Singletons Seafood Shack — Restaurant in Jacksonville

As you approach the restaurant from the front, the building looks very run down. When you enter the front door, your nostrils are hit immediately with fried food smell, leaving me with an underwhelming desire to eat here. Although, we were on an adventure and trying new places. The hostess was friendly and sat us right away. We requested outside on the deck. As we traversed through the restaurant to reach the door to the left side of the deck, I noticed the floors were far from being straight. Felt like walking through a fun house in a sorts. Once reaching the deck, we had the choice of sitting under the awning or in the sun, we chose the sun. The deck looked like it was in shambles and in need of repair (I personally would rebuild the whole restaurant)! As we approached the table, we could see mismatched seating and all the metal seats had a significant amount of rust on them. Once sat, we noticed some birds hanging out on the old poles in the water. That was a great view! Although about 10 minutes of sitting there, a swarm of birds came in and from that point on, you had to fight them off. I’ve never experienced this at any other restaurant on the water in Jacksonville! Once the waitress came, we ordered a few beers. We looked over the appetizers and decided to order the Dean’s Dozen oysters. We chose raw, Parmesan crusted, and Broiled bacon pimiento. The raw oysters were room temperature and not served on ice, the Parmesan crusted tasted like nothing but panko breading (dried out your mouth like eating a spoon of cinnamon), and the broiled bacon pimiento ones had so much cheese and pimiento it didn’t taste good at all…no bacon flavor either! These oysters were mediocre at best! The clam chowder taste like it was pulled from a can and barely heated in the microwave! Salty and congealed, not edible at all. We ordered catch of the day baskets which was Mahi. One basket was blackened and one grilled. The hush puppies had a bitter burnt taste and were overcooked! The fries that were asked to be extra crispy were not crispy and cold when they arrived at the table. The blackened Mahi was not really blackened. It taste like it was cooked in an oven with blackened seasoning on it. Plus it was over cooked. The grilled Mahi was also not cooked on a grill, again felt like it was cooked in the oven. Served asked if one guest wanted another beer and when the guest said no thank you, the server never asked if they would like something else to drink. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone, nor will I revisit it until they change everything they are doing with their...

Update 6/3/2023: I recently visited Singletons seafood restaurant and received excellent service from our waitress Mary, who was polite, hilarious, attentive, and went above and beyond to ensure our meal was enjoyable. However, I did notice an injustice in the way that the male servers approached the distribution of being seated. Having been a server for many years, I pay attention to the "back of the house." While waiting for the hostesses to ask us for our party size and in or outdoor preference one male waiter (Jeremiah "MYA") commented to another male waiter and the hostess that only both of them (guys) will be getting the big party tables.  And if the other guys were cool with that. The other waiter was totally on board to have them two being the only ones getting bigger groups.  Having been a waitress, I know that is totally NOT how it is done and unfair to the other wait staff. (Unless everyone else is new) However, having been to the restaurant prior to renovations, I personally have been waited on by several of the other waitresses.

While our waitress was taking care of all of the tables that were assigned to her they were all spreadout throughout the restaurant, while the male server only seemed interested in accommodating larger parties and picking out there own tables, that left the other wait staff having to deal with seating that was off rotation. It was disappointing to see that he wasn't giving female waitresses or smaller parties the same level of attention or consideration.

Despite this, our waitress continued to provide top-notch service and didn't let the unfairness of the male server detract from our dining experience. She was professional and courteous throughout the meal, ensuring that all of our needs were met.

It's really upsetting when you experience seeing unfair treatment at a restaurant, but I'm grateful for our waitress who made our visit a pleasure. Her dedication to her job and her customers is commendable, and I hope that the establishment will take note and address any biases that may be present.

Overall, I had an excellent experience and would highly recommend it. If you happen to get seated in our waitress' section (Mary), you're in for a treat!

2021: Great menu selection and service. Line is usually shorter than the place up the road but just as good food. This has an outdoor space for great views and...

We first learned about Singleton's last year after searching online, but they were closed for renovations, so we'd been following the Facebook page and finally went to try it today, a beautiful Sunday, for lunch.

It was pretty active but we were seated quickly and decided to sit outside on the deck I wouldn't say the view is spectacular, but it's always nice to be waterside.

Our Server, Chris, was busy but very pleasant and informative. We were undecided between two cocktails, and he recommended the Purple Pelican. Great choice! It was delicious, and tho not overpowering, you could taste the rum in it.

Quite a few of the menu items were "Market Price" so we weren't too sure how the final bill would be, but we were eager to try several things.

We ordered a cup of clam chowder ($6) and a cup of Oyster Stew (MP @ $12). I'm from New England, which might've influenced my taste buds, but I didn't like the chowder at all. It was very thick, tasted like cream of chicken soup with potatoes, and was too salty.

The Oyster Stew was pretty much a milk broth with butter, not much flavor. It was loaded with oysters, but they were all very bitter, not really edible. Both soups were left mostly uneaten.

The other items we ordered were Conch Fritters, a pound of Steamed Shrimp, and the Fried Squash Appetizer.

The conch fritters were small, maybe the size of a ping pong ball, 6 to an order and wonderful. Crispy on the outside, fluffy inside with decent bits of conch, served with a mustard-horseradish sauce.

The Fried Squash had a light cornmeal batter and perfectly cooked without being greasy. The ranch dipping sauce was thin and creamy, a perfect accompaniment.

The shrimp were smallish but also very good, had a dusting of Old Bay but not so much that it overpowered the shrimp. Just a little difficult to peel, but tasted very fresh.

The bill came in at $86 before a $15 tip. A little on the high side considering $18 was wasted on uneaten soups. Still, if we are in the Mayport area, we'll not hesitate to stop in to try some...