ORIGINAL OYSTER HOUSE, Celebrating 40 Years, Gulf Shores, Mobile Causeway

By T. Jensen Lacey

It’s been my experience with so many Southerners possessing a discerning palate, that your average restaurant will be just a flash in the pan, or part of a conversation that goes something like, “What was that place before it became whatchamacallit?” 

Any restaurant that has stood the proverbial test of time has to have much more than just good food. In this regard, the Original Oyster House delivers! 

It was 1983, and the first Original Oyster House opened its doors in Gulf Shores. It was the realization of a dream of then-owners Joe and Mary Lou Roszkowski and Jane and David Dekle. Their business relationship culminated in one of the most successful and longest-running seafood restaurants in South Alabama. The first Original Oyster House seated 60 diners and had less than a dozen employees. After several expansions, it now seats 300 and employs 133 people.

They opened their second restaurant on the Causeway in 1985. Originally seating 80, it too expanded to 300 seats, including a gift shop, and a panoramic, waterfront private events room that seats between 30 to 100 people. 

More than serving great food, the Original Oyster House has long supported local non-profit and charitable organizations including schools, athletic programs, churches, healthcare, and environmental programs. The 2020 pandemic had a deep impact on the hospitality industry but through those challenging times, the restaurants maintained their altruistic programs. 

Since 2006, the Original Oyster House has awarded two $1,000 Chelsea Garvin Scholarships each year to high school seniors of Baldwin County. The scholarship was founded in memory of Chelsea Garvin, an employee, a talented artist, and a fire department rescue diver who died in 2005.

In its 16^th year, the restaurant hosted a Never Forget FREE Lunch on September 11^th  to honor the 9/11 first responders who risked their lives to save, protect, and serve and to recognize local first responders for their service.

As a member of the Green Council, the Original Oyster House has utilized renewable energy practices through the years. Among these is a wind turbine that generates power whenever winds reach eight miles per hour, vegetable oil conversion into biofuel, LED lights, and solar panel water heaters. 

In 2014, the restaurants sponsored the Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening Program. The sponsorship partially paid for 4-foot sculptures in the shape of an oyster, which create a trail. Proceeds benefit oyster gardening, growing stocker oysters to refurbish the reef. The Gulf Shores Oyster sculpture, designed by Dr. Barry Booth, was singled out as the only memorial, paying tribute to Honor Flight South Alabama. 

In 2016, the Original Oyster House became the first restaurant in Alabama to recycle oyster shells through the Alabama Coastal Foundation. Two years later, the restaurant volunteered to oyster garden through the Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening Program. In its fifth year, oyster gardening is here to stay. The Original Oyster House remains one of the only restaurants in the state gardening oysters for reef restoration.

All these things and more earned them a variety of accolades and awards, including Southern Living Magazine’s Readers Choice Award, Mobile Bay Monthly’s “Best Seafood Restaurant,” Time Magazine’s “Top Oyster Bars in America,” and Alabama’s GOLD Retailer of the Year.

In 2016, the Roszkowskis and Dekles retired and sold the company to Ark Restaurants. They recognized that Ark had similar values, excellent customer service, and hospitality expertise that had made the Original Oyster House legendary on the Gulf Coast. 

“When Joe and I decided to retire, we did our research. We wanted to find an organization that genuinely cares about its employees and would continue the programs in our community that the Oyster House started. They definitely are the right fit. Ark kept our full staff on and has continued our giving back programs,” said David Dekle, founder of the Original Oyster House.

Today Ark maintains the restaurants’ comprehensive giving back programs and sustainable practices. The staff at both locations continue to enjoy the Annual Employee Picnic the Sunday after Labor Day each year. Both the Original Oyster House and Ark Restaurants were founded in 1983.