Big T’s Seafood Restaurant

The T’s seafood restaurants of greater Augusta are not as polymorphous a subject as Ray’s pizza parlors in New York, Dukes BBQs in South Carolina, or Coney Island hot dog stands, but it’s easy to get confused. Here at Roadfood.com you will find a review of  T’s Seafood Restaurant, which, although nearby, is no relation to this Big T’s Seafood Restaurant; and those who eat around the Central Savannah River Area likely recall Big T’s of nearby Harlem, Georgia, which moved to Thomson, Georgia, then closed in 2016. The Big T’s of which we speak today is in fact a reincarnation of the one in Harlem that moved to Thomson. It has now come to Grovetown (a city at the west end of Augusta) and occupies the building that used to house Perry Foster’s BBQ.

Neither genealogy nor geography is the issue. The important thing is that Big T’s Seafood Restaurant serves very good fish. It’s billed as southern-style, which in this case means expertly fried and served with hush puppies and cole slaw …although a non-fried Low Country boil also is available, as are grilled shrimp and fish and steamed crab legs — all of which are regional favorites.

Proprietor Tim Daniels and his wife developed a recipe for breading that is the best friend of every sort of seafood that comes from the kettles. It’s fairly salty with a good hint of pepper; and it fries up crisp and chewy. For succulent catfish (filleted or whole), it’s exactly the right complement; and likewise, it encases buff shrimp like a well-seasoned (edible) glove. The coating tends to slide right off slippery scallops, but that’s OK. The scallops are sweet and fresh and the flavors in the breading are a marvelous companion. Hushpuppies, French fries, and cole slaw serve their purpose as contrast to the seafood but are not memorable of themselves.

Big T’s is a casual, friendly sort of place frequented by locals and a steady contingent of uniformed customers from nearby Fort Gordon. Located at a crossroads west of Augusta not far from Interstate 20, it has a parking lot with a somewhat obscure entrance. And it can be difficult getting out when there’s a lot of traffic. But such minor problems are eclipsed by the goodness of the seafood within.