BRYAC RESTAURANT & RAW BAR

I will have to go back when it’s not so crowded. Went on a Saturday afternoon to hear a friend’s band, and it was really crowded, and tight! There appeared to be only 2 or 3 people servicing the entire place, including the bartender. We had to leave our table to get our own drinks at the bar, and ordered our food from the bartender. And they were out of Corona, Amstel, and after an hour, Chardonnay. We had to wait a rather long time for the food as well… though understandable due to the crowds. The food itself was very good… I had the lobster blt (unfortunately served on white bread), and my husband had cod over linguini. I am personally not a fan of raw seafood, and did not have any, so can not judge based on that. I will give it another chance… probably when it’s warm enough to sit outside, because it is pretty small.

Dinner with my uncle could not have been better. Mondays with one dollar Bluepoint Oysters was a treat. So tasty we ordered a second dozen. This was followed by stuffed clams that were some of the best either one of us has had. Next was lobster Mac and cheese that was rich but not overbearing with a healthy amount of lobster. Then a stuffed BBQ burger that was huge!!! The roll was exceptional as well. Our waiter Brian was exceptionally good. Great personality and knowledgeable of the menu. We’ll definitely be back!!!

Finally tried the food and was blown away. I had the lobster BLT. It was so fresh and the claw meat was very juicy. I would totally recommend trying it. Wasn’t too packed on a Sunday which was a plus.

Today was my first time there. Went for brunch and was greatly impressed. The food was fantastic and the service was wonderful. Looking forward to going back there in the future.

Great food. Monday’s «Buck-​A-​Shuck» are the best days. 3pm-12:30am, can’t beat that!
Services is sub par. Unfortunate because this place has so much potential to be the top restaurant in Black Rock.
My S.O. and I sat at the bar around 8:45pm and ordered a round of drinks… one Heineken, and one Bloody. We were waiting for a good 10 – 15 minutes for our drinks which was sort of understandable because there were only three people manning the entire restaurant. Other customers around us were complaining about the service being slow so thankfully I wasn’t the only one.
Another thing I didn’t like was how the wait staff insisted on arguing in front of the customers — very unprofessional and not something you want to see at public dining place. No, we don’t need to hear you bitching about a customer outside, that’s not cool!
The round of oysters and clams we ordered were great and rounded out the evening; not sure how I feel about the service… but I have hopes it will get better.

This place has the potential to be the best bar in Black Rock, food is good, music is good, beer selection is good. But ants crawling all over the bar? Come on, you gotta be better than that. I hope I don’t see this location on Kitchen Nightmares again!

Hate to put 2 stars as the chef and food are excellent but the service and experience otherwise is sub-​par. If you try brunch on Sunday after a busy Saturday night with the bands, the place is trashed meaning sticky tables, bugs on window sills, and service staff non-​existent. The bartenders are typically hungover and only want to eat themselves and set up the bar for another night. When I requested a nice sherry for my lobster bisque I was given a plastic up of some cooking sherry from the kitchen (guess the nuances of enhancing lobster hasn’t been passed on). The place is a Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde where the food is so awesome that you want to come back but unless its dark, the band is loud, and you are drinking it is hard to overlook the rest. It is sad to see a once great neighborhood place lose its luster. All it needs is a good cleaning and a little love and I would be back. As I said the food is great!

the drinks are strong, the location seems nice on the outside but in horrible disrepair like a college basement inside, i guess if you’re going for a jam band show it’d be pretty cool

Great, fresh Blue Point oysters. Otherwise not much good to say — the place is kind of beat. Ordered a canned microbrew beer to have with the oysters and wasn’t even offered a glass. Doubt I will go back unless it’s to have happy hour oyster special.

I’m confused of all the high food ratings… I had the goat cheese apple salad with chicken, my girlfriend had clam chowder. Sick. The salad was warm, all apple and no greens. The soup was all salt, cream, and no clam or potato. Don’t waste your money there.

I have to change my review to one star. It’s gonna be long & ranty, but there’s a lot wrong with BRYAC. It’s a shame, because it’s an awesome place with great food and unbeatable prices, but my experiences here have gotten progressively worse. The staff just doesn’t seem to care.
This place is in desperate need of a hostess — especially on Tuesday nights when they have half off of their entire menu. It’s a clusterfck, to say the least. I don’t mind a long wait, I even expect a long wait when you have $ 8 lobster rolls & $ 11 filet mignon. But there’s nowhere to wait. The seats are first come first serve, & there’s no one keeping track of who’s waiting. So you have a few options — stand in everyone’s way by the door, or stand outside on the sidewalk & hope that you’re the first person to see a table free up. There’s a strong possibility that you’ve been waiting 45 minutes for a table (outside, so you’re not in the way), a table frees up, but someone that just arrived is peeking their head in the door to get a table. Needless to say, that table’s gone and you (along with four other groups of people) are SOL for that table. I suppose you could approach them, but that’s an awkward conversation and something the staff should deal with. I don’t work here, why do I have to stare at people while they eat to keep an eye out for a table? Whatever, it’s not the end of the world, we’ve done it a couple times, but I won’t anymore. If I wanted to put that much effort into dinner, I would’ve stayed home & cooked.
On to my next issue. Like I said, I don’t mind waiting. Really, I don’t. If I did, I’d simply leave. But there’s one staff member here in particular that literally tries to get you to leave rather than wait. I get it, there’s a 45+ minute wait. I’ve been told by multiple staff members (which I genuinely appreciate), but you’ve seen all of those employees tell me there’s a wait. Why are you shooting me dirty looks while I wait, then coming over and telling me (with an attitude) «You do know there’s a 45 minute wait, then another 40 minutes or so for food, right?» Yes. I know. Actually, you know that I know, because you’ve watched your coworkers tell me the same thing (with much less of an attitude). But whatever, maybe that’s just your way of trying to be helpful. Or maybe not, because you’ve continued giving me dirty looks for waiting. Wait, do you WANT me to leave?
The menu is half off on Tuesdays which is awesome. It’s always packed, there’s always a long wait for a table & food, but that’s expected. it’s a deal that cannot be beat! However, they always run out of items. This is also expected and not a big deal. But they don’t tell you this until you sit down and order. So there’s a huge possibility you just spent an hour hunting down your own table, to find out they’re out of steak, lobster, and chicken. Spectacular. How hard is it to hang up a chalkboard and write when you run out of certain things? It would take all of three seconds, and it would improve the customer experience immensely. Again, this comes back to my point that the staff here has a case of the DGAF’s.
My final complaint is how they try to rip people off. Their specials (half off Tuesdays, half off raw bar Mondays, etc) are not advertised anywhere but online. So if you didn’t know about these specials from the internet, you would have no idea they existed. Now, every restaurant/​bar that I’ve gone to has either proactively offered this information, had it advertised somewhere in the establishment, or simply just given the discounted pricing. What a nice surprise! Getting a bill less than expected is always welcome. BRYAC doesn’t give you these discounts unless you ask for them!
The second time that we came here, we were charged full price raw bar, but she corrected it when it was pointed out. We thought it was simple human error. The third time everything but the lobster rolls were half off. We figured that lobster rolls just weren’t included in the half off special, so we paid & continued on with our evening. The most recent time we came in on a Tuesday night, stalked people for a table, got a consistently shitty attitude from the server with the short hair, & received our receipt with everything listed full price. Now I get it. Mistakes happen. But you know it’s a Tuesday, there’s no way to forget that it’s a Tuesday — the place is packed, and the entire menu is half off. Normally, I would chalk this up to a mistake, but we overheard two tables around us with the same complaint, and all of their regulars at the bar were getting charged accurately.
Again, specials aren’t advertised, so they clearly charge the non-​regulars the full price in hopes that they aren’t aware of the specials going on. No bueno. Won’t be back here. Unfortunately, they only seem to care about their regulars so none of this will change. Poor attitudes among the staff, poor customer service, and poor business practice. Not worth saving a few bucks.

Went here for some oysters with my girl. 2 drunks were talking smack when we decided to go out to the patio to eat the oysters and have our drinks. «Get the hell outta here!» Or some other joke was said thinking we had walked out not knowing I could hear the bartender and the drunks joking… Mind you I’m not bougy like the rest of Black Rock (former infantry USMC with beard) so you would think they would be more welcoming if they let tools like that chill there.
Anyway oysters were good and fresh. Service was garbage (waitress was unenthusiastic and cared less)… Ants everywhere on the outside patio…
Nonetheless I would go for the bar and oysters and not for the «restaurant experience»… Mind you I’m not hard to please but step your game up BRYAC…

Fresh seafood, great drinks (with more than generous pours) and awesome staff. It’s a must try when in the area. Imagine a local yachting bar in Npt placed in Black Rock.

When I asked what capacity is, this guy had no idea but apparently I couldn’t tell me, very funny what a great security guy huh? Then he proceeded to let other girls in and some girl who payed him to get in. Would NEVER come here or recommend it. This guy was so rude to us it ruined our night. He kept staring at me with an evil stare it made me uncomfortable

Unbelievable deal! ½ off entire menu on Tuesdays. $ 1 oysters (Bluepoints!) everyday until 7pm. It just doesnt get better. Huge, fresh, delicious oysters. The mignonette was one of the best I have tried. The Lobsterdillas (with delicious honey chipotle aioli) and the butter lobster rolls were also delicious. Overall a great find and worth the drive all the way to Bridgeport!
Only thing thats probably a bit sub par is the service. On both occasions that I have been there, the waitress (different one each time) made a few mistakes with our orders. However the food (and its price) more than made up for it.

5 Stars for what it is… a great neighborhood place for reasonably-​priced extremely fresh seafood, a raw bar, great beer selection and a full bar. A hidden gem!
By chance we wandered into BRYAC on a rainy July 4, mid afternoon, with an appetite for raw bar stuff. To say we weren’t disappointed would be a huge understatement. Happy Hour prices…$.50 per cherrystone, $ 1.00 per oyster, fresh, cold, expertly shucked, and delicious. Excellent homemade cole slaw, too. This is the best raw bar in Fairfield County.
The Mussels in Garlic and White Wine Sauce were, without question, the best mussels I’ve ever had. The sauce was so good I asked for extra crostini to soak it all up. BRYAC has a pretty inventive menu, and some of the food others ordered looked fantastic. We’re going back… maybe later today!
BRYAC is in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, just over the Fairfield line. Many people coming from southern Fairfield County don’t stray beyond the center of Fairfield; thus it’s a bit out of the way unless you actually intend to go there. So if you’re coming from that direction, stay on the Post Rd. a little beyond the center of Fairfield. You won’t regret it!

We’ve been searching for great seafood in the FF beach area for some time, and this is our new favorite restaurant. Super fresh seafood, including amazing raw bar. $ 4 steamed lobster claws? Seriously? AMAZING. Great beers on tap and in bottle, no frills, laid back vibe. We’ve gone twice in the last 3 weeks, and we will be back again. Lunch, dinner, bar scene, apps, full meal, whatever. Best seafood place in the area!

The Blue Points were fresh, huge and delicious.
Lobster bisque — Don’t leave without trying this. Came with an entire lobster claw!
NE Clam Chowder was very flavorful and light… not typical of NECC
Crab cakes were very good… The Horseradish aioli was a little strong, but tasteful.
We had a new waitress who was still figuring things out… She did fine and we enjoyed our visit
I am definitely going back for a second look.

½ apps on Tuesdays. The most delicious honey chipotle aioli (housemade) I have EVER had. $ 5 lobster rolls on Thursdays… how can you go wrong?!
I do wish there was some kind of sneeze guard over the raw bar, but Im sure it’s fine and Im just a weirdo who gets skeeved out by things like that lol. And that’s not to say I havent eaten things from the raw bar — I have… I just still wish there was a sneeze guard there. Even if it’s not the prettiest looking thing lol

Black Rock to me in many ways feels like Connecticuts own version of «Southie» (South Boston, that is for those of you who need clarification), for a multitude of reasons, and this place is a great example of why I mean that in a mostly complementary way. In making this statement I am factoring in the one slightly off experience we had here one night when the vibe was overwhelmingly darkly druggie to say the least. Ill leave that one alone, and only say that other than that we had a great time here overall.
The food as a whole proved to be very good, and hammered home the point that we had crossed the line into legit New England. The excellent NE Clam Chowder would be perfectly acceptable on the shore or anywhere in Greater Boston and the Raw Bar was solid. Uniformly tasty were the smallish crab cake, and baked clams casino style. Oysters Rockafella were dried out on one occasion and perfectly sumptuous on another. One Tuesday all non-​raw bar appetizers were half priced but this seed to be somewhat random, and was not offered on another Tuesday until we asked. There is a good if somewhat erratic beer selection, though no drafts are offered and the solid Dark N Stormys are discounted to 5 bucks any time its raining, you gotta love that.
The laid back vibe, dead heavy soundtrack and Über-​chill staff all pay great homage to the well-​established and regionally unique New England stoner subculture, as well as the distinctive neighborhood it is located in.