fontaine's oyster house

go for the soups. fontaine’s is anoysterbar in the popular virginia-highlands area. they have different food specials most nights of the week.

we were there on the night that half price snow crab is offered. we had the snow crab which was fine and seemed very fresh.

the cocktails were good, but not remarkable enough to get the recipe.

the highlights were the soups. the lobster bisque and theoysterstew were both wonderful and great on a cold day.

i’ve always liked the atmosphere inside fontaine’soysterbar as it reminds me of an old-timey beach bar where sailors might hang out. of course sailors don’t hang out there, as far as i am aware, but they do serve up some delicious seafood, and especially delicious oysters. the inside seating section is not very large, and the bar takes up most of the room.  it’s pretty dark inside even though they have nice windows opening up at the front of the restaurant.  i prefer to sit outside because it’s much more spacious, and even in the winter they heat the outside seating area. they recently got rid of their smoking policy, so there is no smoking in the bar at any time.  this makes the restaurant much cleaner and more kid friendly.  you can still tell it’s been smoked in for the past 30 or more years. on the weekends, fontaine’soysterbar becomes a happening spot, and you can find a bar full of twenty somethings imbibing delicious cocktails.  if you haven’

pros: unbelievable crab le.... pros:
unbelievable crab legs! not usually anoysterfan but they are great here too. service is good.

cons:
drinks are hit or miss (as it relates to potency) and the tables are too small for the copious amount of crab legs i like to enjoy here. the wait for setting can be tough too

even though the po’ boy here at fontaine’soysterhouse are fantastic, the oysters here comes with a fantastic price tag but the uncleanliness of it is a major turnoff. hopefully they will do a better job at cleaning oysters in the future.

undecided.... stopped in for a quick and early lunch and had the place to myself. even on a bright and sunny day, the inside is somehow dark and smelling of smoke... maybe not a bad thing, just not expected.
i went out back to the absolutely fabulous deck that i could probably spend hours drinking and eating on if i lived close by.
for lunch went with theoysterpoboy and chose the red beans & rice as my side. oysters were very good, fried just the right amount of time... crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside and dressed with a nicely spicy remoulade. also very good was the beans and rice, very nice spice level and depth of flavor... not something i take for granted with this sometime very plain dish.
about my only concern was the lack of a crusty french roll for this poboy... the hoagie roll was a substitution embarrassing to anyplace trying to be cajun or creole. finally, on the fence about if 5 of these tasty oysters on a poboy constitutes a reasonable value or not... if the bread had been decent i'd have probably let theoystercount slide...

terrible, terrible, terrible. wow, this is the worst meal i've eaten out in awhile. we can here because i was craving oysters, which we started off with. these were fine.
the really disappointing food was in the entrees. i ordered anoysterpo boy. the oysters were fine, but the bread was cheap and flavorless, the lettuce was watery and the "remoulade" basically tasted like mayonnaise. my husband's dish was even worse. he ordered creole. for $14.50 he received a plate of white rice, poured over with canned tomato sauce, 2 shrimp and 2 scallops. no spice, no peppers, nothing else. it was god-awful. not to mention insulting.
also ordered a manhattan. i'm pretty sure the bartender put grenadine in it. wow. wow is really all i can say.

last weekend i was invited to a complimentary meal at fontaine'soysterhouse, a restaurant i've walked past many times but had never tried before. as i'm not really into the bar scene, i was pleased that they offer patio seating on the long, communal pat

great nawlins food. i love this place. it is better than the similiar, but pricier counterparts. theiroysterspecials makes is worth going there for happy hour, even if it takes me 30 mins to get there.