Wednesday, September 6
Fourth Street Shrimp Store: Good Lunch Spot
Last Friday afternoon we decided to visit Fourth Street Shrimp Store on, you guessed it, 4th Street N. in St. Pete. While I've only lived in Tampa for a year now, my bride-to-be Traci used to live in St. Pete Beach and works in St. Pete so I was introduced to this long-time local joint by her several years ago. It's a place we still hit every few months, generally for lunch.
4th Street Shrimp Store is hard to miss from the outside with its bright funky colors and the large painted mural on the side of the restaurant. Inside the quirky warehouse-style restaurant is decorated with old-time St. Pete and Key West paraphernalia. There is also a small outside deck area for dining that is nice in cooler weather, but still to be avoided this time of year.
We sat up at the bar on our last visit to take advantage of a lunch special which included a free drink (no, I didn't order a beer, but the thought crossed my mind) if you dine at the bar. I went with the chipotle shrimp salad wrap, which the bartender said is a new addition to the menu, and Traci ordered a blackened chicken sandwich. We also split an order of onion rings.
The onion rings as usual weren't spectacular, but were solid. My one gripe with the onion rings is that they don't come with a sauce for you to dip them in unless you ask. My wrap was very tasty (full of plump shrimp and just enough spice). Traci was happy with her blackened chicken sandwich, which was blackened just enough for that extra flavor without drying the chicken out.
I should point out that on one previous visit about two years ago Traci's chicken sandwich came out undercooked. We told the server, she apologized profusely and then fixed our order. If this was our first visit to Fourth Street Shrimp Store it could have been our last, but we had already had several previous positive experiences so we gave the place a partial pass. I'm glad we did.
Let me know about your favorite (and least favorite!) seafood restaurants in the Tampa Bay area. From fancy seafood restaurants to local dives I want to hear about them.
Bottom-line: While Fourth Street Shrimp Store has some rough edges, for affordable seafood (under $10 for lunch) in a relaxed setting, this long-standing local restaurant fits the bill well.
Inspection Scorecard: Last Inspection - July 2006 - Critical (3), Non-Critical (1).
4th Street Shrimp Store is hard to miss from the outside with its bright funky colors and the large painted mural on the side of the restaurant. Inside the quirky warehouse-style restaurant is decorated with old-time St. Pete and Key West paraphernalia. There is also a small outside deck area for dining that is nice in cooler weather, but still to be avoided this time of year.
We sat up at the bar on our last visit to take advantage of a lunch special which included a free drink (no, I didn't order a beer, but the thought crossed my mind) if you dine at the bar. I went with the chipotle shrimp salad wrap, which the bartender said is a new addition to the menu, and Traci ordered a blackened chicken sandwich. We also split an order of onion rings.
The onion rings as usual weren't spectacular, but were solid. My one gripe with the onion rings is that they don't come with a sauce for you to dip them in unless you ask. My wrap was very tasty (full of plump shrimp and just enough spice). Traci was happy with her blackened chicken sandwich, which was blackened just enough for that extra flavor without drying the chicken out.
I should point out that on one previous visit about two years ago Traci's chicken sandwich came out undercooked. We told the server, she apologized profusely and then fixed our order. If this was our first visit to Fourth Street Shrimp Store it could have been our last, but we had already had several previous positive experiences so we gave the place a partial pass. I'm glad we did.
Let me know about your favorite (and least favorite!) seafood restaurants in the Tampa Bay area. From fancy seafood restaurants to local dives I want to hear about them.
Bottom-line: While Fourth Street Shrimp Store has some rough edges, for affordable seafood (under $10 for lunch) in a relaxed setting, this long-standing local restaurant fits the bill well.
Inspection Scorecard: Last Inspection - July 2006 - Critical (3), Non-Critical (1).
