Tasty Hut Review: Ohlone’s New Niche Nook

A new addition to Ohlone’s food options just popped up. Primarily serving burgers along with a variety of seafood options, Tasty Hut markets itself as “fresh, not fast food.”

By: Moksh Paniker and Kenric Hoang

Tasty Hut recently opened at the bottom of Witherly Lane. It utilizes the previously abandoned shack space to serve a small, but strong selection of food. This review goes over the different options and our thoughts on it.

To try out as much of the seafood options without going bankrupt, we opted to go with their regular size seafood platter. The seafood platter comes with fried fish, shrimp, calamari, oyster, and fries. These options can also be purchased separately, providing a bigger portion served with a side of fries. All of the seafood was fried in the same way: a lighter form of a deep fry. It is not as deep fried as other places’ food and seems to use a thinner coat of batter. While it is better than those other places in that regard, it is still rather oily. Out of the four seafood options, the calamari ranks the highest with the shrimp following closely. Those two are already popular fried dishes in many places, and the taste definitely explains why. I would rank the oyster after those two, although it might not be for everyone as it can be more of an acquired taste than the rest. The fish has a softer texture that does not match the fried breading as well as the other options do. 

The seafood platter, along with any of the separate seafood options, comes with a side of fries. Of course you can just purchase an order of fries, either plain, garlic, or sweet potato. If you get any of the burgers, you are able to add a side of fries for a reduced price. Now, onto the taste of the fries: they are absolutely loaded with flavor. The immediate thought that went to my brain after tasting one is that they tasted exactly like McDonald’s fries. That is quite commendable because the taste is what many people consider the defining factor in why McDonald’s fries are the best out of all of the fast food chains. The fries at Tasty Hut not only taste like that, but they do not get as soggy or seemingly deflated as the McDonald’s fries do. They are an excellent side to any of the Tasty Hut meals.

The spicy chicken sandwich was one of many sandwich and burger options that Tasty Hut had available. I selected the spicy chicken sandwich due to dietary restrictions and because spicy chicken is a food I have had a lot of experience eating in multiple different locations. The sandwich itself was made rather quickly, despite being ordered in the middle of a lunch rush at around 12 P.M. The sandwich consisted of a slice of chicken breast with lettuce tomatoes and an odd mixture which felt like pickles but added quite a lot of spice and contributed a majority of the flavor to the chicken. This mixture was surprisingly oily and had an aftertaste that tasted like a mixture of the tomatoes and the pickle juice. The top burger bun had more oil than I expected a piece of bread to have, however the bottom burger bun felt very dry around the edges and around the center it had soaked up the juice from the wet spicy mixture. Overall the sandwich was a very unique take on a spicy chicken sandwich, which usually derives its flavor from spices on the meat. I would go down the hill to eat the sandwich, however, it would not be my first choice of where to eat on the Ohlone food row. 

Tasty Hut has pretty decent food, but so do other restaurants in the area. It is not the healthiest cuisine around, but what it has is that classic American style food of burgers and fries, so if you ever feel like having that, I would recommend this place. Tasty Hut is really one of those places that fills a specific niche in the area and delivers on that, but not much outside of it. So if you are ever craving some good old American dining or just need a quick bite, Tasty Hut is the place for you!

Image Credit: Kenric Hoang