Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant in NYC – A Slice of Heaven

On two occasions, I was at the Grand Central Station for the famous Oyster Bar & Restaurant in New York City. I was really excited since I had never been to this landmark restaurant.  Grand Central is a major transportation hub in NYC, 750 thousand people pass through GCT on a daily basis and over one million during the holidays. I can imagine the kind of business a popular and well-run restaurant like the #OysterBar could make in the Grand Central Station.

Simple bread sticks, bread and chunks of butter. The butter was so cold that it was impossible to spread it.

Fried Calamari. Had much better at Elm Street Oyster House in Greenwich, CT. The calamari here was not as fresh and had too much grease.

The famous Clam Chowder. Not exactly sure why it is famous because it was a bit salty and nothing very special. So far, I was so unimpressed.

Medley of Shellfish: 10 oysters, 2 clams, 2 shrimp cocktail, 3 mussels, and one whole lobster. Ok, this is why the Oyster Bar is the “Oyster Bar.” This medley was excellent and made me so very happy. I used my fingers and licked them. The oysters were better than finger licking good. It was a slice of heaven.

Look at the raw clams; they are the pick ones. They were succulent, meaty, and with a lot of sea. Reminded me of kisses.

See the oysters and the lobster claw? The oyster on the far right was very creamy, probably a Kumamoto. Mmm.  Mmm.  Good.  Each one of the oysters tasted different, much like people.

This is the Chocolate Mousse cake. It was ok.

This is a fruit pie with ice cream. Nothing to write home about. I would not repeat dessert at the Oyster Bar.

The restaurant was very noisy and very crowded on Monday and Tuesday nights. The wait staff were mostly older gentlemen who did not have the best table side manners. This is not a restaurant to come to have a romantic dinner but a restaurant for serious oysters eating. They do their oysters the best. The oysters are excellent.

One regret though, they don’t label the oysters on the tray nor do they tell you the names when they bring the tray. Seems like an easy thing to improve on and it would help the newbies to fall in love with the oyster heaven.  Worth the money.  Thumbs up.

This experience took place at

Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant
Lower Level, Grand Central Terminal,
89 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017
212-490-6650