The Black Pearl Oyster Bar

The wait was super long to get sat 30 min and the wait to actually get food was even longer 45 min! Food was good but not sure it’s worth all the waiting time.

Good quality food if you are not worry about a diet with large portion size. Friendly waitstaff. Great overall. Always a fun time. Been there twice and will be back again

Blackened salmon was great! Oysters were good as well! Service was good! No children’s menu is kind of a bummer.

Fantastic food and helpful staff. The beer selection was good and prices aren’t bad. Some of the best oysters I’ve had in a minute. I travel a lot for work so it was nice to find this gem.

There is no hostess, so be prepared to seat yourself. The service is okay — not great — just because the servers seem constantly overwhelmed and slammed with too many customers. The food was very good — ahi tuna cooked rare was perfect; grilled snapper was cooked to perfection. Gumbo was not hot. House salad was average (nothing special, Ranch dressing seemed watery). We probably will seek out other spots to spend our money next time.

I wanted oysters and my wife told me to pick a place (Yay for an awesome wife!) Being that we were already in Galveston for the day I looked for a place on the island that would satisfy my craving. After looking up and reading some reviews from fellow Unilocalers we decided on The Black Pearl Oyster Bar. We were on the Seawall at the time but decided to make the trip to the other side of the island to try it. First thing I noticed as we pulled up is the parking situation. Parking. Sucks. Here. There’s no other way to put it. Depending on when you go (we went at about 3:30) you better be prepared to walk a little. We found a spot about a block down. After trekking to the restaurant in the blistering Texas sun for a painful ten minutes (not really, but still) we finally made it to our destination. We went inside and immediately noticed how packed the place was. The hostess was very nice and apologized when she told us we would have to wait about 20 – 30 minutes outside until a table clears because they were at capacity. Not what we wanted to hear, but we made it there walking so we needed sustenance so we can garner the energy to make the trek on foot back to our vehicle (actually I just really wanted some oysters) We only had to wait about 10 minutes before we had a table, so it wasn’t really too bad. We were seated towards the back of the restaurant, it’s a small but nice place. There’s tables and a nice long bar. The atmosphere was great. Our server came by and immediately took our drink order. (This is where I would expect some type of welcome to our restaurant or are you familiar with our menu routine) Nope. Just a kind and soft spoken do you know what you want to drink. A few minutes later we received our drinks and he then asked us if we were ready to order. Just like that. Don’t get me wrong, he was polite and smiled when he spoke, it’s just that he came across as a little shy by how little he spoke. It’s important to note they have a limited menu before five o’clock, unfortunately it was before five so that’s what we had to order from. I decided on a dozen oysters on a half shell and what they call the Black Pearl Poboy. It’s described as fired oysters tossed in a Cajun sauce and topped with blue cheese crumbles. I chose fried okra as the side. Our table also had an order of chicken strips and fries, boudin balls and a burger and fries. My oysters on the half shell arrived in about 5 minutes. They were big and plump gulf oysters. Very tasty and fresh. It came with cocktail sauce, horseradish and lemon to squeeze on. I quickly and unapologetically devoured every last one. The rest of our orders arrived to our table within 15 minutes. My po-​boy looked amazing! It was served open faced with an enormous amount of oysters drenched in the red Cajun sauce piled high on a nice soft hoagie. Blue cheese crumbles were generously sprinkled atop it all. Next to all that oyster goodness was a huge portion of golden fried okra with parmesan cheese sprinkled on it. Our other plates in the order were plentiful portion wise as well. Picking up my po-​boy and taking that first bite my palette went from 0 – 100, it was an instant party in my mouth with the explosion of flavor and heat from the cajun sauce. The soft hoagie helped keep all the flavors together as I chewed every bite. The blue cheese crumbles were an excellent compliment that binded the flavors together perfectly. I really, really enjoyed it. Now the okra, it was good, not great but good. It was fried perfectly but absolutely was bland and could have benefited with the addition of a little salt. I could say the same about my wife’s chicken strips as they were bland as well. Overall we had a good experience though. Service wasn’t bad, just different. My oysters and po-​boy were excellent. The Black Pearl Oyster bar knows a think of two about oysters from what I experienced. Everything else though can maybe use a little work. Prices are great and affordable, you get a lot of food for the money. I’d love to try the after five menu and have more of a variety. Also, they have an oyster happy hour M-​F and on Sundays. A dozen oysters for $ 12.00. I’m sure I’ll be back for that great deal as well.

Excellent Spot in Galveston!
Joe behind the bar is a great addition to the place that makes it have character!!!
The Blackened Red Snapper w/​Pontchartrain Sauce and Green Beans was a FANTASTIC suggestion by Joe! Caution: Be prepared to come with an appetite. The portions are HUGE!
Also…ask Joe to make you one of his Special Pirate Mai-Tai’s. Caution: There is a limit of 2 for this special. It’s that Good! That Smooth and That STRONG!
A definite MUST TRY for Galveston!

False advertising… didn’t know that the dinner menu is totally different from the lunch. Had my mouth all ready to taste different types of oysters… no go until after 5pm

After reading the Unilocal reviews, my sister and I decided to try it. Glad we did! Their mixed drink menu is lacking, but their happy hour oysters are the best I’ve had in my life. They’re generous sized and nicely priced. The menu of in the $ 11-​$ 21 range with the happy hour oysters currently at $ 13 for a dozen. My sister liked the seafood platter.

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to stop in here, finally did for my birthday, my service wasn’t very good, my server seemed annoyed? And the food was ok, :(willing to give it another go tho I’m hoping it was just an off day. Plan to return and update my review.

The Blackened Crawfish PoBoy Sandwich with a side of Coleslaw was to die for! Mm mm mm. So good. I could’ve devoured another sandwich.

Really good food from the appetizers all the through dinner, skipped dessert it was too much food. The oysters Rockefeller, Haelen, and Diablo are all very good. The best of all was the service which was very attentive and thorough. The restaurant is quite small so be prepared to wait a few minutes or have a back up plan.

Great seating arrangements, had a great window seat. Staff are all really friendly, our waitress Alla was so attentive, friendly, and patient (we had asked for a lot of things). Portions of everything we ordered were massive. They have a lot of specials and hour. Great spot, definitely recommend this place.

The food was great! I didn’t know hot oysters on a half shell could be that delicious. With the exception of the bland catfish, everything on the mixed seafood platter was succulent and seasoned well. This place is so good and popular that it gets lots of hungry patrons, so try to time your arrival to an off-​peak time because the seating is limited and tight.

I just left this place and I want to give it 4 stars but I can’t. Not based on the experience I had. The food itself would have been 5 star worthy– everything tasted so good! And they have gator! When gator is on the menu, I order it. Every time.
Unfortunately as I was sliding my leftovers into my box I noticed a hair on my plate. No way I was going to eat the leftovers. They took the gator off of our receipt without me even asking though, and I genuinely appreciated that. Our server didn’t show his face at our table much though and forgot to bring me water when I asked so I got it at the bar.
It started off bad before that too because the hostess pulled out a chair for me and I sat in something wet that smelled like oyster juice. Awesome… Wet stinky pants on a muggy day!
So they get three stars instead of one or two because of the food being delicious. It really was their only saving grace. I don’t live here, but if I’m in the area again I would give them a second chance because all the food really was good. The gator was very moist and fresh, it was just unfortunate that there was a hair.

First stop in our Galveston day of eating.
Oyster happy hour is M-​F 4−7pm. Sunday 12 – 3 where you get a dozen oysters for $ 12. The oysters were plump and fresh but not ideal to my oyster preferences. I like mine a little brinier, a little sweeter. These were a little chewy and very mellow flavored.
We also got the Pearl Po-​Boy with fried oysters tossed in a Cajun sauce and topped with blue cheese crumbles. My eyes bulged when it arrived; I mean, this sandwich was huge and the oysters were generous! But I found the sandwich itself a little too much on the flavors that I couldn’t really taste the oysters. The fried okras that it came with were yummy. The okra was big enough that you could taste the yummy slimy in them. :)

So I’ve been here 2 diff times. First time I came only for the oysters after work. I ordered 6, they gave me 12 and only charged for 6. WINNING. This time I ordered 12 and got 12 and paid for 12 but half of them had prices of the shell in the meat. So needless to say, I almost chipped my tooth because I chew twice and swallow. No biggie since my company is picking up the bill. Had it been my money I would have pursued a discount for discomfort. I also got the crab cakes, omg, deeeeeelish. I will go back for both the oysters and crab cakes.

My wife and I each ordered a cup of gumbo and an oyster po’boy. It turned out that we WAY over-​ordered for lunch.
We enjoyed the generous serving of gumbo but we have had better. We both thought the po’boys were the best we have ever had. It was served open faced and piled so high with oysters that there was no way to eat it as a sandwich. And the included choice of side was generous too. My wife got enough coleslaw for 4 people and I got more fries then I could eat. I wished I had ordered onion rings because I saw somebody get a very generous serving. The shrimp po’boys also looked great.

Ok the oysters on the half shell here are awesome. .
.maybe some of the best I’ve ever had.. the calamari was good just needed a little more spice. .the crab, shrimp and jalapeño poppers were wonderful.
. Nice ambience and attentive servers. .what’s not to like? …maybe the soft shell crab po boy… mainly because the bread was just so so.. nothing special. .
Will definitely be back if for nothing else for the oysters

Parking: Parking sucks. I parked 3 streets down along a street that had a 2 hour limit and then walked over.
Time and Day: Ate on a Saturday at 1:00 PM. Restaurant is small but they were 30% full so there were no issues getting a table. Just FYI, you seat yourself here and the waiter will come by with menus.
Food: I ordered the crawfish Po-​Boy with coleslaw and my girlfriend ordered the Seafood Gumbo. The moment I saw the food, they were incredibly large portions, especially the Gumbo Bowl size. The Gumbo bowl size could easily feed 2 people. For the crawfish Po-​Boy, I had to eat a lot of fried crawfish before I can even work on the Po-​Boy itself. Overall, the food is very delicious. I love the coleslaw! It tasted so fresh and much better than the ones I usually get at other restaurants.
Service: Wonderful service. Food came out in a timely manner, waiter was nice, and he periodically checked on us.
Price: Price was a little bit pricy but they give you large portions so I say it was worth it.
Overall: Excellent service and food. Parking is the only issue considering that this place is in downtown. If you are walking around and need a place to eat, I recommend it.

NOV 2013 — Auch um 21:35 Uhr wurden wir noch «sehr herzlich willkommen» begrüßt (schliest bereits um 22 Uhr). Ein typischer US-​Burger, den auch Lokals besuchen. Bekannt ist dieses Restaurant (Imbiss-​Like) für seine Variationen an Burgern und Shrimps. Eher etwss abseits gelegen (5 Min. mehr Gehweg) und daher für den Touristen ein Geheimtipp.