the oceanaire seafood room

i really liked oceanaire a lot so i recommended it to my boss for our final dinner in san diego. she wanted to have somegoodseafood. supposedly, the oceanaire is asgoodas it gets in san diego. oh, and i had read on foursquare that if you tell them it’s your birthday when you make your reservation they print your name on the menu. my curiosity got the best of me and so i wanted to put this to the test. ginger didn’t want it to be her birthday so it ended up being mine. lol.

this was our first time at the oceanaire in denver. the hostess didn't seem very welcoming but our waitress was very nice and she made severalgoodrecommendations. at her recommendation, i chose the new zealand barramundi fish, blackened with bleu cheese with caramelized onions. it was really good. my mom got the crab cakes and my dad got the sriracha salmon with potatoes. we paired our dishes with the parmesan asparagus and creamed corn. for dessert, we had the chocolate cake. the food was reallygoodand the ambiance was overall pleasant.

fresh, fresh seafood. oceanaire only serves what's fresh that day. this isgoodnews and bad news --goodbecuase the fish is exceedingly fresh and bad news because once the selection is gone, there's no more waiting in the freezer.
we visited at about 10:30 pm and some of the more popular selections were gone.
don't pass up the fired asparagus. fat stalks of celery are lightly coated with cornmeal and fried very delicately leaving the asparagus crisp. the fried celery sits atop a lemony sauce.
crabcakes are exactly as advertised -- little breading and lots of flavor.
succulent bone-in ribeye is agoodchoice for the non-fish eater.
no room for the beautiful baked alaska.
proper and gracious service. not too loud -- able to converse comfortably.

pricey. the oceanaire seafood room
400 j st
san diego, ca 92101
(619) 858-2277
theoceanaire.com


we had dinner at oceanaire last night and i have to admit it wasgoodbut pricy. our server was knowledgeable and service was quick. the food was really decent but not quite up to the price.atmosphere was a bit noisy due to a table of 15 guys next to us. other than that everyone had agoodtime. i probably won't come back just simply because there's so many othergoodplaces in the gaslamp district.

urban cowgill 2015

romantic anniversary dinner!. we had a great time at this restaurant! the service was some of the best i've ever seen. they really know how to treat customers! our waiter greeted us by name and spent agoodamount of time going over the menu and giving us recommendations which were all spot on. the food came in huge portions and was skillfully prepared. we got a free desert of flaming baked alaska because it was our anniversary. the dinner was quite pricey, but we left stuffed!

banana split made me feel young again!goodfor 4 people.
their manhattan cocktail was superb.
great service.

took wife for anniversary. not agoodexperience, at all. food is overpriced for quality. service was poor and very slow. examples: ordered coffee after dinner and coffee was room temperature. seriously! after main course we waited and waited and waited for server to offer coffee and dessert. won't be going back!

the famous crab cakes are prettygood- all real crab meat - with a tasty mustard-mayo topping. the kid dynamite baja yellowtail wasgood- spiced with the sriracha (rooster) sauce. we loved crisp truffled cauliflower with yellow raisins. finished off with the flaming bombe alaska - with mint chocolate chip ice cream!

another one bites the dust. used to love oceanaire. deftly prepared fish, great service. alas, this one has gone the way of big chains. overly dressed, soggy salads. over sauced entrees. under performing service.goodmartini but even it couldn't take the edge off our experience. when you start criticizing the poorly fitting suits of the staff then you know the love affair has ended and its time to move on.

went in august for our anniversary and definitely not worth it! they sat us in the long row of tables which are about 18" apart and the waiter is constantly squeezing in there with his rear facing us. romantic. you can hear entire conversations in the tables next you. service very slow but waiter nice and knowledgeable. all the food would have beengoodexcept way too much salt: crabcrakes, calamari, scallops, broccoli. we couldn't wait to leave.

chaotic. too many big tables and too few un harried servers makes this otherwise tasty "special occasion" restaurant a high volume tourist trap. the 6-10 tops seem to ramble on and on, with the only intimate booths in the bar. we ate reasonablygoodfish, our orders taken by a waiter with too much on his mind and too many customers waiving napkins for his attention, sitting next to a birthday party of drunken grey hairs playing spin the bottle with one of their empties. they swallowed more tongue than fish and it took thrown napkins from others to cool the ardor. an unseemly raw bar that regrettably tainted our entire experience.

one of the best downtown. the fresh seafood menu is extensive and there is also agoodselection of non-seafood entrees for those that aren't big fish eaters. the jumbo lump crab cake appetizer is the best i've had, and i also recommend the blue cheese bibb lettuce salad with apples and pecans. i ordered the wild alaskan halibut filet served "black and bleu" and it was perfect. it was a nice, thick filet that was crisp on the outside and flaky but moist on the inside.

i have mixed feelings. the restaurant decor is pretty cool. the waiter was very friendly. the meal started of great with four oysters and a crab cake appetizer. the waiter recommended the oysters since we weren't sure what would be best. we ordered the crab cakes for three of us but didn't realize an order was one, so we each got a couple of small bites. it was great. my wife and i split a pear salad it was also great.
i ordered the mixed seafood grill. the stuffed shrimp with crab were verygoodand so were the grilled shrimp. the scallops were served over a very sweet sauce that i didn't care for that much. the piece of fish seemed overcooked and dry and the seafood fried rice was cold when it arrived on the plate.
my daughter ordered the stuffed shrimp with crab she really liked it but it was very rich.
the restaurant presented us with a baked alaska for my daughter birthday. that was very nice of them but the liquor they poured over it before they lit it on fire was so strong that we had to get rid of the whipped cream before eating it. we ordered coffee when they sat the dessert down and waited fifteen minutes for them to deliver it. they gave us the coffee for free which wasgoodbecause i was going to ask them to anyway.
overall it wasgoodbut for the money you will spend here it should be terrific. so i am going to try searsucker next time.

ocenaire. oceanaire is a nice place to have a seafood dinner. the staff was great and the food was enjoyable. we had appetizers of carlsbad oysters on the half shell and a crab cake that was by far the best i've ever had. my seabass entree with blue crab oscar was slightly underseasoned but still tasty. desert wasgoodas well.

the freshest seafood without the smell of low-tide. sure oceanaire is a chain restaurant, but usually when we think of chains we think of mcdonald's, perkins, applebee's, etc. this is upscale and thinking of it as a chain seems insulting. it is a pretty classy place complete with white table cloths and servers that come around with table cloth combs to sweep any crumbs off the table between courses. no, there's no dress code, but most people tend to wear nicer clothes.

the seafood...in a word...spectacular. it would have been better but some items are no longer worth it.

important thing at oceanaire is the daily menu flown in fresh. do a little homework see what fish is in season. this place can be spendy so if you can't afford to go often plan your visits wisely. i'd recommend you check the salmon schedule.

great oyster bar! so many different choices from both coasts...if you're new, ask the server, they can tell you the differences.

i've been to maryland and have eaten crab cakes there at fine restaurants...until then i didn't realize crab cakes was supposed to be mostly crab, unlike many places in minnesota that have breading and fillers galore. go to oceanaire and order two crab cakes, you'll be full, and saved $200+ in airfare.

the sides are family portion and all delicious!

items i no longer recommend...
- steamed mussels - they'regoodbut significantly smaller (mussel not the shell) than they used to be
- escargot - no longer cooked in the shell, it used to be perfect, buttery garlic that was soft not rubbery, now they're tiny and served in a little egg plate.
- king crab leg - i've had better with more meat, granted it was in seattle

don't be afraid to experiment...each dish is wonderful and you should be willing to try the recommendations of your server, including the rare items. yes, it's sushi-ish, but the tuna is served in a thick-cut steak form and just as meaty.

oddly, i've never looked for or had clams or lobster here. with such a selection, never bothered to look. though i'll have to try them since clams in boston and lobster in maine is extremely hard to beat.