Half Shell Oyster House — Restaurant in Mobile

5 stars for Brooke and Casey. 1 star for Matt the "manager." The following email was sent to corporate.

Hello,

I dined at Half Shell Oyster House in Mobile Alabama on Tuesday February 20th.

We were greeted by our server Brooke who was absolutely amazing through the dining experience. My brother-in-law ordered the char-broiled oysters, half pound of shrimp, and the gumbo. I ordered the fried green tomatoes with crab cakes which was very delicious. I also ordered the basil lemon drop martini and the Filet.

The steak came out and did not resemble a filet. I cut into it and realized there was fat and marbling. The green beans tips were not snapped at both ends. I advised Brooke that maybe the kitchen made a mistake. Brooke apologized profusely and I told her it wasn't her fault and please don't apologize.

Several minutes later, what seems like a "manager" Matt came to our table. He proceeded to ask what I thought was wrong with the dish. I advised him that the "filet" was a ribeye. He then became combative and proceeded to argue with me. I told him about the fatty and marbled "filet" all resembles a ribeye. He then said "we can go back and forth but you're paying for it." I said I was not. I didn't even eat any part of the steak. He said "order something else or you'll pay for this steak." At that point, I lost my appetite from his unprofessional manner. It was as if you picked a random hobo off the street and gave him a job.

Brooke grabbed another manager named Casey. She represented herself very well! She was professional, courteous, and explained the cuts etc. We had a great conversation

I would recommend not allowing Matt to represent your brand. Who knows how many other guest have been rudely spoken to by him.

Brooke was amazing and I left her a great tip. It's hard to find servers these days that genuinely care about their tables. Maybe she should replace Matt!

Unfortunately I will not be back as long as Matt is there.

I understand we all have bad days but when we go to work, we should leave it...

New edit March 5 2022. Absolutely horrible. Between the waitress and food I think this ruined me for good here. I've had problems before however it was always fixed with a smile and apology. Let's try to sum up this eve. We got the oyster sampler. 2 was burnt to a crisp and the Rockefeller looks like they just dumped it on a oyster without any grilling. The drinks was not mixed good at all. The pecan old fashioned was pure pecan liquor. We asked for another shot to help balance it out. That took almost 20 min. (BTW those shots cost a extra $22 on top of the $21 drinks) 4 steaks was ordered. Mine filet was half the size of my wife's and son's. I asked why it was so small and she said "eh that's normal" and walked off. Finally when she came back I showed her my son's steak that was supposed to be medium rare was well done. She took it back. Now when she returned she said "here ya go" set the plates down and walked away. Never has a manager or server not ask if that one is ok before leaving. His entire order of fries was so burnt to a crisp you could pick up 1 and the entire stack was stuck to it. My daughter had a Ribeye that was also half well done. She didn't want to deal with trying to send it back. Then we was handed a check without asking about desert or ever being asked if we would like a refill on our drinks. This cost me almost $300 for what I would consider not worth $50. You can see from previous reviews I loved this place and came pretty frequently. Not again. They have really went downhill by far.

Edit: if I could give yall 10 stars I would. We came again tonight and Britney ( i hope the name on the ticket was right) was our server and by far she was the absolute best waitress we have ever had anywhere, not that we have ever had a bad experience here. If yall read this please commend her, hopefully the girl she was training will pick up whatever makes her so good.

Beyond amazed at the food! Had the surf and turf and omg it was worth every penny. That banana foster cheesecake...

I should have taken a picture before I sent it back. but I ordered the oyster sampler and red fish orleans with mashed potatoes and broccoli to go. I kept the red fish entree but had I'd know my mashed potatoes were grey and brown I would not have gotten anything. The oysters were dried out and cold the size of lima beans. I had this issue before while sitting inside the restaurant so I was hesitant about ordering every again but I gave them another try. The service was done by AI over the phone and I kept asking what size are the oysters because I was disappointed on my last visit but the AI bot kept repeating they are so delicious. I placed my order at 6:52pm says will be ready in 30min I arrived at 7:24pm and waited for a while to get my food. I checked the oysters immediately and there it was very small cold and shribbled up, nothing like the ones I saw coming out at the oyster bar I stood in front of waiting on my food. I explained to them I was not happy and I'm not taking those and to remove from order. So, I get home to eat my food I uncovered the mashed potatoes and they looked like they were scraped from a pot OMG they tasted like that too. They were grey and brown in color, after that bite I trashed them. The fish and broccoli were perfect. But this was not why I chose to eat there. I really had my mouth set for the oyster sampler so me getting fish and broccoli out of the food spread I had imagined was disappointing. I gave them a 2nd chance and they blew it. I'm so annoyed I don't think I'll ever return to the Mobile,AL...