Gary’s Oyster Bar & Seafood House

Fantastic experience at Gary’s. Sat at the bar (get there early bc the place gets packed about 30 minutes after it opens!) Had raw oysters and steamed oysters. Sides of horseradish, saltines, bowls of butter, garlic powder, hot sauce, you name it. Cousins had crab legs that were amazing. Hush puppies were perfect. Service was super friendly and very attentive. Wish I lived closer. This would be a regular place if I was in Florida. Oh! and margaritas were awesome!

The biggest problem is the structure is small for the demand. It is my opinion they could fill twice the space. But then it might lose some of the oyster bar charm. The waitresses really hustle and do a good job taking care of the customer. Oh and ensure not to miss the key lime pie.

The best seafood restaurant I have ever eaten in. The absolute best conch fritters we have ever had. Oysters clean big juicy and the sauce to die for. Get there early otherwise you must wait for a table or place at bar.

Had to give 1 star to make the post…
Walking in the door, we were prepared to splurge and indulge in some decent seafood. Instead we lost 90 mins and never ate. This place totally discriminates against visitors. Locals were enthusiastically seated and served. Waited for an hour whilst staring at open tables. Servers all look and act defeated. Sat for 20 mins before being acknowledged. Once seated, we ordered at the same time as another table, nothing difficult. Before we received our food the other tables was finished with their food. No one around to even ask about an update. I’ve never walked out of a restaurant before… today was my first day. Worst restaurant experience EVER. If you have lots of time on your hands and aren’t hungry, this is a great place.

Gary’s is the best! We frequent Gary’s and have NEVER had a bad meal… oysters are always fresh! Prime Rib sandwich is super yummy too :) Sit at the bar if you want fresh shucked !

Dry overfried catfish… at least we think it was in there. Broiled flounder… sooo fishy. She messed up my order so I sat and waited and watched e1 else eat til they were half way done. When my flounder came out…1 small piece and a baked potato, I asked for the reds. There were 4 of us and none of us were happy with our meals. Won’t be goin back. And whats with the tiny piece of cantelope? Seriously? Y bother.

Great great! The owner is a great man the food was great ! Todd runs the oyster bar he is nice funny and a great bar tender! Go here! the owner has been here for 36 years it’s worth the stop!!! Thanks Gary!

We ordered steamed oysters and conch fritters as appetizers. Our table devoured them. I ordered the broiled flounder as my main course. It was pretty good. No complaints other than it can get a bit pricey.
This place is by no means fancy. But if you want a good mom and pop place that serves fresh seafood, definitely give Gary’s Oyster Bar a chance.

It’s a hole in the wall but they have great oysters. A little more expensive than what it should be but all around a good restaurant.

It’s ok at best. Take out service is very unpredictable however, worth the time to go pick it up if your not in a hurry. (Four out of 5 times we did take out we waited at the bar for over 35 minutes– possibly making us wait to increase bar tab)
In house dining is the worst– the portions are average but not horrible by any standard, the place appears a little run down with a home style feel to it which is actually kind of cool-​. however, the wait staff is the reason we won’t be back. They are short when spoken to, not very friendly, bad attempts at humor, loud, unprofessional and honestly makes the dining experience something worth forgetting.
However, it is close… in a town with very little to choose from. (AND THE GATOR IS AWESOME as well as the Oysters)
So bottom line — –if you live in Lake Alfred and don’t want to drive far, you are really hungry, and do not care about service. well here ya go. Enjoy

We are a family of 5 here from England for a week. Fabulous food and amazingly good service. The yellow tail grouper was tasty, the catfish delicious and the gator tail brilliant. Our waitress (Robin) should teach every waitress in England how to make customers feel happy; she was fantastic!

Gary’s Oyster Bar & Seafood House is flat out one word delicious. This quirky, blue, shack looking mom and pop restaurant with a background of trailers is perfectly awesome. Arriving at 7:45 on a Friday night, the place had a line out the door. An hour wait ensued. We sat down and a very cool waitress treated us with a great personality and quick service followed. We ordered an order of Todd’s Char-​Grilled Parmesan Oysters, a half order of onion rings, conch fritters, and fried lobster bites. I had a bite of the oysters. I’m not an oyster fan, so I may not be a good choice to critique it. So I won’t. The onion rings were Huge! Golden! Crisp! and Good! The conch fritters were just like how I described the onion rings. They were some of the best fritters I’ve had in a long time. The fried lobster bites is a little difficult to describe. They were perfectly cooked but the seasoning in the batter overwhelmed the taste of the lobster that you could not really taste it. It was a bit disappointing. Then came the cole slaw. It tasted refreshing and cool. I could just take a bucket of it home with me. Then my meal arrived, the House Special. What better thing to try at a restaurant then the special. It consisted of a nicely fried catfish that was tender and juicy. Also in the plate came some flaky golden tasty shrimp, good sized scallops, oysters that I passed on, some pretty decent gator tail bites that were ok and crème de la crème, frog legs. It’s been 20 years since I had frog legs and it definitely doesn’t taste like chicken but it comes close. It was a well cooked pair of legs. Moist and seasoned to perfection. Overall this place is recommended. Make the trip, it’s well worth it.
(All entrees served with coleslaw, hushpuppies, and a choice of French fries or hash browns.)

Can’t tell what’s going on but closed for lunch on a Sunday. No answer when you call. No hours posted on the door.

As good as I hoped it would be. Old
Florida in so many ways. Inside is old, beat up from use, and gives off a «welcome» vibe the minute you enter. Locals hang at the bar and eat oysters and drink beer. Service is fast and friendly. Food was outstanding. Seeing a bad review I have to wonder if that person was mad at someone who works here. Will be back anytime we are in the area.

We enjoyed our meal to say the least. It is not the prettiest place but the wait staff and food more than made up for it.
We had good conversation at the oyster bar. So between the food and Todd who waited on us, we can’t wait to go back next year when we’re in town.

Request back of the O Bar & get your vantage on while slurping mollusks! I haven’t seen Gary there the past couple of times. I like his stories. The staff are always nice, accommodating & pretty tongue in cheek about things you need to know lol. they make a great skinny margarita & I always make new friends when I’m in there. for those so inclined, I heard the Dirty Butter is great for dunking.

If I found seafood on the floor of a bait shop and had my 6 year old cook it, it would be light years better than this place. The only thing fresh was a frog I found on a boat in the parking lot. The food was dry, fried so much it was like eating tuna flavored gum. They proudly show off how they rebuilt after a fire I curse the FD that saved this place if there is a God he will send a second bolt down and send this place back to food hell.

Omg! I can’t stop eating their fresh oysters!!! Both raw and boiled ones, they are so good! Garlic toasts, fried green tomatoes are also tasty we love them!

Four and a half stars. The Gary’s special was delicious, perfectly fried seafood. The cole slaw was excellent, which was a nice surprise!
I need to call out an item that we had I did not see on the menu: bacon, jalapeño and cheese grilled oysters. Dear goodness. Amazing. Why I have lived 30 years and not experienced this before is beyond me. The Parmesan garlicky ones were also great. You’ll need a half dozen for yourself, at least.
Bonus points for the great service. Our waitress brought everything out at just the right time, which allowed us to enjoy a perfectly coursed meal.
Minus half star for the hash browns. My fault, should have gone with the fries! Can’t wait to go back!

If I could, I’d give this place a 3.5. A dive of a joint in front of a trailer park where everyone seems to know everyone’s name. Half expected Norm to walk in.
You cannot beat the prices. I had a salad, baked potato, small lobster tail, shrimp, scallops and crab platter for $ 22. They know how to cook seafood; simply, not fancy. The salad was your basic iceberg with a tomato.
The place was a bit disgusting. Dirty and sticky, vinyl on chairs ripped with wobbly tables. Adds to the ambience??? The wait staff was super nice and seemed to be in a first name basis with most of the patrons. Lots of hugging.
My husband ordered a platter that feautured oysters but they were out of oysters. Not unusual really, happens more frequently due to fishing or other circumstances. They substituted fried clams. He enjoyed his meal. The kids split a crab platter and finished it.
Don’t know that I’d recommend it for the trip but if you’re in the neighborhood, wouldn’t hurt to try it. Don’t go in with huge expectations.