I like seafood spots that make lunch look easy right up until it is time to order.
This Virginia counter keeps things focused without feeling boring. Sandwiches and po-boys do plenty of the work, while fried seafood gives you another reason to hesitate.
The menu stays compact, but that does not make the choice simple. A few strong options can be harder to narrow down than a page full of them.
Family-owned and based in Hampton, the restaurant keeps the whole setup casual and made to order.
Small menu, big decision.
Seafood Sandwiches Make The First Decision A Delicious Challenge
Choosing a seafood sandwich sounds simple until you start looking at the options. At Anthony’s Seafood, the menu gives you several fish choices, including whiting, trout, catfish, flounder, and tilapia.
That lineup gives you several ways to order the same basic format without repeating the exact same meal.
The sandwiches are served on buns and can be dressed with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and pickles. You can keep the toppings minimal or add the full combination depending on how you want the sandwich built.
The straightforward format also makes comparing the fish easier. Instead of changing the entire meal, you can order a different fish while keeping the sandwich setup familiar.
The made-to-order approach keeps the preparation tied directly to your order. You choose your seafood, decide how you want the sandwich dressed, and the kitchen prepares it after you order.
The fun part is deciding where to begin. Do you choose the fish you already know, or pick something different just to compare it with your usual order?
With whiting, trout, catfish, flounder, and tilapia all available as sandwich choices, you can make several visits before repeating the same fish.
Sometimes the hardest part of a simple menu is realizing you still have five directions to go.
Catfish Brings A Classic Seafood Sandwich Experience
Catfish has a regular place in Anthony’s Seafood’s lineup.
The restaurant offers catfish sandwiches, catfish po-boys, and catfish platters, giving you several ways to order the same fish.
The sandwich version keeps the format straightforward. Fried catfish comes on a bun and can be dressed with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and pickles.
You can also use catfish as a way to compare the different menu formats. Start with the sandwich when you want something easy to handle, move to the po-boy when you want the longer bread format, or choose the platter when sides are part of the plan.
If you prefer a larger meal, the platter option gives you another way to order catfish alongside the restaurant’s seafood sides.
That flexibility extends beyond catfish too. Several fish choices appear in more than one section of the menu, so you are not locked into one format simply because you picked a particular seafood item.
Catfish just happens to make that progression especially easy to see.
Sandwich, po-boy, or platter. Same fish, three very different lunch decisions.
Po-Boys Turn Seafood Into A Bigger Meal
A regular sandwich is one thing. A po-boy takes the seafood into a longer sandwich format.
Anthony’s Seafood offers po-boys in six-inch and twelve-inch sizes with choices including catfish, tilapia, flounder, shrimp, and oyster.
That means the po-boy section is not limited to fish. Shrimp and oyster give you two shellfish options alongside the catfish, tilapia, and flounder choices.
The six-inch size gives you a smaller option, while the twelve-inch version doubles the length when you want more.
Having two sizes also makes it easier to match the order to the rest of your meal. You can keep things more compact or build lunch around the larger version.
The filling changes without requiring you to learn a completely different section of the menu.
Try catfish one time, flounder the next, then move toward shrimp or oyster if you want to leave fish behind altogether.
That is one advantage of the po-boy lineup. The format stays recognizable while the seafood inside it changes.
Sometimes deciding between six inches and twelve is easy. Choosing which seafood goes inside can take a little longer.
Made-To-Order Seafood Keeps The Process Straightforward
Anthony’s Seafood prepares its food to order.
That gives the menu a simple rhythm. You choose your seafood, choose the format, add sides where applicable, and the kitchen prepares the meal after you place the order.
The menu covers fried seafood, sandwiches, po-boys, platters, combinations, and sides, giving you several ways to put lunch together.
That flexibility also keeps the choices from becoming repetitive. The same type of seafood can become a sandwich during one visit and part of a larger platter during another.
You are changing the format without abandoning a fish or shellfish choice you already know.
You can also move in the opposite direction. If a platter seems like more than you want, the sandwich and po-boy sections give you simpler ways to order several of the same seafood choices.
The process stays easy to follow even as the combinations change.
Pick the seafood. Pick the style. Add the sides that come with your selection. Then let the kitchen handle the rest.
For a menu built around fried seafood, that straightforward setup gives you plenty of combinations without requiring a complicated ordering system.
Shrimp And Other Seafood Choices Expand The Menu
Fish sandwiches may be one of the easiest places to begin, but Anthony’s Seafood offers plenty beyond fish.
The menu includes shrimp, oyster, crab cake, soft-shell crab, scallops, clam strips, and seafood combinations.
Seafood platters bring several choices into the same section, including fish, shrimp, scallops, oysters, and crab cake options.
That variety gives you different ways to build a meal. One visit can focus entirely on a sandwich, while another can move toward a platter or combination.
It also helps when several people are ordering together. One person can stick with a fish sandwich while another chooses shrimp, scallops, oysters, or a crab cake.
The combination section is especially useful when choosing only one seafood item is not what you have in mind.
Instead of deciding between fish and shellfish, you can select a combination that brings multiple items onto the same plate.
Soft-shell crab and clam strips add still more possibilities beyond the fish-and-shrimp starting point.
A fish sandwich might get you through the door, but it does not have to decide every order after that.
There are enough other seafood choices to send lunch in several different directions.
Hushpuppies And Fries Complete The Seafood Plate
Seafood platters and combinations come with familiar sides at Anthony’s Seafood.
The seafood combinations include fries, three hushpuppies, coleslaw, and a drink, creating a full meal rather than a plate built around seafood alone.
Lunch specials also pair seafood selections with fries and three hushpuppies. That gives you another distinction between the sandwich and platter sections.
If you only want the seafood on bread, a sandwich or po-boy keeps things focused.
If fries, hushpuppies, and coleslaw sound like part of the plan, the platter and combination sections give those sides a bigger role.
You can also use the sides to decide how substantial you want the meal to become. A fish sandwich is one direction.
A seafood combination with several accompaniments is another. Neither requires much explaining once you see the menu laid out.
Fries and hushpuppies may not be the reason you started thinking about seafood, but they become part of the decision once you move beyond sandwiches.
Sometimes the supporting players still manage to complicate an otherwise simple lunch choice.
This Hampton Seafood Spot Keeps Things Simple
Anthony’s Seafood keeps its focus on seafood sandwiches, po-boys, fried seafood, platters, combinations, and familiar sides.
The family-owned Hampton business prepares its food to order and gives you several ways to build a meal without stretching the menu in too many directions.
You can stop for a straightforward fish sandwich, choose a po-boy when you want the longer format, or build lunch around a seafood platter when you want several components on the plate.
That makes the menu easy to understand without making every order identical.
The same visit can look completely different depending on where you start.
Whiting on a bun is one option. A twelve-inch shrimp po-boy is another.
A seafood combination with fries, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and a drink takes lunch somewhere else entirely.
You can find Anthony’s Seafood at 2600 W Mercury Blvd, Hampton, VA 23666.
The listed hours are Monday through Thursday from nine a.m. to six p.m., Friday from nine a.m. to seven p.m., Saturday from nine a.m. to six p.m., and closed Sunday.
The setup stays straightforward.
Pick the seafood, pick the format, and see whether today’s sandwich wins or another section of the menu changes your mind.