The Oceanaire Seafood Room

Reviews

• MG

  Maria jose Ghafouri

  4 days ago
  5.0
  Food was really good, need to work on their wine list some of the bottles were not available but that was not something that changed our overall dining experience, Brigitte our server was kind, attentive and knowledgeable they really took care of us from the beginning to the end I also loved the atmosphere not too much noise just a pleasant ambiance that I would definitely come back to.
• BR

  Ben Royce

  Feb 20, 2026
  2.0
  Went here on Valentines evening. Had a reservation for 8pm and still ended up waiting an hour for a table. The front of the restaurant was overcrowded and chaotic, with tons of people standing and waiting for tables. We checked after 20-30 minutes and still had to wait because of people in the queue. We continued to wait before checking again and one of the hostesses at the desk was clearly in a bad mood and said she “called us already,” even though both of us couldn’t hear her in the chaos. We finally got sat and the food was good, although the server forgot to bring a dish and we had to remind him. Overall the restaurant did not handle the evening well, and the overall experience was way below my expectations. They should have managed Valentines day better considering they are a high end establishment and we made a reservation.
• MH

  Mike Hartel

  Feb 15, 2026
  1.0
  They overbooked the place on Valentine's Day which left me and my fiance waiting for 90 minutes to be seated. We had a 7:30 reservation and they didn't sit us until after 9PM. If it had been any other day of the year we would've left well before then but where else would we get a last minute Valentine's Day reservation? We waited by the bar, but after an hour of standing we sat in one of the small 2 person booths by the bar which didn't have any place settings or signage indicating that we couldn't sit there while we waited. Another 30 minutes went by and we flagged down the hostess who told us that she thought we had been seated and removed us from the list and wouldn't admit that she made a mistake. Obviously she hadn't sat us there, plus it did not appear that they were seating any of the diners in that area. The adjacent booth was empty while a half dozen couples waited by the coat check/hostess stand to be seated so obviously she was feeding us a line of BS. She was able to seat us immediately after that point in the dining area, but we were not offered anything complimentary for our time waiting or her error. If you're looking for excellent seafood and fine dining in Boston I would recommend Ostra or Ocean Prime. They know how to honor a reservation.
• MF

  Michael Feinstein

  Feb 15, 2026
  1.0
  Our Valentine’s Day dinner was nearly ruined by horrible front of house organization and staffing at Oceanaire. We had an 8:15 PM reservation and arrived a few minutes before. The waiting area of the restaurant was packed with people waiting for their tables. There was a couple ahead of us at the hostess desk who didn’t have a reservation and was trying to get a sense of how long it might take them to get seated. They were sent to the bar to wait. When we checked in, we were told that they were behind and that our table wasn’t ready. We were also sent to the bar to wait. At 8:30 PM, I went back to the hostess desk to get a sense of how long we might wait. I was told that there were a lot of people ahead of us and that people were ‘lingering over their dessert’. They expected a lot of people to leave soon and that we would then be seated. Another couple at the bar had an 8:30 reservation and was in the same boat as us. We also talked to a couple that were seated at a table in the bar area. They had been seated for 1 ½ hours and hadn’t yet received their entrees. Clearly, the kitchen was way behind. As we watched and waited, we noticed that as diners left the restaurant was very slow in resetting tables for new diners. There were quite a few tables that had dirty dishes and glasses on them for over 30 minutes while no one reset them. There were people from the front desk walking around with iPads tracking empty tables, but none of them took action to clear the tables. We got increasingly angry. At about 8:50 PM I went to the hostess desk again for an update. We were told the same thing as before – they expected people to leave soon and that we would be seated soon. We decided to check OpenTable to see if there were any other restaurants nearby where we could get a 9 PM reservation so we could eat. In the end, we decided to stay a bit longer. Finally, at 9:15 PM, we were seated. The couple with the 8:30 PM reservation was seated at the same time. So was the couple that had walked in immediately before us with no reservation! While waiting at the bar, we overheard someone say that the restaurant doesn’t turn away walk-ins and will seat them even if it means that those with reservations get delayed. That completely defeats the purpose of having a reservation. Once seated, the service and food were great. The server told us that the place was short-staffed and that as the kitchen fell behind it backed up into the tables being held much longer than normal while people waited for their food. This is not the type of organization I would expect from a very nice steak and seafood place. Plenty of other restaurants seem to be able to handle crowds, and Valentine’s Day is obviously a big dinner out night. We would never return to a place that was run so poorly. Seeing the empty tables sitting there without being reset for more than 30 minutes while many people are waiting to sit is unacceptable. We saw quite a few people give up and leave before the night was through. No manager or anyone else apologized or offered any compensation like a free drink or free dessert. There are plenty of similar places in Boston that are run much more efficiently. Don’t waste your time at Oceanaire.
• KG

  Kathryn Garbuzinski

  Feb 15, 2026
  3.0
  They were woefully unprepared for Valentine's Day. Thankfully we were seated at the our reservation time but it was about 20 minutes before we were asked for our drink orders and about another 20 before we placed our appetizer and food orders. And there was no bread for the table. The appetizers were delicious and tasted fresh but the mains themselves were just fine, a bit overdone. Drinks were incredible, big fan of their truffle fries, and the restaurant did have a nice vibe. The baked Alaska was absolutely worth the wait. The entire meal took roughly 3 hours. Our waiter was very apologetic when he had the time to stop by and did what he could to make up for the delays. Every employee we saw seemed overwhelmed, which makes sense because as we were leaving at 9pm there were easily a dozen parties waiting to be seated. I'm very empathetic to the staff because I know they were doing what they could. I don't know what led to them clearly being massively overbooked but overall I was unimpressed with the experience given this caliber of restaurant.

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