Restaurant Review: Singleton's Seafood Shack of Atlantic Beach, Florida

You wouldn't know it by just looking at the decrepit old shack, but Singleton's Seafood Shack is a hidden jewel on the northern Florida landscape, serving up fresh and delicious seafood, drinks, and more. A friend and I recently went there, thanks to the sage advice of some Florida locals. One has to drive into the depths of the St. John's River, almost to where the road ends and nothing awaits but a ferryboat taking cars to the other side. There, standing in the open landscape of the area, is a very unpretentious building that looks like a hut from the third world.

Walking inside the place, one is instantly greeted by the fresh seafood displayed to the right. Oysters, shrimp, and all kinds of fish lay on beds of ice. After all, Singleton's Seafood Shack is not just a restaurant, but also a fully operational fishing shack. If one keeps moving forward, a daily special menu board will be seen, under which a maitre d' stands. Tables and a bar are located beyond, as well as an enmeshed outdoor eating area.

Specials vary, but usually include some kind of local fish like Codfish, Catfish, and Sheephead. There are shrimp, scallop, and oyster platters too. Singleton's menu includes appetizers such as smoked fish dip, topless oysters, crab legs, clam steamers, and fried pickle chips. Soups include New England Clam Chowder, Minorcan Clam Chowder (the South's version of Manhattan), and Oyster Stew. There are sandwiches aplenty, such as the Shrimp Burger, Crab Burger, and Smoked BBQ Pork.

When we arrived at Singleton's Seafood Shack, the specials of the evening were Grilled Hog Snapper, served with mustard wine sauce, and the catches of the day were King Klip, Catfish, and Sheephead. Choice fish were Hog Snapper and Flounder. There were shrimp and fish tacos being offered too.

After being seated in the outdoor area, we received our menus and ordered what we had heard the locals tell us to order: Sheephead fish. Neither of us had ever had this kind of fish, so we were curious about it. I also added on a single deviled crab, as well as a drink called the St. John's sliver.

My drink came first, and consisted of vodka, razzmatazz, tequila, and triple sec, along with juices and soda. It was quite good and potent. After some time had gone by, and during which we watched all the fishing boats docked outside the shack, our meals arrived.

Both meals were piled high with fish, 2 hush puppies, coleslaw, and either fries for me or beans and rice for my friend. I was a bit disappointed to see that the Sheephead fish had been deep-fried, as it would have been good to taste it in more "raw" form. Still, after digging into the fish, I could not complain. I love fried fish.

It was hard to really taste the Sheephead, but it seemed to be a cross between Codfish and Catfish, overall. The fries were good, and the coleslaw fresh and delicious. However, it was the hush puppies that really blew me away. I hate hush puppies with a passion, yet here, for the first time, I loved hush puppies. The pups were crisp and had a batter that tasted a bit like cornmeal. Inside the pups lay the warm dough, interlaced here and there with what I thought was cabbage. Unbelievable.

The single deviled crab was also tasty, and contained nice big chunks of crab. But it was gone all too soon.

There was so much food that I could not possibly finish it all. I had our waitress box up my leftover fish and fries. I had no leftover hush puppies, however.

Both of us left Singleton's happy and full. We even peeked into the back area of the restaurant before leaving, where Mr. Singleton makes and keeps all his intricate wooden ship models. Those ships are quite a sight to behold.

For those of you who might be interested in this unique spot in northeastern Florida, here is some additional information:

Singleton's Seafood Shack
4728 Ocean Street
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
Phone: (904)246-4442