Polished crap shack. Wanted everything on the menu. Went with the shrimp, fish sandwich, and soft-shell crab special (for two). A little pricey but market rates...Did not disappoint. Had a chill area out back to soak up some sun. read more

Jean’s By the Sea - Seafood Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Quick great courteous service. Food was delicious! Limited indoor seating during inclement weather and we noticed some vehicles driving away when all,seating was taken up. read more

Jean's by the Sea is the kind of place that makes you do a double take and say, wait... are we still in Durham? Tucked into Old West Durham, this brand new seafood shack feels like it was plucked straight off the Carolina coast and dropped right into the neighborhood. From the outside, the cedar siding and big painted fish logo set the tone. Inside, it is bright, casual, and nostalgic in the best way. There are wood paneled ceilings, checkerboard floors, minty green accents, and cozy booths lining the windows. The open ordering counter gives it that classic fish camp feel, and you can see the kitchen in action. It is unfussy, charming, and very intentional. You order at the counter, grab a seat, and settle in. Ordering in is easy, with great attentive, friendly service that you would expect. Now let's talk about the food because Jean's absolutely delivers. The Crispy Cod Sandwich was AMAZING. Perfectly golden, perfectly seasoned, crunchy panko crust on the outside, flaky and tender inside, topped with melty cheese and piled onto a soft bun. The side of coleslaw was fresh, creamy, and balanced the richness of the sandwich beautifully. Their tartar sauce needs a standing ovation as it was also well-balanced and really enhanced the flavor of the fresh fish. We also ordered the Calabash Platter with grilled flounder, and wow. The flounder was seasoned well and cooked perfectly with a nice char. The homemade cocktail sauce deserves its own shoutout. Tangy, punchy, and clearly made with care. The crinkle cut fries were dusted in Old Bay and fried just right, and the hushpuppies were golden, slightly sweet, and dangerously snackable. For drinks, the Spicy Margarita was crisp and refreshing with the perfect salty/spicy rim and just enough heat. You can tell the mix was homemade and not the pre-packaged stuff! The Arnaldo Palmer with tamarind Jarritos and lemonade was such a fun, bright twist. Sweet, tart, and incredibly refreshing. Jean's feels like a love letter to coastal fish shacks, but elevated just enough to feel fresh and exciting. It is casual, thoughtful, and absolutely delicious. This is exactly what Old West Durham needed. We will 100% be back and glad to be within walking distance of this fabulous establishment! read more

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My first impression when I walked in was it felt like a beach restaurant. It was light and airy and super clean. It was really nicely decorated. One of their specials was clam strips. We tried the clam strips, grilled shrimp and fried oysters. Everything was really good, but the clam strips were the best I've ever had. Their frozen lemonade was perfect, not too sweet and not too tart. Service was friendly and he answered our questions about the specials. We plan on going back. read more

Jean’s By the Sea - Clam strips and French fries, slaw, hush puppies. - Seafood Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

Food was great friendly staff and great drinks I will be back again. With the family. I wish it was closer read more

The food was delicious but the prices were kind of high for lunch. We both paid $30 for our platters. $10-$15 lunch specials would be great but they close early anyway. Service was quick. They call your name when your order is ready. Plenty of outdoor seating and a few booths and stools inside. I would return if I had a craving for soft shell crab. read more

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Love the concept of a fancy but approachable fish camp. The crudo and grilled fish sandwich were delicious. My partner enjoyed his catfish basket. Great outdoor seating area read more

Jean’s By the Sea - Crudo, catfish basket, blackened grilled flounder sandwich - Seafood Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

I am very conflicted on how many stars to give, wishing I could have given a 4/5 but it fell a bit short for me. so here's what I'm thinking.....cute atmosphere with limited in door seating because it is what I would describe as quaint, however as the weather improves the fenced in area with picnic tables with white lights is an awesome space! Service was decent overall. I ordered myself a margarita and a calabash basket. My total ended up being $60 which I think is kinda high. The margarita was nothing special and don't think drinks are their strong suit, but at $14 I won't order it again. Now the seafood itself was good. I ended up getting fried oysters and blackened shrimp, both of which were really delish. The seafood was served on a generous bed of French fries and a few hush puppies which were sadly not provided to me but I never brought this to their attention so I won't hold it against them and my friend shared one of hers with me and it was good. I am not much of a cole slaw fan, so I can't weigh in on that. I ate every last bit of seafood, but wasn't able to polish off my fries. I would certainly consider returning in the future to try other seafood menu items! read more

Jean’s By the Sea - $14 Margarita - Seafood Near Me - Durham, North Carolina

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First timer for this place. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The menu was discussed in detail, which helped with our choices. The quality of the meal was superb. The inside dining area is "cozy" but ample. I can't wait for the weather to cool down and eat outside. We will definitely be back! read more

Clams were very meaty and well breaded. Nice menu with specials on the board. Have draft beer as well as other alcoholic beverages. read more

This place really underwhelming for the price. For two cocktails and two meals we spent over $100 with tip. The layout is kind of wonky on a busy night and the parking is horrible. The staff were really nice and professional though. I feel like that was this place's saving grace for me. I wanted to love it but I feel like there are better fish places in town. read more

Tiny place with amazing seafood, I thought it had been here for years but has been here 5 months. The whale platter had huge fresh shrimp, ceviche, tuna crudo, and 12 delicious oysters----all in ice. This is a simple place, think diner, outside seating, great friendly staff, and clean clean kitchen! Did I mention the scallops tostadas and delicious clam strips? read more

Pretty good first visit across the board. The menu is big enough to find something for everyone. Seafood was very fresh and well prepared, didn't have anything we didn't like. Wife had the shrimp salad and I did one of the samplers which was super fun. Portions are small and prices are high which is a bit frustrating especially not being downtown but rather across from the ABC store off of 9th street area. We are going to give it another shot and switch the order up and see how it goes. Definitely worth a visit especially if you are a seafood fan as Durham lacks this kind of focused spot for the pescatarian in all of us ;-) read more

We loved jeans! Like everyone said it is pricey, but it's GREAT seafood from a seafood lover, in a nice casual vibe. We loved having some beers in the sun with our shrimp Sammie's, blackened flounder and loads of hushpuppies read more

The food was amazing! The service is superb!!! The ambience is great! The place is packed on Saturday night, so I suggest other times might be less busy. read more

Calabash would-be without the taste. Slaw is bland and tasteless, raw cabbage in some kind of milky substance. Order is served hot out of the fryer, but in my case, when it cooled off enough to eat the fish the 3 small filets tasted like past-date covered thickly in an oily crust. For $25 I got 3 very small pieces of old and overdone cod, about a half cup of the raw slaw, and 5 hushpuppies. That's it. I have no plans to return nor would I recommend the place to friends. I was pressured to add a tip of at least 20% which I declined to do because of the pressure. Tipping is my choice and I don't consider handing me a take out box of inferior food to merit a tip. read more

Good food. Excellent environment. True to the name it does have that "by the sea" ambience. Get there early to get a parking spot, tho...

FOOD IS 1000/10. Ceviche was fresh .. so fresh. Fried oysters. AMAZING. Smoked fish dip.. Bomb. You can not lose eating at Jean's. read more

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Our first visit - with hot shrimp boil and fried cod sandwich. The shrimp was superb, cooked in a butter/garlic/old bay broth that I wanted to drink after rapidly ingesting the shrimp. The fried cod sandwich was very good as well. The ambience is very casual, the staff friendly and attentive, and with the excellent weather we enjoyed the outdoor picnic tables and the IPA on tap. I will happily return for more. read more

If you want seafood this place is just ok. Food is good. However, it is expensive compared to other local places. No sides come with a $16- 18 fish sandwich. Expect to not be served. It is self serve. You pick up your food when your name is called and you clean up your own stuff. Do not expect refills on your $3 -4 drinks. read more

Seafood is lovely. Service is friendly. Definitely has the vibe of a beach seafood place. I hate to say this but the price of platters is a bit high. Would love to see this place make it though. read more

Quite pricey. presentation could be improved and if a special is offered sufficient quantities should be ordered to support demand

Food was good. Spent $109 dollars for dinner (included 20% tip) For two seafood baskets, unsweet tea and two mixed drinks. The mixed drinks were not good. The seafood was tasty but there were only 5 scallops in my basket, same for husband's shrimp basket, mostly fries, cup of slaw, no hushpuppies. Tartar sauce was left on counter for us to come back to get, no other sauce offered. Cute environment but we will not be going back due to the price and amount of seafood you get. read more

I was glad to finally get a chance to try this new place! They did a lot of work fixing the place up. I had the blackened fish basket and my son got the cod sandwich, the basket was okay but for $23 a few more than 3 hush puppies and a handful of fries would have been nice. $4 for one coke and $4.50 for a glass of lemonade brought lunch to over $60 for two people. It was good, service was good and I'd go back again. read more

If I were to review the food that would mean I ignored these initial 20 reviews...and that would prove foolish on my part. Just based on the reviews I see a trend of Food Tastes Great with an * in so many areas. Out of the 20 reviews maybe 6 different entree items were exclusively mentioned. There seems to be a lean into the "social" aspect of the restaurant. Which is not going to make the food taste better or more acceptable for it to be "Overpriced". That would be a prevailing theme throughout. Pricey for the quantity. Slaw is creamy not vinegary. Ceviche is delicious, proclaims one. But then again it's not necessarily what Seafood Restaurants should be touted for...I am not one that is concerned about purchasing a Margarita and can't say I would know what is the perfect one but that seems to be an area lacking at this restaurant. I don't believe I read comments on the quality of the hush puppies but that is usually something that a great Seafood Restaurant would prevail in accomplishing. I tend to imagine without a sustained effort to "Reel in" the customers with a more traditional pricing format and enhanced beverage line this place may succumb to its own foibles of extending a livable wage supplement to its service staff when in the reviews I specifically read that the service was lacking and they call your name when your food is ready. I am not sure I will crack the doors to even order hush puppies until the reviews highlight something that will provoke me to do so. Paying high prices for what was described isn't going to get me there. And I drive by it 10 or more times a week. Only thing that might get me to stop by now is if Wimpy's staff set up a food truck serving their banana pudding. read more

I would call this restaurant OK. The seafood is fresh. The margaritas were delicious! A lot of the food was too salty, the shrimp were not well cleaned, and I think it's overpriced for a counter service establishment. read more

Great idea for a seafood restaurant and long over due. I will say Jean's had very good tasting food. However, the price is high, the portions small, the margarita wattered down and they even tried to avoid the cash break by getting two entrees by suggesitng I get two "baskets" instead of combining them in one. Plus they ran out of grilled fish at 5 PM on Saturday night. Not sure how long they can last. kd read more