It is the holidays, in case you haven’t noticed, and things are happening everywhere. One doesn’t have time to sit and read some silly post about fried seafood. Thus I’m gonna make it short and sweet with a whirlwind review of what I liked and what I did not.

As I have mentioned previously, fried seafood is not in short supply even this far inland in NC. There is an array of local one off spots and a few chain type places. Some feel like the chains they are and some have a more local franchisee kind of vibe. Once such place I randomly stumbled upon is called Skrimp Shack. I’m guessing that is some variation on shrimp, just with a heavy Southern accent, like how they call a sandwich a samwich. Fun right? But I decided to try them anyway.

This particular spot is located at the end of a strip mall in Northern Durham and doesn’t look like much but is the kind of tiny hole in the wall spot I find myself drawn to. The offer quite the selection of seafood from fish to shellfish and you can check out the menu here. They have seafood taco variations, po’boys, the aforementioned samwich and baskets. This is what I felt in the mood for—a basket of fried stuff. Plus, the baskets come in lunch or dinner sizes (all day for both) and one side. You can also add skrimp to any order.

One look at the menu and I zoned in on the catfish basket, lunch portion, with a side of collards greens. This will run you $9.95. I did the 4 skrimp upgrade which adds another $3. So $12.95 for the above and it also came with a medium sized drink. Right off, the good—everything is cooked to order so it is fresh and hot. The portion size is commendable. The shrimp of big size. The collards where nicely cooked WITH BACON! and well seasoned. There really was more than enough here to get two meals. Overall this was really tasty and kind hit the spot for my fried seafood craving. The one kind bad, which I guess may not be so bad to some, is this doesn’t come with any hush puppies. They have them but to get them it would count as your one side which is a bummer. I wish they could at least include 2 to go with the meal, I mean that is the Southern thing to do, though evidently, not here.

My next time in I wanted to see how their po’boys were so I ordered up a shrimp one and decided to go all in and get it with some crab. It was $10.75 for a 10'“ hoagie roll and then $3 for the crab add making this already $14 for a sandwich. Yep, I’m gonna bitch about this one. So the good—you get a decent amount of both shrimp and crab. The bad (beyond the price)—this doesn’t come with a side or a drink, it also did not come with any kind of sauce, lettuce or tomato. And while the bun was toasted, it was not buttered. Po’boys I have had in the past always had some kind or remoulade sauce and at the very least some lettuce. Seems I should have read the menu more closely as they do offer those things but they are an upcharge. And if you got them this would be like a $15 sandwich that there really isn’t enough to get two meals out of like a basket. While I liked the sandwich, after I added some mayo and lettuce of my own, I can’t say it is something I would get again and that is largely due to price with everything.

The po’boy notwithstanding, I like Skrimp Shack for their seafood variety choice and their baskets and prices. Plus they have some other sides like green beans (also cooked with bacon!) and mac and cheese that looked tasty and worth trying. I will definitely be going back to get my fried seafood fix in basket form. But I’ll pass on the po’boy—too much bread and carbs anyway. I’ll just waste those calories on maybe adding hush puppies as an ala carte side instead.