In the City

You know how there are those places in your town that you know are always there yet, you find yourself rarely ever visiting?  For whatever reason, you just don’t go there.  There are quite a few of those places for us  in Naples.  I don’t think I can say that I don’t like any of them (well, maybe a few I don’t like), it’s just that I have no reason to go.  We are all creatures of habit.  One of these places for our family, is Tin City.  Located on the water, Tin City is a shopping & dining location in the Heart of Naples.  Again, I like it just fine…it’s just I have no reason to go.  Well, lucky for us, some of our cousins from Cincinnati were visiting and, guess what, they like Tin City.  So, we decided we would spend some time In the City and eat us some seafood.  In addition to the great company & fun times, our evening In the City was quite lovely.

We arrived at time city just before 6 and found that it was pretty busy – a good sign considering the summer is not our season.  While there are a few dining options in Tin City, we were headed to Pinchers Crab Shack.  We had visited Pinchers during our cousins last visit and everyone enjoyed it – why mess with a good thing?  Pinchers is pretty large on the inside with seating both indoors and out.  The decor is all Buffett and the feeling is very laid back.  We were seated inside but, with a nice view of outside.  Pinchers has quite a few locations throughout the area however, I have only visited this one.  Our service was good – I wouldn’t say great but, it was good.

While Pinchers is obviously known for their crab, I knew I wouldn’t be ordering it.  My beef with ordering crab legs is the price.  I easily need 2 pounds of crab legs, with sides, to be full.  Well, getting this at a restaurant is just not feasible.  Plus, it takes a while to actually eat your meal.  I decided some time ago I would save my crab legs for home.  After reviewing the menu, a few items stuck out.  The menu is quite large and does take some time to read through.  In the end, I went with the Grilled Shrimp (advertised as 1 pound) with Fresh Cut Fries and Baked Beans as my sides.  Yum…I was ready to eat as soon as I ordered.

Our food was ready in no time and looked great.  The shrimp was served on two skewers, which were both full.  This was certainly not 1 pound of shrimp however, it was a pretty good serving size.  We live in a world of XL-Serving Sizes so, sometimes normal sizes seem odd.  I dug right into my shrimp and loved every one.  Each shrimp was seasoned with flavors of Old Bay, Salt, Pepper and perhaps a touch of lemon.  Even though the shrimp appeared to be doused in seasoning, the flavors were right on.  I found none of the shrimp to be overflavored or oversalty.  With grilled shrimp, it is very easy to overcook them and make them rubbery.  Pinchers cooked these shrimp to perfection.  The outside had a bit of crispiness but, the inside was warm and non-chewy.  I really enjoyed these shrimp and would certainly order them again.

Pinchers Fresh Cut Fries, are in my top choices for fries – I absolutely love them.  They are everything a fresh-cut fry should be – fresh-cut, seasoned, cooked to perfection.  These are really great fries.  I did think my serving size was a bit small, especially compared to others in my family, but they were still great.  And, I ended up finishing off Taylor’s so, it’s all good.  Every single fry had the slight flavor of oil mixed with the full flavor of potato.  The fries were seasoned with salt and pepper and went great with Pinchers homemade cocktail sauce.  But, really, these fries are so amazing, they need no sauce.  These are fries that I will speak of until my next visit to Pinchers.  Yes, my name is Nicki and I am a Foodie.

As for the baked beans, they were good but not amazing.  Served in an individual bowl, there was a good mix of beans to sauce.  While the beans were fully cooked, the flavor was somewhat missing.  These did not have an overwhelming flavor of sugar – a good thing – however, they also didn’t have an overwhelming flavor of bbq – a not so good thing.  I don’t know what really to say about the baked beans…they were just baked beans.  I guess I was expecting more of a bbq flavor since Pincher’s brother restaurant is Texas Tony’s – a bbq joint.  Even though the flavor wasn’t there, I had no problem finishing off my bowls of beans.  Next time, I would probably opt for the veggies or corn-on-the-cob as my other side item.

On a whole, everyone enjoyed their meal and of course, the company was great.  My meal was priced at $15 which I think is a fair price for what I received.  Our cousins even treated us to dinner which was a very lovely surprise.  I like Pinchers however, I can almost guarantee you I won’t be there again any time soon.  Tin City will always be around and I place I only visit when others request it or enjoy it.  After dinner, we walked around Tin City (it seems smaller than it used to) and had a lovely evening.  If you have never been, and are in the Naples area, check out Tin City and eat at Pinchers.  Great atmosphere, good food and timeless memories can to be yours In the City.