Sweetwater Oyster Bar

I had high hopes as we love a unique restaurant and good oysters. I thought the decor was bland. The food was very mediocre in general. Our oysters were expensive and had no briney punch. The waitstaff was friendly but we had 3 different waiters at one point & then they spent most of the time fawning over an eccentric regular. To be fair, that person had a great time. 😉 I was really hoping to love this place but sadly it was meh for us. The good news is that this restaurant has lots of people that love it and we wish it well.

I so wanted to love this place. Considering the reviews, it seemed like there was lots of potential. But I just came away from an expensive birthday dinner feeling very disappointed. This place wants to be fine dining - at least from the vibe and the prices - but it falls flat. Other than the manager, there was one other waitress working the entire restaurant so I was ready to forgive the lack of service thinking they were short staffed. But it just got worse from there. The high points were the gulf oysters and the hamachi dish. Our $50 each entrees were terrible. My husband got the Lobster Risotto, of which there were an abundance of clams and very little lobster or "risotto" - I use quotations because the rice in this dish was far from "creamy risotto" as described. I got the Steak Oscar, which had a flavorless bernaise sauce and "lump crab" that tasted fishy. It was accompanied by bland mashed potatoes, broccoli that tasted burnt but wasn't burnt, and basically raw carrots. My husband hardly ate any of his risotto, and I left about 3/4 of my meal on the plate. Not once were we asked how things were, to include when we refused a to go box for the leftovers. To top it off, the waitress spilled a shot of something someone else ordered, and I watched as she poured the liquid from her tray into the carafe the bartender was using to measure out servings of wine, and then she DRANK IT in plain sight. I went from wanting to love it, to willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and return another time, to deciding never to go back because it was awful and so not worth the price. For a $200 dinner for 2, there are exponentially better choices that are out there. This ain't it.

For the price I was a little disappointed. Plates were small, lobster was a little over cooked (and I am someone who likes their seafood pretty well done), had to remind the waiter of the stuffed mushrooms we ordered twice, and no cheese on the baked potato (waiter gave me American and even melted it for me but wasn't the same). We came because another place we were going to happened to be temp closed on Mondays and ended up not super happy that we ended up here and spent way more than we would have at the other place. Environment was great and they've got potential but for us to go in with only one other table to get what we got and spend what we spent I see no reason this shouldn't have blown my mind.

I've been wanting to try this place for a while as oysters are my absolute favorite food. I am thrilled to share my anticipation lived up to the quality of oysters we were served! We opted for 4 different types of east coast oysters and they were delicious! We also ordered the calamari which was perfectly cooked (side note- the cup that the marinara dipping sauce was served in was tiny, making it difficult to actually dip. Not complaining, though - it was also delicious). Additionally, we had the beef tartare, which would've been better if it was "mixed-up" instead of served in the deconstructed way it was but that is just my personal preference. The quality was top tier and we cannot wait to return and try more things from the menu if we don't fill up on the incredible oysters first. We look forward to returning soon 😋🥰

I had high hopes as we love a unique restaurant and good oysters. I thought the decor was bland. The food was very mediocre in general. Our oysters were expensive and had no briney punch. The waitstaff was friendly but we had 3 different waiters at one point & then they spent most of the time fawning over an eccentric regular. To be fair, that person had a great time. 😉 I was really hoping to love this place but sadly it was meh for us. The good news is that this restaurant has lots of people that love it and we wish it well.

I so wanted to love this place. Considering the reviews, it seemed like there was lots of potential. But I just came away from an expensive birthday dinner feeling very disappointed. This place wants to be fine dining - at least from the vibe and the prices - but it falls flat. Other than the manager, there was one other waitress working the entire restaurant so I was ready to forgive the lack of service thinking they were short staffed. But it just got worse from there. The high points were the gulf oysters and the hamachi dish. Our $50 each entrees were terrible. My husband got the Lobster Risotto, of which there were an abundance of clams and very little lobster or "risotto" - I use quotations because the rice in this dish was far from "creamy risotto" as described. I got the Steak Oscar, which had a flavorless bernaise sauce and "lump crab" that tasted fishy. It was accompanied by bland mashed potatoes, broccoli that tasted burnt but wasn't burnt, and basically raw carrots. My husband hardly ate any of his risotto, and I left about 3/4 of my meal on the plate. Not once were we asked how things were, to include when we refused a to go box for the leftovers. To top it off, the waitress spilled a shot of something someone else ordered, and I watched as she poured the liquid from her tray into the carafe the bartender was using to measure out servings of wine, and then she DRANK IT in plain sight. I went from wanting to love it, to willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and return another time, to deciding never to go back because it was awful and so not worth the price. For a $200 dinner for 2, there are exponentially better choices that are out there. This ain't it.