Fish City Grill Frankford

Our Story (and we're sticking to it!)

Let's start at the beginning. The original neighborhood joint was opened in April of 1994 in Snider Plaza, Dallas. It was not a seafood restaurant, but a coffee bar called Michele's Coffee Bar and Café.

Bill Bayne was a regular breakfast customer at this little coffee shop in Snider Plaza. He thought the place would make a great oyster bar and asked the owner if he would be willing to sell the restaurant. Instead they joined forces and began planning the conversion of Michele's Coffee Bar into Shell's Oyster Bar.

Shell's Oyster Bar and Grill opened on November 1, 1995 with a simple menu of shrimp, catfish and oysters. It was an instant hit! Bill and his partner were soon planning to expand the operation and the menu with a second location in Colleyville and a third in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas.

With Shells growing so quickly and successfully they began to get noticed. One company that noticed them was Shells out of Florida. Shells insisted that this little company in Texas was infringing on their name and a lawsuit was promptly filed. Having no money to battle a large company, Texas Shells changed its name to Half Shells and has never looked back.

Behind every cloud is that silver lining. From the lawsuit sprang an idea that if they were to grow larger another name change was in order. Rockfish Seafood Grill became the name to grow with.

Bill was in charge of operations, menu development and product quality. His wife L