Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Gulfport

My evening at Felix's went a lot better than what I could ever have anticipated... Upon arriving, I headed to the bar (where I would only be taking up one seat vs an entire table). I sat down, then pulled out my phone as I waited for someone to bring me a menu. (NOTE: I have OCD really bad, so naturally, I initialized my stopwatch to begin timing the service here.) About a minute later, a young gentleman reported back and began doing certain, random things behind the bar. A total of (approx) 4 minutes had now passed when, suddenly, a female employee appeared and asked if she could place an order. He asked if (the order) was for her, and she said, 'Yes." Without hesitating, he took her order. Since he had his back to me, I leaned in quietly to show her my stopwatch and told her how long I had been sitting there without a server bringing me a menu. I also told her how I had asked him for one a few minutes ago, and how he decided to take her order instead of mine. Long story short, I called the manager from the parking lot, and explained to him what happened. I'm gonna tell you something: this particular manager was so contingent on my desire to want to eat at his restaurant, he offered to pay for my entire meal, no matter what it was. That lifted my spirit. I'm not gonna lie; I was feeling crushed. When I originally walked back to my vehicle and first considered calling management, a part of me wanted to cry. I was thinking all kinds of dumb things. Things like, "Have I ever caused some kind of injury or insult to this person before sometime in the distant past - even if inadvertently?..." Now, for those of you who know me well, you know I probably would've ordered something cheap (like the Crawfish Bowl or something equivalent in price), because the manager said that he was going to pay for it. However, this was my first time eating at Felix's, and I wanted it to be a memorable experience for me. So, I considered other, more exorbitant options. The attentive manager remained very caring, and saw to my every need. And asked me where I would like to sit. The balcony view overlooking the beach is spectacular at night. I highly recommend couples dine here together at least once in your lifetime. It's almost breathtaking. I began talking to my new, manager-appointed waiter when I happened to glance down and notice something that immediately caused my mouth to start watering. The menu read,

'Soft-Shell Crab Platter'

The rest is history! When I saw that and my waiter told me that you get not one, but TWO soft shell crabs, I had to capitalize on that!! My food eventually came out. The crabs rested on a bed of fries, w/ a side of hushpuppies and a small coleslaw. The hushpuppies here at Felix's are THE BEST HUSH PUPPIES THAT I'VE EVER HAD!!! Hands down! I'm not a big fan of hushpuppies, but I've had the opportunity in my lifetime to try a plethora of different hushpuppies. They were all fried from a variety of different people's recipes, but no one has topped Felix's hushpuppies to date. To the manager who assisted me in making sure that I was (Finally!) able to eat, thank you SO much, from the bottom of my heart. Your contingencies of my desire to eat at your restaurant is the backbone of this economy. These days, it's crucial to win favor over a customer's loyalty. At the end of the day, everyone has to eat, and a transaction is going to take place. The question is: whose bank account is that money going to ultimately get deposited into? And how bad do you want it to end up in...

The atmosphere was great but the food was bland and the servings were tiny. Our seafood platter had different size shrimp on it, and only 4 shrimp, the fries were cold, theboysters were cold. The gator bites appetizer was literally a small plate of CRUMBS! We order chargrilled oysters, most of the oysters were the size of a nickel. My son had a chicken sandwich, it was sizeable. My daughter had the stuffed reddish, the fish was very over cooked and dry. Son in law had a pasta dish that came in a bowl and was very small, he had to get more food somewhere else after we left. We also had dessert, they were ok, nothing spectacular. The server was absent minded and just absent in general. We asked for a water, she brought a coke. I would have said something, except she dropped it off and walked away before I could speak. She never checked on the food after it came out, or I would have said something. We had asked for an extra plate, it came after everyone was done eating. No one got refills. CTC is a busy time, but at the time we were there, a lot of tables were empty so that isn't an excuse for poor service. Our bill was almost $250! I don't regret my time with my kids or our visit to Felix's. We used to eat here a lot, but the amount of food for the price is definitely not worth it and we won't be back. We were eating out 2 meals a day for a week and never ate anywhere twice. There are WAY better values and food along the Gulf Coast!

Edited to say, I looked at some of the other reviews and their pictures. Our food did NOT look like that and now I wish I had forced someone to stop so I could ask for a manager to see our plates. Our Gator bites were Literally a small basket of CRUMBS and our seafood platter had hardly any seafood, it was a...

We dined in at Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar with a party of 7 for dinner around 8 PM. There was a short wait, but we were able to be seated inside per our request. There was an option to dine on their upstairs patio outside or inside and we opted for inside. It was warm inside the restaurant and a bit humid. We sat near the bar and the patio area.

We started with water and a few appetizers and they were all good. The water had an unpleasant aftertaste. My favorites apps were the crab dip and fried gator. However, the crab cake was also delicious and my son liked the calamari. For entree, I decided on the jambalaya pasta and a Caesar salad. The pasta was well seasoned and I liked it and the salad was also good (it had a house made dressing too, which was served on the side). My son had the kid's burger with fries and said it was dry, but ate it once they brought out the toppings that we requested (tomato, pickle, onion, lettuce, mayo and mustard). They initially served the kids burger with just a bun, so be sure to ask if your kids like toppings. My husband opted for the turtle soup with a Caesar salad and mentioned that it was salty. My mother in law ordered the red fish entree with crispy Brussels sprouts and they burned the Brussels sprouts, but she LOVED the fish and veggies. My brother in law did not like the seafood gumbo entree & his girlfriend tried the sampler and did not like the Crawfish Étouffée in her Bayou Sampler.

Overall, the meal was pleasant and the items that were not good did not ruin our experience. I would definitely recommend ordering any of the appetizers that we tried, jambalaya pasta or redfish entree. The ladies restroom was also clean. I would give them a chance again, when...