It was yes, another restaurant I’d walk by many a time during my 4 years of living in Hermosa. I’d call it the alligator restaurant due to the neon reptile sitting atop a clock outside the storefront, wagging its tail.

It was only recently I decided to stop by for lunch. It was purely accidental to be totally honest. I had finished a meeting early & was getting hungry. With an hour left on the meter, I didn’t want to let it go to waste. I checked out Gum Tree…closed! Union Cattle? Nope. Java Man? Been there.

Then there it was, the alligator atop  the clock. This time, it wasn’t illuminated. It was lunch time. The narrow space wasn’t busting at the seams like it does at dinner. In fact I was the first customer of the day.

The restaurant had no lights on. The music consisted of popular jazz standards. There was only one staff member & a cook. The man pretty much did everything from waiting tables to cashier to stock. All of the fryers were right behind the bar area so I could see everything going on.

My first thought once I looked at the menu was that the prices were pretty high, especially for lunch. Most of the entrees were close to $20. I thought it’d better be a damn good sandwich!

Buried under all of the oysters was a huge piece of french bread with lettuce & tomato. The utensils came in very handy since I couldn’t hold the sandwich together with the large assortment of fried oysters. They didn’t skimp on quantity at all. However, the cooking was inconsistent. Some were very crispy while others were borderline soggy. The rest of the sandwich was alright & nothing wrong with the cajun steak fries. I just wish I got what I paid for. That sadly didn’t happen at this place but at least it’s another restaurant I can cross off my list of eateries to try in Hermosa.