for sauce on the side. The other lady (busser) said she's heard the complaint before. I was so aggravated and it took so much time, I took it home and put it properly together myself. I get trying to control food cost but this made no sense. The only thing that made sense is trying to trick the customer with a smaller basket for the price. Our waitress did offer to get something else but I had no time left to wait for a different meal and honestly, I had only wanted nachos.

Second, I love dogs and I'm fine with them at indoor places. That's what I love about living here, however, protect your employees safety as well as customers. I observed a waiter coming around the corner with a huge tray and almost went flying over two tiny dogs that were on a medium length leash in walking area while the owner had his back to them at the bar. Awhile later, an elderly man with his walker had to go the long way because the dogs were in the middle of the way. He tried to give the owner a dirty look but the owner was still not paying attention at the bar. This was indoor. It's people like that, that ruin it for everyone. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen when someone gets hurt. Put the dogs on your lap, a short leash, or at least pay attention. Pretty place but not planning to go back anytime soon. If you want nachos, The Boat House on the island makes...

My husband and I were very excited to try this new place. The location seemed so beautiful. We were very impressed with the look of the place, and even though the parking lot was full we were sat immediately. The view outside on the water was gorgeous, they had good live music, and we were excited to see the menu. The menu was very small with not much selection. Our server was very nice, as we ordered drinks and placed our food order. I ordered scallops with a baked potato and my husband ordered oysters and hush puppies. It took a very long time for my salad to come out, maybe 15 minutes. I eventually asked if it could come out before my meal. In the meantime we asked the bartender about different drinks they might have and it was obvious that he was very new because he told me he didn’t know if they had sangria, and didn’t try to find out for us. When our meals finally came out after almost an hour, they set 4 scallops in front of me with no sides, and the server said, “oh, that’s right, we ran out of baked potatoes.” I was upset because waiting almost an hour for our food no one ever came to tell me they didn’t have half of my meal. I took a bite out of the 4 scallops and they were so overcooked that they were rubber, but I was starving so I ate them while I waited for a different side to be brought to me. I was afraid it would take another hour if I asked for new food, so at first I didn’t say anything. My husband could not eat his oysters as they were not good either. He did, however, like his hush puppies. The manager never came to talk to us about our meal either when he was informed that there was an issue. Sadly, we left hungry and went somewhere else to eat. We might come back once they are more established and have worked out all of their kinks, but not anytime soon. Sadly this was not a good dining...