The Half Shell

This place has the recipe for a good restaurant they just are not following it. The service is horrible and food times are ridiculous. I ordered oysters and a salad. The salad came but I am waiting on the oysters, my appatizer, as I type this. One in the kitchen and one on the floor will not serve your customers. I finally received my oysters and they were delicious but that does not make up for the sub par service.

I visited today and was very excited to finally try this place. Sadly though there was only one waitress and after waiting 15 and still not ordering, my party and I had to leave to get food elsewhere so they could catch a flight. Another party said they’d already waited 45 min and still didn’t have their food, which we didn’t have time for. The menu looks great though and they have a nice patio. Oysters do seem expensive compared to other places but all other prices seemed reasonable. I’ll try this place again on my next visit. Hopefully I get to try their food and can report more favorable impressions.

My girlfriend and I stopped in during our New Orleans trip for the oyster happy hour special. We LOVE oysters and we’re both from Maryland so we know our seafood. We both thought the oysters were AWESOME! And they were HUGE. The seafood gumbo was also excellent. Had a chance to meet the man who makes the gumbo and shucks the oysters– really friendly and provided great advice on where to go for music. We’ll be back.

I have driven by this restaurant on several occasions, but never had the opportunity to stop in. I was in the area last week, hungry but not hungry and decided to stop in. The parking lot was only half full, but they had several people inside. There is a parking lot with about a dozen parking spots, which is a good thing.
Once I was seated, two Sheriffs deputies walked in and dined in, which I take to be a good thing as this is not an area where I see too many officers and I think that they came out of their way to dine here. The restaurant is neat and clean and well decorated. I ordered a strawberry daiquiri and let me tell you, it was pretty darn delicious. I ordered the fish platter, and the portions were HUGE. I ended up getting a to go box because I could not finish it. The menu seemed to be a bit heavy on the fried food side, but that is the tendency in New Orleans. I was set back with the fact that I had to ask for utensils as they were not given before I ordered.
I will be back if I happen to be in the area again, but I will not be making any special trips.

Nice owner, good location, big parking lot. Walked in on Friday at lunch time and I was the only person there… okay, there was one other guy there, but he was buddies with the owner so I really didn’t count him. I was worried. So I hedged my bet and order some char-​grilled oysters and a glass of tea. While I was waiting I started talking to the owner and the other guy having a good time and before I knew, the owner talked me into a dozen raw while I waited — and of course he did it (talk me into the raw oysters) in the best of ways by giving me one to try. It was great! So now I was hooked and ordered a dozen more. By that time my char-​grilled oysters showed up, and hot damn they were great too.
As I was leaving the owner gave me sample of what he described as a olé NOLA staple in the hood, that being a roast beef soup with some name I can’t remember. It was cold that day and he was right, it warmed me right up.
It was a good day.

I wasn’t impressed with the food or service. We were the only table in the restaurant and the food took a long time. The $ 18.99 shrimp and catfish platter should be called a sampler because there wasn’t a lot of food at all. My expectations are attainable… this is New Orleans people.

Nice people. Good drinks. Great food. Go there. Blackened Redfish great. Red Beans and Rice delicious!!! All so good. Going back.

Oysters were fresh, large, tasty, shucked to order and well priced. Service was quick and friendly. Looking forward to returning.

Been to the Half Shell twice now and both times have been great. I have partake in Brunch and dinner. One with two people and another with 5 people. Both experiences were good. The waitresses were friendly and helpful and actually gave useful recommendations on the things we should try!
Food. It was great and enough to share with others or eat for the next day. I love the Catfish and Shrimp Platter. Comes with ample shrimp and catfish also fries and then an additional side! When you think side, normally you would think a tiny little cup. But nooooo its huge greatness. This time my side was the red beans. I’m not even a big beans person but their beans were life changing. So wonderful with just the right amount of flavor, just like the seafood. I really enjoy their food. It’s fresh and seasoned and that’s just dope in my book. Also, the char-​grilled oysters are a worth the try. They are pretty tasty, do not sleep on them. Try them out, you want be disappointed. They not overly cheesy like some people try to do!
Parking. Ample parking, there is a private lot as well as on street parking in the area. You shouldn’t have much issues in this area.
Great location for groups, lunch dates, and family outings in my opinion.

Summary: waited around 2 hours for 3 dozen oysters to come out. Waitress come by maybe a total of 5 times. So many places to get seafood in New Orleans that it’s not worth waiting here.
We got there at 5pm so we were able to take advantage of the generous happy hour. Took a long time for the waitress to come out initially, which was odd considering we were one of 4 parties in the restaurant and 3 waitresses were working. We bought two dozen (1 Voodoo Bleu dozen, 1 chargrilled dozen) which gave us a free dozen which we got raw. Raw oysters took about 20 minutes and we finished them up quickly. 20 minutes went by and we didn’t see the chargrilled oysters or the waitress. She came out eventually to check on our drinks and told us «They’re just coming off the grill now». 10 minutes later «They’ll be out any minute.» 10 minutes later they arrive and she tells us there are «kitchen issues.»
The last dozen came out about another half hour later. This is a ridiculous amount of time. If they want to stay open, they have to fix whatever «kitchen issues» they have. We also added the Half Shell Gumbo to our order because we were still a bit hungry. It came out quickly enough but it was really lacking flavor. Seemed watered down and hurried.
Throughout the night, we see the owner coming in and out and not once did he stop and talk to us or ask us how things were. He likely knew about it and didn’t care or he just wasn’t aware of what his staff was doing. He sat down with some other tables at various times. He even sat down and took his own dinner (which I’m guessing he didn’t have to wait over an hour for.) Our waitress was on her cellular phone multiple times during the night. It seemed like the staff just didn’t care about us.
Our drink orders took 10 minutes to fetch each time even though we were about 30 ft from the bar. The waitress would disappear to the back then reappear much later with our drinks.
I got my tab and noticed they didn’t charge me for a beer. I didn’t want the waitress to eat the cost so I pointed it out. No ‘Thank you’ or anything just an ‘Oh’ then she went and added it to the tab. I didn’t want a hero’s parade but usually waitstaff appreciate that kind of honesty.
They failed so spectacularly on every level, I couldn’t recommend them at all. Even though the oysters were good, they are definitely not worth that long a wait.

It was absolutely great!
Food was phenomenal… I had the gumbo!
I’m definitely going back with all my friends.
What a nice place to be on a Friday night!

Went to NOLA for the weekend and wanted something authentic. We got the opposite. Poorly served, our appetizer came out after all of our food and was burnt, red beans and rice had more sausage and sauce than beans and rice…
Bread was cold and dry and the garlic sauce was not good at all.
The wings were good though. I would suggest getting oysters, I didn’t have them but that was the only food I heard anyone say something positive about and there were 8 people at our table… says a lot. Complaints all around and when we asked to speak to the manager he didn’t even come to our table he just yelled to us from across the bar…
They also couldnt split checks and they informed us of this after our meal was over.
There was only one other table in the restaurant… no wonder.
Would never recommend this place to anyone. It was a tragic experience for 6 out of 8 of us.

The only reason I’m giving this place a 3 star rating is because the food was good. No complaints there.
However, we showed up right at lunch around 1:45 and there was only one other occupied table at the restaurant. The server completely ignored our request for a glass of water and brought everyone a $ 1.50 bottle of water and a glass. (We know they have water because a group came in during our time there and got glasses of water)
Our wait time was a little surprising for a restaurant that’s completely empty. When our food did arrive, it arrived in an uncoordinated fashion. One of the people in our group ordered a chicken salad and it didn’t arrive at the table until everyone else had finished their meals.
Considering the fantastic meals we had the rest of our trip this one was well below our expectations. Mainly in the service.

Stopped by here for a lateish night snack with a friend a few weeks ago. We had the oyster platter and a side of garlic mashed potatoes, both of which were delicious! The Voo Doo Oysters were definitely the best option on the platter, but all of the other food that we ordered was good but pretty forgettable. Our server was also nice, but it took her a while to get us our check and there was only one other table filled in the restaurant.
I definitely think this restaurant is worth another shot, so I look forward to trying something else the next time I’m there.

Here is your secret awesome jazz fest surprise that you will return to even if you’re not here for jazz fest.
Mark (owner) serves with charm and spice. Good food, good vibe, good location.
And yay for the clean bathroom!

Loved this place. Beautiful neighborhood and casual dining. service was slow but we were enjoying the place so I’m still giving it five stars. Husband and I each had the shrimp po’ boy which was delicious. Salt and pepper fries were perfect. We found the place while just driving around and it came up on Google maps. Go, relax and enjoy this nice out of the way place.

Some friends wanted to check out this place so I figured why not. It’s a simple neighborhood style restaurant/​oyster bar that lacks character. The food is pretty good, but it’s a little pricy for me and a rather limited menu. A dozen oysters is about $ 18. The Voodoo Blue were really good (bacon and blue cheese oysters) but eating them is like a $ 20 snack. The food channel was on the big screen so most of the time I sat there I was thinking about going to eat other food. Perhaps they should consider changing that. It’s not BYOB anymore… if it was, it would be a 4.

Nice, basic seafood place/​oyster bar. The oysters were big and well-​presented and the waitress was really nice. There isn’t a huge beer selection but nothing wrong with Abita Amber.
There are some outside tables and a bowl of water for dogs whose owners are at those tables. They have televisions inside and have a sound system so you can hear a game, for example, even if you want to sit outside.

Oh happy day! I was pleased as punch to hear about a new oyster bar that opened up near my house. My folks were in town visiting and my dad is a self proclaimed oyster fanatic. It was a given that we would give this place a shot.
It’s not very big. I think I counted 8 – 10 tables and about 6 barstools. They don’t have a liquor license yet so they are allowing patrons to BYOB. The servers were attentive, but didn’t seem to be completely comfortable/​knowledgable about the operation. Example: I had a Unilocal coupon for 15% off a dozen oysters and the server was completely unaware of the offer. They were a little slow too. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they’re just working out the kinks of being a new restaurant. That said, I hope they get their act together quickly!
The oysters were delicious. We got a dozen raw, a dozen chargrilled, and a half dozen blue cheese/​bacon. The oysters only came with ketchup. Very weird. We asked for a side of horseradish and they brought it out. Problem solved. In the group we ordered the shrimp poboy, redfish, and shrimp salad. All wonderful. I really hope this place makes it. We’ll definitely be going back.

It’s not every day that I go to a place on its first day open, but this was one of those special days. We even stopped by here the day before it opened to make sure it was going to be open when they said they were going to be. They said today would be the day, so we stopped on by for dinner tonight, and yay they were open!
With the excitement level appropriately described as context, here is the initial impression:
1) This place has a lot of unmet potential. It’s got a great location, and the fact it has raw oysters really gives it an edge for being a go-​to place in Mid-​City for raw oyster fans.
2) They need to reconsider their oyster prices. $ 11.50 for a half-​dozen raw oysters is a bit much. Meanwhile, $ 13 for a half-​dozen charbroiled is also a bit much, especially when considering the fact Katie’s isn’t too far away and you can get the same there for $ 9.95.
3) We ordered a plate of hot wings and a catfish po-​boy. Both were good, but nothing that can’t be found elsewhere. I thought it was nice how the hot wings were the full wings and we got plenty of dipping sauce. At $ 11 the catfish po-​boy was priced well and a good size.
4) Right now this place is BYOB. We stopped next door and brought in a bottle of Abita SOS to go with our meal. This was a good choice.
5) I have no idea what they are planning to do with this menu. Hopefully, taking into account that today was the first day, this menu is just entirely temporary. Maybe they just needed to start serving food and plan to introduce a bunch of stuff later. If that’s the case, great, and I look forward to what they come up with. If that’s not the case, this place is missing out on a huge opportunity to fill a real vacuum here in this area.
Thoughts:
1) It would be great if Half Shell aimed to be the Acme of Mid-​City. Focus on oysters and other seafood. Make it affordable. Offer a unique gumbo and jambalaya among other local favorites. This would be amazing.
2) Embrace the idea of being a bar. Have a good selection of beers to go with the oysters, and go for a neighborhood bar feel. Offer outdoor seating as well.
3) Get creative with the menu. As of opening day, there is almost nothing unique about this menu. Almost everything here can be obtained elsewhere and for lower prices. Again, maybe this is just because it just opened. I don’t know.
Final notes:
I asked if they were going to have some kind of oyster happy hour. I was told Wednesdays would be the day for that. So we will be back on a Wednesday for sure.
We will also be back in hopes of seeing some creativity added to the menu, and a place to sit outside and enjoy the neighborhood.
Speaking of being new to the neighborhood, the owner was in the restaurant with us the entire time we were there (about an hour), and never once came over to say anything whatsoever, even though we were the ONLY ones there. We were so excited for this place to open, and it just felt like kind of a slap in the face to be so ignored as a first day customer. If this place is to succeed it should probably consider treating locals like locals.
Although only currently warranting 3 stars on its first day, this place has the potential for a solid 4 or 5 stars in the future if certain decisions are made. I will update this review accordingly if and when that happens.