Harbor One

 

Located at 788 N. Main Street in High Point, Harbor One offers fried seafood and more. It is open from 11-9 on Thursdays and Fridays (with speedy lunch specials available from 11-2), 3-9 on Saturdays, and 12-6 on Sundays (when a special soul food menu is featured). Outdoor dining is available.

 

Enticed by Facebook photos of their shrimp and grits, I had Harbor One on my to-try list for quite a while before finally paying them a visit. Unfortunately, the shrimp and grits were a Friday/Saturday only item, and my wife and I stopped by on a Thursday. Fortunately, it was far from a disappointing experience.

Harbor One is a small, unpretentious (think Styrofoam containers and plasticware) place with an equally small menu, but this belies how good the food truly is. While the Sunday selections add soul food staples such as smoked ribs, mac and cheese, and yams, the weekday offerings are mostly fried fish/seafood platters or sandwiches as well as wings and a few apps/sides. Wanting to try a little bit of everything, my wife and I split an Ultimate Feast and added zucchini fries.

 

The platter certainly lived up to its name as it included croaker, whiting, popcorn shrimp, jumbo shrimp, oysters, baked beans, fries, slaw, and a few hushpuppies. We were able to get four fairly filling meals out of it, and it offered quality as well as quantity. The hushpuppies are addictive and will leave you craving more. The tender oysters are the antithesis of every tough and chewy fried oyster or clam strip you’ve ever regretted and may even make converts of shellfish skeptics. The chip-style zucchini fries are housemade and generously breaded. Even the crinkle-cut fries (in most cases, a frozen product) were surprisingly tasty and well-seasoned. While croaker is something I might steer clear of in the future (lots and lots of bones), it too had a nice black pepper flavor.

 

The price paid for the feast ($24) was a steal given the quantity and quality, and the proprietor was friendly and welcoming.

 

Call it the paradox of success, but Harbor One does what it does so well that it can’t help but leave you wanting more (more days open, more sure-to-be delicious menu offerings, etc.). In the meantime, take what you can get: you’ll be happy with it.