42nd Street Oyster Bar & Seafood Grill

Had dinner while in town with my daughter visiting with my cousin and her daughter. They've been before. We had steamed mussels, steamed oysters, seafood bisque, shrimp and grits, scallops and coconut shrimp. All were really good. The mussels and seafood bisque were my favorites! Would get that when in town again. The hush puppies were just okay to me. The staff were helpful. Easy parking. We had a reservation for high top table. They had a good amount of people eating at 8 pm on a Thursday night. Really enjoyed our meal and time catching up.

I booked a reservation for my anniversary. We were also going to a concert after the meal so we weren't dressed up in our Sunday best. Upon checking in we were brought to our table. The waitress was handed a little note which I am assuming telling her it was our anniversary. We got seated a wobbly high top with no recognition. That was first. The meal was good. But nothing special. We got the clam chowder which was good for sure but had a gritty almost sandy texture. At least we knew it was fresh! Next we got a steak and crab cake. It's our go to. The crab cake was good but for some reason the steak was a grey/whiting appearance. (My wife and I have come to find out this a common theme of all steaks we have had in North Carolina. In my mind equating to either an old steak that's been sitting around or freezer burned.) Leading me to my final comments: it was good but I don't think I'd go back. I don't see the hype.

Always, Always my favorite place in Raleigh. I'm a creature of habit and this habit has never disappointed. Bull City to drink, and 3 appetizers made my meal this trip; seafood bisque, blackened bacon wrapped scallops, and fried green tomatoes ( pimento cheese and Cajun shrimp)Needed a quick meal before the MC vs. Celtic FC soccer game and everything came out back to back to back. No issues. Great meal, great service and quiet relaxing atmosphere. Cheers!

The sea bass was amazing as was the fettuccine shrimp pasta. The oyster selection was really good. Katie was our server and she was awesome!

We went here with friends. Service was good. Presentation of was nice. Food not so much. Hush puppies weren't mixed properly before frying so we got a mouth full of either baking soda or baking powder not t sure which. They did bring out fresh hush puppies after the waitress tasted it. I ordered combination 3 seafood and it looked and tasted like it was fried in old oil. Oysters and shrimp were cooked way too long. Shrimp and grits was really good. . The Norfolk style crab meat had little flavor other than tasting a lot of lemon. I was very disappointed after friends told us how good it was although it had been 3 yrs since they visited. .

I will be honest, I was not sure what to expect from 42nd Street. Many reviews are great, but there were a few that were average. I decided to give it a try when my family was in town for a visit and I'm glad I did! The history of the restaurant is very cool! It has been open since 1934 and have some older pictures and history around. It is a darker place, white tablecloths but not fancy by any means. Frank Sinatra was playing for part of our dinner. Huge bar and you can see into the kitchen which I thought was neat as well. They start with giving you hushpuppies and butter instead of bread which we enjoyed, they are a bit addicting. We started with a few oysters which were super fresh and delicious! They came with cocktail and a mignonette, which I appreciated (must have the mignonette)! I decided to get one of the fresh fish options - blackened local mahi mahi with the 42nd street potato on the side. Delicious! The fish was fresh, flavorful and cooked perfectly, the blackened seasoning gave it just enough spice. Do not skip the 4nd street potato - very cheesy, creamy and good! Appreciated the salad that came with it as well. The rest of my family also enjoyed their meals thoroughly. My dad is still talking about it! Prices are on the expensive side but between the high puppies, salad and side I thought they were justified. In terms of cocktails, I thought they were decent, not the best I've had my any means. I think there is some room for improvement there, but I may be what you call a "cocktail snob." Good selection of drinks though. Our server was attentive for the most part, however, she did take awhile to come back to take our order. But our food came out relatively quickly after that so no complaints there. Definitely recommend!

So American! Fish is fresh which is why we were here. Service was good but there were a lot of things they were out of which was disappointing. Calamari was fresh and nicely made and so was my blackened Mahi! Honestly, I liked the food here but was disappointed to hear a "No, not available" 20 minutes after placing an order.

Walking into the restaurant it was very clean and a lot fancy than I expected for an oyster bar. The service from our waiter 'Price' was absolutely fantastic. He was consistently on top of everything and made sure we were taken care of. All of the food tasted amazing and the crab cakes had great flavor. The reason I put a 4 star instead of a 5 is the crab cakes were super small. When you order $36 'jumbo' crab cakes I feel like they should be larger than the palm of your hand. But these were so small it was disappointing. Now the flavor was great but there needed to be more. Also, the raw oysters were incredible!!

To be honest, this isn't my typical type of place to dine but I needed to set up a business meal for my peers and this was the top choice among them. Let me start off with the service. As soon as I walked in, half my compadres were already there (at the bar) and I was greeted by three ladies who each seem eager to serve me. I told them who I was and they immediately knew where my party was and told me as soon as we wanted to be seated to just let them know. A great start! After being seated, our waitress came along and she was absolutely wonderful. She never missed a thing and was on top of from the get go. Every appetizer, entree, and dessert was right on time and given to the right person without question. So why 4 stars? In all honesty, everyone said the same thing. The food was good but nothing special. I mean, if I'm going to pay $40 for a NY Strip, it should dissolve in my mouth, taste brilliant and make me want to come back. If it's going to be no different than a $20 steak at a steakhouse I'll just go there. So it's not that the food wasn't good, it was just over priced for the quality.I do recommend them overall if you've got extra money to spend.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal here for my birthday; 3 varieties of fresh oysters and seafood entrees. Service was top notch. We ended our.meal with a delicious slice of cheesecake. Yum!