Docks Oyster House

Docks Oyster House | 2405 Atlantic Ave. | Atlantic City, NJ 609-345-0092

I am currently sitting on the Carnival Sunshine enjoying a sea day as I write this review.

We had dinner reservations for 5 at 8pm on 09/11/17. We are seated shortly after they cleaned our table.  Our server promptly arrived & took care of us, as best he could. (more on that below)

menu cover

1897 Margarita - Dock's Reposado Patron, Cointreau, Lime Juice, Agave; served on the rocks with or without a salted rim. - Wife, BIL & myself each ordered one. We toasted another night out with this tasty rita.

complimentary bread

Raw Oysters (Clockwise from the lemon)  Wellfleets (Cape Cod, Massachusetts), Long Island Medium (Norwalk, Connecticut), Malpeque (Malpeque Bay, Prince Edward Island), Old Salt (Chesapeake Bay, Virginia), Rappahanock (Rappahanock River, Virginia), Barcats  (Lynnhaven, Virginia), Blue Points (Long Island, New York), Cape May Salts (Cape May, New Jersey), Chesapeake Bay (Chesapeake Bay, Maryland), Island Creek (Duxbury, Massachusetts)     
I honestly couldn't tell a difference between any of these, other than size. Each one tasted fresh. This was probably my favorite dish.

Shrimp Ceviche
shrimp marinated in citrus with jalapeno, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, cucumbers, cilantro and onion - If my MIL sees ceviche on the menu, she almost always orders it. She LOVED this one. She ate it so quick lol

Scallop Ceviche   
Scallops, jalapeno, cucumber, cilantro, orange, shallot, lemon juice - FIL picked at it. I think he wished he would have gotten the shrimp ceviche instead. 

 

 

 

Appetizer Medley - oysters Rockefeller, clams casino and grilled jumbo shrimp - Wife & I split this. Great dish! This was my first time eating clams casino, AWESOME.

Maine Chowder – "like New England but better" is what they claim.
FIL ate 3-4 bites & pushed it away. He was not interested in finishing it.  This one is served with the clams still in the shell and our waiter let us know this prior to ordering.  I assume this is to show how fresh the soup is, but makes it messier to eat.

Manhattan Chowder -  I love tomatoes and especially tomato broth soups.  This didn't impress me and it could have been directly from a Campbell's can of soup.  First time having this, but suspect I will have more on my trip from other places.

Corn and Crab, Jalapeno Cream Chowder -  I forgot to take a photo of this soup. The Wife & MIL both thought it was boring. They wished it had a stronger jalapeno flavor, since you couldn't even taste any.

Caesar Salad - typical Caesar salad. I enjoyed the fresh shaved cheese.

Daily Special Salad - spinach with toasted macadamia nuts, goat cheese, granny smith apples, grapefruit, pickled red onions & cider vinaigrette - nice, crisp salad. good flavor profile.

Steamed Lobster stuffed with Colossal Crab meat & vegetable medley - This was the star of the show. My BIL, ordered this & the rest of us were instantly jealous. We kept commenting all night, that that's what we should have ordered.

oyster "crackers"

wall art

Interesting setup - they advised it is casual attire, but fine dining seating.  I was able to wear shorts but was asked to remove my ball cap, but it was okay to be bundled up in a jacket or wearing jeans & t-shirts.  The table is elegant and the waiters are dressed well.  The prices for all the dishes are those of a fine dining establishment.  It would be nice if they would choose either fine dining or casual seafood.

A couple of other things I found odd:
1. The only hot sauce they stocked was traditional Tabasco sauce. This is my least favorite hot sauce, as it has too much vinegar.
2. They did not serve crackers with the oysters. Our waiter informed us that there were no saltines in the whole restaurant. We were expected to use these weird giant oyster "crackers" that were located in a bowl as a centerpiece on our table. They were so hard, that when I first sat down, I thought they were actually decorations.
3. They have no "to go" cups. Our waiter, found a small child's size cup from the bar with no lid that let me take a few sips home.