Grand Central Oyster Bar — Restaurant in New York

I first visited Grand Central Oyster Bar with my mother almost 10 years ago. Since then, I had the pleasure of visiting them several times, including their super fun Oyster Frenzy event.

When you enter, there is a U-shaped counter tables to the right, small tables in the middle, and more table seating to the left. For people in a hurry, or the ones dining alone, the counter seats are preferred. If you want a wait service, or if you have a reservation, you would go to one of the table seating. We always prefer to seat at the counter, because it is faster service, and we like the interaction with the staff.

Now, the staffs here are not here to impress on their “friendly” service. But they are efficient and always on the move. Our counter was managed by a female staff, Nicole, who was not “all smiles and warm hugs” type, but rather a “strong big sister who would take care of you” type. We started off with one of their popular item, New England Clam Chowder. Since we wanted to eat a lot, we didn’t want to get full with the chowder. So, we decided we are going to order one and share. Nicole kind of chuckled when we said we are going to share, but then surprised us with a really sweet gesture. She brought two soup bowls with just a little less chowder in it, so that we each have a bowl!

For the main, we wanted their crab cakes (they are soooo good!), but then, Nicole told us that they are sold out… Noooo! Instead, we ordered Fried Oyster Po’ Boy Sandwich and Shellfish Platter. And yes they were both really great, we enjoyed it fully.

Thanks to our server Nicole, we were well taken care of. Our water was always filled and we felt welcomed. We enjoyed our meal there, as we always have, looking forward to our next visit. If you are a oyster lover and have never been to the Grand Central Oyster Bar, I recommend you try it once. The atmosphere is great, the selection of oysters (changes daily for the best freshness) is great, and they have so much more than just oysters. And if you are concerned about the price, visit them during their happy hour, they offer Bluepoint Oysters at $1.25/each! Read my full review of this restaurant and food on my food blog,...

I have "always" loved the atmosphere of the "Grand Central Oyster Bar" This restaurant is more than a restaurant. To me, it's like a kind of "Historical Sanctuary" where you can get both lost in time, and in GREAT food and drinks 🍸, GREAT atmosphere, GREAT people of GREAT 🌎 world-wide diversity and a GREAT amount of history. This restaurant to my knowledge has been embedded inside the GREAT enclave of NYC's "GRAND CENTRAL STATION" since the beginning of 1913 and "anyone" who remembers the history of the United States of America and specifically remembers the year 1913 LITERALLY knows that this year was the beginning of some of the MOST important events that both took place and shaped the way our country has and was able to move forward in a most detrimental way. Not to get into such a history lesson or reminder "of" however, as we celebrated 50 years since the "Emancipation Proclamation" America 🇺🇸 also saw the first ever Department of U.S Commerce, the Department of Labor, our U.S Postal service first began delivering "parcel" 1913 was the beginning of two of the longest recessions in history GREAT (not so GREAT)Depression those are to name a few yet for New York and New Yorkers with New York City being the financial Capital of the world 🌎 we were blessed with the very "GRAND" opening of the largest railway station in the entire world wide and just shortly after the Beautiful and Historical "GRAND CENTRAL OYSTER BAR " was opened. I love ❤️ and will forever love this place because it has been for me a place to come for amazing dining 🍽 both the food and experience, it has been a gathering space for my local family and friends as well as the "meeting-hub" for family and friends from all over the world and this country. I spent almost 5 years working right on top of this restaurant. My former office building sits right atop of this Station and the GRAN CENTRAL OYSTER BAR which sits within "it" 317 Madison Avenue, NY, NY was my home away from home for all that time and even to date in 2023 this circumference serves as a meet up spot, as well as the epicenter of a place I pass through frequently. I LOVE ❤️ NY and I LOVE ❤️ the GRAND CENTRAL OYSTER...

First of all, I'd like to start off with how hilarious and interesting my experience was at this restaurant. I am a tourist visiting from Ontario, Canada. We went in as a group of 6. It is our first time there because someone had told us about their wonderful happy hour and how lovely the restaurant is. I was greeted by this lovely host at first and I told him that we needed a table of 6. My in-law then told me that we had to inform them about happy hour because they might have a different area for seating. So I walked back up to this dark haired hostess, and said "Sorry, it's actually for happy hour." She gave me a dirty look, turned around and said to the gentleman "they actually want happy hour" and rolled her eyes and freely showed extreme disgust. She made no attempt to show us where to go or even acknowledge me. I explained that it was our first time here and that we don't know the rules. She immediately rolled her eyes again and ignored me. I think if her eyes weren't attached to her head, they would have ended up in the ceiling. The gentleman who was also hosting knew there was tension and he started rubbing her back to calm her down. (unsure why she was so upset). We then sat down and spent about an hour at the restaurant. For the first 15 minutes after we sat down, she continued to stare me down from the front with a mix of aggression and contempt. We ended up having a staring contest for about 15 minutes. At this point, I had to stop and try to enjoy my meal with my family. I ignored her, but could still see her spend the rest of our meal staring me down from the front. I am the only Chinese person in our group and the only one who she decided to target, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about her motivations. However, her complete lack of respect was the total opposite of the rest of our experience, the restaurant was magnificent, the oysters and cocktail were amazing and our server did an amazing job too. I do recommend this restaurant but sadden that the hostess is a tumor growing in their restaurant. That's why I had to take 1 star away, but otherwise I could have given them...