Shell & Bones Oyster Bar & Grill

We had an amazing dinner here. The service is great and the food was really good. We did have a hard time finding the place as the sign for the restaurant was kind of hidden. Maybe they could have better lighting for the sign?

2÷26÷2016: My husband and I were part of a group of 7 dear friends getting together for Happy Hour at 5:30 on a Friday evening. Parking is definitely a challenge, even in the early evening.
We ended up needing a table since the bar was quite crowded. Even without a reservation, the hostesses & wait staff were very accommodating, giving us a great table that had a later 7:30 reservation. As it turned out, we were able to stay at that table all evening because of a cancellation. So right off the bat, I was pleased with the hospitality from the staff.
Our terrific server was Kat, and she knew every nuance of the great menu. Some of my friends just had appetizers, but I had a dinner special (duck). THE FOOD WAS PHENOMENAL. Loved the bread and European butter, loved the Oysters Rockefeller, and loved the presentation of all of the food!!!
A special thanks to Rob, the owner, who visited our table, and sent over complimentary desserts. Even the coffee was delicious
Bottom line: I can’t wait to get back to Shell & Bones. The quality, freshness, presentation, and taste of the food is well worth the price.
Thank you for a terrific experience.

Incredible meal swordfish on the bone over a amazing salad. Happy hour raw bar prices.

The food here is tremendous, disregard any review that says otherwise. The scallop entrée was incredible and the prime rib eye was as well. The fried calamari, for a non gluten eater, was the best I’ve ever had. Although you need to ask for it to be gluten free. Drinks were pretty good but definitely over shadowed by the food, which is a plus in this situation. Our waitress was very nice and friendly. I was not too impressed with our initial greeting at the restaurant but our food and waitress more than made up for it. This is definitely the best restaurant in the area that I have been to.

The food was excellent. The server was very knowledgeable regarding the oyster selection and the entrees. We were there on the coldest day of the winter and it was chilly, but they moved us close to the fire without any complaints. The dining area is excellent. We will be back for oysters on the deck.

I liked it, but I didn’t love it, and if you’re going to pay prices that high, I think you should *love* it. We had a reservation at 8pm on a Saturday and were seated promptly.
Here is why I’m rating this two stars, because the food itself was honestly between 3 and 4:
I’ll be honest — we had a babysitter at home and came here for date night. It is SO LOUD we basically stared at each other for most of the meal. A few times we had to text so we didn’t have to shout. I do expect restaurants to be crowded and booming on a Saturday night, but the music was too loud, the bar was too loud, and the acoustics are terrible.
Secondly, we were seated by a cold door that led to the outside (also blocking the fire exit? Isn’t this illegal?)
To me, this just screams trying to maximize occupancy during peak times, which I consider a cardinal sin. The last place I want to be seated on a February evening is next to a drafty doorway.
I should also mention that the women’s room smelled strongly of urine, as if there was a problem in the pipes. It’s a real turn-​off.
Service was on the slow side. I’m going to blame the server and not the kitchen, based on my experiences working in the industry myself — there was way too long of a stretch between when we finished our meals and the dessert recommendation. I’m watching the minutes tick by… at the very least, a bus person should have come over and cleared our plates. I watched other tables complain about the same problem.
The food was okay. The bread and butter were okay (hard, crusty bread), and our salad appetizer was interesting — brussels sprouts, kale, pomegranate seeds. a little too ornate for me. We did not finish it.
My boyfriend ordered a special, duck breast with duck sausage, and I had the steak and frites. His duck breast was cold, while the rest of the plate was not — he was very disappointed. I was 100 percent satisfied with my entrée — steak cooked to perfection, very tasty.
Bottom line — too noisy, slow service, food at different temperatures, bill over $ 100. I won’t be doing back anytime soon.

Great brunch — warm friendly restaurant with beautiful water views.

5 Stars does NOT do this restaurant justice. From the moment we walked in, to the very minute we stepped out, I felt like I was treated like royalty.
Drinks:
Coke
Rum Runner — VERY strong
Starter:
My husband had the Mushroom soup, which was served with a ½ of a grilled cheese, as his starter and it was divine. A must order if you love a savory mushroom soup. I deferred a starter, for calorie sake ;)
Entrees:
My husband ordered the NY Strip, and it was as tender as warm butter. It was served with a Red Wine reduction with Mushrooms and Fried Onions. It was so much food, my 6’5″ husband couldn’t finish it all.
I ordered the Bouillabaise, and it was the absolute best I have ever eaten. The seafood was perfectly, and delicately cooked, and all the veggies were cooked al dente, so it may not be to everyone’s liking.
Dessert:
We shared the Pot de Crème, and it was a richly dense, dark chocolate mousse with fresh summer berries, topped with an Espresso Whipped Cream.
All in All, if you have both the time, and the finances, I would HIGHLY recommend this restaurant as a must for New Haven!
Total Bill: $ 107 and $ 30 tip

Had excellent food here. Small plates and seafood were fresh and creative. Everything was fantastic. The view is tremendous, great décor, good service.
It’s a bit hard to get a good spot on busy summer days, and it’s pretty expensive, but worth it for a special spot and atmosphere.

Wow. I am pretty picky about my restaurants — I haven’t had such a wonderful experience in a LONG time. First, we were sat directly next to the fireplace, which was so cozy, I wish I was still sitting there now. Secondly, our waitress Erin was just so pleasant, funny and helpful, I knew we were in for a good time already. Our appetizer, the octopus was unusual, creative and a huge portion, too. My boulliabase, though, was INCREDIBLE. A very large bowl filled with so much seafood, and lots of veggies, which I loved. I honestly can’t say enough about how cozy and inviting and delicious this place was. I can’t wait to go again!!!

The food was excellent I had the clam chowder to start and the bucatini and clams for my main dish. All I can say is wow! My wife had the meatloaf for her main dish. The food is phenomenal I highly recommend it!

Totally love this place! The ambiance is amazing. The view is great. The food is outstanding and the drinks are amazing. Definitely recommend.

Still trying to make it again for the dinner menu, but we still love it based on the brunch/​lunch menu. The mussel pots are a favorite appetizer, try the Thai Curry and Belgian flavors. The raw bar is a great attraction for sea food lovers and the fish tacos are always fresh with taste.

My wife, myself, and two other couples visited the shell and bones on Friday night. We had such a great time with excellent food and great service. I cant wait to come back when the sun is up to really take in the beautiful view. The food was excellent and the waitress was very helpful offering suggestions of popular dishes. I went with the Shell and Bones and let me tell you the short rib was falling off the bone and the BBQ shrimp /​celery purée was a perfect compliment to the dish. We wrapped up with some dessert and if the fried donut with the dipping sauce is an option, do yourself a favor and get it! Amazing!
We will definitely be back soon!

We went there on Sat evening and had a wonderful time. Meals were excellent (Filet Mignon and Swordfish) and our server, Erin, was delightful.
Two nice meals, great service, two drinks each and free parking for $ 100. A very good deal.

We made reservations for tonight for a date. They put us in front of the window it was right next to the bar. It was a bit too loud for us and the music was so loud so we asked if we can sit by the fireplace. They accommodated right away. We ordered ceviche which was delicious and deviled eggs. Both were right on except the corny toothpick-​umbrella and stale popcorn with it. Went to the bathroom they need a candle in there or something it smells like urine, that was a turnoff for me.
The main course was great. I ordered the braised short ribs, they were amazing. My husband ordered the swordfish salad special. He enjoyed it immensely. The hostess and wait staff were very relaxed, professional and kind.
I am not sure I will return maybe in the summer when the deck is open.

3.5 stars.
This was our first seafood restaurant experience after moving to CT. We picked it based on its proximity to the water and to Ikea since we spent the whole afternoon shopping there and working up an appetite ;) Came in with no reservation around 6pm, got a seat on the deck with no wait.
We had:
*Drinks– Moscow Mule was excellent but my Broadside, though tasty was very weak and not at all worth the price paid.
*Crabcakes– delicious, flaky, and complemented perfectly by a cucumber slaw, cabbage (tasted like kimchee), guacamole and some other sauces. Must order!
*Harbor sampler– comes with ceviche (scallops and shrimp), 3 clams, 3 oysters, 2 shrimp. The seafood is all very fresh but it was not worth it IMO… order the dishes separately! The ceviche is a smaller portion than if you order it a la carte and we literally got one tiny scallop in the whole dish. Clams are small, skip em and go straight for the meaty oysters! The shrimp were gigantic and are totally worth ordering a la carte.
*Fries– good appetizer or side dish with oysters. They serve theirs with chipotle ketchup and rosemary malt sauce, very good!
*Oysters– So fresh and so good! We ordered more since our sampler only came with 3 and we couldn’t get enough! We got the Atlantic ones, they come from 4 different locations and went with the ones that our waiter recommended. Can’t remember the location (I think it changes by season) but they were very large and a bit on the saltier side.
Location cannot be beat as it overlooks the harbor, and service was very friendly though a bit lagging and inattentive. Not sure if they’re understaffed or the kitchen was running behind. As we left we noticed there was a wait. My husband and I were joking we should’ve asked them to bring them out our second order of oysters faster so we could shuck them ourselves!
Overall we still had a good experience and we will definitely return for the Raw bar if we’re in the New Haven area!

I went back to shell and bones last week with some friends and had a great time. Octopus, crab cakes, gazpacho, ceviche, and everything else was excellent! Even though it was a hot and humid day, they had the doors open to the water. The slight breeze off the water cooled the interior nicely and it was good to escape the cold icebox feel of being in the air conditioning for too long. A great time.

Shell & Bones Oyster Bar & Gill — New Haven, CT — 7÷24÷2015
As of this writing I would give them a couple of months to figure it out… They did not appear to know what they were doing.
Parking is poor. I watched a number of people circle a few times before giving up and exiting the parking lot and leave.
Our server Kim was very nice but there was definitely a disconnect between her ability to manage the number of tables assigned to her and the kitchen. She knew the menu very well and proceeded to tell us the specials…
The crab cakes were OK but the Calamari was amazing! Especially the sauce… We would have appreciated being told that the calamari potions were extremely small as we would have ordered double…
Normally the bread comes out first but not here tonight for some reason… Thick hearty slices of nicely arranged Italian bread with ornately trimmed house whipped butter…
After waiting for some time, Kim comes back to our table to announce they had actually run out of the short ribs and three of us would need to change our selection. How do you run out of anything on a Friday night when you have a 7:00 pm seating? So three of us changed our orders. The first– Prime New York Strip and two other two went with the salmon…
Meals were served 20 minutes apart– totally unacceptable! I asked for the manager… About thirteen minutes later the manager, Rich would arrive… Mind you it’s no more than a forty five second walk from the front door to our table so why an already disgruntled patron would be made to wait only added insult to injury… Rich was extremely apologetic and offered to take 50% off our bill and immediately they brought us complimentary gazpacho. Great gesture on his part but I would rather pay full price and have a 5 star experience than what we were experiencing.
The New York strip was served with fried onion rings and roasted brussels sprouts with Pancetta and a spicy béarnaise sauce. It was perfectly cooked and quite delicious! We asked for more sauce and after quite some time Kim returned with a different sauce that what we had asked for… Not wanting to wait any longer we just let it ride… She would just disappear for long periods of time. The salmon dishes grilled to perfection. One served over crushed beets, grilled asparagus, braised radishes and Meyer lemons and the other with french fries. Fabulous! The remaining dishes were the last two short ribs… Really quite good and served with BBQ shrimps over some sort of a risotto that was to die for!
For dessert we ordered coffees and I ordered what they advertise as a «Tres Leches» Cake… It was NOT Tres Leches… I’ve had it many times and my daughter is a pastry chef that makes amazing Tres Leches so I know this was not it… When I mentioned this to Kim she said; «the chef would argue with you»… What kind of response was that? I eat in hundreds of restaurants from Maine to NJ with regularity so I’m well ware of what to expect as far as the meal and the service making me perhaps a little more discerning than the average diner but I know what I want and I know my food…
The others ordered a flourless chocolate cake which was practically inhaled it was so good, a Tart with berries and ice cream and baked apples with berries and Ice Cream.
In usual fashion all the coffees did not come out at the same time and again there was a delay… You would think that after complaining that they would have two servers bring out all of the remaining foods as to not compound an already dreadful service experience but no…
Once they get all the kinks worked out and figure out what they should be doing I’m sure this will be a fabulous place. You can’t beat the setting right on the water with a boat slip right there to see boats ride by as you are dining. And as far a décor, they did a very nice job lightening up the interior. The previous restaurant was always very dark inside so kudos to the design team. The food is truly fabulous! A bit on the expensive side for what you get and quality of service so presently the price/​value relationship is not quite there but with a few tweaks this could be a real winner.
I truly hope the restaurant receives this revue in the vane in which it was written. I live to dine and fine dining is something that I truly enjoy. If it’s just two for dinner and you don’t mild off service then go but for what you spend there… For my money I’ll wait a couple of months or so until the figure it out. It’s New Haven… There are plenty of other choices in the mean time but definitely try them in a couple of months because the food is overall really good.
I thank Rich for comping half the meal because of the awful service but that’s not what we were looking for… What we were looking for was five star dining experience, not price… And in that they clearly let us down…

Restaurant design and décor are amazing, food is the best around. I’m a vegetarian and ordered the vegetable cassoulet. It was so good that my meat-​eating boyfriend devoured half of it. Fresh vegetables, unbelievable flavor — celery root purée, beets, mushrooms, asparagus and corn were some of the ingredients. It was exciting to see that the veg option was NOT ravioli, gnocchi or risotto which are what I find myself stuck with whenever we go out. Kudos to the chef for this masterpiece.
My partner ordered the chicken which was comparable to NYC’s Union Square Café (best chicken ever).
Recommendation for seafood lovers — ceviche and the cod chowder. People all around me were raving about both. I had the gazpacho sans crab and it was refreshing and so flavorful.
Get to this place before the summer is over.. .