Muddy Waters Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

We were really looking forward to eating here, however we had an overall abysmal experience.

We started with a round of the oysters. They’re a little pricey but good, one of the better things we ate. It took almost a half an hour for them to come out though, it seemed like there was a some sort of miscommunication between the servers and the kitchen. For drinks, we had beer (came in a can) and took about 15 minutes for anything to arrive. We ordered a second round, and they came about 15 minutes after our main dishes had been served. Never got refills on water, despite requesting (this should not happen).

We ordered our entrées and a wedge salad. The salads were supposed to come before the main course, but our main dishes showed up first, which was not ideal, and not what we requested. Our server was no where in sight to try to sort out mix-up.

The food was really disappointing. The Louisiana Lobster Roll was mainly micro-crawfish tails, which were rubbery, and the sandwich had little to no lobster meat. The catfish po’boy was as salty as a salt-lick, and the Cajun fries that came with it were borderline cold.

The jambalaya was dry and flavorless, and the gumbo was also for the most part tasteless, as it tasted more like spicy chicken broth with file power. It was also lukewarm. The dishes looked nothing like the photos on other reviews. Perhaps we just got them on an off night, but for the prices, it was certainly unacceptable. we understand that this is not New Orleans, but what was served was a far-cry from real Cajun/creole cuisine.

The icing on the cake was when it came time for dessert. We wanted to try the beignets, hoping there would be some sort of redemption. Our server finally showed up and asked us what we would like. We told him and he hesitated and said that he has another reservation for this table in 15 minutes and there is probably no time for dessert. WHY ASK THEN??! We were being rushed out, despite having a reservation, and the restaurant’s communication at fault for mixing up our order (never got an apology from the server either). Most of the time we were there was waiting on food. I have never eaten at a place that rushed customers out.

We really wanted to like this place. We were considering giving them another shot, but after the lackluster service, we will not be coming back. Such a disappointment, since it got so many great reviews.

They certainly didn’t follow the mindset of “laissez les bon temps rouler” while...

If you are even the least bit familiar with Louisiana Cajun and creole cuisine, you’re going to want to skip this place.

Let me preface this by saying, our bartender was fantastic. Friendly, down to earth, attentive, and makes delicious drinks! Even grows her own horseradish for the horseradish infused vodka she makes the bloody Marys with. The cocktail menu was on point and did not disappoint.

Unfortunately the food was absolutely abhorrent. We ordered fried green tomatoes, lobster eggs Benedict, and the seafood gumbo.

The fried green tomatoes were the best out of the 3 dishes we ordered and they were pretty flavorless. We doused them in hot sauce until we couldn’t feel feelings anymore.

My lobster eggs Benedict was a little fishy, lacked flavor, and the hollandaise sauce was very thin and liquidy. I hate to say it, but it was probably one of the worst eggs Benedict dishes I’ve ever had. (That’s usually my go-to brunch choice on any given menu.)

My friend ordered the seafood gumbo and was immediately turned off by the smell. It looked and tasted like muddy water. (How apropos?) The shrimp (which weren’t many) were rubbery and nearly inedible. She barely made a dent in her food so we had it boxed up for the mere purpose of getting another’s opinion on it who is familiar with gumbo and is quite traversed in southern Cajun style cooking. He too, confirmed how awful it was and could barely stomach even just a few bites. In the trash it went.

The atmosphere was lackluster. It’s seemingly a trendy place, cool lighting, a wall of booze…pretty. And then sports on the tv. It’s not a sports bar though so…? It wasn’t very pleasurable having a tv with basketball directly in front of your face while eating a $31 meal and drinking a $14 cocktail. But c’est la vie; that little gripe I can get over.

We also overheard another couple complain about the raw oysters but I can’t speak on that since we didn’t have the oysters.

We had high hopes and really wanted to like this place (especially because of the price tag) but unfortunately we won’t be back. It’s not even worth giving it another shot.

TLDR: great service from the bartender, delicious drinks,...

This restaurant is too small inside; despite that fact, they pack people in wherever they can, including a so called Oyster bar, which was very uncomfortable seating. It was very clear immediately that this restaurant is geared to younger people who do not necessarily have any taste in seafood. The restaurant was dark and unclean. The woman's bathroom was about as clean as a state run reststop. After ordering a drink and not receiving it for several minutes (this happened twice in my one visit) I was told that the bar was "backed up". I guess talking and chatting with your coworkers instead of doing your job can make that happen.... our waitress while very pleasant was definitely useless. I ordered their speciality Bloody Mary which was beyond awful!! Horriblly spiced and tasted like they mixed it with dirty fish tank water, I have no other idea why it would taste so fishy and awful!! When asked if I wanted another, after begging no and asking if they would simply mixed tomato juice with Vodka I was told no as all their tomato juice was slated for their "specialty mix"!! Ok, drinks are definitely out, let's order brunch. I ordered the Fried Chicken and Sausage brunch. My food arrived luke warm at best and looked like someone threw up their breakfast on my plate. Everything was a dark brown color, including my biscuit, with the exception of my extremely undercooked fried egg, the entire bottom of the egg was clear uncooked fluid which immediately turned my stomach. So I shoved that aside and dove in, which I believe will be my 3rd mistake, the first being to pick this place. No one in my lunch party (3 total) enjoyed their food. For having several workers on site, no one seemed to know what they were doing, why they were there, etc, just running into each other. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND even with the place half empty it took well over half an hour to get my uncooked egg mess. A few bites later, my napkin was covering my plate and I COULD NOT WAIT TO LEAVE TO GET SOME FOOD. That is the only time the waitress and manager actually paid any attention to us to rush and get us out of the restaurant. Wish they would have...