T.J.'s Seafood Shack — Restaurant in Oviedo

Came here for a quick lunch one day after the gym. Worked out, walked next door, and started ordering some food.

I started off with the Louisiana Style Gumbo (Louisiana-style gumbo with chicken and Andouille Sausage served with saltine crackers. No seafood!)

I guess this item is for people who don't like seafood. I think those people should please leave the state. But as a dish that can also be eaten by people with seafood allergies, I'm so glad this gumbo was so good, so those people can experience gumbo without danger. A good flavor, a hint of spice, and a base that wasn't too tomatoey. All good things.

We moved onto the main event, the Fisherman's Catch Platter (Get ALL 4 of the following: Fish filet (basa), 4 jumbo shrimp, clam strips & 3 fried oysters. Served with cocktail or tartar).

For an all-fried platter, this wasn't too oily or greasy. It was all well fried, and it also had a great batter-to-protein ratio. Less filler, more seafood. The fish filet was the best part. The basa fish is a type of catfish, so you know it's good. Shrimp per good, clam strips are always only ok and a good ketchup vehicle, and the oysters were good, but if you don't like oysters, these won't change your mind.

And because we're just greedy, we also got the Gator Swamp Tacos (Local caught gator tacos on flour tortillas over shredded lettuce & tomatoes, topped with a sweet, smoky “swamp sauce”!). How can you say no to swamp sauce?

These were unexpectedly amazing. Nice, big flour tortillas. A metric ton of fried alligator meat. Real good sized hunks of meat, too. Not tiny gator clam strip things. A good little amount of fresh veg. And that creamy, mildly spicy swamp sauce. Man, I could have bought a bottle of that stuff. Very good.

Overall, this place was a very pleasant surprise for me. No way did I think a hole in the wall in landlocked Oviedo would provide me a meal this good. But I was wrong. This place is excellent, and you...

I was in Clermont, Florida for a couple of weeks and one of my college friends from grad school had just moved to Mims, FL. We found this in searching for a place between us to meet and one that had seafood…not the boil places or heavy batter like fish & chips. We went early, when they opened at 11: 30, and avoided the line to order. I was disappointed in my food. I asked what was not frozen and got Haddock, I believe, with fried okra as the side. I enjoyed the okra which was cooked perfectly and very tasty, but the fish did not compare to the seafood we had when I lived in eastern NC. My friend got the crab cakes, which were costly, and they appeared to be overdone. She also ordered black beans as her side (that must be a Florida thing…my daughter has a pantry full of black beans at her home there.). It was a nice place for us to visit and catch up with each other. After bringing our food, there was no additional table service. They were busy at lunchtime. I got a fountain soft drink, but it did not have a good flavor…probably the water was the culprit with that. We really enjoyed walking down to Songbirds, in the same strip mall, which had an interesting blue piano out front and ended up being a great experience for two people who majored in music and have spent our lives performing and teaching. It is a studio for children (and some adults) with dance, art, music lessons, books and instruments for sale, as well as an instrument repair shop. The owner gave us a little tour and she herself was also a voice major in college. We strolled up to the little boutique in the strip also. We heard several people say that the fish tacos are the best thing on the menu, so if I return, I...

Well for starters, would be nice if management would actually list the colonial location permanently closed, especially on their own website. Google I can understand, but your own website? Story time, it's my dad's birthday and he wanted seafood, I said pick a place and we'll go. He picked Tj's seafood shack. I drove him and mom out to the colonial location only to see a "for lease" sign and the lettering of what used to be TJ's seafood shack. But hey! I won't let that get me down. I look up the other location in oviedo. I call the number just to make sure they were actually open and they were. Cool! I drive out to oviedo location. We go in, I find menus, we noticed a discrepancy in food prices between the website and the menu available at the TJ's seafood shack. I'm ok with it, it's not a big deal, the website is outdated. We're about to order and mom wanted gator bites, fine lady at the desk told us kindly that they were out of gator bites. Ok not a big deal but my frustration inside me grows. My dad wanted lobster roll. The fine lady at the desk politely told us that they were out of lobster as well, and at that point I just said forget it.. I didn't make a fuss, I just simply said let's go we'll just find another place. I get out to the car and fine lady chase us out to the parking lot and said, "I just checked, they JUST got done making lobster." I was like at that point just "eh, no thanks." I felt like I gave the place/brand enough chances, I just wasn't intrested anymore and my dad was let down and my mom was upset, and I got to eat wawa philly before I go to work (I work...