We checked out the reviews here after getting a tip about the Shrimp Shack from a fellow beachgoer the other day. The reviews are highly polarized in both directions but we wanted to try something local and new. They say nothing ventured, nothing gained....well we gained nothing except that bloated feeling of too much grease. It is unfortunate, we really wanted to like it and in fact talked to several repeat customers whom each had a menu item favorite from the sweet potatoe sticks to hush puppies....which while unique were not particularly tasty. The shrimp shack may have been great in it's day and perhaps the favorable reviewers are reminiscent of those days...but for those without the benefit of nostalgic memories, skip it your arteries and taste buds will thank you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the shrimp burgers are what they are known for and yes, they are definitely worth the trip. It is a run down shack and most everything here is greasy but it is the sweet potato fries that are the star for me. They are ethereal. Those fries have ruined me for all other sweet potato fries...they're like fried sticks of whipped sweet potato, crisp on the outside and a moist buttery sweet potato mash on the inside. It's a good thing I live so far away from this place, otherwise I'd be eating their sweet potato fries all the time.

We really wanted to love this place. We love to find local dives, and this had the right ambiance.... but the food was just terrible. We got one shrimp burger to share, since that was the specialty. It was chopped up shrimp formed into a patty, deepfried on a cheap, cheap bun. No lettuce, pickle, nothing. We threw the bun away and ate the shrimp, though it was mushy inside. I ordered the fish chowder, and it tasted vaguely like seafood, but there weren't any chunks you could chew. The soup had the mouthfeel of powdered milk. He ordered a basket of fried shrimp, nothing else, and those were good, lightly battered, crisp. But the biggest disappointment was the sweet potato "fries" - not strips of sweet potato at all, but something I had never seen before. It was mashed sweet potato, pre-formed into pieces, then heavily battered and fried. I can't imagine that they make these there. I would bet that these were right out of a freezer bag.

My brother, who lives a couple of hours away, recognized the photo of the place and told me they used to stop there all the time, a few years back. So I can only guess that the management has changed and they only exist to serve the tourists who, like me, thought they were going to get a taste of an authentic, local place.

One of my favorite places to have lunch or dinner. They are both the same. Walk up the stairs and order at one window and pick-up at the other. Seafood platters are good as well as the shrimp baskets and shrimp po-boys. The hush puppies are OK and the sweet potato french fries are unusual. Eat in the screened in porch or outside of the big oak trees.