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We took the opportunity to visit one of St. Pete Beach's newest boater friendly establishments, Sea Hags, in one of the area's most familiar locations. Locals will remember it as The Crab Market, a regular Sunday afternoon haunt after a morning on the water and later as Fat Jacques or DK Buoys. It has been operating as Sea Hags for five months at the time of this review and has already established quite a loyal local following.
The interior has been totally remodeled and separated into three distinct dining areas: the dining room area, the lounge area (featuring live entertainment nightly) and a very comfortable outdoor dining area where boaters can keep an eye on their prize while enjoying their dinner or appetizers.
Sea Hags offers docking for all different vessel sizes up to 44'. The dock master is available five days a week and when he's not available the wait staff is trained to assist in docking and pointing you in the right direction.
We arrived around 7:00 on a Friday evening, were seated promptly and greeted by a very friendly server who shared the special of the day, shrimp scampi in a butter and wine sauce served on a bed of wild rice for $13.95. We ordered a couple of beverages while we looked over the menu. Being a die hard beer drinker I was very pleased to be served an ice cold Red Stripe and my wife ordered a Golden Margarita, Quervo 1800 and Grand Mariner.
Being that it was our first visit we were surprised at the variety on the menu, everything from burgers and fries to steak and seafood all with very reasonable price tags. The big surprise on the menu was pizza, hadn't expected that, but with as good as our food was.. it'll probably be something that we have to try our next visit. Our only suggestions for rounding out the menu would be a few more seafood choices and we didn't see oysters on the half shell.
 We started with the smoked fish spread and spent a little time talking, checking out what was being ordered at the other tables, watching the Rays game that was on both TV's in the dining room and generally just taking in the casual and very friendly environment. While deciding what to order it was apparent that everyone here was dedicated to making Sea Hags the best experience it could be... the servers never stopped moving, the manager was bouncing between tables, the reception desk and the bissell, and the owner was even pulling bus pans in between conversations with regulars. The fish spread was smooth, cold and served with tobasco, crackers on a bed of lettuce.
After assurance from the waitress that the grouper was fresh and local and about the portion size (6-8 oz for the sandwich and 10-12 oz for the dinner) I went ahead with the blackened grouper sandwich with fries and my wife chose the blackened salmon with a baked potato. She enjoyed the dinner salad, and raved about the dressing and the croutons of all things while I enjoyed another inning of the Rays game. (they were still up at that point)
 Well we thought everything was great until we received our dinners... and then we knew it was! There's no mistaking fresh local grouper and about half of my sandwich had to be eaten with a fork as it spilled over the bun. The grouper was cooked to perfection, light flaky full of flavor and I particularly enjoyed the heavy blackening. If you're not a fan of a healthy dose of spice you may ask them to go light on the seasoning but personally, I enjoy the extra kick.
My wife loved the blackened salmon but found the portion a bit much for one sitting so when we were done a to-go container was required. Mine was more than expected too, but it was just too good damned good to leave for another day!
I have to admit, of our limited reviews so far, Sea Hags was both of our favorites and there was nothing we found that would temper our recommendation to family, friends and visitors. In total, we had two Golden Margarita's, four ice cold Red Stripes, smoked fish spread, blackened salmon with salad & baked potato, and a very healthy grouper sandwich and fries for a very reasonable $65.
I had to complement the owner, Phil, before leaving and thank him for such a great destination. When talking to him about the grouper preparation I think there's a lesson or two that could be offered to other local restaurants... Fresh grouper delivered whole form the local docks and filleted on the premises!
Check it out and let us know what you think. Be sure to tell em' that TBC sent you. |
I'm Scott, AKA TBC, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. Please feel free to have a look around the rest of the site and let us know how it might be improved. 