After a very long travel day I was ready to get to the hotel and crash. However, I didn’t eat very well throughout the day so I was very hungry. I was too tired to figure out on my own where I wanted to eat so I had the hubs find a place for me. He told me he made a reservation at Oystercatchers and texted me the address. It was right by the airport so not a big deal for me to go to the hotel and then backtrack for dinner.

It was the perfect place to have dinner after a very long travel day that started out with a cancelled flight. I ended up sitting outside on the patio with a beautiful view of the bay and almost setting sun. The smell of the bay water was absolutely intoxicating.

Although I did just recently visit Florida, this was still a rare opportunity for me to have seafood, especially at a place like this. When my server asked me if I would like oysters, I had to stop a think about it. I don't think I've ever had raw oysters and what better place than Oystercatchers to have it. The oysters were from different parts of the country and they came with cocktail sauce, red wine vinegar and chopped garlic. I had to ask how one eats a raw oyster. Luckily for me they were already separated from the shell…I mentioned this because the server made it seem like this wasn’t always the case. Either way, it made it easy to eat, almost too easy as I nearly choked on the last one I had. Go figure. But it was really good, very fresh and the cocktail sauce and garlic were my favorite toppings.

I also had the calamari fries served with “spicy” ketchup. I’m a wuss when it comes to spicy things and this ketchup was not very spicy at all. However, with that said, it complimented the calamari fries very well. I must also say that this was probably one of the most tender calamari I have ever had. Even with it being fried, the outside coating was perfectly crunchy and the calamari perfectly tender.

I continued dinner with the strawberry salad served with a strawberry champagne dressing. It was a reasonably sized salad so I appreciated that considering there was still sourdough bread and my actual entree to eat. Speaking of which, the sourdough bread was awesome. Typically bread doesn’t really make it into a review because there really isn’t anything special to talk about. Except this time the bread was served with the creamiest and softest Vermont butter I had ever had. The icing on the cake for this bread, however, was the salt and pepper mixture that came with it. I sprinkled it on top of the butter and it was heavenly.

Finally on to the entrée. There was so much to choose from…so many that I will be returning in next month when I’m back in town…but the one that really stood out was the lobster mac and cheese. Lobster tail, claw meat, and gruyere, parmesean and goat cheese on top of cavatappi pasta with some baby spinach and sundried tomatoes mixed in. How can one really go wrong with lobster mac and cheese, especially this close to the water? It was spectacular!! The melted cheese blended together made for a very smooth and creamy sauce. The wilted spinach was mixed in throughout along with tomatoes. The lobster was the best part because not only was it mixed in throughout but it was topped with a lobster tail. 

How could I end this spectacular meal without having dessert. Well, I couldn’t imagine eating another bite right then and there so I opted for the seasonal cheesecake to go and forgot to snap a photo of it. I can’t even remember what flavor it was. What I do remember is that every bite was as delicious as I would expect from such a nice restaurant. I ended up eating it for the next two nights simply because I could not eat all of it

I would highly recommend having a great meal at Oystercatchers, especially for a special occasion. And if you’re able to go when it’s not too hot, the patio is the perfect place to watch a beautiful Tampa Bay sunset.