Charles Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Tifton

If you have spent any time in Florida around the coast and enjoyed fresh seafood, Charles Seafood is the closest thing to it that you will find in this area. The fried oysters are the best Ive ever had. Anyone familiar with frying oysters knows that you better be on your game when preparing them, you can ruin an oyster quickly over cooking them. Charles Seafood has fried oysters down to a science. I've always preferred mine raw on halfshell or steamed, but Charles Seafood has changed my way of thinking. The shrimp and fish had their own fresh independent taste, not like some places where it all tastes the same, like the grease it's cooked in. The restaurant is clean, staff is on the ball and eager to please. About a 15 minute wait on Friday or Saturday nights during prime time, but well worth the wait. The people waiting are excited, chatting about how good it is and eager to get inside and enjoy their meal. We drive from Valdosta to eat there and don't mind the distance because it is consistently a good dining experience. Their prices are very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food you get, we always have food left on our plate to take home for that midnight snack. Great food, good atmosphere, comfortable, casual dining...

I was in town for work and visited here with a group of coworkers, one of whom highly recommended it. We ordered fried pickles, alligator tail, and fried sweet potatoes. The pickles and sweet potatoes were delicious. The alligator tail was fine. It could have used a bit more seasoning. For entrees we ordered grilled salmon, fried shrimp, grilled & fried flounder, and frog legs. We had an assortment of sides - baked potatoes, green beans, coleslaw slaw, salad. The potatoes were pretty good. The green beans could have used more seasoning. I didn't have coke slaw but the people who did said it was really good. All of the entrees were fine. I had grilled salmon but also tasted the frog legs and they were fine. Flaky like fish but not fishy tasting. They could have used more seasoning. My biggest issue with them was feeling like I had to work too hard for too little reward. Our server was very sweet and attentive. Overall, it was a pleasant visit and while I'm not sure I'd go back next time I'm in town, I'm...

In the nearly 12 years I have lived in this area I have heard several times about how good Charles Seafood is. My husband doesn't eat seafood, so I decided since he was out of town I would check it out, in spite of all of the bad reviews I had read. Unfortunately, every bad review I had read turned out to be accurate. I got the admirals platter, in order to have a sampling of different things. Everything was soggy, the scallops were so tough I couldn't bite through them, the oysters were literally mush, and I'm sorry but those oily lumps of fried dough are NOT hushpuppies. Not a bit of cornmeal anywhere to be found in them. The 3 shrimp they gave me were ok, but the catfish filets I asked for in place of mullet was so greasy that they nearly left a puddle. Pretty much the only good thing I ate was the shrimp, and the cole slaw. For the nearly 20$ price tag I could have had better seafood at Red Lobster. Needless to say, I won't be back. The waitress was very...