Tacky Jacks Gulf Shores — Restaurant in Gulf Shores

Wacky pub on Gulf Shores waterway. Extensive seafood focused menu with some additional choices. Large drink selection from the full bar. Chose to visit here after seeing grouper on the menu which is a favorite of mine and seen rarely. Very colorful building covered with a rainbow of duct tape pieces signed by visitors adorning every open space. Walls, railings, window sills, etc. Large outdoor dining spaces offer a nice water view. Specials on our visit were tacos and margaritas. Perused the menu for a bit but jumped directly to the grouper sandwich with fries for my choice. My wife-unsurprisingly-chose the shrimp po-boy but grilled this time not fried. Also chose an order of hushpuppies to start.

That was a mistake. Boring fried dough balls with plain butter. And overcooked. Maybe I could have asked if they had a different spread or dip for them but they were so middling I chose to ignore them. Sad. The po-boy arrived swelling with shrimp plus lettuce, tomato, & pickles. But the bread was left dry. No sauce at all. Surprising. We found a mayo packet under some napkins and I got some tartar but the wife chose to leave it dry. Wasn’t long before she abandoned the bread all together (too dry?). She left me a few shrimp, saying she thought them too salty and she was full. I think she just really didn’t like them. The shrimp appeared to be precooked dusted with a too salty “rub” then and tossed on a flat top. To my taste they were quite salty and too dry from the second heating. Pretty sad here also. It came with pretty good fries and a few soggy potato chips thrown in the basket. NOT worth the cost.

My grouper sandwich, which also came with fries and sad chips, was delicious. Though the bun seemed dry itself and again was presented with lettuce and tomato but without dressing, a little added tartar sauce helped immensely. The large fish was most likely a frozen filet fried expertly. It was so big I had to cut it in half double it up on the bun. If it was a raw piece breaded in house then fried, they did a great job. One of the better grouper sandwiches I’ve had in recent memory. I also ordered a virgin mango peach daiquiri that we both thought was really refreshing and flavorful. A delicious drink. Not a great meal but a decent one. Pretty pricy though for the overall quality...

Not impressed and probably won’t return or recommend. We’re in town for a family vacation with 11 adults and 3 children and wanted to try some local seafood. The interesting building is what grabbed our attention in the fist place and was the deciding factor on going. When I called on a Monday afternoon to make reservations for my large family, I was told we don’t take reservations and we would just have to “risk it”. Okay no problem, it’s Monday shouldn’t be a problem. Once we arrive, there is little to no direction once you get up stairs to where you are supposed to go. Servers couldn’t care any less about you unless you are already assigned. Once I did find the host stand, I told her the details of my party and proceeded to take us all outside to our table. Because they don’t take reservations, the host was responsible for dragging tables to accommodate for us. I didn’t catch this girls name, however she gave me and my family members such attitude and acted like moving tables and chairs was the hardest thing in the world to do. Once we were settled and asks is everything okay, again with an attitude, to this I say “yeah we’re good. Can we get some waters going, it’s hot.” She responded with “I’m not your server” and walked away. This whole process was dysfunctional and confusing with no direction. She didn’t bring enough silverware to begin with as well. While we ate out dinner, another large family arrived and their seating looked as dysfunctional as our arrival with the host aggressively dragging high top tables inches past out infants head sitting in the high chair. Hannah was our server and she was and absolute dream. No issues with our food or dinner service and our bill was over $400. Of course we tipped accordingly over 20% to our server because we know a large party like ours is tough. I hope she got 100% and didn’t have the tip out the host from h*ll. A restaurant only runs as best as their weakest link, and right now the ones responsible for greeting their guests are pushing them out the door. Great atmosphere. Need to...

Jenn was a spectacular waitress! She was attentive and funny and helped us have a fabulous time at our first visit to Tacky Jack’s. The atmosphere and interactive decor was super cool. We had fun adding our personalized tape the exterior! From our table we could see pelicans and the water so that was beautiful.

My partner and I are both sober and we were pleased with the NA beer options. My sister got a cocktail and really liked it!

The crab cakes, fried green tomatoes and French fries were all delicious! We ordered the kids chicken tenders, mahi-mahi tacos, crab cake sandwich, blackened fish of the day, crab cake plate, fried green tomatoes and fried pickles. The tacos were kinda soggy and had toppings I’d expect with Tex-mex tacos (not fish tacos) so I wouldn’t recommend those. Otherwise food was good with the fried green tomatoes and the crab cakes being the stars.

Be sure to note that the menu pricing shows the price if you pay with cash. If you use card, the prices are higher. We paid with cash so got menu pricing but those prices honestly seemed high based on presentation and flavor. The apps were on sale for just $5 during the time we were there so that was great! Thanks to Jenn, we had a great visit and would come...