O'Learys Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Annapolis

$36 for Frozen Tuna...used to be GoTo Fine Dining at its BEST!

My wife and I went to Oleary's tonight and had Andrea as our server. We have been dining at Oleary's since 2007 when we used to visit 2 to 3 times a month since we were kidless and full of extra money. We now have 3 kids and going out to dinner is like plaaning a bar mitzvah!

We started off with the calimari which came out promptly and was delicous as usual. We always order fried calamari at Oleary's because I like the tentacles and my wife likes the rings so it is the perfect starter to share....we usually order the Lobster Cappuccino as well but we are slimming down! My wife ordered the usual Tuna Steak which changes preparation but is always top notch. I ordered the Zarzuela which I have had before and enjoyed...I would have chose the duck but unfortunately we are not in the duck season. I did inquire about whether they were planning on having the duck this year with the Foie Gras and Andrea proceeded to tell me that if they served that on the menu she would have to quit since she knows how it is "made."

So our dinner came out and my wife proceeded to take a picture of her dinner to send to a friend....she was so excited to be going out for a nice dinner and wanted to share! She took her first cut into her tuna steak and it was grey...not over cooked grey but previously frozen grey. She touched it and felt that it was cold so we knew it was not overcooked eventhough we could look at it and tell that. I took a look at me Zarzuela and it just looked like it was missing something....rice??? veggie??? it was only seafood in a sauce with one 3 inch piece of bread....uggghh i'm a bread lover so that is not good!

Let me start here with we NEVER EVER send food back!!!! Andrea came over and we showed her...she said maybe they sauteed it a little too long. We told her it was still cold in the middle and it looks like it was most likely previously frozen. She said again it may have been cooked a little too long. We knew that was not the case but we are not ones to argue so we just reluctantly asked if we could get a replacement. She obliged. I should of asked about my dish or just asked for some more bread but....who likes to argue or ask for something they should have already received....not me!

I put my fork down and waited for my wife's food to be recooked...we just looked at each other and said...it didn't used to be like this! This used to be a really nice place to come to dinner! I told her about how it looks like my dish is missing something and she said to me that the tuna is usually always perfect. Moments later my wife's dish came back out and the tuna was magnitudes better! The down side was the asian slaw was hot...either microwaved or sitting under a heat lamp. For this caliber of restaurant I would think they would have redone the entire plate...how much is asian slaw??? how much is grilled shrimp??? I just would have taken the initiative to redo the entire plate...its the least you could do for serving old tuna!

The bottom line is we will most likely not visit Oleary's again! It is sad because this has been our favorite restaurant for 7 years running. The problem is we have 3 kids and our time is precious...we do not have time for second chances and there are so many up and comers out there! I would rather go out and try something new not knowing what I am going to get, than going to Oleary's and wondering if they are going to redeem themselves.

P.S. - We had a bottle of white wine with no chiller...we were not there long but it would...

Great staff. But don't waste your money or time at O'Learys. Menu descriptions are not accurate. The Roasted Beet salad only had 3 small pieces of a beet and they were not roasted; 2 very small pieces of goat cheese and a few walnuts. It just an arugula salad. The oysters were not shucked properly. There were pieces of shell in them and several we're served on the wrong half of the shell making there be no oyster juice.. The 2 dinners ( a special tuna and rockfish) that we had were both quite spicy though nothing on the menu said they were spicy. The special tuna was not seared well , just cooked with a pink inside. There was only a very small amount of dried crumbled prosciutto. When asked if the dish was spicy the waitress said the melon part of the dish had a spicy dressing. She made a note to ask the kitchen to make the dish not spicy. The kitchen obviously did not look at her note. The melon was spicy but there was also cracked red pepper sprinkled on everything. After I tasted it and said it was spicy she offered to see what they could do. She returned with the 3 pieces of tuna and some parsley potatoes. The Rockfish did not mention spicy at all. The rice and beans it was served over was dried out and very spicy as if it had been left over from the previous week and everything dried out. The Rockfish was small pieces with too much batter, so you could not appreciate the Rockfish. It might have been cod. The 4 shrimp on the Rockfish were very good. The Tiki style cocktail was served in a ceramic glass so I didn't realize it hadn't been stirred. The first half of my drink tasted like plain grapefruit juice. All the interesting flavors were at the bottom. It would have been a good drink if it had been mixed properly or served in a clear glass with a swizzle stick so I could stir it. All in all a very disappointing meal. Don't know how anyone could give them 5 stars. We always have very nice meals at Carpaccio's, Paul's and Jalapeno's. These 3 restaurants have menus that accurately describe the food and drinks. The food tastes great and they have great...

A bit on the pricey side..... Food was enjoyable, but I have to admit I've had better for less. Im here on business but live in FL. Maybe I'm spoiled living in the south where we have awesome fresh seafood. Tonight I ordered tomato cream soup and shrimp n grits. Soup was served with slices of mozzarella garnished on top. Presentation was nice, but the soup was only slightly warm. Cheese never melted. Tomato soup should be hot. The shrimp n grits were good. But not great. Again, nice presentation and definitely plenty of fresh large shrimp included. But the grits was the problem. They didn't have the normal gritty, slightly stiff consistency grits are supposed to have. These were kinda sorta like mashed potato consistency. A bit too soft and mushy for my taste. There's a place in Deland FL called the DeLand Fish House. It's the first place I ever had shrimp n grits... And still holds the record for best shrimp n grits anywhere I've tried. And after they hooked me, I've tried in many places. Neve lived up to the deland Fish House meal I had.. I like good value for the money... Had the price been lower I may have been able to rate as 4 stars. But this plate of shrimp and grits was an outrageous $30.00! The shrimp were delicious... But the grits brought it down. We also had calamari which was very good... Not breaded and fried, but sautéed au natural... Good flavor and not rubbery or overly chewy. Was nice. Bread was very good.... Corn salsa, was OK.... Our server was excellent... Friendly, warm, welcoming, and EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE on all of the menu items and all aspects of the prep, presentation and flavors. She rocked it. A thumbs up would...