This is an old favorite reborn. I like the good seafood I get here. The drinks are solid. I get my adult beverages fast and well mixed. The servers keep food coming and are very good about special requests. Just show up here and reacquaint yourself with this Tampa standard.

Very secluded off the beaten path and tucked within the willows of the streets of Bon Air neighborhood of South Tampa. This seafood restaurant is pretty close to Tampa International Airport and minutes away from all major beaches. It is far from glamor and glory of the other places in Tampa, but man, the food here is incredible. Continue reading to find out... Located on the corner of W Cleveland Street & S Dale Marbry Highway, in the Bon Air Neighborhood, Shells Seafood is very easy to get to. A talk sign that towers over the restaurant can be seen from hundreds of feet away while driving; it's hard to miss the sign. Plenty of parking in the stalls on the property as well as neighborhood parking and local stores adjacent parking spots. Once inside, you are greeted by the cute looking host at the nicely decorated front reception. She seats you immediately to a an open floor spacing with two sides of seating and a centralized semi-circle bar area. There are roughly over 30 tables and plenty of room to accommodate small to larger. The cajun boil here is fabulous! Loved every minute of it. Will be visiting again ... maybe not during the hurricane seasons. :)

Best clam chowder ever had! Great service, Juan did a great job. Everything else was extremely good as well. Great experience.

I order the grilled mahi mahi tacos from here via uber eats at least once a week. Today, the mahi looked as good as usual, but the taste is off. I dont know what it is though. I am still rating 5 stars because from the many times I have ordered it, today was the first time it wasn't good. Im sure I'll order again in the near future.

I've been making the drive from Miami just to eat at Shells for a decade. This is the best seafood I've had in the state of Florida, it never disappoints. The staff is always friendly and the restaurant is spotless. They serve very tasty and generous portions, I just wish they would come back to Miami!

After landing in Tampa, this was our first stop! We were hungry after flying in from Phoenix. There were two types of food I wanted to focus on while in Florida and those were Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and seafood. Ok, that's four. After looking over the menu, we decided on catfish dinner and clam strips dinner. Both came with Mandarin coleslaw and parsley potatoes. The catfish were the best tasting catfish we had in a long long time. They were nice size filets with the perfect amount of breading. The fish actually had that distinct catfish flavor and they were moist and flaky. You could still see the lines of the fish filets and recognize they were actually fish. A lot of places have a thick coat of breading and all you see was a fried blob of breading. It isn't until you cut or break off a piece that you'd recognize it was fish. The clam strips were another story. I expected meatier clams ; not to mention a clamier taste. I could not even taste the clams. The potatoes and Mandarin coleslaw were both good. I liked the added Mandarin orange flavor to the coleslaw. We both finished ours. The potatoes were sitting in flavorful melted parsley butter. I hope to visit this place again in the near future! It was well worth the visit!

I have literally waited 15 years to have this meal! The Shells in Miami closed around 2008/2009, and it was my absolute favorite restaurant - I used to go with my family at least once a month, and always looked forward to the barrel of peanuts, Shark Attack drink, and a hefty portion of snow crab legs while being surrounded by the underwater/fishing themed decor. When I came to this Shells location in Tampa, it was like I was transported back in time! This place has kept its cute marine decor and still upholds the same quality of food I obsessed over all those years ago. Since this was such a special occasion, I opted for a smorgasburg meal. We started with the Fried Calamari, crisped to golden perfection, which I washed down with a delicious Piña Colada. As a second appetizer, I had the Clam Chowder, which was so good and chock full of nice big chunks of clam meat in a creamy, salty soup base. For my entree, I had the Seafood Pasta, an incredible dish which came with a side of garlic toast to sop up all the cream sauce afterwards. I got a half pound of steamed Snow Crab legs on the side, which were the food I was most excited to have but was the only thing I was slightly let down by - the crab legs were fresh and meaty, but I could tell they had been frozen because the body meat was very cold. Nonetheless, my meal was amazing and my only regret is not saving room for dessert! Next time, I'll order the Shark Attack, try the Shrimp and Crab Dip, and get a bigger bowl of the Clam Chowder...and maybe wear some bigger pants!