A.W. Shucks Cocktail & Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

We were visiting the area and looking for a good tasty place to eat. After seeing their 4.5 star reviews online we decided to try it. We ordered the New England white clam chowder, the Alaskan cod sauté with and 1 fish and chip. I know this is '"bar food," but it was right out too bland and not well executed for the price point. The England clam shower was not well balanced, it had too much celery and its taste was very pronounced in the chowder. The Alaskan cod sauté was over cooked, the cappers, onion and tomato garnish it came with was just there I'm not sure if it came with a sauce since it muddled into the salad (I selected the Caesar salad), since the cod and salad shared the serving plate. I couldn't taste the caeser dressing either. The fish and chip were a little better thanks to the fries because the battered fish was soggy in the bottom center and a little oily which I'm thinking it was because it was served right off the deep fryer without giving it 1 minute to drain any of the excess oil. The server checked in at the beginning when we had our first bite in our mouth and rushed away before we could say anything about how the food was. The server didn't come later to check on how things were going we had to keep stopping her as she passed by to ask her for lemon wedges because none were served with the clam showder. The server interacted with us at the end when it was time to pay at which point we were asked if we wanted more water. Will not be...

It might be a good Oyster Bar, but I was very unhappy with my non-oyster dishes. I guess I expected more in the non-Oyster space since I’ve had good experiences at other Oyster Bars. So since I can’t speak to the Oysters, I will focus on the rest for others that aren’t Oyster fans but are seafood fans. The first thing I noticed is that almost everything was fried, which I try to stay away from. Not finding an entrée I liked, I pieced stuff together. First, I had a cup of New England style clam chowder, except there weren’t many clams to be found and what was in there was in small pieces, not chunks or whole clams. As a result, it tasted more like a potato chowder, not a clam chowder. Second, I had a pan-fried crab cake. Fortunately, it was a light fry (not greasy), but that was the end of anything good. It was 95% heavily seasoned filler – very little crab at all. I could barely taste crab frankly! Third, Shrimp Taco – finally something good … there were actually 2 tacos, so it was plenty of food. And there were 3 pretty large shrimp in each taco. The spice level was a bit high for me, but that doesn’t take much. It will be just fine for most others. The taste was good – I enjoyed them. So I can NOT recommend this place at all for non-Oyster seafood fans, especially for how much money I paid for 2 out of 3 items not...

First the food, it's pretty mid. I ordered their fried oysters expecting them to be with some topping and such but l instead got some little fried turds set on a pile of lettuce almost resembling a crapped on lawn. My friend got their crispy chicken burger, the fries felt just like dry potato wedges and the chicken in the burger was also pretty dry and had no flavor. They charge $7 for water bottles and the water they do give tastes really fishy and weird. What did taste good was their ranch and that's pretty much it. All in all it didn't taste terrible but the it was pretty underwhelming :/ especially for $22 each... personally I wouldn't be even paying $7 for this. The ambiance and service it self was decent. The servers were nice, but nothing much about it though when the food is mid. And the restaurant itself was pretty bustling and lively but the food really ruined it. Overall I'd give it 2 stars. You can probably find something better for the same price at a different restaurant near by with better tasting food as well as quality. Don’t trust the...