King Street Oyster Bar

The ambiance of this place was an entire vibe. The music was great. The service and the drinks were pretty good as well. The price point is on the higher end of the spectrum in my opinion. I enjoyed an impossible burger which is pretty mediocre if I'm being transparent.

High price, small portions, sub-par beer and drinks, and pretty slow service. Won't split checks and won't do anything less than a 20% tip post-tax.For the prices here, it's better to just go to the wharf and get a view while you're at it.It would be better to come for happy hour, but even then it's busy and probably a wait to get a table.

My friend and I stopped by here for their daily happy hour from 3pm-6:30pm, which in DC is an exciting find! We've been to King Street before and my thoughts are always the same: food and drinks are delicious but the service can be improved. On this specific visit, it was very challenging to get our server's attention, with often 20-30 minutes passing between chances for us to flag him down. A couple items we ordered never arrived and when we got the check we saw they were never put in. Our server was very friendly, but it appears that he may have been spread too thin taking care of too many tables during the busy happy hour which made getting attentive service more difficult. The food and drinks we had were hitting the spot, especially at that happy hour price point. The sangria was delicious with hints of bourbon and citrus. The Collins was refreshing and not too sweet. The oysters were delicious, especially with their cocktail sauce and hot sauce. The shrimp bites, buffalo chicken sliders, and wings were all very fresh, crispy, and flavorful.

Since I have visited the King Street Oyster Bar in Potomac, I was expecting more or less the same experience at the one in DC. While there was nothing horrible with the DC location, I think that I'll stick to the one in Potomac. Before you open the second door to enter the restaurant, you are faced with a bunch of policies and rules. Just in case, you forget the rules/polices on the front the door, they are also listed on the door inside of the bathroom. Such rules include: -one check per table; -a 90-minute table limit; -you must use a card for all tabs; -a 20% gratutiy will be added to all checks; -you must have a valid & physical ID; -all to-go food must be consumed off the property. Ok, so most of these rules are (or should be standard) for many restaurants, I don't think that I've see so many actually printed out. However, I will cut the restaurant some slack about this, because these types of policies tend to be established based on prior experiences with less than exemplary customers. Upon entering the restaurant, there was bit of confusion. We sat at the bar, but I guess we sat at the section of the bar (right in front of the oyster prep station) that is served by a waiter instead of the bartender. The bartender quickly kind of explained it in passing, but it didn't make too much sense. After sitting at there for about 10 minutes, I went to the hostess stand to request some menus because our server never greeted us. I could understand if the restaurant was crowed, but there could not have been no more than 8 people sitting in the non-bar areas of the restaurant. Fortunately, a couple of people at the bar finished their meals, and we were able to take their spots at the bar. I'll say that JP, the bartender, was super friendly and really nice. However, I will say that sometimes it was a bit difficult to get his attention, but the bar was pretty crowded at that point. Once you get your orders in, the food comes out pretty fast. Unfortunately, there were a couple of occasions where the wrong food item came out. Normally this is not a biggie, except when the check arrived some of these items were listed on our check. For instance, when one incorrect dish came out, JP asked the bar if anyone wanted the dish, and we decided to take it (shoot, I was starving) thinking that it would be comp'd. Nope! the dish was right there on our check. Our plan was to just add the cost of the dish to the tip, but we decided to pay for it since it might have come off weird asking the bartender to remove multiple items. I was a little annoyed that the runner, who brought out the food (not JP,) made it seem like we made a mistake. Again, I wonder if his attitude was based on the fact that this might happen quite frequently. This slight hijinks aside, all the happy hour food was quite delicious. For our spread, we went with oysters, mussels, the crab cake sliders, and the shrimp bites. The prices for the happy hour are very generous with $5-$10 "small" plates and $5-$6 dollar cocktails, beers, and house wines. By the way, the plates are not that small, so the restaurant has a great value for the amount of food you will receive. Overall, the restaurant and restroom areas were pretty clean, so no complaints there. Also, I thought the layout of the restaurant was pretty accommodating. While our happy hour experience went well (for the most part), I thought it was interesting that the restaurant had a security guard during the happy hour. Ok, I've been to place with security, but normally they arrive during the evening, not around 5 pm. Again, I guess the owners have their reasons, based on previous customers' interactions, for having on-site security so early in the evening.

Will I come back here? ABSOLUTELYFirst off...a happy hour? On a Saturday? From 3:30-6:30? The oysters were amazing, the crab cake sliders and the buffalo chicken sliders were the perfect touch. Unfortunately they didn't make the photo because they were gone in 2 seconds. The beer selection is top tier and the service was good. My only wish is that they opened the patio coming in because the view would've been a little better instead of the patio on the side but didn't stop our grub on at all.

This place had a great happy hour deal with five dollar sangria and one dollar oysters. The oysters were small, but they tasted fresh. The servers made an effort to check up on us many times throughout the night so we took full advantage of happy hour. I enjoyed everything I got and found it all to be of good quality.

By far one of the BEST happy hours I have ever been to. Everyday from 3pm-6:30pm and oysters are $1.75 each!! Best believe we got a dozen and they were delicious. There are an assortment of different cocktails for $9 including a delicious frose. As for the food we decided to opt for a bunch of the happy hour apps such as shrimp po boys, tuna tacos, crab cake sliders *MUST TRY* wings and a bruschetta trio. We left stuffed and satisfied. I will definitely be returning when I return to D.C.Watch my reel here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyR_1MDoHCx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This place was absolutely amazing! Our server was so kind and accommodating. We brought our dog to Leesburg but was so hungry we had to stop for food and he let us bring our dog into the back patio area. We decided to get some drinks. The Moscow mule I had was delicious and refreshing. I think they make their ginger beer so it had a unique taste I loved. The food was also amazing! The oysters were fresh and delicious. The calamari had this special sauce mixed in that was delicious. The jambalaya and grilled scallop pasta had huge chunks of seafood in it. The jambalaya was a bit on the salty side but it was still good. I recommend this place to anyone who is in the Leesburg area!

TLDR the food is very average/boring the service is great. Overall I probably wouldn't be back bc the prices are a bit high for relatively bland food. The Mac and cheese is the highlight - don't skip this if you do come.The lobster roll (I got the Maine style, cold with Mayo) and the lobster tasted pretty bland. It didn't taste off exactly but it definitely wasn't the freshest I've had. Very little flavor. This was kinda the theme.My boyfriend had a fried chicken salad and he said it was also very bland. He said too much shaved Brussels not enough lettuce.Next friend had the fish of the day, it was halibut over crab risotto. He said it mostly lacked flavor but was fine. Again, this was the theme.Our last friend had the fish and chips and these were great. He also ordered a side of Mac and cheese - I had some and OMG! This might've the best Mac I've had in a restaurant. It's Gouda flavored. So good.Overall, it's a decent spot to get seafood but the food is mostly generic, bland and forgettable. Service is great tho. Not sure on their drinks but they have a good menu.

I appreciate that King Street Oyster Bar has an early 3 pm happy hour. When a couple of my girlfriends and I got there around 2:30 pm the other day the bar was almost full I was shocked. Service was ok, food was ok. Prices are really good but nothing I would rave about or go out of my way to get. I was not a fan of the frose as it was too sweet. There's tons of seating inside and outside. I would highly recommend walking or scooting here because parking can be difficult.