Docks Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill

Last Saturday I hosted a VIP. Was not impressed.
I requested a reservation and informed could walk in as it was not busy. Walked in took about 5 minutes to ready the table of six. Having seated was not attended for nearly ten minutes. Ordered seafood cobb it had just a one shrimp few pieces of crab meet rest all avacado, cabbage, shredded egg and small pieces of bacon Served along with cream and cheese. It was not really a Seafood meal.
For dessert we ordered New York Cheese Cake that was super.

I have been to Docks many times over the years and I have to say they are consistent in everything — service and quality. This time wasn’t any different.
Went there for a celebratory lunch for a colleague as it was near work and we knew it wouldn’t take us all day to get our food.
I started with a cup of New England Clam Chowder soup since it was a cool, rainy day I thought it was the perfect day for some soup. While the soup was good, it was luke warm so I was a little disappointed in that. For my entrée I ordered the crab cakes and they were really good — packed with more crab than breading and lightly fried. Spicy bbq potato chips came with it — how did they know bbq chips are my favorite?
Once again Docks didn’t disappoint and I look forward to going back there again.

I have only been here for OysterFest … Twice. Both times, this event was amazing!!! Unlimited shucked oysters of many varieties, endless huge boiled shrimp, chowders/​bisques, Oysters Rockefeller, Oyster Po’Boys, fried oysters and open bar (beer/​wine/​vodka). You would think this would be a major mob-​fest as well, but the crowd is friendly and convivial. There is an oyster shucking contest which was impressive. The restaurant itself is open, large and inviting. Plus OysterFest is a bargain at $ 75 prepaid/​$ 80 at the door. Great DJ and tunes. It only happens twice a year and is one of my favorite events. Come hungry and leave drunk and stuffed!

I came here for my birthday lunch and the food was delicious. Their service was also great. It is a great place to have a fancy lunch in Midtown !

Had a delicious dinner at Docks while visiting the city. I ordered the surf and turf, which was delicious and cooked perfectly. My fiancé and I split a raw/​cold sampler, and also a side of creamed spinach. They were out of the wine we wanted to order, but the waiter was able to recommend something similar. It was not very busy when we visited (on a Saturday night), but had a reservation regardless. Would definitely return!

After not going to Dock’s for years, I was excited to meet some friends (old coworkers) at the bar for Happy Hour.
While the bar menu/​specials were OK, our service was very disappointing…
We sat at the bar, ordered drinks and food — but we all felt the service was lackluster…
It felt like we needed to hop behind the bar to get our own drinks…
The place wasn’t overly crowded — so, I don’t understand why our bartender (grey haired guy with reading glasses — Tom is his name) wasn’t attentive.
After we shared some appetizers, our dirty dishes sat in front of us for at least a ½ hour.
Sadly, I won’t be back at Dock’s anytime soon… :(

Boozy brunch winner.
Chose Docks for a weekend brunch on a day too cool for a classic sidewalk affair. Surprised to find the cavernous restaurant mostly deserted — compare to hour-​long waits at LES bistros. Drinks were quickly served — a spicy bloody mary or mimosa came with the brunch combo, and refills were $ 1 each.
Entrees were solid, but not life-​changing. Lobster hash was reasonable, though the preparation left the meat a bit chewy and cooked out the intrinsic sweet flavor of lobster. Crabcake was tasty, though with a minced meat and a completely breaded crust, a far cry from the giant lump crab cakes that highlight Baltimore’s waterfront. Meals came with rolls/​muffins, as well as a small cut fruit bowl, which helped soak up the alcohol.
Drinks were refilled promptly, and perhaps stiffer than the intro mug. Unclear if there was a time limit, as we were done drinking far before any prompting for the door.

Came here for happy hour after work on a Monday. Bar was pretty packed around 6pm, but was able to grab two seats. Drinks and food were really cheap. $ 4 drafts are a great deal, $ 7 wines, $ 1 oysters and clams, $ 2 slider, $ 4 buttermilk artichokes w/​mustard aioli, 5 spicy tuna roll, $ 6 buffalo calamari.
We ordered the spicy tuna roll and artichokes. The spicy tuna roll was just alright, and my SO mentioned it came out of a container. It wasn’t fresh, but it’s what you get for the happy hour price. The artichokes have little to no flavor. Could’ve used some salt or seasoning. The mustard aioli was more like a bland cream, didn’t taste any mustard flavor.
Bar and dining room area started getting more crowded around 6:30−7.
Pretty nice and spacious, and the bartender was very attentive.
Will definitely come back again for happy hour drinks and try the dollar oysters and clams.

This was the first restaurant I dined at when I arrived in New York City in 2013. I finally came back recently to remember some wonderful memories. I came alone on a Sunday around 12:30−1pm for a luxurious brunch. It did not disappoint at all.
The ambience is nice. It’s a very classic seafood restaurant. The decors and live band playing made it that much better. The hostess was friendly and made sure I liked my table. The server was really professional and described dishes to me when I asked him what’s good. He told me the soup of the day is great and suggested I give it a try.
I ordered the Shellfish Bisque, New England Omelet and a cup of coffee to wash it all down. All the dishes were delightful. The soup was creamy and had the right amount of «fishiness.» The New England omelet was pretty good as well. The home fries that came with it was delicious. Probably the best home fries I’ve had in this area. The omelet may be a little too creamy/​cheesy for some people. I found it a littttttle bit overwhelming but it didn’t bother me that much. The food is great.
P.S, You also get a basket of bread and tiny muffins. They were delicious as well. They went well with my coffee.
Overall, great place, great music, great food. The only downside is the limited selection of oysters available. It might be because it’s during Sunday brunch hour but I wished there were at least a couple I could select and enjoy with my soup.
*Hi there. If you liked my reviews, please give me a «compliment.» Thank you.”

Great oysters, clams, rolls and sliders. Happy hour is at the bar only. Even though the bar was crowded the bartender took our orders quickly.

Everything here is overpriced and the service blows. We ordered 2 glasses of wine and 2 appetizers and it took the waitress forever to take our order and an eternity to get the actual food. The bill came out to over $ 100 so never again.
I don’t know why people would even come here for restaurant week. I don’t get it.

I’ve been here for dinner and once for lunch. They have a great prix fix lunch menu. Their fish is very fresh, service is good. I will try to get in for the $ 1 oysters one day. It is always too crowded by the time I make it there.

My second NYC Winter Restaurant Week dinner was at Docks with a friend; it wasn’t my favorite, and I will proceed to tell you readers why below.
My friend got the crab cake app, sea bass entrée, and a blood orange sorbet scoop. I got the poached pear salad app, sea bass entrée, and a chocolate ice cream scoop.
First of all, our portions were miniscule. Her crab cake app was literally one tiny crab cake. My salad app was done in literally two bites. Our sea bass portions were decent and filled me up at the time, but just a couple of hours later, I was hungry again. When I go to RW and splurge, I expect to be filled for the rest of the night! Second, there was nothing special about what we got. Nothing blew me away. Our fish didn’t come with anything, like fries or side salad. Even our ice cream and sorbet were things we could have gotten exactly at Haagen-​Dazs. Third, the atmosphere is so uppity and ritzy. I don’t think that I’d be comfortable here outside of RW. I am pretty sure we were the youngest people in the whole place; everyone else was in their 40s and up.
So I’d say if you’re going for RW, go to another spot. You’ll get more for your money and I’m sure you can find a better ambiance, too.

I’ve been here a few times but only for happy hour $ 1 oysters. No complaints, they have a good calamari app and a yummy cocktail for $ 7 each during happy hour as well.
Happy hour $ 1 oysters are bar-​seating only, or you can be served at the waiting area along the wall as well. Happy hour is 4−7PM.
Make sure to grab a matchbox on the way out, top quality matches, hehe.

I knew reading the earlier reviews of Dock’s that it wasn’t necessarily going to be the best culinary experience, but we were in from out of town and it was near our hotel, and for $ 26 I figured how off could brunch with essentially bottomless Bloody Mary’s possibly be? Well, the answer was extremely.
We had 11:30 reservations, which was when the restaurant opened, we arrived about 5 minutes early and literally had to wait outside in the cold because they left their doors locked until the moment they opened. The three piece band was setting up as we were finally allowed in, and I have to say they were pretty good — one of the reasons I’m giving 2 stars rather than one.
My fiancé and I ordered our brunch, crab cake Benedict for him, asparagus/​mushroom/​goat cheese omelet for me. The waiter happily accommodated my request for a side of tossed greens rather than potatoes. Our water, coffee, Bloody Mary’s, and muffins all arrived promptly.
This was when things turned downhill. The house made Bloody Mary mix was loaded with horseradish, like the bartender must have dumped the whole jar in — and we both like things spicy. I couldn’t finish mine, the waitress offered to bring another «watered down» with tomato juice, which I wasn’t thrilled by, but still accepted — it was equally terrible.
My fiancé’s crab cakes were deep fried — not something you would expect from a restaurant that specializes in seafood, and my omelet was pretty lacking in asparagus, mushrooms, and goat cheese.
I did speak with a manager, who was very accommodating and took my food away and my meal off the bill. My fiancé choked down the remainder of his watered down Bloody Mary and enjoyed his potatoes.
Can’t say I would recommend this one to anyone. Would’ve rather paid for individual drinks and enjoyed both the drinks and the food. I’d recommend looking elsewhere for brunch.

ABSOLUTELY LACKLUSTER LUNCH EXPERIENCE. I’m updating to completely discredit my previous DINNER review.
Bill was around $ 250 FOR LUNCH — the drinks accounted for most, but definitely not all on drinks. In fact. We had an appetizer at around $ 20 each, $ 26 lobster roll, and a $ 32 yellowfin tuna. The yellowfin tuna was INEDIBLE. This is the dish that the waitress recommended, saying that it melts in your mouth, but It was so dry and crisp with no flavor whatsoever. I only had one bite and later asked them to take it away. I also asked it to be cooked at the recommended level of medium.
Needless to say, I’m only coming here if it’s business lunch and it would not be of my own choosing anyway. NEVER AGAIN.

Totally a fan of this place. I agree with a few of the other reviewers – the lobster hash is amazing. Try it. It comes with two poached eggs that are perfectly runny and will drizzle your seafood and potatoes with ooey gooey yolk.
Not sure if this is a good or bad thing (probably depends) but they are laid back and family friendly. At least, for lunch/​brunch. There was a giant party of over 10 people next to us and they had a great time. Maybe too great? But the staff was totally cool about letting the kids feel at home.
The other things you get are great – Bloody Mary’s are good here. Didn’t try the mimosa, but the $ 25 prix fixe gets you unlimited non-​alcoholic drinks, and 1 free cocktail (mimosa or bloody), with each additional cocktail costing $ 1. Not a bad deal for somewhere that’s not quite boozy brunch paradise, since it is classier than some boozy brunch places. Understandable.
Our waitress was very nice, a little quirky. She was fun, and warned us not to mix our cocktails up too much, please. I assume that comes from some personal experience with the unfortunate result of mixing mimosas and bloody’s.
The restaurant is very large, so it felt very calm, and noise dissipated fairly quickly. There was a live band playing some classic coffee shop tunes/​breakfast jazz, and that added a nice touch.
Everything was satisfactory overall. I would come again to try the other bowls.

Good happy hour menu, but the service can be a bit slow during the height of happy hour and the food quality is lacking.
I came here for happy hour with a few friends at around 5:45pm on a Monday and the place was bustling. We were able to get a few spots in the corner where the bar stools and counters were since every seat at the oval bar was already taken. The restaurant was very nice, classy and there was a mix of tourists and suit & tie business folks here. The happy hour was from 3−7pm so we got cracking immediately and grabbed a menu off of the bar to order.
The happy hour menu was pretty deep with a good selection of beers (Hoegaarden, Stella, etc.) and wines. For the food, there were $ 1 oysters, $ 1 clams, burger sliders, a tuna sushi roll and calamari. It was a bit of a challenge to order because every seat at the bar was occupied so trying to catch the attention of the waitresses/​bartenders over the customers at the bar were not easy. I had to squeeze in between people while they were eating, drinking and chatting at the bar. It was not the best system of taking orders. We felt they should’ve had some waitress on the outside of the bar area taking orders at least.
After putting in our order, the drinks came immediately, but the food took a long time to come out. We ordered 2 dozen oysters first, which took about 20 minutes to arrive. Then we ordered 6 burger sliders and calamari, which came a bit faster. However, our tuna sushi roll was completely forgotten and I had to give them a reminder about it after 20+ minutes of waiting. After they put in the tuna sushi roll order, we waited another 15 – 20 minutes for it. The service was definitely disappointing because it was slow and lacking. To their defense they seemed very busy running around, but it’s still no excuse for forgetting an item of an order at such an established restaurant.
Besides the service, the happy hour food was not satisfying either:
Oysters — They were not cut well and shards of shell were inside the oyster. It was a bit bothersome that every time we ate an oyster we had to spit back out pieces of the shell.
Calamari — It was just too chewy for our liking. It was like chewing a rubberband.
Burger Sliders — Probably the best of the items we ordered. The burgers were cooked medium rare and were actually pretty good.
Tuna Sushi Roll — It was ok. The pieces were small, but at least they gave 8. There were not many complaints here.
I’m not sure what the lunch and dinner experience is like, but the happy hour here has a lot of room for improvement. The hospitality was good and friendly, but the service was too slow despite the foot traffic. Also, the happy hour food quality needs to be improved if they are to elevate themselves to the likes of happy hour hotspots like Lure Fishbar or Mermaid Oyster Bar.

This review is just based off of their Happy hour.
I’m not entirely sure when it ends, but its definitely a good one. Their happy hour menu includes items such as calamari, sushi, and $ 1 oysters that are very tasty. They even give you the ingredients so you can make your own cocktail sauce to your liking. I believe beer and wine are on this menu as well as a few cocktails. It gets pretty crowded after work, so try and get a spot at the bar and enjoy the seafood!

Docks is a solid restaurant that is probably underrated because of its location in Midtown East. The restaurant is probably good for business lunches, but during dinner and on weekends it seems emptier. Their food quality is great — Ive always enjoyed the food here (lobster rolls, mm). They also have a great brunch deal on weekends … our server was nice and allowed us to have multiple rounds of mimosas. I loved the Maine lobster potato hash.
The restaurant itself is a very large space, though sometimes, it’s fun just to eat at the bar.