Last Minute Recs for Bay St. Louis, Gulfport Area

[EatinAintCheatin]

We got to The Sycamore House right at 5:30 and were promptly seated in the main dining room. We had our choice of tables since we were the only people in the room. There were a few diners in the other room but basically the place was empty.

Server arrived water was poured and we browsed the menu. I was immediately disappointed because two of the items that I wanted were not available, the sunchoke soup and "fresh caught speckled trout almondine."

We ordered two apps and 4 entrees with wines by the glass.

App1 was split by my parents. BBQ shrimp. Server said it comes with 6 nice shrimp. Bowl came with 5 shrimp, one large piece of crusty bread and some oranges floating in the sauce. The shrimp were nice and succulent but the sauce was oily and over spiced. It tasted like they dumped an entire tin of black pepper in it. Dad liked it anyway but Mom could not eat it.

App2 was split by me and wife. Duck liver pate. served with diced red onions on top, sweet red peppers, creole mustard and 3 mini cherry peppers on the side. Some seeded crackers for spreading. This was the best thing I ate there. Didn't blow me away, but it was good.

Dad entree: Grilled pork loin. Came sitting atop a pile of sweet potatoes with asparagus and Bearnaise sauce on the side. The sweet potatoes seemed pureed and sucked up all the Bearnaise sauce. The pork was 1 1/2 inch thick cut. Dad liked it. I thought the sauce should have been on top of the meat.

Mom entree: Petit cut filet served with house made mashed potatoes and, again, asparagus. Mom doesn't like asparagus and asked to sub them for another veggie. "Sorry, that's the only veggie we have." WTF, only one veggie in the entire restaurant? She asked for medium but steak looked medium-well. She liked it anyway.

Wife entree: Shrimp and grits. Served in a bowl with grits on the bottom, beautiful shrimp on top and the veggie, yep, asparagus, floating in the same spicy bbq sauce that was served as the app. In fact, this was bbq shrimp with asparagus and grits in it. Again over spiced with black pepper.

My entree: Since the trout was not available I went with the poisson dujour, triple tail almondine. "Brought in fresh from the western gulf off Texas, not frozen." What was served was embarrassing. At least 20% of my fillet was gray matter. If you've ever filleted a big redfish you know what I'm taking about. Served in a rice pilaf with, yep, asparagus.

Had this been just my wife and I or another frequent dining couple I'd have made them aware of the shortcomings; however, my parents enjoyed their meals and it was my Dad's day. So I paid the bill and left.

The blizzards on the way back to Diamondhead were good.

Sorry Mrs. Fury. You asked for honest. We're still OK so don't take it personally. But I can not recommend this place.

EAC

[Mrs. Fury]

No worries. Completely unlike our experience in every way. I guess I'll take it off the rec list. Sorry it had to happen to you. Maybe that is why the place was mostly empty. Changes in owner? I'll ask my BSL friend. WTF moment for me was there were no other veggies. Unbelievable.

[EatinAintCheatin]

No worries here either Mrs. Fury. Like I said, my parents enjoyed themselves. They rarely dine out. And my Mom really liked the atmosphere. The house is beautiful and the artwork hanging in the dining room is really elegant. Service was not bad either.

I believe they still have the same owners. As were leaving another table was seated in the dining room near us and I heard the waitress say that "Stella" would visit them soon. If I'm not mistaken, Stella is the owner, with her husband.

[Jeeves]

The time we ate there wasn't bad at all. I had some kind of salad and the sunchoke soup. The soup was very nice. I'm trying to find the pictures we took that day. Let me know what you find out about the current ownership Mrs. F. This should be made known to the owners, especially if they are the same ones.

[Jeeves]

Here's the only picture I could find. From the bar at the rear of Sycamore House out the back window showing the patio.

[TulaneRebel]

Half Shell Oyster House is indeed tasty. The royal reds are great but make sure they are all deveined...