SOB serves up a menu inspired by Gulf Coast cuisine, featuring a full seafood menu plus favorites like raw oysters, shrimp & grits, and more!
Story and Photos by Tim O’Brien
On the eastern edge of Suwanee Town Center rests Seaside Oyster Bar, a coastal-inspired addition to the local restaurant scene. With its 30A-esque font and coloring, SOB boasts a large footprint with an expansive dining area, full-service cocktail bar, and a covered patio featuring beach-style lounge seating and gas-fueled fire pit tables. Upon walking in and smelling the fresh seafood, one might feel as if they are just a stone’s throw from a sandy beach — and that’s all by design.
Following Tequila Mama Taqueria, TMT Concepts’ second big venture in the area, Seaside Oyster Bar, came out of co-owner Blake Rogers’ longing for a distant delicacy.
“I have always loved traveling to the Gulf Coast and experiencing all the wonderful food it has to offer,” says Rogers. “However, upon my return home back to Georgia each time, I found myself missing the places I visited, so we decided to create Seaside Oyster Bar to provide a familiar experience, as if you were dining somewhere fantastic along the Gulf Coast.”
With shiplap paneling, wicker chandeliers, nautical rope accents, and a thoroughly ocean blue color tone, SOB stands out in the local area known for traditionally Southern eateries.
“In our minds [the restaurant] is casual, a place that you can come and feel like you’re at the beach, relaxed, and you can find fresh foods directly from the ocean like fresh oysters and fish,” explains Vice President of TMT Concepts, Jenny Germosen. “Basically, we want people to feel like they’re on the coast.”
With the authentically executed coastal aesthetic, music, and aromas, the ambience alone seems to accomplish just that, but the food is what really packs the punch.
Oysters, shrimp, tuna, lobster, crab. Towers of seafood and curated cocktails to pair them with. Seaside has it all. “The oysters! People really come here for the oysters,” says Germosen. Choose between raw oysters and cooked oysters, Rockefeller and New Orleans. The New Orleans, Germosen’s favorite, are flavorful with a twist of BBQ NOLA seasoning, but fans of cooked oysters really enjoy the Rockefeller.
CURATED CRAFT COCKTAILS
Seaside’s rotating menu of fresh oysters from places like Maryland and Virginia may be their biggest draw, but it’s only one of many elegant offerings. SOB has a fully stocked bar with carefully curated craft cocktails and a wide variety of bourbons to pick from. Their signature drink, the Smoked Old Fashioned with a bourbon of your choice, is a crowd favorite, and it doesn’t stop there. The Seaside Lemonade or Rosemary Gin Fizz are delightful paired with a platter of fresh oysters, but my favorite was the “Take Me Home” frozen cocktail, a seasonal drink for summer, with strawberry, coconut rum and pomegranate.
LOCAL ROOTS
For fans of Tequila Mama, the connection to Seaside Oyster Bar is evident in the consistency and quality of both the food and customer service. “We all share that we’re very passionate about what we do, and it’s very important for us to have the attention to detail, the quality of food and that people feel welcome when they come here,” says Germosen. “It’s not only about the food, it’s about the experience.”
While TMT Concepts’ vision seems clear now, they come from humble beginnings. Only one year into the industry, with just one restaurant in operation, Tequila Mama and the restaurant industry as a whole took a hard hit from the pandemic.
“I think the margarita saved us,” says Germosen, who has been with the company from the start. “We never closed our doors. We were doing to-gos until the city allowed us to open and when we opened in May [2020] it was a hit.”
She credits the pandemic in enabling people to value TMT Concepts’ personal touch. It spawned a whole new beginning and only a year later, in October 2021, they opened SOB to immediate success. One would never guess this restaurant had not always been an institution.
After that, for TMT Concepts, there was no looking back. Following a phoenix-like emergence out of the pandemic and a trusted concept in Seaside Oyster Bar, TMT opened up another Tequila Mama in Buford, followed by Local Tap right next door. A year after that, they opened their second Seaside in Bethlehem, and the coastal-inspired cuisine with a Southern twist became a proven model.
“We get a lot of people who have been to Florida and when they come here they’re like, ‘Wow, I feel like I’m in Florida,’” says Germosen. “They go, ‘This is really fresh! This is really good! I’m gonna come back!’”
And as long as they keep coming, TMT Concepts will keep growing. This summer they plan to open a third Tequila Mama in Dacula, a fourth in Alpharetta in 2025, and by the end of this year, a new concept called Suwanee Social right here in Town Center. Germosen can’t say much, but she describes it as “a fusion of foods, tapas with a twist of Mediterranean, and more fresh, more elaborate dishes. It is going to be a great addition to Suwanee.”
In the meantime, if you’re a beach person in a landlocked town looking for that relaxed vacation-style dining experience that can only be found on the Gulf, at Seaside Oyster Bar you can find a bit of the beach just down the block.
Seaside Oyster Bar is located at 3890 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee. For more information, visit SeasideOysterBar.com.
