Sheila’s Famous Conch and BBQ in Lake Worth
Tried out "Sheila’s Famous Conch and BBQ" on 12 Avenue South and U.S. 1 in Lake Worth.
I was VERY impressed.
It's basically a take-out window (MC/VIsa okay) with an outdoor, covered ultracasual dining area. Caribbean music and decor, smoker billowing smoke. Not in the greatest neighborhood but clean with polite service.
Basically two sides to the menu, the BBQ side (ribs and chopped pork) and the Seafood side (mostly conch, fish and shrimp).
I like that there are many portion sizes for each entree and also meal / ala carte options. So for example you can order just 3 ribs, or a small plate of cracked conch only.
Friend got the ribs, they were very big and very good IMHO. Not baby backs, these we thought were smoked perfectly with a bit of a char on one side but not totally falling apart.
I ordered cracked conch and conch salad. Cracked conch excellent - tasty, not oily, and served with a nice dipping sauce. Superb conch salad - small but the lemon or lime marinade was busrting with flavor and freshness. I ended up dipping my cracked conch in the leftover juice.
Prices VERY reasonable. I'll be back this weekend to try more. (Conch fritters, conch chowder, chopped pork...)
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Great conch salad! I usually don't like fish and chips -- too greasy. But Sheila's was light and fresh and very tasty -- made me understand the whole fried fish thing. Sadly, BBQ wasn't ready when we went there in early evening.
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CFByrne
Feb 3, 2011 01:23 PM
Nice review here from PB Post. Yum now I may have to go for lunch tomorrow.
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re: CFByrne
freakerdude
Feb 5, 2011 12:08 PM
Mega packed today at 3pm, probably due to the PB review. BBQ was all gone and I was told it would be a long wait regardless of what I ordered. It was worth the 30 minutes or so for cracked conch and conch salad. Good mix of all kinds of people here. The prices are very reasonable which makes it affordable to all.
It appears they moved out some tables from under the covered area (where I first sat) to make room for the smoker. And the smoker wasn't fired up. I don't know why you'd want a smoker under the same roof as where the tables are, as it could get awful smoky. They definitely needed more tables (and BBQ) today but lots of takeout going on.
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CFByrne
Oct 6, 2010 04:45 AM
Called ahead and went again last Friday. They were open!
Conch fritters - would be okay if they actually had some conch in them. They are nice texture and decently flavorful but my serving of 3 fritters literally had ZERO conch in them as far as I can tell, as I took them apart by hand and examined. If you want Hush Puppies get these and sip in some hot sauce, else pass.
In better news...
Cracked conch, great. Conch soup, excellent. Conch salad superb.
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re: OysterHo
I checked out sheila's today I had the ribs and crack conch and it was by far the best florida has to offer!! and the conch fritters i had were great . those folks have a nice clean place there and they sure have my business the food was hot & fresh. oh yeah I had a beer while I waited on my food.
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CFByrne
Sep 24, 2010 12:40 PM
I go out to lunch perhaps one weekday out of 10. The other times I eat at my desk. Today being Friday, I decided to celebrate by making the appx 30 minute round trip to Sheila's for a special treat.
Too bad when I arrived at 12:30, the place was closed. Another person was also there looking for a sign or a person but nothing.
So I figured maybe they've gone out of business. When I got home,. I decided to try calling which I did around 2PM. A female answered and I asked what was going on. She said her son was sick and she had to take him to the doctor.
I'm sorry if someone gets sick or of there is some other problem, but I think when you have a restaurant, you HAVE to open on time or you HAVE to get a sign up or get someone there.
There's got to be someone you can get to go over there and atleast put up a sign or something. Now they've probably got a bunch of customers that are PISSED because they took their valuable time to show up and Sheila's was CLOSED at 12:30 on a Friday.
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re: CFByrne
freakerdude
Sep 24, 2010 05:33 PM
This is the same thing I posted about Bamboo Fire being closed during a Delray festival on a Saturday.
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re: CFByrne
pikiliz
Sep 26, 2010 10:46 AM
Well in Sheila’s defense they are not a chain with multiple stores and manager's. they are a small place that IS serving amazing food and maybe as such you might make a call before driving up because they could be close at anytime. I guess you have never had a kid sick that forced you to miss work and if so maybe someone was able to fill in but did the same work get done ? how about giving them a break they have great food..... Bamboo fire also is of that same ilk except as with Sheila's they serve great food and maybe the delray festival would not be financially viable in this climate and a phone call might be made(freakerdude) I gotta say this entire attitude smells of snobbery....how bout giving people more than one chance before bitching freaker how many times have you been to bamboo fire and cf how many times have you been to Sheila's ......ever and if so was the food worthy of a return trip.....if so why trash them for one time, WTF we need great food in the county and your words do not help because of one time....... both these resto serve top notch food and in my EHOP GIVE THEM A BREAK In this economy we need to help those that serve good food as both the places do
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re: pikiliz
CFByrne
Sep 26, 2010 11:11 AM
I've had a sick kid but I never just did not show up to work. I think you've gotta have a backup plan. A nearby store owner or a friend or whatever, they just need to put up a sign. "Open at XXPM today due to family emergency".
"Giving these folks a break" is not really giving anyone a break. It's little things like this that add up and before long the customers stop coming and everyone is wondering why and what went wrong.
How about all the folks that stopped by and saw the sign "Open 11AM" and it's 12:30 or whatever and they place is sealed tight. Think they are coming back anytime soon? Pretending this didn't happen or that we should ignore it doesn't help.
I'll be back (although now I'll always have to think twice), but I don't know about any number of other folks who may have come for the first time and left disappointed.
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re: pikiliz
I don't think what CF or Freaker are saying is snobbish. They clearly like both restaurants. They're simply pointing out some very poor business practices. It's things like this that cause these small businesses to close.
The whole give them a break thing doesn't work for customers. I'm willing to forgive things like this for small local restaurants I enjoy. Though most customers will probably just take their lunch dollar elsewhere after something like this.
This is the business they chose to be in. So like it or not they need to compete with the reliable chains of the world who are always open when they say their open, regardless of who's sick.
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re: pikiliz
freakerdude
Sep 27, 2010 10:01 AM
Oh pikiliz, don't shoot the messengers. How would you feel if you drove 30 minutes to an hour to get there and find them closed? This information is actually a service to anyone else who might go. Nobody should have to call a business to see if they are open before they go. Any business that is not reliable doesn't make it in any economy.
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re: freakerdude
pikiliz
Sep 28, 2010 05:55 AM
but i do shoot messengers their bones roasting on a open fire tasty....just saying everybody deserves a chance if it happens more than once I will be the first one there with a attitude to share with them about what a poor job they are doing...i will tell you guys one thing betcha call before you go next time but you shouldn't have too i agree with that just give them a chance...... perhaps I am a little over the top at times soory did not be to be a richard cranium
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This place is like walking up to a local restaurant in the Bahamas, Jamaica etc... you name the island. It is actually even better than most of the places that I have enjoyed in the Caribbean! Amazing cracked conch, tender, fresh, hot, cooked to order; perfect as is but sauce is a delicious addition for dipping. Conch salad was delicious and fresh made! Next time I will get the spicy one; was afraid it might be too hot so ordered the regular spice - so good couldn't stop eating it! On vaca here and cannot wait to go back tomorrow to try the BBQ...(will not be able to resist the cracked conch too though!)
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OysterHo
Jul 11, 2010 01:36 PM
We went today, finally! My bf and I shared 4 ribs, a large conch salad, a large order of cracked conch, and a small order of fried shrimp. I forgot to order mac n cheese, doh!
I loved everything but didn't try the shrimp. My bf said it was really good. I took home half of the conch salad. It's fabulous and definitely my favorite of the entire spread. That said, I don't usually eat so much fried food anyway so it's fitting that it would be my fav.
The cracked conch was very tender and delicate. Dipping sauce was fantastic.
The ribs were delicious, tender, and I loved the smokey sweet sauce. I'm not a BBQ expert, but I'd eat them again.I was dying of thirst and the diet coke was refilled free. I like simple things like that. :)
I'm guessing that Sheila is the sweet lady behind the counter. I asked her if they had beer, and she said she's definitely working on that! I guess the city isn't being too cooperative, I don't know how that works really.
Two thumbs up. :)
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I drive by this place everyday on my way home from work. I had to stop after reading all of the great reviews.... I ordered the conch only.
Honestly I have had cracked conch many places , and this is the best I ever had. I don't know how they make it so tender but it's not chewy like some places I have been. The gentleman that waited on me was fantastic. I will be back. -
freakerdude
Jun 19, 2010 07:04 PM
Sheila's today and it was overall very good. I'm not much of a conch eater but I did give it a try. I had pork sandwich which later turned out to be a sandwich minus the bread but I didn't complain. I also ordered a medium fried conch.
The wait was a long time, easily 30 minutes it seemed and there was only a group of two in front of me with takeouts that came in after me. Yeah, good things are worth waiting for I guess. I saw them pull the ribs off the smoker for the people ahead of me and then a pork butt came off. It was pretty hot outside today but thank goodness there was a breeze coming though there.
The cracked conch was excellent and I can't compare since it is only my 2nd time having it. I couldn't imagine it being much better. With the lime and the dipping sauce, this is a great combo. My pork was very good except the sauce was too sweet for me. It did have a good smoke flavor whih nobody still in business can compare to in the palm beaches. Rice and pigeon peas were good too. If you order the ribs or the pork sandwich, definitely ask for sauce on the side. I could have eaten the pork with just a bit of the sauce b/c it is very sweet. This pork reigns supreme in all of the sampling I have done in the area.
The area is not the greatest but you are cool eating there. She had a lot of biz coming in after me and I would say at least 10 orders were taken while I was there for about an hour. This was around 1:30 too. Prices are very resaonable. My pork 'meal' which was pork, 1 side, and a drink was under $8 and just the medium conch was $3.65 or so.
Next time I will try the ribs and maybe some conch soup.
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pikiliz
Jun 13, 2010 06:14 AM
Went to Sheila's last night, they were great food. My friend and I ordered the cracked conch with sides of mac-n-cheese (good), conch fritters(doughy but flavorful,Good dippin sauce), collard greens(very good),but the star was the cracked conch, the batter was light and did not get in the way of the of the star the conch. light citrus marinade in the background and good much to like. We also ordered a half slab of ribs but to my dismay there were out and there were some on the smoker but would not be ready in time, so we ordered wings and they were very good a 12 piece (i think) was full of big wings. On a separate note I would like the owners to know that the young lady that served us at the window was amazing as I ordered and was told that there was no ribs to be had, she seemed to sense my displeasure and let us substitute a couple of the sides that were not part of the meal for the ribs. You cannot believe how amazed i was, this young girl understands how a good business is run. I predicted great thing for the restaurant and the outside patio and music just perfect with the food.I will jump on the Sheila's Bandwagon great food great staff great fun
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re: pikiliz
CFByrne
Jun 13, 2010 05:18 PM
Glad you enjoyed it Piki, I know you have high standards for Floribean treats.
Thinking back on my experience, I'd have to say this place has perhaps the best cracked conch I've ever had. I also was impressed with the very easy step of having an order-taker/cashier who is actually friendly and has a customer-oriented outlook.
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CFByrne
May 14, 2010 05:28 AM
Made a return visit, had ribs again plus Conch Chowder and Conch Fritters.
Ribs were good again IMHO but I'm going to leave a real BBQ review to experts. :-)
Fritters were not bad, I've had worse I've had better. Mostly dough of course but there were the occasional pieces of conch and the dough was reasonably tasty. I'd like more if they added some onion and peppers to the batter, let them get carmelized and then you have something interesting going on. Good portion for the price. Better selection of hot sauce would also help here.
Conch chowder (they call it soup) was excellent. Quite unusual, not tomato-ey at all. It had some dark deep flavors, almost like Ox Tail soup or something. Lots of potatoes and small bits of dark conch but the star here is the broth. If your looking for Manhattan Clam Chowder you won't like this but if your interested in something different, highly recommended. See photos below.
Service was good although they could have given me my soup while the other stuff was cooking, instead they waited about 10 minutes and it all came out at once.
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OysterHo
May 10, 2010 07:17 PM
Wow that all looks great. I adore conch. Did they have grilled/scorched conch or any other conch dishes that aren't fried?
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