The Oyster Tavern

Name: The Oyster Tavern
Address: 4 Market Lane St Patrick's St., Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland, Republic of, T12 NP29
Telephone: 083 029 3197
Price range: €31 to €50
Rating: 4.1

4.1

401 reviews

€31 to €50

Irish

Top tags:

Welcome to the Oyster Tavern! We were delighted to have restored and reopened this historic venue in August 2017.
The venue now comprises two floors, with a relaxed traditional feel bar on the ground floor, and a beautifully designed upstairs Restaurant& Bar, perfect for dining and social sips.
We are located at the Market Lane entrance to the world-famous English Market.
Our kitchen team walks through the English Market on a daily basis sourcing ingredients for our casual dining menu.
A 10% Discretionary service charge will be added to parties of 6 or more.

We can’t wait to welcome you soon!

Make a booking

No. of diners

2 people

DateTime

29 Sept 2023

19:00

Booked 5 times today

Additional information

Dining style
Casual Dining
Cuisines
Irish, Seafood
Hours of Operation
Mon–Fri 4:00 pm–12:00 am Sat 12:00 pm–2:00 am Sun 12:00 pm–11:30 pm
Phone number
083 029 3197
Website
http://www.oystertavern.ie/
Payment Options
Contactless Payment
Dress Code
Smart Casual
Executive Chef
Chris Curtin
Private party facilities
Please enquire about private events, larger parties, weddings etc at the Oyster Tavern. We would be delighted to discuss your requirements and find a way to make your event come to life.

Location
4 Market Lane, St Patrick's St., Cork, Co. Cork T12 NP29
Area
Cork City
Cross Street
Market Lane is off Patrick Street, beside Lifestyle Sports
Parking Details
Pay by hour off street parking nearby
Public Transit
Served well by all bus routes in city
Additional
Gluten-free Options, Indoor Fireplace, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Vegan

Popular dishes

What 401 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.1

4.1 based on recent ratings

4.2Food
4.2Service
4.2Ambience
4Value

Noise • Moderate

401 Reviews

W
Walsh123
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined 6 days ago
overall5food5service5ambience5
Our server was so lovely. Food was great and good atmosphere.
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AW
AineW
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined 7 days ago
overall4food5service5ambience4
Really good meal, we ordered a few options from the bites menu and it was so tasty. Lovely server and just a really good vibe there.
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J
Jasper
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 20 September 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Food was outstanding, service of staff amazing. Will definitely be back.
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DC
DollyC
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on 13 September 2023
overall4food4service5ambience4
Great service side door was open we had to ask one of the servers to close it
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AW
AWal
1 review
2.0
1 review
Dined on 9 September 2023
overall2food4service1ambience1
Terrible service. Took 25 mins to get a bottle of wine and a pint of beer. Then took another 30 mins to get a round of cocktails which came at different times.
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EP
EPxx
Munster
3 reviews
5.0
3 reviews
Dined on 8 September 2023
overall5food5service4ambience5
The food was really good and the atmosphere lovely. The staff were very nice. The timing for checks was not always appropriate and it took us a while to get attention for water refill.
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HC
HappyishCustomer
1 review
3.0
1 review
Dined on 2 September 2023
overall3food4service2ambience3
Food was good but service was quite slow! The portion of chicken wings was small for €14 & we were over charged for them (€16) on the bill (later resolved), the portion size of chips also on the small side for €6 per portion. Food quality very good and we did enjoy it but worth sharing some constructive feedback!
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VT
ValerieT
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 2 September 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
We had the most amazing host for our evening out. The manager Fabiana was outstanding for the evening with her professional service. She went beyond herself and we had the best night. Thank you so much Valerie Twomey
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KA
KasparsA
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 2 September 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Very nice place , high standards,staff lovely , recommand highly to ffoenfs and family
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KD
KatieD
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on 31 August 2023
overall1food2service3ambience3
Got wings to share for 6 people for starter and no side plates or hand wipes. 2 people got the fish of the day mains and the mash potato was cold and a side of sweet potato fries. Sent back the 2 dishes and the sweet potato fries which they said would only be 5 minutes and it actually took atleast 15minutes for the fish and the potato fries came out after everyone was finished their food.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Nashville
2 reviews
1.0
2 reviews
Dined on 31 August 2023
overall1food3service2ambience5
Food took FOREVER. specialty drink was very sweet. I appreciated the live music but it was too loud to have a conversation at dinner.
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EM
EMILYM
1 review
3.0
1 review
Dined on 30 August 2023
overall3food4service4ambience3
Food was good but venue was just a pub with food; it felt like it wasn’t sure what it should be- pub or restaurant. The areas should be separate for dining and if a restaurant then more substantial meals should be on offer
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Dublin
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 26 August 2023
overall5food4service5ambience5
We had a great time and the service was excellent. Your staff makes the restaurant!
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Atlanta Metro
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 26 August 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Best meal of the trip! A must go. Service was best we have had in Ireland as well. Fish tacos…chefs kiss!
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LK
LaurenceK
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 26 August 2023
overall5food5service5ambience4
Had a reservation for a birthday and really enjoyed it, the food was very, very good but I really have to commend the staff, they were so brilliant without being at all intrusive or anything. Fab!
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KT
KaitlynT
Chicago
2 reviews
1.0
2 reviews
Dined on 25 August 2023
overall1food1service2ambience1
The staff was very kind, but the service was slow. Which would have been fine if the food was delish, it was not. Mediocre at best. Dare I say I've had better food on an airplane? I think so. The oyster tavern was indeed out of oysters. That was the only item unavailable, but I wish the mezze shareable platter was. I'd wager that it was prepared in bulk before open and wrapped in plastic until ordered. You'd think a mezze platter, the main feature being hummus, would include some form of bread to dip? Certainly not here. Lastly, the atmosphere looks nice on surface. But upon closer inspection you'll notice dust, spiderwebs, and stains on the sofa cushions. I wouldn't recommend, unless for a semi hip cocktail.
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C
Chris
Munster
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 24 August 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Such a lovely place to visit, food and drinks were outstanding, and the staff are super friendly
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OT
OpenTable Diner
New York Area
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 19 August 2023
overall5food5service5ambience4
The team at the Oyster Tavern did a great job this weekend. My husband and I are visiting from the US and really enjoyed the food (absolutely incredible chicken and chorizo pie), as well as their attentiveness to my husbands severe peanut allergy. Would definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting Cork and looking for a nice bite to eat while downtown!
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SC
SimonC
London
19 reviews
vip
1.0
19 reviews
Dined on 12 August 2023
overall1food1service1ambience2
Nice impression and warmly greeted by front of house, but quickly downhill from there, introduced to waitresses who never returned, then waited for menus, when arrived totally different to website in food and format! Another waitress arrived who didn’t know menu and forgot to ask for drinks, then came back and took drinks, finally a third waiter arrived who didn’t know food or menu format, had we not had drinks by now we would have left. Ordered two dishes, tempura prawns, which we’re basically just breaded prawns with a load of salad, and fish tacos which had tiny fish and a ton of mayonnaise nice we left. Eventually a manager came to apologise about the menu changes, some lame excuse about Dublin head office, and then was disappointed we complained about food, the tacos she agreed were poor and took off the bill. Around us were a smattering of other people getting similar food and service levels, despite being a lot of staff, manager told us all were new, so basically her fault for not having them trained. We then asked for bill and waited and waited, eventually the original waitress came with it, ironically, and then left, after a long wait we went to front of house to take bill to pay as none of the wait staff or manager reappeared, indeed the manager then conspicuously avoided us until we left, instead of taking ownership and comping the food bill as she should have done after such an awful experience. To summarise, awful service, awful food and over-priced, worse still is the management attitude, looks nice but avoid at all costs!
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OT
OpenTable Diner
London
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 12 August 2023
overall5food5service4ambience5
Beautiful food, the only issue was that we asked for the bill and had to ask again 20 minutes later as it didn’t arrive.
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LB
LeslieB
Chicago
7 reviews
vip
5.0
7 reviews
Dined on 11 August 2023
overall5food4service4ambience4
We enjoyed the food and drink but most off all the lovely hostess Aiofe and our waiter. Very friendly and fun for us to chat with.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
New York Area
2 reviews
vip
1.0
2 reviews
Dined on 8 August 2023
overall1food1service1ambience1
This restaurant took and confirmed our reservation through open table and they weren’t even open. I provided my credit card to guarantee the reservation. Now I have to continue to check my car to make sure I don’t get charged for their mistake.
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DJ
DaJoG
Dublin
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 5 August 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Excellent food and fantastic service. Would highly recommend the prawns and fish tacos.
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CC
ChristinaC
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 4 August 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Slight wait for which the waiter apologized for excellent service very welcoming. Fabulous food highly recommend
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SR
SaoirseR
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 4 August 2023
overall5food5service4ambience4
Excellent food, fish tacos exceptional! Cocktails were bland and weak unfortunately.
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J
Jenw
Cork
2 reviews
1.0
2 reviews
Dined on 30 July 2023
overall1food2service1ambience2
Service was awful, all of our food came at different times one was nearly finished when the others finally got there’s, we asked three times for a salad it wasn’t brought out until we were all nearly finished, couldn’t get service to order drinks, they would bring two then forget about the rest, really awful
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JO
JamesjO
Munster
2 reviews
3.0
2 reviews
Dined on 29 July 2023
overall3food3service4ambience3
The selection of food on the menu there website offered by the restaurant is not available, this needs to be changed as I would have not booked with there current menu.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on 22 July 2023
overall1food2service1ambience1
Very poor experience, arrived and waited 5mins before anyone acknowledged we were there. Took 15mins to be asked for a drink order, cocktails were nice but took 20mins to prepare. Also waited over 1 hour for a bottle of water even though we asked 3 times. We ordered a cocktail and it never arrived instead a completely different drink arrived twice even though it was never ordered. Food was moderate to poor, fish tacos as a main was 1 little piece of battered fish inside a taco drowned in spicy Mayo and that was it! The chicken thighs were uneatable, tough and batter was far too thick. Ordered chips with tacos, never arrived. The music being played was far too loud and mostly likely why the staff were getting the orders incorrectly as they probably couldn’t hear. Overall very poor experience and will not be returning, sad really as The Oyster was good on previous experiences.
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SA
SAMRO
New York Area
17 reviews
vip
1.0
17 reviews
Dined on 15 July 2023
overall1food1service1ambience4
Worst dining experience in Cork. 1 hour to get our entrees (table of 3) at an early dinner hour when it was not crowded. Chicken was too spicy. Breaded scampi was breaded to the max and had absolutely zero flavor; the chowder was not thick but watery. Requested butter for bread and realized after buttering said bread that it was actually mayonnaise which was served to me so had to ask for a new bread and actual butter. Ambiance was lovely, however there were stains all over the booth we were sat at and took some time to get the check. Most of our chicken entree and all the shrimp scampi was left on our plates and servers never asked if we liked our food. Could not wait to leave and get out of there. Complete waste of money.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Dublin
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on 9 July 2023
overall1food5service1ambience1
Very disappointing …. I have to say what an absolutely strange experience .. we had booked for dinner got there a bit early and went to sit at the bar the person behind the bar told us that we could sit where-ever we wanted to which seemed strange in a restaurant .. so we were left to our own devices to find a table.. we sat down got menus that really didn’t seem to be dinner menus it was more like light bites which we had booked for dinner finally about 10 mins in someone took our drink order it took about 20 mins for the drinks to come, and we didn’t even question it but the waitress did apologise for the delay as it was due to a backlog (there were only 4/5 tables occupied with two people at each except for one) my partner asked what backlog? We went on to receive the food which was superb but the restaurant service took away from that.. there was no music/ambience at all for about 40 mins.. there was one waiter that tried to smooth the situation over by giving a shot or glass of wine or chips to a few of the tables including ours, there was no organisation there at all and it actually felt very uncomfortable for all involved .. all of the tables were having issues not just us.. the toilets were disgraceful, I really think the management / owners need to wake up as they have a lovely restaurant but they are losing the good name that it used to have ..
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Munster
1 review
2.0
1 review
Dined on 9 July 2023
overall2food3service1ambience1
Can’t fault the food ,service was chaotic and as bad as I have seen ,very strange experience
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G
Gally
Munster
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 7 July 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Great food and ambience, highly recommend oyster tavern
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S
Stephen
Dublin
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on 7 July 2023
overall4food4service5ambience4
Food was really good - compact menu but all items very tasty.
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PG
PaulaG
London
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 30 June 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
excellent service from Hannah and the rest of the team! We loved our dinner at the oyster tavern 😀😀
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K
Kerry
1 review
4.0
1 review
Dined on 25 June 2023
overall4food4service4ambience4
Simple, tasty food using fresh ingredients. Perhaps the most tender calamari I've ever tasted. Everything on the menu is deep fried, so no healthy options. The fish tacos were nice, but could have done with fuller flavours. Service was very friendly and quick.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
1 review
3.0
1 review
Dined on 24 June 2023
overall3food5service4ambience5
There are alot of bad reviews on social media when I was looking up this restaurant, I honestly was not expecting much and the menu online isn't amazing either. I was very surprised at how different our experience was. The food was fantastic, huge portions, different menu, staff were lovely. Really nice atmosphere too. Will definitely go back.
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HO
HannahO
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 24 June 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
Fantastic brunch! Great atmosphere and musicians were amazing! Staff attentive! Lovely day thank you!
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P
Paul
Dublin
15 reviews
vip
4.0
15 reviews
Dined on 21 June 2023
overall4food4service5ambience4
The Oyster Tavern was great. We had delicious oysters and with excellent service.
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CF
ColletteF
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 18 June 2023
overall5food5service5ambience5
We enjoyed our meal , the food was great , service was also very good , staff friendly and helpful . Price overall but steeper than expected but we would return.
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JR
JonathanR
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on 17 June 2023
overall1food2service2ambience3
Ran out of oysters, muscles and brought out dishes staggered
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Safety precautions

Cleaning & sanitising
- Surfaces sanitised between seatings
- Sealed or wrapped utensils used
- Common areas deep-cleaned daily
- Sanitiser or wipes provided for customers
- Contactless payment available

FAQs

The Oyster Tavern is rated 4.1 stars by 401 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Make a booking

No. of diners

2 people

DateTime

29 Sept 2023

19:00

Booked 5 times today

4 Market Lane, St Patrick's St., Cork, Co. Cork T12 NP29

Additional information

Cross Street
Market Lane is off Patrick Street, beside Lifestyle Sports
Area
Cork City
Hours of Operation
Mon–Fri 4:00 pm–12:00 am Sat 12:00 pm–2:00 am Sun 12:00 pm–11:30 pm
Cuisines
Irish, Seafood
Dining style
Casual Dining
Dress Code
Smart Casual
Parking Details
Pay by hour off street parking nearby
Public Transit
Served well by all bus routes in city
Payment Options
Contactless Payment
Executive Chef
Chris Curtin
Additional
Gluten-free Options, Indoor Fireplace, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Vegan

Website
http://www.oystertavern.ie/
Phone number
083 029 3197
Private party facilities
Please enquire about private events, larger parties, weddings etc at the Oyster Tavern. We would be delighted to discuss your requirements and find a way to make your event come to life.

The Oyster Tavern

Make a booking

Additional information

Popular dishes

Chicken Wings

Creamy Seafood Chowder

Fish 'n Chips

Menu

What 401 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Safety precautions

Cleaning & sanitising

FAQs

How is The Oyster Tavern restaurant rated?

Is The Oyster Tavern currently accepting bookings?

Make a booking

Additional information