Oysters & Scales
What does a local medical spa practice and a law firm specializing in DUI and injury matters have to do with the highly anticipated and newly opened, Oysters & Scales restaurant in lower Ocan City? Nothing, apparently, and, symbolically, everything, at the same time.
Oysters & Scales is the latest restaurant offered by the proprietors of Ocean City’s acclaimed Spain Wine Bar, which readers of these pages know has garnered a rare four stars, an excellent restaurant driven by a passionate owner who pays meticulous detail to every restaurant thing requiring detail. Which makes it surprising that Oysters & Scales ignores the same attention to the details of its dining experience and environment.
Let’s start with the food: the variety of oysters we ordered one visit were scaley, perhaps unintentionally giving the new restaurant its namesake, and briny, devoid of taste and requiring a smothering of mignonette sauce, which in this case, tasted like it was lazily poured from a Heinz vinegar bottle rather than manicured in the kitchen. The rest of the sampled seafood was merely adequate, tasting as if it was pulled from a refrigerator moments before plating. Roasted cauliflower was good, but the signature lobster bisque included no lobster chunks and plenty of sherry, appearing and tasting like it was poured from a grocery store-bought can before being placed under a heat lamp. Fried calamari, grilled octopus, and bao buns were good, but not memorable given the pricing. A bright spot in the bustling dark hued restaurant was the cocktails, imaginative and well prepared by experienced mixologists who, when you could gain their attention , concocted savvy drinks.
Oysters and Scales has a cool vibe and theme, and if you can locate it among the former fishing village warehouses of lower Ocean City where parking is as scarce as good service, is worth a bar visit on a summer evening. But the food and service are wanting, perhaps owed to our visit among the first months of opening, and so is the attention to detail that has defined the owner’s other concepts. For instance, mops and bucket wringers were visibly displayed in the open kitchen; crackers are not supplied with lobster and other seafood, leading to hand wrestling when trying to extract the meaty seafood; a separate bowl or plate to discard seafood shells is not offered; reservations are honored with a “we will call you when your seat is available” greeting with numerous open tables in the background when the delay is announced — bar tabs cannot be transferred to the table; getting a bartender or server’s attention requires the voice equivalent of roadside flares; and random runners auctioning-off plates of food upon their uneven arrival proved frustrating.
Oh, and about the med spa and personal injury law firm, well, their services are advertised on the pens given to diners who are asked to sign the check. Not a bad idea if you are seeking a food and drink distraction for a personal injury which requires medical spa attention and a contingency fee lawyer, but not near the top of anyone’s mind when paying for what turned-out to be an over-priced meal with underwhelming service. This is not a harsh picayune stab at an irrelevant nuisance, but symbolizes the details that are important to high-end restaurants; when details are ignored, detailed-oriented customers may not return. In this case, how about a box of $2.99 Bic pens?
Oysters & Scales will likely mature as the opening fall 2025 months melt into the off-season, but if you venture to the bowels of Ocean City and are fortunate enough to find parking, better to trek to Spain Wine Bar a few blocks away, as the oysters will wait until the restaurant grows its sea legs, and the scales of economy bring the owner’s attention back to the details which have defined his stewardship of lower Ocean City’s dining scene.
