neptune oyster

m & I hit up neptune for my first and her second time. i was eagerly awaiting this spot as it has received seemingly positive reviews on this board. we started with 10 oysters. penobscot bay, kumamoto, etc. all were fine, tasted fresh. the only issue was that the sauces were AWFUL. the mignonette sauce tasted like it was made from corked wine. it was just distasteful. the cocktail sauce was almost as bad, overly sweet, no heat. we asked for additional horseradish to boost up the heat, and i had an opportunity to eat it solo. the horseradish must have been grated weeks before. it had absolutely NO heat, no flavor and really just tasted like dirt. suffice to say, we ate our oysters solo from that moment on.

ordered the fried jumbo shrimp with sweetbreads (per the suggestion on this board $28) and fried clams. while i initially felt like a traitor, eating shrimp and fontina (who eats cheese and fish?!) it was a nice combo along with a green olive tapenade. the sweetbreads were not prepared to my liking. i found them too chewy and didn't have a nice crispy crust. there was a gremolata that added a nice level of acid to the plate. overall, i would not order it again, but it was interesting to try.

the fried clams were 99% good. unfortunately for us, our 2nd to last clam was a bad one.. and you know what bad clams do for ones tongue, mind and potentially belly. yuck!

the waitress, while nice, was totally absent. it took a good 10 minutes to get her attention to get the checks..and we were sitting at the bar.

while the interior is fantastic and the food was okay, there is no reason to rush back.

[twentyoystahs]

I have heard, though I have not visited to confirm it, that 28 degrees offers $1 oysters from 5-7 during the week. Maybe Mon-Thurs? Could be worth checking out.

I'm sorry you had such a mixed experience. I do think and hope it must have been a fluke. My many trips there have been lovely in every way from start to finish.

I've been a longtime fan and proponent of Neptune on this board for the past year. We recently had our first bad experience there.

We've never loved the mignonette - a prosecco mignonette that lacks the vinegary flavor that you'll traditionally find. Had a neat sardine sandwich that was missing the salami that was promised. Food was overall pretty good but not as terrific as it can sometimes be.

But the real annoyance came when after waiting for 45 minutes to sit, two spots opened up at the bar. We were walked to these seats by a waitress. As we are getting settled, the owner, Jeff, points back to two people behind us to say "sorry, these people were waiting." We had seen "these people," friends of his, in the entryway chatting after we had arrived. We were promised that we were "on deck" but still felt slighted.

If I were in the business, or owned my own establishment I would have probably done the same thing for my friends.

We commented to the waitress that we had arrived first and accepted the next available seats - 20 minutes later or so.

Jeff apologized for the "air traffic control" and said sometimes things can get hectic back there. And on our bill, two of the ordered proseccos were comped.

So overall, I felt like they handled the situation well. But after months of evangelizing online and off, we were put off by our first real negative experience. We've literally brought at least 4 sets of out of town guests. And friends of ours have done the same for their guests.

Uh oh. Let's hope yours and Jonathans aren't the first downhill alerts. I would probably literally cry.

[eggnog]

Don't get me wrong - this place is GOOD. But not super high on the"quality/price ratio" tip. The poster who said "fine, but no reason to rush back" had it right on. I know you guys are too cool to like a place because it looks and feels like a unique Oyster Bar experience, but still...

[MC Slim JB]

I value Neptune for a few reasons: 1) it's a rare alternative to the North End Italian/Italian-American hegemony; 2) the non-raw stuff is also really excellent; 3) the atmosphere is very cool; 4) I've gotten great service there.

As for value, raw bar is like sushi: finding it on a budget is possible, but the idea doesn't really appeal to me, and I don't have a 96-oysters-a-week habit anyway.

Among less-pricey raw bars, I'm aware of the Union Oyster House. The *only* proper strategy here is to sit at the raw bar (where you get them freshly-shucked, unlike at the tables), suck down a few, and flee immediately. I've also done the Back Bay McCormick & Schmick's on Tuesdays, which is pretty decent, at the sacrifice of the variety of the high-priced spreads. If there's another good all-around raw bar that isn't charging upwards of $2.50 a pop for oysters, I'd love to hear about it.