Kelly's Oyster House and Bar — Restaurant in Fairfax

Excited to try this since they opened, my friend and I went for the first time this past week. The waitstaff were all kind and amazing, especially our server!! But that's where it (mostly) ends...

It wasn't that busy but the shucker was behind, instead of ensuring our two different appetizers came out together, I was finished with my hot one before my friend's oysters came out.

I ordered a drink that was made with gin (a purple cucumber one??) but it came out with vodka. The bartender very reluctantly made another, not only did it taste a lot better, the color went from a pale rose to a bright purple. He then contained to complain to multiple people about how had to remake a perfectly made drink (we were seated nearby and I have good hearing)... if it wax perfectly made, why were the two drinks different in taste and color? I wish I kept the original to get a picture.

Dinners came out and whomever plated mine thought they could pass off marinara as as sundried tomato cream sauce... it was disgusting on the fish dish I had. I scraped it off and our server asked, so someone made the cream sauce... still didn't taste sundried but at least the cream base worked better. My friend had scallops and didn't finish the scallops, I never asked why.

The server brought out complimentary ice-cream for the issues, but it should not have been on her to do so. The bartender should make a drink right the first time, and if he made it off recipe the second time, we were not told. He shouldn't be back there complaining and acting like it's not his job. Whomever thought they could skimp on making a cream sauce should also realize people expect the dish to be made properly, it was already a weird addition to the dish IMHO but the marinara was so much worse.

I wanted to love the place, I'm doubtful I'll return when there's so many seafood places without a bartender with an attitude (who wasn't busy) and that make menu items according to the menu. I expected a restaurant owned by another established restaurant to be decent, but this one has some issues that shouldn't exist at any restaurant, new or old. If this is their way,...

I really wanted to like this place. I ordered a dozen oysters, stuffed avocados and the deviled eggs and hushpuppies. I’m far from a picky eater and love almost everything I try, however, the deviled eggs genuinely tasted weird and the avocados were far from what I was expecting. I got the “both” option for the stuffed avocados. One half had “chicken salad” and the other was shrimp and crab salad. The chicken salad looked and tasted like curry chicken.. it was topped off yogurt I think and grapes. I was really trying to see the vision but it was inedible to me, the avocados were not ripe either. On top of that, everything I got outside of the oysters were served on a bed of seaweed salad mixed with radishes, tomatoes and pickles AND cucumbers and a couple other things. I let my server know that those 2 dishes tasted kind of weird and I wanted to know if I could send the dishes back since I only took a bite of each, but he looked at me like he couldn’t believe what I just said.. so I said “orrrrrr if its a problem I’ll just pay for it and find someone who will eat it but idk it’s not good” he goes “it’s fine you don’t like it, everyone has different taste. Let me get boxes for you.” I was disappointed and don’t think it was worth the $92. The oysters were fine though and were reasonably priced for the area. I tried the leftovers wanting to give it another shot but I honestly got sick and had to throw it away. I’m sure there are good dishes as the reviews looked great, but I personally would not recommend the deviled eggs nor the...

A tale of two dinners and two experiences in one.

I had 18 oysters, 5 different varieties (less than half what they had) and amazing! Great selection, great taste! Had a new cider (porters dry) and was very good. I also had the wine and butter mussels and again, amazing. Really high quality mussels and an amazing and addictive sauce!

Wife had started with the ruby red crush which she enjoyed and then ordered hush puppies and checked if the crab cakes had any bell peppers in it. The waiter didn’t think so but would confirm with the kitchen. This is where it goes down hill. The hush puppies didn’t show up, so we check on them. The waiter apologized as they had been sent to the wrong table and had a replacement ordered right away. Her crab cakes came out… which had peppers in them so sent them back, and again checked on the hush puppy order. They finally came out and were over cooked AND had peppers (Jalapeños which we knew and bell peppers which she can’t do) in them.

We spoke with the manager who was truly embarrassed as they were not busy. He was more than generous in adjusting the bill which was nice but sadly we won’t be back…. I will be for the oysters but don’t think I could convince the wife to endure that again. We went to Ned’s for clam strips for her dinner after, so evening ended on...