Half Shell Oyster House

We stopped in for lunch and had the Shrimp & Grits, Lobster Bisque and Blacken Red Fish. The food was excellent. We ate at this restaurant twice before leaving Biloxi. The atmosphere was nice and the restaurant was extremely clean!
Dee from Miami, Florida

The crab cakes and royal red appetizers are so great for a meal or to share. The voodoo shrimp are too saucy for me, but that’s the only thing on the menu that I didn’t love. My service is always impeccable. The atmosphere is New Orleans style/​snappy casual– you can dress up, but you won’t be turned away for showing up right off the beach!
I will be back here again and again

This place is amazing. Let me start out by saying my sister loves this place and she is a very picky eater. The upstairs dining area is great for large parties. The staff was very friendly. We appreciate their first class customer service.

We ate the oyster sampler and shrimp reds. Sampler was was worth every delectable bite. Flavors exploding in mouth wanting to try the next treat. Enjoyed with a side of new potatoes and again not disappointed. Shrimp reds were pretty good. Described as lobster bites not so much. Side of sweet potato too heavy with the sugar.
Staff seemed exhausted at check in and waitress could have engaged in conversation offering suggestions. First timers to the area. We will keep looking for a better experience.

Always a great meal when we go to The Half Shell! We went with family to celebrate Mother’s Day. We started with oysters (Bienville and Rockefeller), they were perfect! If you like oysters, I definitely recommend getting these! I got The Almond Chicken Salad as my appetizer and was not disappointed. It was delicious and a perfect size. I highly recommend going to The Half Shell. The staff is courteous and professional and the atmosphere is perfect.

Wow. Not just okay or good. The oyster sampler is an experience everyone should have. The shrimp reds really do taste more like lobster than shrimp.
Sweet potato crème brûlée is listed as a side (not dessert) because it’s a hybrid — melt in your mouth but not excessively sweet.
Pretty ambiance and great service — including the manager checking how lunch was.
I’ll be back to review the raw oysters and soup.
Pictures uploaded.

Wow — so good so fresh — their oyster are the best I’ve had including Nola — they have their own oyster bed — price was very good too — would come back again and again

The Royal Red shrimp were the absolute highlight of this visit. As my waiter explained, they come from
The deep waters of the gulf. They were cooked to perfection.

Great place for terrific food, excellent service and lovely casual ambiance. Went here for our wedding anniversary after a road trip of 600 miles. Kelly (our server) was knowledgeable, professional and personable. Had drinks and oysters at the bar while waiting 15 minutes for our table. Bartender (sorry, didn’t get name) was very welcoming and accommodating.
Had the Half Shell Oyster salad: excellent!
The Royal Reds Shrimp (steamed): awesome! And the crab cakes: ALMOST as good as mine! Terrific dinner and experience!
Go here!

It’s usually a 4 star experience here but today was different — went here for lunch around 11ish am.
Salad didn’t come first it was delivered with the entre, not sure why we usually never have to ask for the salad first it’s understood. Got grouper and lobster as an entre and the plate was luke warm it wasn’t hot disappointing! Next time hope it’s better, refill for coffee was slower too

This place is fine. They have some nice lunch specials that are decent. The service is very on point. Our waiter was very on top of our drinks even though you have giant ice tea cups like a good southern restaurant should.
The execution on the food was unfortunately not as stellar. Opted to start with gumbo. The shrimp were not cleaned, which is not great, but I kind of get. But the shrimp were really mushy, probably sat in a vat for a while.
The fish was of decent size. I ordered blackened and my friend ordered grill. The fish came out and even the waiter was not sure which was which. I tried other and they were both pretty good, but over-​cooked.
All was decent but a few small changes would have made a much better experience.

My husband suggested this place because he use to fish in Gulfport during college and I’m glad he did. The food was delicious! A little pricy for Gulfport but it was worth it. I shared the oyster sampler and had the blacked redfish with sweet potatoes (amazing!) and gumbo soup.
Really good food would eat here again.

Come on! This place has the atmosphere, the people, the drinks, and the food! A seafood place with fresh food is what you are looking for when you come to Gulfport, and not every place is going to have that. This place does. There are several different seating areas with a couple of bars in different areas, depending on your size group. You can have that intimate dinner or that big gathering. I ordered the Charbroiled Oysters, (Oysters Orleans), WOW. You will not be disappointed by those bad boys. Then I got the stuffed portobellos mushrooms, those are mouthwatering just from the pictures. The service is on point, the food is on point, and you just leave feeling like you have conquered the world of eating. Thanks for the good food Half Shell.

Great atmosphere & excellent Fried Oysters, but my Parmesan Fried New Potatoes were lukewarm and the French Bread for my Po Boy wasn’t as toasted as I prefer. Otherwise I had an excellent dinner and will definitely come back and try other things because all the food looked incredible. Would be a 4 Star review if my potatoes were hot and bread was warm and toasted.

We were passing through the area on our way to Disney and the Hilton recommended this place. It was only a 10 minute drive from our hotel.
We were seated immediately and our waitress was prompt with a friendly greeting. She took our drink orders which also came out quickly. I got a Mango Sunset Martini made with Absolut Mango Vodka, mango mix, pineapple juice, orange juice, grenadine, & homemade sweet & sour mix. Garnished with a cherry & pineapple wedge. Perfection and pretty!
If you tell your waitress you are staying at the Hilton, they offer a complimentary oyster appetizer sampler which was a combination of Charbroiled Oysters, Oysters Bienville, Oysters Rockefeller and Oysters Orleans. They were out of this world! It was so good I was dipping my bread in the shell juice. Don’t judge me!
For my main entrée, I got the special; grilled lobster tail with filet mignon, broccoli and okra. The filet was cooked to perfection and of good quality beef and the lobster had a delicious seasoning.
Lastly, we got the key lime pie. This desert was almost sexual to me. It was tart, the crust was fresh and the whipped cream melted in your mouth.
Our server Carly C was so incredible friendly, knew everything on the menu by memory, and recommended local things to do. She was courteous and our meal was perfect! I highly recommend this restaurant.

Was not impressed with this visit. The service was good but the oysters were DIRTY! We ordered the sampler and there were lots of shell pieces and grit to the point I couldn’t finish eating 2 of them. Very disappointed with the oysters
The corn and crab bisque was good and shrimp Orleans was very good. But overall was not impressed this visit

This review of Half Shell in Gulfport is pretty consistent with that of the other locations. They are pretty darn good, I must admit I like this location the best. Parking is easier than the Biloxi location. They serve brunch on Sundays with $ 4.00 Bloody Mary’s and mimosas. The oyster sampler platter is a must, and I usually choose a grilled fish option for my entrée. Enjoy!

On vacation, we went for lunch based on previous Unilocal reviews. We ordered the Royal Reds with Jalapeño Hushpuppies and the Fried Green Tomato BLT with Garlic Parmesan Potatoes.
The Royal Reds were good, but I prefer my shrimp to be cooked in a spicier boil. The hushpuppies were good.
The Fried Green Tomato BLT has incredibly delicious bacon on it and comes with a very tasty aioli. The Garlic Parmesan Potatoes were the standout item! Sooo delicious!
Recommend for lunch vs. dinner.

I have made 2 trips to this awesome oyster house. I must highly HIGHLY recommend the Oysters Orleans. The staff are all knowledgeable and friendly.
I would also recommend the Red Fish Orleans as it was AWESOME. I tried some of their Royal Reds on my first visit and they were great. All of the sides are great. If I had to guess I would say that everything here is great.
Keep in mind I’m from NE Texas and cannot get this type of fresh seafood there, but I do love to eat it while traveling as much as possible.

I had to visit the Half Shell Oyster House after seeing all the wonderful Unilocal reviews. I probably would have given them more stars, had this been the only «Oyster House» that I visited. But, no, during my 14 day vacation, I decided to try about 7 different «Oyster Houses».
We arrived at about 2 PM and were promptly seated. Although we arrive late for lunch, there were still people eating, and a few that came in after us. It looked promising. We ordered a shrimp and an oyster po boy, and a half dozen of their Royal Red Shrimp.
The Royal Red Shrimp came out first. It was our first experience with these shrimp. We were underwhelmed. The meat was not as firm as I thought it should be. The shrimp did have a good sweet flavor to it.
The po boys came out soon after. The po boys came with a choice of a side. Both my wife and I ordered the sweet potato crème brûlée. We shared the po boys. Both po boys were filled with oysters and shrimp. Not much other filler like lettuce or tomatoes. My wife and I thought the oyster po boy was better than the shrimp. The sweet potato crème brûlée was a hit. It was buttery and sweet. We both wanted more.
Maybe we should have stuck with Oysters, since «Oysters» was in their name. My daughter and I watched the shucker. After shucking the oysters, the shucker chargrilled them. He was a nice guy and talked to both my daughter and I. The chargrilled oysters looked great. I should have ordered this instead.
The Half Shell Oyster House would have been rated 4 stars, if it had been the only Oyster house that I went to. But, compared to the others that I went to in the Gulf Area, I realized that there are better ones out there. Still, not a bad place to go to if you are in the Gulfport area.