Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (janachen)

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:49:49 GMT

awts too bad for you buddy...

But I have to agree with them, maybe it depends on the managing...franchiser should be advised to undergo for a training so that the name and credibility of the restau will not be destroyed.

I've experienced the same problem in a few branches of my favorite restaurant, poor services the taste of their food is sooooo disappointed..

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (seafarer john)

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:21:43 GMT

Friday, for lunch, we visited our local fishmonger/restaurant and were informed he had scored a 30 lb black grouper at the Fulton fish market early that morning. So we had blackened grouper for lunch and it was terrific - tender, meaty, moist, and tasty. A far cry from what has, in recent years, been foisted upon us as grouper in some of the less ethical joints in the Tampa Bay area.

Cheers, John

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (Curbside Grill)

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 18:03:51 GMT

curtherrin Being from Tampa area myself , craving good seafood and short of driving to Mobile and such for the weekend.
Have two Seafood markets close to you. Lash's will cook to order but mostly a market. I recommend to call ahead and see what stock they have, both places
Lash seafood   been here many times
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=8400062373203907042&q=&gl=us&ved=0CD0QxgdIAQ&sa=X&ei=dVHoTKm-JoSazASf27iTCw

Doc's Seafood This is new. But friends in the Shoals area tell me it is good.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?rlz=1T4GGHP_enUS368US368&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=doc's+muscle+shoals&fb=1&gl=us&hq=doc's&hnear=Muscle+Shoals,+AL&cid=17747703634450448289

Now I have to go and get some grouper. LOL
Feel a sandwich coming on.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (curtherrin)

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 23:12:33 GMT

My wife and I also ate at the Huntsville Wentzells. It was terrible! I ordered the fried oysters. Being from Savannah, Ga., I am accustomed to great fried oysters and great seafood in general. These were very very small, way overbattered, overcooked, and not worth the high price! The hushpuppies were also a disapointment. I will never eat the fried oysters there again, but I may try the steamed oysters to see if they are any good. But, I will ask for a sample before I commit to a overpriced bill, again. I have done many oyster roasts and have been to many more, so I know a good steamed oyster. I wish I could get a good fresh party pack of oysters here in Huntsville at a reasonable price. I found Po-Boys on Andrew Jackson Way much better, when you can get in.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (mbrookes)

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 10:53:38 GMT

The Wentzel's in Hattiesburg, MS, has closed.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (mayor al)

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 08:44:00 GMT

I am very sorry to hear that BB. Another case of the Franchise not living up to the original location standard. I love the Mobile Wintzells as well.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (buffetbuster)

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 08:13:03 GMT

I ate at the Huntsville location of Wintzell's over the weekend and it was not very good at all. And I am a huge fan of the original Mobile location.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (EdSails)

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:10:31 GMT

oDey in LA

Wintzell's Oyster House (PENSACOLA)
Is presently scheduled to open by the end of May in PNS. In the meantime I will make it often to Jerry's Cajun Rest... North 9th Ave for some of the best around . I hope to take the pics and post something soon on Jerry's.

I've had many fine meals at the Wintzell's in Fairhope. I didn't make it there in August because of time constraints (too many meals and not enough time!) but I hope to go back soon. They did have fresh oysters but charged a premium price for them. Sassy, it might be worth the drive some time to check out that location. It's on the way to the beach!
oDey, looking forward to your write up on Jerry's. That was my last meal before I boarded the plane in PNS to come back to the Left Coast and it was awesome. I have a few pictures of it here:
http://www.roadfood.com/F...nd-Misses-m610417.aspx
Jerry's will be my first stop when I get off the plane next time!

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (SassyGritsAL)

Wed, 05 May 2010 11:27:34 GMT

It was nice to read about the bad and good (mostly good) reviews on Wentzell's. I will definitely give it another try. It had been only open for a few weeks when we went so may be they didn't have their act together.

Was in Panama City Beach, FL, week before last and had some great seafood. We ate at both touristy places (Margaritaville, The Treasure Ship, and Pineapple Willy's) and a few local places (Mike's Diner and a wonderful place called Salty Sally's).

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (TNBear)

Sat, 01 May 2010 20:54:20 GMT

A big Amen to that. My wife and I will be attending a wedding in Mobile in a few weeks and were looking forward to eating some wonderful fresh Gulf seafood. Now we don't even want to see what the beaches will look like. Aterrible tradgedy in so many, many ways.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (mayor al)

Sat, 01 May 2010 05:03:59 GMT

I have to add this note of fear for all the seafood business's along the Gulf Shore. This terrible oil slick threatens to destroy the shorelines where so many of these creatures live. We pray that the efforts of all involved will minimize the damage.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (Lizzieslulu)

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:35:56 GMT

Has anyone tried the Wentzel's in Montgomery, AL? It opened last fall.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (buffetbuster)

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:39:33 GMT

mbrookes

The story about Doe's in Oxford was correct. It was doing great business and always crowded. The site owners wanted to go upscale and opened a yuppie-do-da place that I hear is not nearly as good as Doe's was.

Can you imagine getting rid of a Doe's for something else? What a huge mistake!

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (oDey in LA)

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:42:28 GMT

Wintzell's Oyster House (PENSACOLA)

Is presently scheduled to open by the end of May in PNS. The location was formerly Copeland's which has been closed for some time. Renovations/Decorations now in progress to resemble the other ones. Located on Chase Street near McQuires across from the Civic Center parting lot....

I will give them at least 30 days to get their act together then give it a try. In the meantime I will make it often to Jerry's Cajun Rest... North 9th Ave for some of the best around . I hope to take the pics and post something soon on Jerry's. Jerry is a fine business man and is revered in Pensacola. NOLA's loss is our gain...

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (BelleReve)

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 11:36:23 GMT

A few years back, I went with a tour group from NOLA to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit then later we all ate at Wenzel's in Mobile, and it was great. The food was very good and and the staff was very friendly and accomodating (about 40 of us). We had several choices as part of the tour package, mostly fried seafood, when I added on their signature West Indies crab salad I'd heard so much about, and thought was excellent. Though I paid for the additional salad, I was impressed by their waitress who refused a tip, saying the group had already included a gratuity for her.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (Sundancer7)

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:23:18 GMT

I have only been to the Wentzel's in Mobile. I have been there four times and never ever have I been dissapointed.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (bobthomas18)

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:56:12 GMT

I spent last weekend in Huntsville and checked Roadfood to determine where to eat Saturday night. I was prepared to drive to Wentzel's in Guntersville & saw the Huntsville Wentzel's after driving only a mile or so from the hotel. I stopped & ate there. I had fried oysters & fried green tomatoes. I thought they were great. I liked them so much in fact that I took my daughter,son-in-law & 9 year old grandson there for lunch Sunday. (They missed Saturday nite because they were at Space Camp.) I shared fried green tomatoes with daughter & her husband. I had fried oyster & fried soft crab combo with a salad. It was all good. Son-in-law didn't like the slaw that came with his meal but it looked good to me. I'm trying to expose the grandson to non kids' meal type food & he's learned to really like steamed crab. Wentzel's had fried or sauteed crab claws on the menu. We tried to convince the grandson to try them that way but he didn't want to. With no prompting from any of us the waiter suggested that he'd see if he could have them steamed. He got them steamed & enjoyed them. I sampled them & they were good too. This the first time I've ever been in Alabama but if I go again & I'm near any Wentzel's, I'll go again.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (mbrookes)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:10:57 GMT

I have not been to the Wentzel's in Hattiesburg, MS, but my husband went and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, we plan to eat there next time we are in Hattiesburg.

The story about Doe's in Oxford was correct. It was doing great business and always crowded. The site owners wanted to go upscale and opened a yuppie-do-da place that I hear is not nearly as good as Doe's was.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (Born in OKC)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:35:39 GMT

buffetbuster

Of the three Dreamland BBQs I have visited, the only one I liked was the original in Tuscaloosa. The ones in Birmingham and Mobile were disappointments to me.

There is also a Dreamland in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta and it is pretty decent, in fact, probably my favorite nearby BBQ at present. (See my comments under the Dickey's thread in BBQ about one bad franchise near me.

I've only eaten at the original Wentzel's in Mobile and most recently last November. No complaints there!

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (David_NYC)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:28:58 GMT

Welcome, fork and knife.

SassyGrits said in her review above that she did not think she would be going back to the Huntsville Wintzell's, so she probably only went one time. There have not been any other formal reviews here on RF about the new Huntsville location. The Huntsville Times, which Sassy Grits wrote about as a source of reliable reviews for Huntsville area places, does not seem to have posted a review of the food yet on their web site (though their blog indicated a review was to be published in their Go! magazine on January 14th.) SassyGrits also was the first one to have posted (on December 16th, 2009 in the News section) that the new Huntsville location was open.

Besides being covered in guide books, Wintzell's restaurants in Mobile and Guntersville have received positive reviews in the Restaurants section here on RF. The roadfooddigest section also has a few posts about the franchised Wintzell's:
http://www.roadfooddigest.com/?tag=/wintzell's+oyster+house

This site is not like yelp, where when the AP 'odd news' wire carries a story about a restaurant, 200 crackpots post ridiculous tales on that restaurant's review page. I think most of the regular posters here understand the significance of posting a legitimate bad review.

Like many of the other posters here, I have found that the franchised locations of a noteworthy restaurant are sometimes not as good as the original. The challenge for the franchisee is to get the quality level equal (or almost equal) to that of the original.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (The Travelin Man)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:12:55 GMT

fork and knife

The reason I ask is that most of the time we only hear the negative and never the positive in a restaurant experience!

Welcome to Roadfood, fork and knife.

I think you'll almost find the opposite of what you say around these fora. For most of the threads posted in the Road Trips section and the Meet-and-Eat section, which is where you will find a lot of the user-generated informal reviews, you'll see that most places discussed are places that folks WOULD recommend to others. For me, when writing my own reviews/reports/etc. (you know...when I actually do that!), it almost seems impossible that I could think so highly of so many places. Fortunately, with this web site as a resource, I tend to limit my bad dining experiences while on the road.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (Buffalo Tarheel)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:46:48 GMT

wanderingjew

I agree with everyone else. I enjoyed my visit to to the original Wintzell's. I do remember , however not being overly impressed with the hushpuppies. Too much spice and not enough flavor.

I'm possibly a bit late to this discussion, but I was able to eat the one of the locations in Mobile (the one on Airport Boulevard) last month on a trip. I had the grilled tilapia during one of my spasms of trying to eat more healthily, and I thought it was very good. I also had the hushpuppies and thought they had a very good flavor and were not overly spiced, but were not the flavorless hunks of cornmeal you find at some places. What was interesting was that hushpuppies only came with the fried entrees (including the tilapia) but not with the grilled entrees. I paid $2.00 for a plate of hushpuppies and thought they were well worth the price. Sorry to hear that some locations are not doing as good a job as the original place.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (fork and knife)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:35:00 GMT

Sassy,

I would like to ask you how many times have you been there? I have been several times and never have had an issue! Even with larger groups, it's been a pleasant experience. Hopefully, if it was your first time, that you will give it another shot and it is great for you! If so, will you please post it! The reason I ask is that most of the time we only hear the negative and never the positive in a restaurant experience!

Thanks

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (David_NYC)

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:02:14 GMT

I've been to the original Wintzell's in Mobile twice, and had the charcoal-grilled oysters twice - excellent both times.

A quick web search indicates the franchised Huntsville restaurant only opened on December 15th, 2009. Perhaps the Sunday night crew is still "green." Hopefully, things get better.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (tinkergold)

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:59:55 GMT

I, too, had a not so good experience at Wentzell's at Spanish Fort, Ala. when heading West on I-10 2 weeks ago. on return trip East, i stopped at "Oysterella's" which is just East of the tunnel and on Battleship Parkway. The raw oysters were devine! clean, salty & so flavorful! also husband had shrimp & grits & fried green tomatoes....absolutely perfect & truly 1 of the best shrimp/grits i've ever had (this from a So. Louisiana foodie, too). waiter's name was "Robbie" & he was wonderful. the view of Mobile, the Battleship & Bay is spectacular - can't wait to head back that way in May. will definitely stop there!

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (seafarer john)

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:51:18 GMT

ribdog: We'll be in St Pete 1/15 - 2/15 - on Treasure Island and then up in the NE.

Do you have any new joints we should visit for seafood, BBQ, or anything else that is good and new to us?

BTW: After all the years we've been going to ST Pete we stumbled one day last year upon that great old Italian deli/ wine shop , Mazzarro's - what a great find. Also found a great place for oysters in Kenneth City - fresh from Apalacacola for $15/ 4 dozen.

Cheers, John

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (SassyGritsAL)

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:18:32 GMT

I too agree w/you about Dreamland. The one here in Huntsville doesn't even compare to the one in Tuscaloosa, AL.

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (Play27)

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:56:52 GMT

Never liked the crab claws at Wentzel's in Mobile and felt it was in decline when we left there many years ago!

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (wanderingjew)

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:48:22 GMT

buffetbuster

Of the three Dreamland BBQs I have visited, the only one I liked was the original in Tuscaloosa. The ones in Birmingham and Mobile were disappointments to me.

Agreed, although I've never been to the one in Birmingham.
I still say that the ribs at the original location in Tuscaloosa are better than

Re:Disappointed at Wentzel's Oyster House Restaurant (buffetbuster)

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:37:08 GMT

Of the three Dreamland BBQs I have visited, the only one I liked was the original in Tuscaloosa. The ones in Birmingham and Mobile were disappointments to me.