Half Shell Oyster House — Restaurant in Tuscaloosa

Upon our visit to Tuscaloosa Alabama, we wanted to try out local restaurants. When going to Half Shells we were expecting to experience what the locals told us to be a desirable choice of dinning, unfortunately that was not our experience. We placed an appetizer order and 20 minutes later we placed our main dish orders. At the time we ordered the main dishes the appetizer still had not been delivered. When our dinner salads had been served (menus side order choice for meal) we still had not received our appetizer order. Our server noticed that we had not received our appetizer and said she would go put in the order in again. We told her not to worry about it and just cancel it. Thereafter, the manager then came by to apologizes, to which she seemed sincere about. At that time, I explained that in addition to our appetizer order not having been put in by the wait staff the salad lettuce was wilted, as if it had been sitting in the hot kitchen for the extended duration of time that we had been waiting for it. I honestly thought the manager was trying to remedy the situation when apologizing. After which She offered to comp our meal, yet I personally was not comfortable with that as we are not free loaders, and I told her she would need to discuss the matter with my husband. Her response was “at least let me take care of your beverages.” I again asked her to please discuss the matter with my husband as I did not want to give the impression of seeking a free meal. Being that my husband had stepped away, upon his return she, the manager, had brought fried crab claws saying that it was a peace offering then telling my husband that she would like to comp our meal. My husband said that was fine. When my husband and I finished eating, we again sat waiting for a while before the server returned and my husband asked for the check. The manager never came by to say anything any further. We paid the tab… my husband was even kind enough to have tipped the server and we left. After all of this and the obvious confusion of multiple beverages at once , besides the one that was already served to us, there obviously was a major lack of communication amongst the staff at Half Shells and it is certainly something that should be strengthened. In addition to all of this, when having to use the lady's restroom, from my own observation, it looked as though someone had been in the middle of cleaning and just gave up, leaving a gallon size bottle of cleaner on its side in front of the sink basins and toilet paper littering all over the floors. Our overall experience of Half shells was not the greatest and I personally would not recommend...

I would like to emphasize that this review has nothing to do with our server, Jayla. Jayla was amazing, and this review does not reflect her.

Last night, my girlfriend's family and my family had dinner at Half Shell. We were celebrating 3 birthdays - mine, my girlfriend's, and my father's. It was a big event, my family drove 8 hours to be here. I called earlier yesterday to ask about bringing in my own unopened bottle of wine. I had just gotten back from studying abroad in Italy for 7 weeks, and I brought a bottle of wine home from Florence to share at this dinner. It was important to me to share this bottle with the people I love at this dinner and celebrate. Over the phone, I was told it was okay to bring in that bottle and have the server open it for us.

Once we arrived, I asked once more about the bottle, stating I was told over the phone that it was okay. Our server went to ask, and the manager came to tell us that it was not okay, even though on the phone 3 hours prior we were told it was. The manager then came back and said it was okay this one time, but that they usually cannot allow this. 5 minutes later, the manager came back again and said that they cannot allow it. This was unprofessional and misleading. I was told I was going to be able to share this important bottle of wine with the people I love, and then told that I was not going to be able to, then I was, and then I wasn't. This was not the only instance of going back and forth about policies that night.

This was unprofessional and the communication NEEDS to be fixed before it ruins another important event like it did last night.

If anyone plans on hosting birthdays here, be prepared. You cannot believe what they say over the phone as they will tell you otherwise as soon as you walk in the door, then change their minds 4 times throughout the night.

EDIT: Just made my first visit back since this review, and the staff ensured that our experience was great and outweighed the previous. It was refreshing, as I loved this restaurant and hated having the sour taste in my mouth. I will be back, they made...

Dined here a few times for dinner when in town. Usually a wait so we waited at the crowded bar. Every time the bartenders are super bubbly & as quick as they can be so we have actually eaten at the bar a few times. This time; however, all the bubbles had dissipated but there was an over abundance of ice crystals & olive juice in my extra dry martini, NOT dirty. The martini arrived as our table was called so I only had a sip even though the waitress took quite a bit to reach our table. And; no, the restaurant was not full. We dined late @ 8p. I did mention the icy, wet martini and the addition of oluve juice. She ignored me completely. Wow. Interesting tip strategy. Moving on to the vittles... I rarely order appetizers, but when I do, I just assume 2 people can share one. This was my 3rd time having an app here. There were 4 of us. We assumed we would get one lil' bite each so we ordered 2 appetizers. Barely enough for 2 bites for 2 people. Hence, I didn't get a taste and no one else comment on the quality (good or bad). Main Course: Steak was seasoned better than Chuck's across the street; however, Chuck's seems to serve a better cut (or perhaps it's the cook? We like Med Rare to Rare). The Sides here are better prepared than across the street. Chuck's tends to iver cook their veggies. Pricing is okay. But again, if you are going to charge full duty, then you need to serve up excellence in the air, the bar, and on the plate. The best part about this last visit was the attentive and delightful busboy. We will go again because we will always forgive once, maybe twice. But if a 3rd occurs, we will simply go across the street and ask for a lighter cook on...