Sharky’s Gulf Grill

IT IS NOW CLOSED :-(which is to bad. I travel for work and stayed on Poplar for 6 weeks in Nov. I was looking forward to coming back here for the oyster specials and good atmosphere.
Not sure why it closed, now back for several week and no oyster special and live music. Bummer

Closed! Loved this place on my last few visits to Memphis however they have closed and gone out of business now.

The place seams pretty busy on Wednesday night (life music).
I ate in the dining room still very noisy.
The service was Ok, the food was nothing «to write home about». I had New England clam chowder lukewarm pasty big and salty. In New England you would be chased out of town. Then I had grilled trout which was tasteless and slightly over-​cooked and somewhat dry the green beans were under-​cooked and the mashed potatoes were OK. Then the check arrived I found it pretty steep considering that Cracker Barrel gives you a better grilled trout for one third of the price.
Well I was there twice «the first and the last time».

I’m going to miss this place. It had one of the best patios I’ve ever experienced. Also, it had really great service! Thanks guys! Good luck to the workers finding a new job!

Really wanted to try this place for our anniversary. Looked forward to it all week. The night of, I decided to check the menu (online) for King Crab. Yes, they have it. While here online let me check the reviews, I thought. WOAH!
The reviews were terrible. Here it is 1 hour prior to dinner time babysitters here, kids are in their pajamas and fed. Were all dressed up. Panic.
So I search around for who else has king crab legs. All the usual suspects, but the coastal atmosphere is really what I was wanting, especially since we wouldn’t be there (coast) this time for our anniversary.
Let’s just drive up and take a look. Parking lots packed. Patio is half full. It is raining and it’s a Wednesday. It can’t be that bad.
Let’s go for it!
We were greeted by a sweet hostess who sat us promptly. Oh look a huge bar with a live band gearing up. Wow look again a sushi bar with guys sushiing?! That’s cool.
We were sat at one of the last tables in the main dining room. It was the worst table by floor position and the fact it was a table not a booth. This was our anniversary but hey. My expectations were preset coming in so this will do fine.
Greeted rather quickly by our server Brad. Very nice and professional even with him having half the tables on the floor.
It was 50c oysters. Nice. I’ll take half a dozen please and a cold beer. The wife got the crab bisque.
Oysters and beer arrived very fast. Bisque was right behind it. The oyster setup was perfect. Two of the seven served had an off smell. No biggie.
The bisque was way to rich for our liking. Asked for bread and turned it into a dip.
Dinner time came and we both ordered the king crab legs. My side was crawfish mac n cheese and she got loaded taters.
Crab legs were great. Maybe slightly over cooked? Not sure being the first time I ordered kings. But the shell didn’t crack in a lot of spots just kinda collapsed. Meat was plentiful and flavorful. Setup wasn’t spectacular and the drawn butter serving was small. Overall we enjoyed them. At $ 32 a plate we will probably wait til next anniversary to order again. The Mac n cheese was great. Rigatoni noodles with crawfish and a creamy cheese sauce. Potatoes were potatoes.
Desert came and we got the tidal wave. It was a slice of an ice cream cake middle with pound cake. It was great. Serving size was huge.
Overall it was a pleasant experience. Maybe they’ve tightened up ship since all the bad reviews and bad press. The server was very attentive.
We never waited on a thing. Food was good and atmosphere was what we were looking for.
4 stars.

You might ask me why I continue to come when I give it 2 stars The answer is simple this time it’s because they have 50 Cent oysters I hope they’re good because everything else I’ve had here has been overpriced and bad.
Okay I’m entering the expectation that the ousters will be plump and juicy and cold and if that doesn’t happen, I’m going to be very upset!

We came in here on the Saturday following Valentine’s Day, and were promptly sat. The restaurant seemed busy, and we were looking forward to our dinner. We were greeted by our waitress, who seemed to be quite weeded, and she informed us that she would be right back. A few minutes later, she came and introduced herself, and then said «Well, I have a party of 6, and two other parties of two that got sat at the same time, so I am going to treat all of you as one table and take your orders at the same time.»
My wife and I were in utter disbelief that she told us this. Now we both have worked in the restaurant industry, and know what it is like to be busy. What we did not appreciate is the fact she was going to consider us «one giant table» and take our orders all at the same time — this means mistakes can be made. We promptly walked out, informed the hostess of our departure (we had not had the chance to order anything yet). If we choose to try Sharkey’s again, I sincerely hope we will get better service and individualized attention any diner deserves.

Though a later lunch, we found Sharky’s offering $ 10 lunch specials. Don took advantage and found his Seafood Gumbo very fresh and filling-​to the point of not feeling he needed his salad.
As I am new to trying GF — I ordered the Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and Asian Slaw.
Wonderful! With 4 large succulent shrimp and a very spicy Asian slaw-​perfection.
An extremely delicious lunch and feeling good about GF choices.

Lunch — had gumbo and a house salad. Both were fresh and tasty. The gumbo was was cooked just enough to allow favors to merge. They did not overdue the rice component which also seemed freshly made.
Menu is different from our last visit and there are several $ 10 lunch specials.
Atmosphere is great here and service was good.

If it would let me give zero stars I would. The owner is obviously the problem here. They hired an executive chef and he MIGHT have been here for a month. It’s my way or the highway for this manager I guess. Sorry, it sucked once again. Bread for the Po-​boy was yesterday’s Kroger Italian bread. The shrimp was pre-​breaded, out of the bag, frozen. It will be a while before we come back again. Go across the street to Owen Brennan’s.

It’s 6:01 Sunday evening, I have had a Martini (ok) Cesar Salad a little better… Being a child of the 70’s I enjoy Rock & Roll
Not at dinner… They are cleaning the Fish tanks, why do they take the hoses into the grill space or is that the Sushi Bar… Now my main course has arrived. Crab Cakes with an orange colored sauce the color of carrots… no orange flavor… Beautiful vegetables flavor ok… Jon Bragg must not work on Sunday night. Our waiter very nice… Cannot let his tip reflect how we feel about our awful meal… Never again… As we leave the hostess overwhelmed us with her perfume consuming the exit.

I only started going here because of their 50cents oysters. But majority of the time they’re tiny or super salty. I tried their regular foods, but it’s nothing special especially their sushi. It was definitely not memorable. Service wasn’t very slow. I do like it when they have live bands playing. Nice environment. Just not impressed from food.

Oh my god. This place is way overrated. I decided to have a dinner here on a business trip and ordered the seafood combo. That’s the most expensive item on their menu. I don’t go to red lobster because it’s a chain. But after coming here, I truly think that red lobster is actually a decent restaurant.
The fish fillet was too dry. The sautéed kale side dish tasted like a bowl of salt with kale. So salty that I abandoned a whole plate after a bite.
Awful. My waitress was really nice though. If not for her, this place would get a one star. Do yourself a favor. Skip this place and go to Owen Brannen across the street. You won’t regret it.

I’d give them 1.5 stars if I could, but I guess they luck out. We had enjoyed Circa in the past, and so when we heard that John Bragg got hired here after he closed Circa, we thought we’d give Sharky’s another try… we did not think much of it in the past.
We arrived early for our 6:30pm reservation on a Saturday night… though the dining room only had 4 other parties, the hostess seated us at a cramped table in front of the fire exit. I asked if we could have another table so she proceeded to put us at a table in the middle of the room that was listed over at 30 degrees… seriously, the entire dining room is empty and we can’t have a friggin’ regular table? At least our waitress was very friendly and apologetic… she immediately moved us over to a normal table.
Dinner started out OK… it was 50 cent oyster night so we started out with a dozen… though the poor little things were kind of anorexic, at least they were fresh. We also had the crawfish beignets and the lobster/​crab bisque. The beignets were fortunately not really beignets, but rather little croquettes… as such, they were rich and creamy on the inside, nicely crisp on the outside. Overall, I’d order them again. The bisque was served piping hot, a rarity in restaurants these days, and redolent of sherry. Unfortunately, aside from a few small bits of crabmeat garnish, there was no seafood flavor at all. It was just OK.
I ordered the special of the evening, a Black Cod with herb topping in a lemon beurre blanc sauce ($ 291) while my wife had the Tuna Nicoise Salad ($ 19). The salad was a big disappointment and left her still hungry afterwards. There was a high pile of lettuce, and precious little else… one hard boiled egg, three thin slices of boiled potato (not even whole potatoes), four small pieces of haricot verts, three olives, and a few hunks of dried out water-​packed canned tuna. C’mon, at these prices, you could at least use some higher quality olive-​oil packed tuna… or how about putting a twist on it and lightly searing some slices of ahi?
The black cod came out as a large herb-​topped filet sitting in a pool of sauce with three small carrots arranged in a spoke pattern and three brussels sprouts. Though the presentation was straight out of the 80’s, it was a generous piece of fish… too bad it wasn’t cooked. The middle was already fractured… one could see that the center was still translucent… it was still cold to the touch and was indeed raw. Unlike salmon and tuna, cod needs to be cooked through… so I sent it back. The waitress was very nice and apologetic and said she told the manager about it. Ten minutes later, the manager brings the plate back… no apologies. Well, the fish was nice and hot, and cooked now… unfortunately, they sent back the exact same plate so the butter sauce was now broken and everything was cold… are you serious?
OK, so this isn’t fine dining… but at $ 110 for two with one drink a piece, it isn’t exactly Red Lobster either… in fact, I’d have to say the food at Red Lobster is better and more consistent. When we left, even though there were no people waiting, the hostess did not even acknowledge us on our way out. Though our waitress was very nice, we were completely turned off by the attitudes of the hostess and manager. Guys… you are in the hospitality business… you depend on local customers… you’ve got to get your sh-​t together. That may explain how during primetime on a Saturday night, we only saw 7 other parties during our time there… it was kind of sad. Aside from that, the food was ultimately disappointing too… maybe Chef Bragg’s heart just isn’t in his food now… he should bail if only to save his reputation, because Sharky’s definitely feels like a sinking ship.

I was not at all impressed by the food at Sharky’s. This place boasts to have the best and freshest seafood in town but I beg to differ. I found this place on my skymiles dining rewards list of restaurants and decided to check it out. For the quality of food, this place was pricey and the food didn’t live up to its price. I had the Red Snapper and it tasted very bland and cold. The cheesecake I ordered was frozen. The Merlot and atmosphere was the only thing that saved this place from a one-​star rating. I would not recommend this place for seafood and is definitely not the best or freshest seafood in town.

Can’t speak for the rest of the menu but the oysters were great and service was excellent. 50 cent oysters on Wednesday nights.

Excellent sushi. Awesome oysters. But the rest of the food is just so-​so. When the restaurant first opened the food was better, imo. The drinks are great and the atmosphere is awesome for happy hour, and meeting people.

Since I can’t give Sharky’s 2.5 stars, I’ll be nice and upgrade them to 3. I had a BOGO coupon for any entrée up to $ 25 and had never been, so my husband obliged and took me there for dinner. We decided to sit at the bar, since there were a lot of good football games going on. I spotted oysters on the menu — a dozen for $ 8…pretty good deal! It took about 20 min. for them to come out, but they were very good.
My husband ordered a sesame crusted salmon with mango. I (trying to kick off my diet early) opted for grilled scallops with asparagus. I should have ordered something else… maybe something with a cream sauce, because my scallops were so overcooked and tough… same went for the asparagus. My husband’s dish, on the other hand, was delicious. I must admit, there was some serous pouting going on. I feel no urge to go back to Sharky’s.

I wanted to love this place, I really did. But the hefty price tag just didn’t live up to what we got. The service started out great, though our waiter made himself a bit scarce towards the end, which was a bit odd since it looked like he had only three other tables.
The food itself was good, the crab bisque was awesome, lots of actual crab in huge chunks and the soup had some flavour. Some places just give you tiny flakes of crab (or krab) in a thick white soup. I also got the shrimp cocktail. Pretty hard to mess that up so can’t complain too much. The shrimp were deveined, thankfully. The cocktail sauce was way too thick though so it was hard to actually dip it. The crab cakes were the disappointment, though. They were on the spicy side and all filler, which was surprising given how generous they were with the crab with the bisque. I sent them back I was so displeased.
Altogether two soups, teas, and a shrimp cocktail came to $ 30! Geez! I had to do a double take and make sure I didn’t get someone else’s check or something.
I still miss Steak and Ale.

I visited Sharky’s for the first time last week. I have to say I was pretty excited because I heard that the bacon wrapped shrimp were good. Lately I’ve become slightly obsessed with bacon wrapped shrimp. I’m on a quest to find the best in Memphis.
My friends and I sat at the bar. It was around 8pm on a Friday night and the bar was mostly empty. The drinks were strong and the bartender was friendly. Kudos to management for having Titto’s, my favorite vodka.
Of course I ordered the bacon wrapped shrimp right away. When the shrimp arrived I was immediately disappointed. Four shrimp for $ 9.99?! What the heck? Not only that, but the these shrimp were barely wrapped in bacon. Instead of using an entire peace of bacon for each shrimp, there was just a small piece of bacon on each shrimp. I thought, «This isn’t bacon wrapped shrimp… this is shrimp wearing a bacon jacket!!» The remoulade sauce served on the side was good and there was plenty of it. I just do not understand why they are so stingy with the pork…
I will not be returning to Sharky’s.