Buster’s Oyster Bar & Grill

The worst place I have EVER eaten in Destin, Fl. I order oysters to try them out. They brought them to me warmed, smelly like rotten fish and slimy like it was sitting outside for hours. We also order a mahi-​Mahi and the fish was tough and dry… Never again I will eat at this disgusting place… You shouldn’t either. Good luck if you do…

I had never eaten here before in all the times I’ve been to Destin. This is not a fancy place but the food was good. We all ordered the fried grouper sandwich with fries, I’ve had better fries but the sandwich was good. Only bad thing was that we were given our checks before asking if we needed anything else or dessert. Kind of odd!

$ 14.00 Grouper sandwich. Not worth it. Better Grouper sandwich at Hooters for half the price. Onion rings were nothing special. Go to Jim and Nicks if you want great rings. Over all very lackluster experience.

We’re locals and have visited Busters many times over the past three or four years. Some visits the experience is 5 stars. Other visits are more in the 1 – 2 variety. I don’t understand why they are a roller coaster ride in terms of quality of food. One day the fish will be out of this world awesome and the next time terrible. The wait staff is pretty good, no complaint there. The atmosphere is not great but its a dive feel. I’ve spoken to the managers before about the terrible food when we experience it and they don’t seem to have an answer. Oh well. I will say their gumbo is some of the best in the area. Try a bowl, you won’t regret it.

I read about this happy hour oyster special for $ 1.99. Let me correct that. It’s 4.99 as of September 2015 anyway. That’s still a decent price for a dozen oysters on the half shell. That’s if the oysters are normal. These things are tiny and not cleaned properly. The beers on draught were soured. Minimal investment so I wasn’t mad, just wouldn’t go back.

The food is extremely over priced for what they give you. Kids drinks do not come with their meals and thus cost us $ 10 for our 3 kids to have a drink. No desire to ever go back seeing the food was mediocre at best

We just happened upon this place looking for a lunch spot to have reasonably priced seafood. The atmosphere was lacking, but I liked the 80’s music! Smoked tuna dip was tasty. The oyster po boy was huge and my husband really enjoyed it. My son’s grouper sandwich looked delicious, but I didn’t get a chance to try it since he gobbled it down so fast! The fries were seasoned well and the portions generous. The only genuine complaint would be that the waiter didn’t come by to refill our drinks, but finally did so after my husband made his way to the bar to ask for refills. Overall, we enjoyed our lunch and would come back.

amazing service! They worked hard to accommodate our requests for a certain game to be on. Our seats, etc!

The oysters are really, really delicious!!! We ended up getting 2 dozens of those… We have a nice dinner being serenaded by a country musician. The food is delicious although a bit too salty for my wife. I’ll give it a 5 star if not for place itself that is needing a facelift. But food wise, I can’t complain. We tried to go back but opted to try another place. We recommend this place for fresh oysters lovers…

I don’t know about this palce. Food was good but not special. The best thing is the oyster special. Lots of locals go to eat here but I was not impressed.

Grilled mahi mahi sandwich and combo flatter for our little family of three. Way too much for us! We munched on the combo and still had leftovers. Taking home sandwich for another meal. It looked delicious!
We enjoyed the live music when we arrived, and bummed I didn’t have any cash with me :(. It was unusually quiet this visit, but I know this is not a big tourist time anyway. Hopefully B’s will be packed on Saturday for fight night ;)

Oystermania is awesome. Freshest oysters that I found! Also they have 3.00 well drinks pretty much all day. My husband and I went here and got two drinks and 3 shots for a total of 9.00. Bar isn’t the best but it is cheap if your looking to get a good buzz.

Stopped here when we got to town because we were told it was a good sports bar. It is not, but the food was decent enough for a bar type environment. The TV we were watching was not hi def, and the martini I ordered was so weak that I sent it back.

I’m local and a lot of locals like this place, so I finally gave it a try. I don’t get it. First off, I hate banquet tables and chairs, and every chair at our table was stained.
I had the «award-​winning» gumbo and it was not good. It wasn’t really bad either, just meh. You can get much better gumbo most anywhere else.
We also had the tuna dip… it was a lot of mayonnaise with cheap ingredients — we didn’t finish it.
I suspect management could keep it cleaner and easily focus on food quality if they really wanted, but apparently they and their regulars are content with it as-​is.

We came just for the oyster happy hour they have between 5 – 6, and nothing else, so that’s all we ordered.
The price is «mkt price», but it is usually a dollar less per dozen compare to others.
the oysters came out on a plastic cafeteria looking tray, they were not very well cleaned, but VERY VERY FRESH AND TASTY.
Service was good, and they oysters came out literally 10 seconds after we ordered it.
It is not the fanciest place, it is located in the same shopping center as the Winn Dixie’s, furnitures are old, but hey, if you want fresh tasty cheap oysters, this is the place to go!!!

This place is terrible. 3 little shrimp and 3 little scallops for 12 bucks. What a rip off. Way over priced, very little food. I got more cocktail sauce then I did food. It didn’t taste spectacular in anyway. Very disappointed. Would not ever go back.

This place has really gone downhill. Overpriced considering the new portion controls, the shrimp stringy and tough, and the oysters were just awful. The good news, you no longer have to wait for a table here. Avoid at all costs, just go to Publix next door and get something to defrost.

Terrible. We had to send every single plate we ordered back for various reasons — incorrect order, cold fish, wrong item all together… we’ve been here three times and it’s always been the same experience.
If you want mediocre/​bad food while you watch football on tv, this is your place. Otherwise, go somewhere else.

Messy due to renovations. Dropped in for some of the oysters while the girls shopped. Polite bartender who greeted us quickly. Kona longboard brew was a bit soured. Oysters came out half shucked (had to cut from the shell) but had good flavor. Then my buddy saw it. A fine red worm aggressively swimming in his tray.
Both pushed our trays forward and tabbed out. No thanks.

OYSTERMANIA.
While on vacay in Destin growing up, my family would get our oyster fix at Buster’s. Raw oysers on the half shell used to be about $ 2 during their oyster happy hour every day between 5 and 6 PM.
Chasing these memories, we recently returned to Buster’s to discover that the price has increased to $ 5 per dozen, and there is a limit of 1 dozen per person. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. Also, the drink happy hour doesn’t overlap with the oyster one. Drink specials run from 11 – 5 and oysters are from 5 – 6. That’s definitely not a coincidence. And it’s pretty damn inconvenient.
We arrived at 4:40 PM to take advantage of both only to discover that the drink happy hour kinda really sucks. Beers (regularly $ 5.50) are $ 4. But it’s only domestic draft beers, which eliminated most of the ones I would have ordered. You can easily find beers at this price at other establishments without having to wait for a «happy hour.»
After ordering 3 Amberbock beers, our waiter kindly said he’d bring out our happy hour oysters a little early, so we could enjoy them with our beers. The oysters aren’t fancy by any means; they’re haphazardly laid out on red cafeteria-​style trays and still smell of sea. But they taste fresh and come with all the fixin’s of cocktail sauce, lemon wedges, horseradish, and crackers. Eat enough crackers, and you could get by with making this your meal. Don’t eat crackers, and you’ll really start feeling that beer.
You don’t come to Buster’s for a classy atmosphere. The random space is almost overwhelmingly large, which would be panic-​inducing if crowded but looked sparse when nearly empty. There are different sections which don’t exactly flow together, showing that they bought a few storefronts in the strip mall and expanded sideways. Also, Buster’s definitely caters to the the sports lovers in the area. With huge screens and loudspeakers blaring the announcer’s commentaries, it’s hard not to watch the drama unfold all around you. And that goes for the other patrons as well. When we were there, college football fans were chugging pitchers of Bud Light and shouting while the Alabama/​Georgia/​whatever team played on the multiple screens.
Buster’s Oystermania Happy Hour every day between 5 and 6 PM is still the best oyster deal we’ve found in the area. It’s no-​frills and will get you your raw crustacean fix. However, you should know what you’re getting into. If you’re looking for a relaxed atmosphere or a good drink deal or to not be barraged by Southern sports or to feel like you’re anywhere close to the beach, I recommend spending those few extra bucks to go elsewhere.