J's Oyster, Portland, Maine, Seafood Restaurant Details

Food:

Zagat reviews are compiled from individual user reviews.

Food:

Terrible service ... Food is bad... Expensive....the customer service from the wetress even the manager from the place they don't care about customers....we came and asked for. lobster.coming from Atlanta they gave us pasta with lobster they blamed on us that we did not order correctly instead of fixing the problem by the manager. I will never recommend this place .
As a manager from my own restaurant for me one of the most important things from a restaurant is GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE no matter what you always need to give the best service to the customer even more when you come from another city.
DO NOT VISIT THIS PLACE I WILL NOT RECOMMEND IT !!!!!!!

Food:

The lobster scampi was amazing. It was at an amazingly high price however but for the amount of lobster meat you get it was well worth it. Highly recommend this place.

Food:

Not a bad place. Outdoor seating by the water, which is nice. The food is good, but not amazing, and a little expensive. It was very windy when we were there, which made eating outside kind of annoying. Not sure how often that's the case. Service was fine.

Food:

FIRST EXPERIENCE

If you are not seated, don't bother to stand at the bar. There is no room and you'll spend every second getting bumped into by waitresses. The air conditioning was lame. The had a window unit at one end of the dining room that was underpowered.
It's a tourist trap. Not impressive at all.
SECOND EXPERIENCE

I've been here twice and had near the same experience both times. The staff is unfriendly bordering on rude.

If it's hot, forget about this place. It will be uncomfortable inside as they only have window AC units that are underpowered.

This place takes care of locals. Tourists rate second class service. Bar service was surly. If you don't get a bar seat you can expect to be pushed by servers getting to the tables.

Other people were seated ahead of us to eat even though they arrived after us. We ordered our food and were kept waiting while others who arrived after us were served. The waitress started out reasonably friendly, but she was unable to manage her tables.

We had empty drinks and we were approaching one hour seated and still had not been able to order dinner. We left and went to the Portland Lobster Company.

We were told that they get a lot of walk out business from J's. The food at Portland Lobster Co. was great...in fact it was so good we went back the next night to eat there again.

Food:

First, the lobster stew is really good. Really.

Now, about the oysters. We had been to another restaurant the previous night and had amazing oysters (Dodge Point and Nurumbega). The oysters at J's were no where near as good - lacking in taste, size and firmness. Not even close!

When asked, the bartender said they get all of their oysters from Maryland/Chesapeake Bay! We traveled from Minneapolis to enjoy a long weekend and enjoy MAINE seafood.