At the very end of Highway 49, where the road runs out beside the Bon Secour River, the Tin Top Restaurant and Oyster Bar now sits in a big, lodge-like building that feels more like a friend’s waterfront home than a restaurant. The new Tin Top, which opened in August 2024, carries forward two decades of reputation earned in a much smaller space up the road, and on a rainy Friday this past March it was packed with diners who had clearly made the drive on purpose.
Getting there from Fairhope is part of the experience: south on Highway 98, a right turn at Magnolia Springs, and then straight down Highway 49 until there is nowhere left to go but the water.
A Porch, a River and a Haint Blue Ceiling
On a clear day, an umbrella table on the deck overlooking the river would be the obvious choice. On a wet one, the covered, open-air porch with its view of the water is the next best seat. Shortly after opening that March Friday, the tables were filling fast, many of them with winter visitors from up north, the snowbirds who spend the colder months on the Alabama coast, tanned and wearing T-shirts from the places they had discovered over the season.
Overhead, the porch ceiling is painted Haint Blue, a pale blue-green with deep roots in Southern tradition. According to folklore, the color protects a home from “haints,” or restless spirits. A more practical explanation holds that it fools insects into mistaking the ceiling for open sky, discouraging wasps and spiders from building nests. The custom is especially associated with the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia but can be spotted on porches all along the Gulf Coast.
Owner Bob Hallmark stopped by the bar that day and said the winter visitors had arrived on Feb. 1 and kept the restaurant extremely busy all month. “I hate to see them go,” he said. With spring break following close behind, the dining room was unlikely to stay quiet for long.
Start With the Oysters
The menu is extensive, with plenty of seafood, steaks and house favorites, but oysters are the natural place to begin. The dozen-oyster sampler brings together four baked varieties:
- Margaret: a simple Parmesan butter sauce.
- Rockefeller: the traditional preparation with spinach and Parmesan.
- Dirty Dozen: topped with a house tasso ham cream sauce.
- Tin Top: finished with the house crawfish sauce.
The oysters are shucked right at the bar and then sent to the kitchen on the half shell for baking. The Dirty Dozen and Tin Top oysters have picked up two honors, Best Seafood in Baldwin County from Gulf Coast Newspapers and Best of Brunch from the Coastal Wine Tour. The Margaret and the classic Rockefeller were standouts, fresh enough that a second visit would call for two dozen.
Oysters Rockefeller itself is a Gulf Coast classic, created at Antoine’s in New Orleans in the late 1800s and named for John D. Rockefeller in a nod to the dish’s richness.
Seafood Next Door to the Source
The restaurant’s neighbor is Bon Secour Fisheries, one of the best-known seafood businesses on the Gulf, so ordering anything other than seafood feels almost beside the point. The shrimp and Gouda grits come with a house-made crawfish sauce. The shrimp po’boy, served with coleslaw and French fries, arrived stacked with well over three dozen fried shrimp, so many that the Gambino’s French bread nearly disappeared beneath them. Gambino’s, the New Orleans bakery, supplies the kind of light, crackly loaf that defines a proper po’boy.
Behind the bar, bartender Cody kept things running smoothly, and service throughout was attentive without being fussy.
Bon Secour, whose name comes from the French for “safe harbor,” has been a fishing and oystering community for generations. The river’s working waterfront, lined with seafood docks and shrimp boats, is a big part of why a meal here tastes so closely connected to the water outside.
From a Gas Station to Destination Dining
Hallmark did not originally picture himself in the restaurant business. Before opening Tin Top in 2004, he worked as a general contractor, and his former wife, Patty, with whom he remains on good terms, was a teacher. Their venture grew out of a shared love of cooking, a passion Hallmark traces to growing up with four brothers and a mother who loved food.
For 20 years, Tin Top operated out of an old gas station just up the road. The space was small, but the food turned it into a true destination, the kind of place people drove across Baldwin County to find. The original building on Bon Secour Highway has since become home to Fresco, an Italian restaurant.
The new riverside location seats 250 and was built to handle the crowds. The atmosphere remains relaxed and casual, with the coastal setting, attentive service and a deep menu doing the work. The restaurant’s own motto sums up the approach: “It isn’t fine dining, but it’s the finest of dining.”
Arrive by Car or by Boat
Because the restaurant sits right on the Bon Secour River, boaters can pull up to the docks and pilings and walk straight in. Hallmark has also talked about plans to add an outdoor tiki bar where guests could relax while waiting for a table, a welcome idea since the restaurant does not take reservations.
Live music is offered on Thursday evenings and during Sunday brunch.
Magnolia Springs, the small river town most visitors pass through on the way, is itself worth a slow drive. The community is known for its oak-shaded streets and for mail delivered by boat along the Magnolia River, a rarity in the United States.
Hours and Planning a Visit
As of this spring, Tin Top’s posted hours were:
- Sunday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Monday through Wednesday: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Thursday through Saturday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Hours can change seasonally, so it is a good idea to check with the restaurant before making the trip. Since there are no reservations, arriving early helps, especially during snowbird season, spring break and summer weekends.
Whether you come by road or by river, the Tin Top rewards the drive. The attention to detail Hallmark expects from his staff, and the freshness of what comes out of the kitchen, are what keep diners coming back to the end of Highway 49.