That Food Guy
Saturday, July 06, 2013
  Sea Hags - St Pete Beach, Florida 7/2/2013


Sea Hags Bar and Grill

9555 Blind Pas Rd, St Pete Beach, Florida 33706

Open daily 11AM - Midnight   (727) 360-2800  www.seahagsbarandgrill.com
 
 It was birthday time for Aunt Effie.  Cousin Allan wanted to take his Mom and Dad out to lunch to celebrate. We were lucky enough to be included in the invitation.  Alan chose a place in St Pete Beach he had heard about from friends. It is the Sea Hags. It is a sandwich, steak and seafood casual dining waterfront café that evokes the spirit of the beach shack gathering places of fifty years ago. The rear window and patio open on the marina overlooking the docks and many pleasure boats. Some of the slips are reserved for the sail-in boater to tie up and visit the cafe. I suppose that would be the equivalent of the sport pilot’s $100 hamburger.

The Sea Hags is a fairly new incarnation in a building that has housed many other cafes. After a refit and some sprucing up, the Sea Hags opened with a menu that features appetizers, soups and salads, burgers and sandwiches, buckets of clam strips, shrimp and haddock. In addition to a good selection of dinner entrees, the Sea Hags also offers quesadillas and pizzas; pretty much something for everyone.

We all arrived about noon, shortly after opening. The restaurant wasn’t crowded and seating was immediate in a booth that was spacious enough to seat the six of us comfortably. The server was quickly there to take our beverage orders. Alan also ordered some appetizers for us. He selected a house signature dish, Hag Shrimp ($7.99 lightly fried and drizzled with a spicy, creamy Hag sauce), and Onion Rings (Homemade Onion Rings $6.99 – Nothing more to say). The appetizer order arrive in short order and it was dive in even before I could break out the trusty camera. The onion rings were real rings of onion, battered and fried, almost tempura. The coating was crispy and the onion just cooked through. They were attractive, tasty morsels. The Hag shrimp was very good. Shrimp is a very mild and delicate flavor. One of my pet peeves is when someone does something to the shrimp that totally eclipses the flavor of the shrimp; why bother with the shrimp – go with a glob of tofu. However, the Hag shrimp are very flavorful, the sauce giving a distinctive little zing while enjoying the flavor of the shrimp.  Well done, a good munchable.

Our meals came shortly after. Birthday girl Effie and Gil both ordered the same thing. I have noted that they often will order the same thing when we go out to eat. Perhaps there is a bit of ESP at work. They ordered the Po Boy Special ($8.99 Shrimp, scallops and oysters topped with shredded lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. Sandwiches are served with a choice of fries, coleslaw, cup of soup or a small salad). The chose a cup of soup; the soup of the day was Caribbean chowder. The sandwich was served in a tissue lined basket; remember this is a beach shack café. The sandwich was filled over flowing and that made eating with a knife and fork a viable option.  It was a big sandwich and a big cup of soup. To their credit Effie and Gill finished their meals and for that take their word that the sandwich and the soup were good eats.

Kyla ordered a pizza (Specialty Foot Long Pizzas – Served all day. Pepperoni and cheese $10.99). When I first noted the pizza on the menu I guessed from the foot long description that it was perhaps made on a bread roll. I was therefore surprised when it turned out to be a conventional round, flat bread pizza. I would have never guessed they had a pizza oven in the back, in the seafood kitchen.  The pizza pretty much filled the serving plate. It was done well; the crust crispy golden brown, the cheese just starting to brown. It appeared that there was a good serving of cheese. There was a ring of slice pepperoni. The crust was browned nicely on the bottom, a bit between a thin and a thick crust pizza. Kyla said it was very good and was happy with her choice. Try as she may, however, it was a big serving and she had to leave a few bites of crust behind.

Alan chose the Fresh Florida Grouper Sandwich. After all, one of the reasons he picked Sea Hags was because of the seafood.  Grouper Sandwich (Market Price. Grilled, fried or blackened. Sandwiches served with a choice of fries, coleslaw, a cup of soup or a small salad.) Alan selected the fried grouper and the soup. The soup was thick with lots of bits of sea food and some vegetables in a tomato broth – sort of Manhattan seafood chowder. He said it has a nice hearty flavor. The bread was grilled and came with lettuce, tomato and pickle.  The fish was nicely cooked with a golden brown color. It was much larger than the bread overhanging all around by a good margin; it certainly was not your fast food restaurant filet of fish sandwich. He said it was very good, the fish having a good flavor and it being of more than an adequate serving.

Sitting at opposite ends of the booth and across from one another, the wife and I independently selected the same thing. We both chose the Fried Shrimp Bucket ($8.99 Choice of fried clam strips, fried shrimp or haddock – served all day. All buckets are served with fries and slaw, no substitutions.) The presentation is really a bucket. A small galvanized bucket is lying on its side in the serving basket spilling out its contents much like a cornucopia. As cute as the serving is, eating your meal is easier if you slide the bucket out from the basket. No need to keep reaching into the recesses of the bucket to get your fries. It is a large serving of seasoned fries. I’m not sure of just what they are using but it is reminiscent of the fries served down the street at Woody’s Waterfront.
They taste just fine, are slightly crispy and served hot out of the fryer. As good as they are, if I were to eat them regularly I think I would prefer regular fries instead. There was a nice side of coleslaw; mostly green cabbage with a few shreds of carrots for color. It was a pedestrian salad; a nice satisfying side dish, good but not outstanding. There was a nice serving of shrimp, about a dozen pieces of large (about 31/40 size) that were nicely breaded and fried a deep golden brown.  The breading was crispy but the shrimp inside was not overcooked nor was it soft and mushy. The breading was mild in flavor so the flavor of the shrimp was predominating. It was filling meal, quite sufficient although the shrimp were good enough that I would have easily eaten some more.

For the most part the service was quite good. The server made several  table visits to check on us and refill beverage glasses. While we were eating the noon crown filled the restaurant and the serving staff was in busy motion. It took a moment or two to catch their attention to get the bill but other than that service was excellent.

The restaurant does have a cocktail lounge and a selection of wines is available. Some al fresco patio dining is available and there is an entertainment schedule. I was quite satisfied with the Sea Hag experience. Although the experience was enhanced and fondly memorable by family close at hand in celebration, the Sea Hag experience can stand alone. If I were asked to go to the Sea Hag again I certainly would say yes. The next time I think I’ll try the Marina burger – sautéed mushrooms, bacon, cheese and grilled onions.

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