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I pretty much only eat oysters here and sit at the bar. Service is excellent and oysters are always super fresh and amazing. Highly recommended

I'm shocked at the rudeness and gruffness of the entire staff here. From the crass Maitre'D to the busboys to the waiters. The service here waivers between indifferent and rude while still managing to be completely inattentive. Food was decent but terribly overpriced. The smallest martini glasses that I've ever seen were still a whopping $12 each.

I have been to the Oyster Bar for around 16 years... yes, it is still a pleasure to visit this place every time I go to NY. But...I always order some items, and forgot about the cooked fish. TRY the bluepoint oysters, the shrimp in coconut sauce, the boullabaise and... the oyster stew!! I have tried several oyster stews in the USA: this one is the best and you can order some extra oysters in it -5 or 6 extra is ok!-...the sorbet is also very good. WARNING: Go to the counter, the service is faster than the tables, and try, if you can, to avoid peak hours when the place is crowded and servers are in a terrible hurry. You will enjoy it if you follow my advice, I think! The martinis are excellent and they have a long list of wines also by the glass... The japanese waiter in the counters is so sweet she ALWAYS greets me with the friendly 'long time no see you'! I always try to adapt to the place and be polite, and I am satisfied to this classic place!

I had a hard time giving out score of more than zero above, in fact I wished there were negative score. Tasteless fish and chips, boullaibaise broth tasted like it was made of soup powder, dry and hard rice. And they sprinkled some pothetic dry parsley on everything !

I wish I could elucidate better how disappointing this experience was. Sadly, I am at a loss. Oysters Rockefeller were nauseating. Hollandaise was burned and took on a cheese like consistency. Everything was simply sad: fried, limp, an assault on the senses. Things smelled strongly in the worst sense of the word, tasted like either nothing or simply old. Service was impotent, weak, gutless. Walking back from the restroom, a busboy slammed into me and shot me an awful look. I apologized and returned to the bar. Then it hit me: he slammed into me, and I apologized? I'm visiting his establishment. Why am I apologizing to the busboy? This is the level of service that the GCOB has sunk to. It looks like your creep uncle's rumpus room from 1973. Food is bad. Ambiance, nonexistent. Service is an embarrassment. And yes, you will still be charged 5-star prices for what amounts to cruise-ship food. Much like the Tavern; another NY establishment still coasting by on its name and tourism. The people who run this restaurant should be ashamed of themselves.

this used to be our family restaurant about 10 years ago, but it's been going downhill. i decided to give it a second chance for lunch today but was severely disappointed. the steamed mussels were overcooked and the broiled artic char was bland and nothing special for the price they were charging. sure, you can say that the quality of food is subjective, but service certainly isnt! the waiters were just plain out rude! when we told our waiter we were missing an order of 4 oysters, he responded with "i gave it to you guys!". not professional at all!

Having friends visiting who were keen on dining at The Oyster Bar, I enthusiastically agreed, since I had never been there, despite my 50 plus years in this city. What a HUGE disappointment. Or, perhaps, I should have been more skeptical of the reputation of a restaurant that has history rather than reputation on it's side. My reservation, which was delegated to the "Saloon", was lost, and the manager apparently didn't believe that we made one. Thus, we were asked to sit at the bar for 30 minutes whereby we were finally seated at a table that was empty when we first entered the restaurant. There were two waiters and one busboy for approximately 35 tables. It amazed me that, given the steep prices, that the wait staff was so understaffed. Naturally, they were overworked, disinterested, unattentive and just shy of rude. The wait for a simple order of oysters and clams was well over 30 minutes, and the explanation was that they were "fresh-shucked". Well, what else would they be? Basically, if you're interested in spending over $100 a person for dinner for barely acceptable food with less than adequate diner-quality service, this is the place to go. Clearly, they are able to charge ridiculous prices and offer horrendous service solely based upon their recognized name and their location. Advice for tourists who are visiting NYC: there are many other seafood places with equally or better shellfish, oysters and seafood that give you superb service for the same price and minus the "New York" attitude.