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The Guide · Oysters

Best Oysters in Minneapolis (2026)

Eleven restaurants across Minneapolis. Compare neighborhoods, price tiers and what to order, then read the full reviews.

Hodan Abdi
By Hodan Abdi Staff Writer · Top of Minneapolis · Updated October 2026 · How the score is built
Best Oysters in Minneapolis (2026)
THE MINNEAPOLIS DINING GUIDES 11 restaurants
Compare all 11 restaurantsNeighborhood · price · score · first order
In the same order as the guide. Scores are out of 10; dollar symbols show the listed price tier.
RestaurantNeighborhoodPriceScoreWhat to order
01 Shuang ChengMinneapolis$$Lobster
02 JJ Fish & chickenMinneapolisCrack wings
03 Smack ShackMinneapolis$$$Seafood Paella
04 The Anchor Fish & ChipsMinneapolis$$Fish and chips
05 Sea Salt EateryMinneapolis$$Grilled salmon
06 The Oceanaire Seafood RoomMinneapolis$$$$Oysters
07 BarbetteMinneapolis$$6.4Croque vegetarienne
08 Mac's Fish & Chips (Minneapolis)Minneapolis$$Fish and chips
09 Jasmine 26 | Hot Pot Restaurant & BarMinneapolis$$Beef hot pot
10 LelaMinneapolis$$Eggs Benedict
11 Mai Thai RestaurantMinneapolis$$Pad Thai

11 restaurants · In guide order

1 Shuang Cheng Yelp

Shuang Cheng

Seafood · Minneapolis · $$

Lobster and crab built this room's reputation among Minneapolis diners who come back year after year, and clams round out a menu built for splitting plates across a big table. It runs best with ten or more people and a stack of shared dishes, tofu soup and stir-fry included. Not an oyster bar. The order here is the whole ocean, family style.

What to orderLobsterCrabClams Call Directions Scored from the full review record 1320 4th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414 · (612) 378-0208
2 JJ Fish & chicken Yelp

JJ Fish & chicken

Seafood · Minneapolis

Crack wings carry the menu, coated heavy and served hot, alongside jerk chicken and rice that reads as a genuine surprise to newcomers. The Italian beef pulls in Chicago transplants looking for the real thing. This is a fried and seasoned counter operation, not a seafood or oyster destination, but it holds its own for a fast, well-spiced meal in Minneapolis.

What to orderCrack wingsJerk chicken and riceItalian beef Call Directions Scored from the full review record 904 W Broadway Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55411 · (612) 521-0628
3 Smack Shack Yelp

Smack Shack

Seafood · Minneapolis · $$$

Seafood Paella is the dish to order: shrimp, clams, mussels and smoky sausage all cooked properly and piled into one pan built for sharing. The patio makes this a strong warm-weather pick for families and groups marking an occasion, and service reads as attentive without hovering. No raw bar to speak of, but the shellfish cookery here is the real draw in Minneapolis.

What to orderSeafood PaellaShrimpClams Call Directions Scored from the full review record 603 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55401 · (612) 259-7288
4 The Anchor Fish & Chips Yelp

The Anchor Fish & Chips

Fish & Chips · Minneapolis · $$

Fish and chips with a genuinely good housemade tartar sauce is the whole pitch, and the fish comes out crisp enough to justify the neighborhood loyalty. It runs counter service, so the line moves at its own pace rather than a server's. Long a fixture for Friday fish dinners in Minneapolis, it is built for fried fish, not oysters.

What to orderFish and chipsHomemade tartar sauceFries Call Directions Scored from the full review record 302 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413 · (612) 676-1300
5 Sea Salt Eatery Yelp

Sea Salt Eatery

Seafood · Minneapolis · $$

Grilled salmon and a shrimp pasta share the menu with a straightforward fish and chips, but the real pull is the setting near Minnehaha Falls, which makes this one of the better warm-day lunch spots in Minneapolis. It skews casual and scenic rather than formal. Good for a relaxed seafood lunch with a view, not for a raw bar crawl.

What to orderGrilled salmonFish and chipsShrimp pasta Call Directions Scored from the full review record 4801 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55417 · (612) 721-8990
6 The Oceanaire Seafood Room Yelp

The Oceanaire Seafood Room

Seafood · Minneapolis · $$$$

This is the actual oyster room on this list: a raw bar alongside grilled fish and lobster tail, run with the kind of attentive, detail-focused service that special-occasion dinners demand. Prices run high and the happy hour in the bar is the value play, though a chunk of the menu sits outside that discount. For upscale oysters in Minneapolis, this is the address.

What to orderOystersGrilled fishLobster tail Call Directions Scored from the full review record 50 S 6th St, Minneapolis, MN 55402 · (612) 333-2277
7 Barbette Yelp

Barbette

French · Minneapolis · $$ · № 47 on the List
Insider Score6.4

The croque vegetarienne and a French onion soup anchor a menu built around relaxed evenings and a strong happy hour, with duck confit for anyone wanting something heavier. Low light and an easy pace make this a drinks-and-comfort-food room more than a seafood destination. Worth knowing about in Minneapolis for French comfort cooking, not for oysters.

What to orderCroque vegetarienneFrench onion soupDuck confit Restaurant Reservations Call Directions
Full review & visiting detailsRead the full review & visiting details

Uptown's French Room That Never Left

Croque vegetarienne

A meatless riff on the croque monsieur, built for the griddle rather than the brunch buffet line.

French onion soup

The classic gratineed onion soup, the kind of order that anchors a menu built around French bistro basics.

Duck confit

Slow-cooked duck leg finished until the skin holds, a standing test of any French kitchen's patience.

Barbette has outlasted most of the Uptown restaurants that opened around it, and the menu explains why: French bistro comfort, priced for a Tuesday and a Friday alike, served in a room built for lingering rather than occasion dining. The croque vegetarienne is the plate that keeps coming up, a vegetable riff on the classic that reads as the kitchen's answer to a category most French rooms leave meatless and dull. French onion soup does the work it has always done in this cuisine: cheese pulled thick over broth, a test of a kitchen's basics that Barbette passes without theatrics. Duck confit rounds out the trio, the one dish that argues the kitchen can do more than café food when it wants to, crisp skin over rendered leg meat in the style bistros have served since long before small plates took over American French dining.

Service moves fast, drinks and food both, which matters on a room that draws a Friday crowd for cocktails as much as dinner. The happy hour menu is doing real business here, and the low light and close tables read as built for exactly that: a drink after work that turns into dinner without anyone deciding to stay. Brunch pulls a different crowd, the same room reading as a daytime stop rather than a nightcap spot. Uptown lost a lot of restaurants in the last several years, and Barbette's persistence through that churn says something about a kitchen that never overreached.

It is not trying to be Bûcheron or Colita. It is a bistro doing bistro things at a price that lets someone order the onion soup and a cocktail without doing math first. For a neighborhood that needed proof its old energy could still hold a room, Barbette is that proof, plainly cooked and steadily run.

Map showing Barbette© OpenStreetMap
HoursMon - Thu: 8:00 AM - 10:00 PMFri - Sat: 8:00 AM - 11:00 PMSun: 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Address1600 W Lake St
Minneapolis, MN, 55408
Insider tip

Order the croque vegetarienne with a cocktail off the happy hour list rather than waiting for a dinner reservation; the room turns fast at that hour and the kitchen sends both out quickly.

8 Mac's Fish & Chips (Minneapolis) Yelp

Mac's Fish & Chips (Minneapolis)

Fish & Chips · Minneapolis · $$

Clam strips and cod come out of the fryer hot with a light breading and a thick, flaky center, and the kitchen moves fast even on delivery orders. The room itself reads as no-frills and worn at the edges, which matters less once the food arrives. A straightforward Minneapolis counter for fried fish, not a stop for oysters.

What to orderFish and chipsClamsCod Call Directions Scored from the full review record 610 W 54th St, Minneapolis, MN 55419 · (612) 824-4804
9 Jasmine 26 | Hot Pot Restaurant & Bar Yelp

Jasmine 26 | Hot Pot Restaurant & Bar

Vietnamese · Minneapolis · $$

Individual hot pots let each diner build a beef, shrimp, or vegetable broth to their own taste, and the format scales down easily for a table of two or three despite reading as a group setup. Service gets called out as attentive across visits. A solid customizable option in Minneapolis for hot pot, though it has nothing to do with oysters or a raw bar.

What to orderBeef hot potShrimp hot potVegetable hot pot Call Directions Scored from the full review record 8 E 26th St, Minneapolis, MN 55401 · (612) 870-3800
10 Lela Yelp

Lela

New American · Minneapolis · $$

Eggs Benedict draws the strongest praise here, with a server's recommendation landing as the right call more than once, and pancakes and grilled chicken round out a breakfast-forward menu. It operates as a hotel restaurant, which explains the polish for a category that often disappoints. Good for breakfast in Minneapolis, not a seafood or oyster stop.

What to orderEggs BenedictPancakesGrilled chicken Call Directions Scored from the full review record 5601 W 78th St, Minneapolis, MN 55439 · (952) 656-5980
11 Mai Thai Restaurant Yelp

Mai Thai Restaurant

Thai · Minneapolis · $$

Pad Thai ordered spicy gets singled out repeatedly as the dish worth returning for, and Tom Kha holds its own at high spice levels too. Pad See Ew and massaman curry round out a menu that travels well for takeout and DoorDash orders. A reliable weeknight Thai option in Minneapolis, unrelated to the seafood or oyster search that brought some readers here.

What to orderPad ThaiTom KhaPad See Ew Call Directions Scored from the full review record 3839 Lakeland Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55422 · (763) 533-1877
What to know before choosing a restaurant

The top picks: Shuang Cheng, JJ Fish & chicken, and Smack Shack, with all 11 rooms ranked below.

Oysters in Minneapolis mostly mean one address, but the search for a good raw bar turns up a wider seafood map worth naming honestly. This guide sorts the actual oyster rooms from the seafood-adjacent spots that landed on the list by cuisine tag, so nobody drives across town on a bad assumption.

Frequently asked

Where can I find good oysters near me in Minneapolis?
The Oceanaire Seafood Room is the clearest raw bar answer on this list, with oysters alongside grilled fish and lobster tail. Most of the other rooms here are strong seafood or fish and chips picks that landed on the list under a broader seafood search, not dedicated oyster bars, so check the signature dishes before you go.
What does the Insider Score mean on this list?
The Insider Score reflects a restaurant's standing in the review record, not a paid placement. No restaurant on this list or any Top of Minneapolis guide pays to be included or ranked.
Is Smack Shack a good pick for oysters?
Smack Shack is built around its Seafood Paella, packed with shrimp, clams, mussels and sausage, rather than a raw oyster program. It is a strong choice for shellfish and group dining on a patio, particularly at its Bloomington location, but it is not an oyster bar in the way The Oceanaire is.
Are any of these restaurants actually in St. Paul or the suburbs?
Smack Shack has a Bloomington location that readers mention specifically for its patio and Father's Day crowd, so it is worth checking which address you are heading to. Every other restaurant on this list sits within Minneapolis city limits, and none are in St. Paul.
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The data first, then the verdict

We start with the review record, not a press release. Every room here is a real kitchen with a strong rating across a meaningful number of reviews, ranked on our 10-point Insider Score. We weight consistency over time and the rooms locals return to, not the ones tourists pass through once. The list updates as the data does. How we work →

About the writer
Hodan Abdi
Staff Writer · Top of Minneapolis

Hodan Abdi is a Staff Writer at Top of Minneapolis. Raised in Cedar-Riverside two floors above the Somali mall her aunt worked in, she now lives in Eagan and covers the whole metro ring. She writes the guides, sweeps the suburbs, and covers the Somali and East African tables as the beat she knows best.

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