Market Street Oyster Bar (Cottonwood)

05/28/07

Best Seafood swims away

by dbcreates at Citysearch

We've been members for over 18 years, but will not patronize any of the Gastronomy restaurants until some major changes happen. They've gone coporate in a huge way. While the Oyster Bar was never a bargain basement eatery, the portions were fair, preparation was wonderful if straightforward, and service was superb. We recently dined there and I ordered the line-caught Atlantic salmon filet. What arrived bore no resemblance to a filet. It was a skinny tail piece that was curled up it was so overdone. When the waiter finally returned to query, " How's everything tasting?" I pointed out that the fish on my plate was overcooked and not a filet. "Right! I kinda wondered about that when I brought it out!" H-m-m-m! I THOUGHT the server's job was to see that the item ordered was the item served. Anyhoo, he quickly brought another piece of salmon. This WAS a filet, but about a 3 oz. portion. It was perfectly cooked, but at $23.99, a total rip-off. Other changes include daily specials for around $18, and for an additional $4, you can add a soup or salad. But if you are fairly fluent in English, you can order the same 'special' off the reg. menu and get the soup or salad included, plus, it's a bigger portion, all for a difference of about .17 cents. Desserts are featured on a fast-food style picture card. Yuck. Not only are the pictures garish, they are unappetizing. Prices across the board have gone way up, portions have gone way down. It's too bad, because they were always a dependable restaurant that sold good value, great quality, and fair prices. If you're downtown, the fish at the Garden Cafe at the Grand America hotel is a far better value.

• Pros: Great physical space, ample free parking
• Cons: rip-off prices, small portions, lousy service, inept managers, corporate sell-out