lucky oyster

ruined mother's day dinner. i've patronized this localseafoodrestaurant for several years and was always satisfied with the level of service until now. i have never felt so unwelcome in a restaurant in my entire life. i called ahead for reserve seating since i was planning on bringing a large party (9 people) for a mothers day dinner. i requested we receive two large booths to accommodate the two families to which the hostess responded, "no problem, see you in 15 minutes". we arrived early and immediately were greeted with very cold stares. without asking if we had reservations, a middle-aged woman glared at me and said coldly, "the wait is going to be 1/2 hour". i stated that we had called ahead and made a reservation and a younger female asked for my name and looked on the reservation list finding the reservation. at this point there are 5 people behind the hostess stand and two people who appeared to have managerial positions. for some reason they were all staring at us strangely. after a moment of awkwardness one lady escorted us to a seating area that consisted on two tables with seating for 8. i was surprised and mentioned to the lady who escorted us that we had requested teh larger booths which can accommodate about 6 adults each. the same rude middle-aged woman was nearby and overheard my comment and responded that they had no available booths despite me spotting several empty ones in the restaurant. at this point we had the attention of several patrons in the restaurant because several of us were still standing waiting for seats. while we were still standing a waitress actually came over and asked us if we were ready for beverages to which i responded that we intended to leave. at this point with 9 people preparing to leave and obviously distressed about the service, a manager comes over and says that they would try and accommodate us if we would wait for booths to become available but at that point it was more damage control. i was very embarrassed because some in my company had traveled from d.c. for mothers day and were looking forward to some local seafood. even while leaving the restaurant i caught a few cold stares from the hostesses and a shrug of the shoulder from the middle -aged woman who appeared confused as to why we were intent on leaving. an absolutely horrid mothers day experience and i plan on following this review up with a visit to the lucky oyster to speak with the manager and express my disgust with the service. they seem very judgmental about their customers. the tragedy is i've lived in the area since 1997 and am a military veteran with 10 years of service to date. without patrons like me this place would have a very limited customer base for this area. it's a shame when you walk into a restaurant in the year 2011 and feel like you've been magically time-warped to a jim crow 1950's segregated establishment.

always a good experience. this is a nice familyseafoodrestaurant. i've been going to luck oyster a couple time a month for a couple of years now and it's always a positive experience. of course there may be a wait sometimes because they are so popular but you can always get a table in the bar area. i've never had to wait. the food is always hot and tasty and the service friendly. one of the best places to eat at the interior of virginia beach.

good not great. oysters were small but fresh...platters did not fill me up, service was good. if their aim is to impress as aseafoodrestaurant they do not, but as a small mom n pop that is well run and has a martini bar it is great. stop by for lunch and you should be ok.

don't call it a "fresh"seafoodcobb salad if you are going to throw crap on some iceberg lettuce...

just plain horrible.. this place is nothing but a gimmick with pre-made, reheated food. a total tourist trap, really, and it's not even at the beach. service was extremely slow. it took over an hour to get our food and there were only two of us. when we did finally get our food it was cold. the clam strips were something i could've gotten out of the frozen section of the grocery store - and those would've even been better than what came out on the plate here. management was really lackadaisical about it. offered a free dessert but not to bring out a new order or take it off the check. we declined the dessert because we'd been there so long it wasn't worth waiting for. if you want freshseafoodcooked by real chefs, this is not the place for you.

worth a try. lucky oyster is set in a beautiful building that has a spread of nautical items on the walls and throughout reminiscent to being in a mariner's store. somebody really put a lot of effort into making this a unique place with a setting to be remembered. whether it's the deep sea fishing chair that you can take photos sitting in or the fishing reports from the virginian pilot in the men's room, you know you're in aseafoodrestaurant from beginning to end.

the appetizers ordered were oysters rockefeller, she crab soup (my wife & i first tried at the she crab soup festival this past may), and raw oysters. none of us complained and all enjoyed our appetizers. i have had better rockefellers, but it was still pretty good. perhaps parmesan instead of the cheddar, but still good!

for the main course, the following items were ordered: grilled tuna grinder, crab cake sandwich, crab stuffed flounder, and steamedseafoodcombination. i have to be honest, not one of us were head over heals for the taste. the plates weren't garnished and the sauces that came out were kind of one in the same. for instance, i really thought the that the only difference in the roumalade sauce and the tarter sauce was the color. both were pickled and very liquidy. the crab cake was of good quality, however, the lettuce and tomato that accompanied it had left a flash flood on my plate, so in the end i was left with a very soggy bun to lift my crab cake in. the worst part was that as the time went buy, my bread sort of blended with the crab cake not allowing me to just 86 the bun altogether. my friend's crab stuffed grouper looked good, but the cheese on it was way too much. he only ate about a quarter of it and took the rest home in hopes that a microwave, parmesan sprinkle and garlic addition would make it more edible for the following day's dinner. lastly, my other friend's steamed platter looked pretty good and was exactly as titled. one thing i notice is that it wasn't accompanied by drawn butter . . . i only noticed cocktail, tartar and horseradish sauces.

i would/will go to lucky oyster again. they had some intriguing items on their brunch menu that are worth a taste and offer a myriad of nights with disparate specials. furthermore, they had some rather elaborate/pricy dishes that too sounded good. but with the luck we had with the meals we ordered today for lunch, i may be a little trigger shy when it comes to ordering a $25 plus priced meal. good, but not great. i am really not convinced that the bang was worth the buck.

love the food. my family and i are in here at least once a month. my husband loves the friedseafoodoptions on the menu. cute restaurant, friendly staff. large meal portions, which is never a problem. :)

not accomodating aseafoodplace with only oneseafoodsampler appetizer? crab dip was good though. crab stuffed flounder was pretty good as well. service was decent seemed to wait a while for the food and checking out. 2 hours