Shrimp Basket — Restaurant in Gulf Shores

We were there last month. I have a service dog, and by law, I am to be treated just as any other patron; they are not allowed to deny me entrance. We were a party of 6, and upon entering, there was a clean, ready table for 6 right in front of us. They told us they had no room and we would have to sit outside(in the boiling heat.) I asked what's wrong with that table, and they finally came clean and admitted they didn't want the dog inside. I reminded them of the law, and they got snotty attitudes, but allowed us entrance. My dog tucked himself under the table, and no one would have even known he was there. In fact, I don't think our waitress even noticed until we were leaving. The two hostesses, however, were whispering about us (very obviously) off and on throughout our meal.

Meanwhile, three of us have food allergies, which are manageable, but we must rely on the honesty of the staff. My two daughters ordered and were treated well, but when it was my turn, one of the hostesses spat out that there's dairy in that. And that, and that, and anything I wanted to order. (And she was not being quiet about it. The whole dining room soon knew I was allergic to dairy.)

The price was decent, and the food was average. Nothing "WOW" about it, but it wasn't bad.

There were two people who did their best to make sure we still had a decent experience, and because of THEM, this is a 3 star review, instead of one.

Our waitress, (I WISH I could remember her name!) was the absolute sweetest thing, and attended to us well, in addition to visiting and being overall in a cheerful mood. We tipped her well.

And the chef himself. He found out my one daughter (8yo) has Alpha Gal, and he rushed out and grabbed her plate before she could eat. He said he hadn't realized, but there was butter in it, so he quickly remade it and brought it to her personally. After that, he made her his personal concern, and doted on her to make sure she had refills and all the dipping sauce she wanted! After our meal, he came out again to see us off, and we asked him if he knew of any less populated beaches. Being a life long local, he told us of a few, and even began to tell us an old fishing tale or two! His kindness and that of our waitress saved our experience, but I still give only 3 stars, due to the attitudes of the hostesses, and...

I absolutely love SB. It’s my favorite restaurant anytime I venture down to the coast. From the quick service, friendly staff, delicious fresh food to the Mermaid Water that calms my nerves after the 8 hour trek south from Memphis, TN. It’s always my first stop into Gulf Shores. I love it so much that this week alone, me kids and I have been dining daily. It’s always top notch service and food until tonight 6/18. It was an hour before closing and I’ve been in the service industry so I know the drill. I didn’t want to be complicated and asked if they had room for my party of 3, if not I would just place a to go order. The hostess said no problem, cleaned off a table and we were seated right away as usual. A white male server took our drink orders, didn’t ask how we were doing, nor introduce himself as our server. Not hospitality at all just a “what do you want” look. Gave the drink order… no prompt for an appetizer or asking if we needed a moment to look at the menu just “Ready to order?” We ordered. My kids got desserts as they ate earlier. I got a grilled grouper sandwich. I have never had to wait more than 15-20 min for food during rush hour times… this time we waited nearly 40 minutes. I assume the key lime pie is premade as well as the brownie bites so surely it wouldn’t have taken that long. Parties of more who were seated after my party, already had food. Our food came but the between time there was no checking in. Someone else brought our food. Super nice Hispanic woman. We ate. Of course as usual it was delicious. I tend to favor the crab claws but I have a goal to try everything but oysters, on the menu. My sweet tea, you could tell it was old. I didn’t even drink much. No hush puppies or corn fritters. Just the sandwich and fries. Our total was $37.95. I ALWAYS tip above average anywhere I go. This time I barely tipped 15%. Found out from my receipt that our server was Dylan. As someone who was once a server for many years… I am disappointed at this trip to SB. It won’t deter my future trips however, if I venture again before we head back to Memphis, I will kindly request someone other than Dylan. He was more concerned with his phone than taking good care of the very people who help...

AVOID THIS PARTICULAR LOCATION. In general, we like the Shrimp Basket Chain of restaurants when you just want quick and easy seafood. We’ve eaten at multiple Shrimp Baskets outside of Gulf Shores (Orange Beach, Perdido Key, etc..) and they’ve all been consistently good. However, we are done with this Gulf Shores location until they get some things fixed. For starters, the service is consistently terrible. The last 4 or 5 times we’ve been there, there have been multiple issues from failing to write our number down properly after confirming it twice IN PERSON with the lady who speaks broken English, to our food orders being wrong, drink orders being wrong, food taking forever, wait staff not checking back in after foods brought out, our check being wrong…etc..etc..

The food at this particular location is also not great and tastes like either the grease is not changed as needed, the fryer has not been cleaned or food wasn’t handled/prepared properly before cooking. The slaw has also come out “warm” on several occasions, which is unsafe. YOU CANNOT SERVE SLAW THATS BEEN SITTING OUT AND GOTTEN WARM. Last night, our slaw was warm again so we didn’t eat it and our seafood tasted “off”. Not surprisingly, 3 out of 3 of us didn’t feel well overnight and had GI issues. We believe it was 100% from the food at the Shrimp Basket as we all ate lunch at different places.

If you’re the owner, you need to check on your business. If you’re the health department, you need to check this business again (especially during peak/evening hours). If you’re a potential customer, then consider avoiding this...