best oyster raw bar in charlotte?

[remdog99]

could be a hole in the wall or a 4 star resto, as long as the oysters are fresh!

[Jenmurphybsn]

It's been 5 years since I've lived in Charlotte, but we used to frequent Vinnie's on South Blvd for their oysters. Vinnie's is a beer drinking, football game watching, kinda place but their oyster were great, and the steamed shrimp were pretty good too. Tables came equipped with a large roll of paper towels to mop up the juices when you were through!

[lynnlato]

Vinnies was mediocre at best. I'm sorry, no disrespect, but they really had sad bar food, oysters included.

[billyjack]

Vinnies is much more interested in serving cheap beer than good oysters. Their cleanliness was always suspect - I stopped going there many years ago for that reason.

[lynnlato]

Yea, its a total "scene" for drunken 20-somethings. The food is way down on their list of priorities. Their Matthews location closed its doors a few years ago.

[southernitalian]

http://helendining.blogspot.com/2012/...

Thought this looked cool.

[lynnlato]

I like it! Although, I prefer a sauvignon blanc with my oysters. ;-)

[billyjack]

Yeah, kinda hard to find. McCormick and Schmicks's (chain) would be the 4 star. Hickory Tavern, which seems to grow more locations every month, offers them and has specials. Being an inland city I have low expectations whenever I order oysters here (unless I'm spending McCormick kinda money).

I've never ordered them at Georges, but I'm sure they're good quality.

[Guilty Gourmand]

Not sure if they are open yet or not but I'm encouraged by the concept and planning around Elizabeth Fish and Oyster being opened by the same folks who run Small's. I'm not a huge oyster fan but I'm really looking forward to their lightly dusted and fried NC shrimp. Would love to see them put those together in a great shrimp burger available at both E Fish & Oyster and Small's. I think a nice shrimp burger along the lines of the one at Raleigh Times Bar in Raleigh would do well in Charlotte.

[lynnlato]

I hadn't heard about Elizabeth Fish & Oyster - wow, this is a much needed addition to the restaurant scene here. Thanks for posting about it.

I found that they have a website up & running here: http://www.elizabethfishandoyster.com/. Looks like Elizabeth St. is going to be teeming with great restaurants. I'm giddy about a restaurant here serving NC shrimp! Doesn't seem like that would be such a big deal, but seriously, who else does? The menu looks simple in all the right ways too. Fried Flounder sliders w/ chowchow, fish tacos, fried NC shrimp & grouper cheeks and interesting salad combos too... not to mention raw bar selections. Yay! I'm stoked. ;-)

[Ciao Italia Foodie]

Yes really looking forward to this place on Elizabeth. I was by about two weeks ago (dinner at Cuisine Malaya) noticed the store front and sinage next to smalls which we've yet to try.

Funny thing is about Georges, the RAW bar is the only reason we stop in. Great.

But in my opinion, I can not and would not recommend M&S seafood (to be fair we've only dined twice at SouthPark location). Yes, I've had the raw oysters there and kudos to them for even preparing oysters rockafeller, as per my request and was disappointed in all seafood items odered (scallops for entree as well)

[mikeh]

Elizabeth Fish & Oyster is the best restaurant news I've heard since moving to Charlotte. I'm a seafood lover, and I don't think the Charlotte metro has a single seafood-centric restaurant actually serving local (Carolinas) seafood as opposed to something flown or trucked in from far away (and for casual places, most of it is frankly straight off a Sysco truck, which in turn is straight from a farm in Vietnam or Thailand). When I lived along the Gulf and Southeast Atlantic coasts, I'd eat local seafood 4x a week or so, but now it's more like once a month only when I can steal myself down to Charleston for the day. This is huge if it's done right.

[lynnlato]

I know, it's so sad. Heck, if you go to the coast - places like Hilton Head - most of the restaurants there don't even serve local seafood. It's disturbing. Ain't nothing finer than some fresh off the boat Carolina shrimp.

[carolinadawg]

Not a specialty for CLT. George's Brasserie is pretty good.

[lynnlato]

Georges does have a good oyster bar - I always forget about that. They probably have the best selection available in the QC (which is pretty slim pickins as we all know). They serve up many east & west coast regional varieties, not just the typical gulf coast oysters.

In addition to oysters, Georges has some great smoked salmon, country pate and a mighty fine burger. Nice bar atmosphere too.