Rusty’s Seafood & Oyster Bar is located in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Happy hour EVERY DAY from 3 to 6 PM and early bird items served from 11 AM to 6 PM every day!! Rusty’s also has LIVE entertainment every night as well as during the days on weekends. Founded in 1993, Rusty’s Seafood & Oyster Bar is a fresh seafood restaurant with a full liquor bar, featuring an oyster bar for live shucking inside and a large deck and tiki bar for outside seating. Rusty’s offers steamed clams and mussels, raw or steamed oysters by the dozen and half-dozen as well as fresh baked oysters Bernard. .
Established in 1992. The Fischer family arrived in Port Canaveral in the 1940’s where they opened a seafood distribution plant, the “Fischhouse.” From there they began the offshore fishing fleet of the Miss Cape Canaveral, and thus began the term “From our fishing fleet, to you!” Bernard Fischer, the uncle of Rusty Fischer and the great uncle of son, Rhett Fischer, opened Bernard’s Surf in 1948, where they served celebrities, chocolate covered ants and astronauts. Rusty, while running The Surf, then opened Rusty’s Seafood and Oyster bar in the Port in 1992, and now his son Rhett Fischer runs the business and their 60 employee’s.
My wife and I had planned to go out to Rusty’s several times over the last several months, however, food adventures on the coast can be a challenge when we have other things going on, particularly during Covid. We literally had nothing going on this particular weekend so we decided to head out for some early shopping then out to the coast for yet another food adventure.
We have been to Rusty’s before and always had a great time. the food prep is always consistent, an issue we are having lately inland in the Orlando area. There are several restaurants along the turning basins of Port Canaveral, Gator’s Dockside, Rusty’s, Fishlips, Seafood Atlantic and Grills. Both Grills and Gator’s have locations in Orlando.
The fun part about how the restaurant is organized so you have several choices on indoor and outdoor views. Depending on your mood and the weather, having those choices is quite nice. My wife and I decided to sit inside just off the bar and positioned with a full view of the port.
The Menu at Rusty’s is average in size, I prefer a good variety with interesting choices and Rusty’s doesn’t disappoint in this regard. The only issue that I have is the lack of grilled or baked entrees, particularly the Captains Seafood Platter, which packs alot of food on top of french fries. If the platter had a grilled or baked choice i certainly would have chosen that.
Our waitress came right over shortly after we sat down and took our drink orders. The Drunken Monkey for my wife and a Stella Artois on draft for myself. Drinks and lemon water came to our table rather quickly. I must say we were one of the first table seating as we arrived just as they were opening. I have always had quick service when we come to Rusty’s so I don’t think it was due to low customer count. The restaurant quickly filled up and was at 80% capacity on the outdoor deck and inside bar area within 30 minutes or so.
So we started out with the Seafood Au gratin, Lump crab, shrimp & scallops smothered with a seasoned 4 cheese blend & topped with parmesan cheese. Served with a sourdough loaf. As soon as the appetizer arrived I realized that there was not going to be enough bread. My wife and I enjoyed about 1/3 of the gratin when the bread was gone. I got up out of my seat 3 times to get crackers from the bar, sadly the crackers made for a fairly bland taste. Although quite good with sizeable pieces of crab and shrimp, the flavor profile could have been improved upon.
After the app, we ordered our entrees and had I had another beer. On a side note, internet is awful on the east coast and I struggled with the free wifi from Rusty’s because I keep getting tricked into signing up for the free “secure” connection, which did did work. My phone browser had a hard time displaying the clickable link that said “continue with free open wifi” I was so annoyed that I mentioned to the waitress who clearly had heard this before. oh well.
I choose the Captains platter and my wife choose the bacon wrapped sea scallops. When our plates arrived I immediately was impressed with my wife’s choice. It smelled and looked very yummy. Two skewers with 5 wrapped scallops on each. More than enough for my wife so I knew I would be getting one or two for myself. This proved to be true later.
Our choices for side dishes were mashed potatoes with the scallops and onion rings with the platter. I generally don’t like french fries when eating out. Quite often I will leave a mountain of fries on my plate when I get the Zingers Mountain Melt at Miller’s Ale House. The onion rings were large and super crispy and crunchy. At the moment that I was eating them, I felt like they were the best rings I had ever had. The remoulade served along side the scallops and the rings was also very delicious and went well with everything.
My wife and I took our time with lunch, the waitress checked in on us several times and we wanted for nothing. Our meal was very good and a good time was had by all. A 25 topper was seated next to us which caused some concern about noise, but it turned out to be a senoir get together and they were quiet as can be. There were a few kids running full blast across the bar area which to my horror, the mother thought was cute. I gave her the evil eye and I am sure based on her expression, she picked up on. Thank good ness they were seated outside.
All in All an excellent weekend food adventure and then the check came. The bill was $110.00. A bit steep however I did have 3 beers and my wife a specialty drink. The Captains platter was $26, the bacon wrapped scallops $31, the seafood au gratin appetizer was $14.50 . The beers were $7 each. The price on the scallops was a bit much, although seafood has gone up in recent months. $7 for a 12oz beer is also pricey. A six pack of stella at Publix is $14. At any rate, its the experience and the food that makes for a great food adventure, my wife and I will certainly go back.