| Half Shell's 6617 Snider Plaza - University Park (Dallas) 214-691-8164 |
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| Dallas Restaurant Review: At Half Shell's Oyster Bar, they say, "If you're drinking to forget ... Please pay in advance". SETTING - Snider Plaza hole in the wall, just one block north of SMU, across Hillcrest Road (Snider Plaza is one street to the west). FOOD - They have 7-8 ever-changing chalkboard specials in the $12-$17 range, mostly grilled or blackened seafood like red snapper, swordfish, and salmon. Also oysters, shrimp, crab cakes, catfish, po-boys and burgers, several pastas, pot roast, and boiled crawfish by the pound (spring till July). Make no mistake -- this is not Cafe Pacific -- but it's pretty darn good. Who wants to eat with silverware all the time, anyway?? Full bar, and good wines by the bottle or glass for not much money. AMBIANCE - 12 tables. Dim & cozy. Quite a few regulars -- a mix of Park City types slumming it, well-worn SMUers, and assorted bar flies. Smoking permitted at the bar (because it's in University Park, not Dallas), which is at one end of the room. There are a few more tables outside in some kind of semi-hidden passageway. There is a clean one-hole unisex restroom which you reach by passing through a storage room. (Ya gotta love the place.) Downside? - Half Shells has a following. At peak meal times, you can expect a wait for a table. MORE - They've added a few other locations (which worries me), but they're called Fish City Grill. One is at Preston Road at Royal Lane -- also busy busy busy -- and there are rumored to be a couple, up in Flower Mound or Plano or somewhere. The original on Snider Plaza has less lighting, fewer tables, and more character. BOTTOM LINE - On my first visit, I thought, "Not bad". On my second visit I was hooked. And speaking of bar flies ... well, I have to admit, I've spent some time at the bar myself. |
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