The Walrus & the Carpenter Oyster Bar

We love love love this place. Live in the Boston suburbs and make a family trip in every holiday season to enjoy the tourists and sights and get some clams on the half shell and chowder. Very small bar, limited seats but super friendly staff and just a fun place to grab a small bite.

Over the past year we have been here twice and the chowder in bread bowl is good, no complaints about the food. We will not be going back as the customer service was horrible on our last visit. My family ordered and ate three chowder bread bowls and had two smoothies from another establishment. My wife took our trash to throw away behind here and returned to find our two $ 7 smoothies had been thrown out. Without an apology from the staff they told my wife «we assumed they were trash and threw them away», mostly full smoothies are not trash. Since I was not there when this occurred I went back to complain and got blank stares from the three people behind the counter. Someone else was called over and when I repeated that they threw away $ 14 dollars of our food I got «Sorry we assumed it was trash». Thanks — that’s helpful. Don’t turn your back on your food at this place.

Came 20 years ago and tastes the same. Great food and friendly conversation. Lobster roll is great and the Brussels Mussels are awesome!

Wonderful find in Quincy Market. Oysters are delicious, Lobster Roll tasty, Clam Chowder is right on and the Steamers cooked perfectly. We didn’t have anything that we didn’t like. Also, they have Stella on tap. Great guys behind the counter and they should be proud of their operation. Other oyster houses in Boston may be more famous and the lines are long, skip them and give The Walrus & Carpenter Oyster Bar a visit!

Great chowder and agree with an earlier review that the lobster rolls are solid — lots of meat and the bread is fresh and crunchy. Prices are very reasonable and customer service is fantastic.

I got the clam chowder in a cup. It was good. Quick in and out.

Great place inside Quincy Market! First Lobster Roll I had and it was delicious! Also serve cold draft beer and you can sit at the short counter.

This is my fav at Quincy mkt. i always come here for chowder and lobsta roll. Prices are good for down town.

I got the clam chowder in a bread bowl, and the chowder was just ok. I’m used to chunkier pieces in my chowder. It didn’t feel hearty enough. But the bread bowl was delicious!
Unfortunately, this place’s clam chowder is slightly more expensive than other places in Quincy Market.

Pretty solid lobster roll offering. I liked the crusty bread (not to hard, nice, fresh, soft interior). Of the three spots that offered lobster rolls at Faneuil Hall, this was the best, but I still thought that there was quite a bit of filler in there.
For a quick lobster roll fix at a decent price, though, this is the place to stop.

Solid spot for super fresh shucked to order oysters and clams. So good that we ordered 2 dozens! The only reason I knocked off a star was because the lobster roll was good but not great. I’d definitely go to one of the other neighboring joints to fulfill any lobster cravings. I would totally come for the raw bar if I’m in the area again.

I had a Sam Adams winter lager and a lobster roll. The lobster roll was a little small for the price but still delicious. I would try to seek out a better one if you have the time though.

Very delicious chowder here. The best in my opinion at the quincy market. For about 8 bills you can get it in a bread bowl and eat the bread after if you wish. Very yummy and creamy chowder. The clam is fresh and clean. Their lobster roll was also very juicy and delicious although it was a bit pricey 16. The lobster Chunks are very big and juicy and overall complemented the clam chowder. If you buy the combo then you can get a lobster with a cup of chowder for about 20 something.

Got the lobster roll combo with a small clam chowder ($ 20) and a clam chowder bread bowl ($ 8). Out of all the places I sampled clam chowder in the food area, this place tasted the best.
Clam chowder is served super fast, and is at the right creamy texture. Not too runny and not too thick. The bread for the bread bowl is freshly baked I believe and is crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. I like that since other places, their bread is all soft and not appetizing at all.
The lobster roll was ok I guess, I felt a bit bummed out eating it since it was cold. I thought it was hot. I also didn’t like the pickle bits mixed in, not my thing. What made me a little upset was when I bit into a lobster shell piece. It wasn’t a big deal but its something that always bothered me when I get lobster meals (theres always a shell piece somehow lol).
Over all, nice friendly staff and food is great. They take cash/​credit.

What do you do when you’re a tourist? This! I was wary of the fried things and decided to just go ahead and get the spicy shrimp. We weren’t going to make a meal out of this, just something to eat before the boozing started. I liked mine, nothing spectacular. Staff was friendly, attentive, but the price mimics that of the tourist trap that is this place.

This place is definitely super touristy, but hey, I’m a tourist so I decided to go there. I’m a sucker for clam chowder and lobster rolls. This place was absolutely fantastic.
The lobster roll was delicious, though I would’ve liked the bread to be toasted. The filling for the sandwich had a ton of lobster and the perfect dressing to match with it. And the clam chowder is amazing, as good as New England clam chowder gets.
I talked with the owner a bit about the name of the restaurant. It shares the same name with a pretty popular restaurant in Seattle. The owner of this place acknowledges that the restaurant in Seattle is really good but claims that they stole the name. Believe what you will, but I found that quite amusing.

Yes. This place is WAY more touristy than I usually opt for.
But — we were in the most touristy part of Boston (Quincy Market) and I was hungry.
Oh, and I guess I am a tourist, so I have a bit of an excuse there.
My coworker had never tried clam chowder before, and the Oyster Bar had samples out front. She tried and really liked it — and suggested (since they had oysters) that we sit and have a bite to eat.
I ordered a Sam Adams Alpine Spring (seasonal), a half dozen oysters, and we opted to share a bowl of the chowder.
Item of note — Sam Adams and oysters pair perfectly!
The oysters were fine. Blue tip from Long Island. Larger than most of the oysters I’ve seen here, but not as super sweet and creamy. But they were fresh, I watched them being shucked — no problem at all.
The chowder was acceptable. Nothing to get excited about — and if this were a good representation of what New England Clam Chowder was supposed to be — it wouldn’t be a big deal at all. There was nothing wrong with it — the texture was right, the flavors were all there — it was just a little «blah.»
Really, there was nothing wrong with this place. I don’t regret the meal here. It really was A-​OK. But I would not go out of my way to go back. Not with all the amazing oysters (at way lower prices) and fantastic chowdah in this city!

This is located in the food court at Quincy Market. This restaurant consists of a small bar area, perfect for a casual, quick bite with a friend.
I ordered the mussels and baked oysters with a glass of Harpoon IPA, of course! Both were perfect and fresh. The garlic that was on top of the oysters really accented the sweetness of the oysters. I also really like the mussels in Boston. I believe they are blue mussels rather than green mussels, which are the ones I usually get back in LA. The mussels came with some bread on the side which is perfect to soak up all the delicious mussel juices and the white wine sauce!

Friendly folks. true chowdah at it’s finest from new england and it tastes wonderful.
Their Lobster rolls are made fresh to order and they toast their bun which I happen to like. I assure you that it’s not a hotdog bun like that OTHER place I wrote a report about from the airport in terminal A.
If you go here, I’m fairly certain you won’t be disappointed. Fresh to order and you can’t go wrong with that.

I sampled my friend’s order of mussels with shallots and garlic $ 12.62. The mussels were large and meaty with nary a speck of sand, but the flavors could have been stronger.