Gary's Oyster Shack — Restaurant in Springfield

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a fan of oysters. But, that's not why I'm giving them 3 stars. I ordered the grilled fish tacos, my son got a half dozen raw & half dozen baked. The owner came out & greeted us, we talked about dessert options, & he brought us a slice of German chocolate & lemon meringue pie. They are made at the beginning of the day & once they're gone, they're gone, so I reserved them so they wouldn't be gone by the time we were done with dinner. The tacos were two small crisped tortillas with mostly sweet slaw, grilled fish chunks, & a drizzle of a tan sauce. You get two sides. The red potatoes w/ parmesan were good. I ordered sweet slaw as my 2nd side, not knowing it was the main ingredient in the tacos. The meal was okay, but not worth $15 by any stretch. We were there b/c my son wanted to try oysters. He was over half way through the raw when the shucker behind the counter asked if he wanted saltine crackers. I told him it's his first time eating oysters & asked how do others eat them & he said with crackers. My son discovered he's not a fan of oysters, but he still ate them. Fortunately the desserts were amazing, so our taste buds ended on a good note. As for getting a 3, it's because of 2 things:

1. Our waitress. We never saw her again after taking the order. After meeting the owner, someone else brought the food. Our drinks bottomed out & never got topped off.
2. Price. I walked out with $50 less in my wallet, and that is without an appetizer & after a military discount, for two people. $25/person isn't unreasonable for dinner out, but it usually involves more food. So I don't know if $7 for 6 raw oysters is really market price, and I might have caught the waitress on a bad day, but I wasn't wowwed by my experience, so 3 out of 5. I do intend to go back again...

My boyfriend and I stopped in on a random Tuesday night @7pm. We were literally the only people in the entire place. Which could be really bad...or really good. The only server on did great. Very personable. Very knowledgeable on the menu and food. Very prompt. Obviously. 😁 The menu choices were amazing and so were the prices! I was super excited being my first time trying Gary's, Louisiana style food has a place in my heart and stomach. My BF had the Surf n Turf loaded Baked Potato which is covered in Alfredo cream sauce. I almost got that. I ended up getting the Blackened Chicken Alfredo. I ate my boyfriends. Both were so bland I had to ask for more Parmesan cheese for the pasta and still dumped half a shaker of salt and pepper on it too. Not a single spice whatsoever. I'm not sure if it was the Alfredo on both that ruined things, but on his, the steak was cooked perfect, tender and juicy. So were the giant shrimp. But even salt and pepper couldn't help how boring and bland, what could've been an amazing dish, that was. I took the majority of his home and doctored it with some Tony's and a few other spices in my arsenal. Even tho the prices, location, and menu prices were pretty much perfect, I'm not sure if we'll return for the simple fact of how disappointing that first bite to this skinny girls heart was. A cocktail would've helped but no...

Popped in mostly to try out the oysters but we were pleasantly surprised by the selection. We ordered 12 oysters, the shrimp balls, a prime rib sandwich, and the group sandwich (fried). The service was quick and friendly. I also appreciated that the dining room was full but it wasn't so loud that I couldn't have a conversation.

The shrimp balls were very tasty- they were not spicy though. The shrimp is cut very fine so at first we thought they just tasted like hush puppies, but there are little chunks of shrimp. The raw oysters were great! I would have preferred to have horseradish and lemon with them rather than cocktail sauce, but they were gold nonetheles.

My grouper was amazing! Fresh, perfectly cooked, just wow. I'm looking forward to coming back to get the grouper plate. The prime rib sandwich made my husband's jaw drop, specifically, the au jus dip. He was very impressed and when a cook stopped by to check on us he made sure to tell him and ask about it.The red beans and rice side was different than I expected and needed a little salt added, but I enjoyed it all the same. My husband gave the Mac and cheese and coleslaw a thumbs up as well.

Great food, reasonable price, quick and friendly - we will be back and will bring our out of town visitors...