Grand Central Oyster Bar – New York, NY

Having passed through Grand Central Terminal (GCT for those in the know) some thousands of times on my way to and from Manhattan, I had always known this place existed, but I was not very familiar with it. My grandmother actually took me here to eat a long, long time ago but I truthfully don’t remember anything about that experience. When we converged on NY a few weeks ago and found ourselves craving oysters and fresh seafood, we decided to give this place a try.

GCT was once a major hub for intercity train travel, back in the day when rail travel was exciting, glamorous, and in some ways the only way that travel was possible, however, the advent of the automobile spelled the beginning of the end for those glory years. Now GCT is a nothing more than a commuter rail hub for people traveling to points north and east of NYC. I feel that this restaurant’s existence is a throwback to those days…from what I understand, it has been a part of GCT since the station opened up almost 100 years ago. On the inside, the restaurant feels huge and quite old-school with it’s red and white checkerboard table mats and historical connection to the rail terminal. The menu is quite comprehensive and equally overwhelming (why certain menu items are repeated in duplicate and triplicate is beyond me) in its offerings of fresh seafood. If it comes from the ocean, chances are you’ll find it on the menu. They have an extensive selection of oysters, almost 40 choices in all, most priced in the $2.00-$2.50 per oyster range.

I prefer my oysters to be large and plump (I like both really briny and really sweet oysters) and that’s where my oyster knowledge ends. I don’t know an east coast from a west coast oyster so I asked our server for recommendations. I started with 2 Fire Islands, 2 Totten Virginica and for good measure, 2 sea urchins, served right out of their own half-shells. All 3 choices were excellent. Both kinds of oysters were exceptionally fresh and bright. One kind was a bit sweeter than the other but I got my notes mixed up and don’t remember which was which.

For dinner, I ordered a Seafood Stew combination, meaning that it had a combination of lobster, scallops, shrimp, clams, and oysters. The restaurant offer stews, pan roasts, and a Bouillabaisse on their menu and we had to ask our waitress what set the 3 choices apart. We learned that their stews are cream based and hearty, similar to chowders or bisques from a flavor profile, but not as thick.

I absolutely loved my stew. The shellfish was tender, fresh and perfectly cooked. The wife’s Bouillabaisse had more seafood in it than she knew what do with. The only real disappointment were the mussels that my aunt ordered…they were totally overcooked and stringy. My overall verdict…3 stars…and I’m a bit conflicted. I thought overall the food that I ate was very good. The service was nothing spectacular (in fact, our server was nowhere to be found when we were ready to order and she disappeared once the food made an appearance). Would I recommend it? Sure, if you like fresh seafood, have never eaten here before and eating at places with rich histories is your thing, then you can surely do a lot worse than the Grand Central Oyster Bar. Do I feel compelled to want to eat there again? Not really…I feel like I can check it off my list. And I’m not just saying that because I can get fresh seafood whenever I want because I live in Boston. There’s just something about the restaurant’s ‘touristy’ draw and need to fight through the throngs of commuters just to get to its doors that doesn’t sit right with me. But oh how I love fresh and not-too-expensive oysters. You can see why I’m conflicted.