Blue Island Oyster Bar

So I went with a friend to try this place out. The atmosphere is very nice… it was really nice to sit on the patio however when we first got there the hostess was not very nice but waiter made up for it. I had the fish and chips… I have to say the fish was really light it was great my friend had the oysters .she absolutely love them… I would just say they’re a little overpriced for brunch but it is really good

Great seafood joint. The waitresses were really nice and helpful — my hotel wasn’t ready for me and they let me set up eating, drinking and calling into conference calls… The beer helps.
I had the Monday oyster special ($ 1 each on the special of the day), lobster salad and salmon tartar sandwiches. The oysters were terrific — very yummy, nicely rinsed so no sandy taste you get with lower end joint. The lobster salad was really terrific — I could have had a second one on the spot. The salmon tartar I thought was so so. I didn’t like the spicy sauce on top of each sandwich (wasn’t listed on the menu) and I thought the bread was too heavily soaked in something (not sure what) — I would have preferred a crispy bread.
I would return. And Monday oysters are a steal!

What an all around great place! Today was my 3^rd visit to this establishment… happy hour, brunch and lunch… need to eventually add a dinner, and I’ll be set. Each time, the menu’s were ideal and offered me just what I was wanting. LOVE the oysters, fish taco’s and cod sandwich… oh, and did I mention the best shoestring fries. The appetizer menu at happy hour is awesome, it was a meal by the time we tried all the tempting options.
Wait staff has been excellent, very friendly, non-rushed…just good service!
Décor is really cool, love the ‘whale bone’ ceiling, inviting bar area… the only negative thing I can mention, is the place gets pretty loud as it gets busy, they need better sound acoustics… no easy feat with the high ceilings.
Nice addition to the Cherry Creek area…

Great place for happy hour. That’s when we hit this place. $ 2 oysters are awesome. Everything on the happy hour menu is solid as far as food goes. We have also eaten dinner there. Filet and black cod. Black cod was ok. Seemed a little fishy, but when eaten with the noodles, it was better. Filet was good. Nothing to really mess up in though. Drinks are good. Try the bourbon peach mule.

Debated making this 3 stars based on the price of the oysters alone. Went on a Sunday and was kind of surprised by the location, it’s not likely in a place that too many passersbys would notice. But we wanted oysters and that’s what we got. It was mostly empty when we went but that was fine. There aren’t too many tables here but there is enough space for folks to spread out which is good.
All of the food we had here was good, but the oysters are very expensive. For $ 3.25 to $ 4 each that’s a lot for an oyster but they were good. We also had the tuna tartar to start and then the lobster risotto. The risotto was amazing. Our drinks (martinis and mules) were very good. Our service was attentive but there weren’t many people there.
I would like to go back but I think it would be more for food than oysters because they were so $$$! For a fancier place it should be more crowded than it is…

We looooooved this wonderful experience! We decided to stay with just the app menu because everything sounded incredible. We did the raw oyster menu twice because they were the freshest sweetest oysters we have ever had this far inland.
Raw oysters were fresh and sweet– the fried in cornbread was yummy but the fresh incredible. We also did the Stuffers (worth every penny) and the heirloom salAd.
The mule variations on the drinks were really fantastic too! We will definitely be going back for $ 1 Oyster Mondays!

Eat all of the oysters!!! I recommend this place for the oysters. I really enjoyed the house oysters. Monday’s is dollar oyster night. Make a reservation and enjoy.

OYSTERS!
Apparently, they have oyster $ 1 Mondays so really hoping to come back on a Monday. We tried out 3 different oysters and they all tasted fresh! We liked some more than others and this is a personal preference so I can’t recommend which ones you should order. (Also, I can’t remember the names of the three names right now… I should really write the reviews at the end of the meal.)
We ordered the crab cake. It was really meaty but rather creamy and lacked the form of a «cake.» It was kinda of just crab salad in a creamy sauce pushed into a mound. Not a personal favorite but at least it wasn’t just all flour and batter like some other places. I think it would be improved if it had a light crip to it on the outside.
The scallops dish was SO DANG GOOD! Scallops cooked just right on a pile of some type of fried rice. The fried rice is nothing like the ones at Chinese restaurants (I loved those too. Even more so, actually.) It takes some getting used to but it goes well in the dish.
The lobster bisque is rich and delicious. Good chunks of the lobster in it to taste.
Friendly service to boot!

Groupon showed me the way to BIOB. Decided to try their brunch this past Sunday given that it’s in the neighborhood.
In true Sunday fun day fashion, I started my day off with the BIOB bloody mary. It’s serious business. Topped with a fresh raw oyster, some grilled shrimp and the works! The drink itself was very much to my liking and had just the right amount of kick to it. I could drink these probably more often than I should.
I had the scallop roll for my meal. It was good, but in comparison to the breakfast items, it just seemed rather small. I ordered a side of coleslaw with it, and my major peeve was that it was LITERALLY 3 bites for me, and I generally don’t take in huge mouthfuls of food. Just sayin’ that this meal is kind of a rip off despite being tasty. At least fill up the sad little coleslaw side bowl so that it looks like you’re getting more food. It’s the cheapest thing on the plate for goodness sake! Oh well, at least I can look on the bright side and be thankful I had groupon?
The service was great from walking in to being served at the table. All around friendly and attentive. Couldn’t have asked for more in that department.
I would most definitely come back for another bloody mary, and if you’re going to get any grub, I’d highly recommend the straight breakfast items just to get the most bang for your buck.

Environment: classy, modern, clean (new)
Staff: friendly, helpful, knowledgeable
Food: flavorful, sophisticated, healthy. I had the swordfish and it could not have been any better! It was perfect! Thank you for knowing how to prepare such a delightful fish.
Dining Experience:
Went there for the 1^st time on a Monday night and the place was very busy and actually pretty loud. The hostess greeted us for our reservation. She pointed to our table which was all the way in the back. She kept pointing and we couldnt see our table… it was slightly awkward that she gestured in such a way as to suggest we should just go find our table on our own. Finally the co-​host told us he’d walk us to our table. But the first person pointed haha. Thanks for pointing to our table… we’ll just go seat ourselves. lol
The server made an honest mistake and assumed since our table was set for 4 people, we were expecting a 4^th person. Nope. The reservation was set for 3 people and 3 people arrived. After we waited about 45 minutes, the server asked us if our 4^th person was going to be arriving soon. We had to explain there was no 4^th person. Simple mistake, but why was the table set for 4 people in the first place when the reservation was for 3 people? Why did the server not know how many people the reservation was for? Confusing.
The crab cakes were good, but I’ve had better. Again, I’ll waive my Southern Californian flag around and say I’ve had better crab cakes in Southern California. For Denver, the food was «phenom». The greens of garnish on the dinner plates was odd, as it had a rather weird flavor that totally confused my palette. Perhaps add a light dollup of sauce to the plated greens?
I’ll be back when I have more money to eat there haha. I had a groupon and quickly learned the groupon covering $ 40 wasnt even enough to cover one person’s full meal.
Suggestions: Don’t point to a patron’s table… lead them there. Know how many people are to be seated if they’ve made a reservation. Have more affordable appetizer options. (A $ 16 crab cake isnt exactly affordable when its the circumference of a coffee mug at about ½ inches thick.)

Maaaaaaan! I have found my seafood heaven in Denver!
My husband and I purchased a Groupon here and decided to come in to have a relaxing dinner together. The happy hour menu was so fabulous, I wound up getting full from the selections from that menu.
They have a nice array of East and West Coast raw oysters.
We tried the following items and enjoyed everything:
— Knuckle sandwich (lobster roll) w/​fries
— Clam chowder
— #9 raw oysters
— Fish and chips
— Key lime pie
We’ve been here twice and enjoyed the food AND the kind dispositions of the staff. We will be back.

We’ve found our new favorite seafood restaurant! $ 1 oysters are a great deal and the stuffies were INCREDIBLE, as was the lobster risotto. I agree with the other Unilocalers that you don’t get very large portions for the price you pay, but the food is so rich and yummy that this really isn’t a problem. You know you’ve come to the right place when your loud geeky friends are struck silent because they’re too busy eating to carry on a conversation.
I loved the modern, open feel of the place and the driftwood chairs were both cool to look at and comfortable to sit it. Our server was fantastic — fun and personable, solicitous without hovering. Drinks were promptly refilled without having to ask.
My only gripe is that the space is pretty loud when it’s full, which it certainly was on $ 1 oyster Monday night.

THEY HAVE $ 1 OYSTERS! We picked out a dozen various oysters from their oyster list. Instead of letting us pay triple, our waitress asked us if we knew about their dollar special. We didn’t. LOAD ‘EM UP. It was much appreciated as we could then splurge on more of their food and drinks. The $ 1 oysters didn’t disappoint and were all fresh.
After we were done slurpin’ those down, we each decided to start with their clam chowder. THIS WAS REAL GOOD. The potatoes were firmer than in most chowders so they held up nicely and weren’t mushy. The chowder also came with clam fritters on top which were great for dipping in lieu of crackers/​bread.
I decided on the lobster roll for my main course. Unfortunately this wasn’t as satisfying as the beginning of my meal. The lobster was good, but what missed the mark was the lack of mayo and a good bun. The bun was flimsy, dry, and fell apart rather easily.
All in all, great place, great food, great service. The space is also decorated well and has an amazing wall-​length map of the south shore of Long Island. I will be back!

Love the Virginia oysters!!!
Great new venue! Love the variety and selection of oysters. They even have oysters from Hog Island, Virginia — very salty.
Great drink selection also! Had the prosecuto.
Overall a great addition to the Cherry Creek restaurant scene.

OYSTER HEAVEN
For those who read my reviews you know I am a big fan of high quality, properly shucked oysters. This place delivers.
We stopped in for happy hour where we had a half dozen of the no. 9’s (Blue Island’s signature oyster from Long Island) and a half dozen Island Creeks (MA), the latter of which are not on HH special by the way. Oysters were excellent. Because these were so amazing we ordered another half dozen more (all east coast), again all winners.
Bottle of Ridge zin which was reasonably priced I might add went well with our oyster tasting. We also had the fried clams– though they were good I am not sure I’d order this again. I think it was $ 13 for this plate and there just weren’t enough clams to justify the price point IMO.
Overall solid place, will continue to come here when needing an oyster fix.

We came in after buying a Winter Warmer Passport and realizing the seafood place we have been wanting to try was included on it for a 2-​for-​1 drink special. I am so glad we did because this restaurant is amazing. Being from the east coast and growing up on the Jersey shore, it is hard to now live in a landlocked state and find fresh and well-​cooked seafood.
Things that stood out to me:
— The head bartender talked me into trying a cocktail I would never normally like (the Sayville Sling) and I loved it. The bar service was super friendly and informative. We even got a back-​story on the different types of oysters they serve and where the oysters are flown in from.
— The waitress gave me samples of two wines I was torn on and suggested a great special for my meal. The scallops were delicious & the side of honey carrots, I will now be trying to re-​create at home.
— Lastly, the décor and ambiance really do make you feel like you should be looking out to a waterfront view (instead of a snowy street view!). We will definitely be returning to try happy hour and the other dishes we couldn’t decide between.
Thanks for a great evening Blue Island Oyster Bar! Cheers!

This was a random spot for us, as it’s not somewhere that we would have planned to go. We purchased the Winter Warmer and they have a deal for two for one of the specialty cocktails offered. After brunch with my mom we treated her to a drink. They offered a variation of the traditional Mule and the Sayville Sling (made with green chili vodka, nuff said) in the deal, and since there were three of us, we added the whisky smash. You know, for luck. That’s all. Luck.
All cocktails were extremely well balanced and we each loved each. After sipping and sampling we chose our respective drinks and enjoyed the ambiance. It’s really a nice looking restaurant. The service, while a bit on the leisurely side for the bar, was very friendly. The folks behind the bar engaged us, and the folks at the front and on the floor were also very pleasant.
This was a fun little trip, and I’d come back here for sure.

Blue Island was delic. We went thanks to our Winter Warmer passport. The mules were so good!
We also tried the octopus and several oysters. The octopus, though cooked perfectly, was quite the competitor for my butter knife.
We rounded out this first trip with the key lime pie. Not great but the crust was so good. They should just do something with the crust it was that good. The key lime portion not limey enough.
Spendy, but delicious.
Service by Angela at the bar was great.

I’m always excited to see new restaurants come into the Cherry Creek neighborhood due to the lack of fun dining options in the area.
I’ve dined at BlOB twice now and have to say I think that was one time too many.
The oysters are absolutely delicious and very fresh. If you have an opportunity to try them on Monday when they’re $ 1 per oyster I highly recommend enjoying as many as you can comfortably put away, otherwise oysters here tend to be between $ 3-​$ 4 per and are not worth the price tag.
The other food offered is blah. Octopus covered in chorizo, or should I say chorizo with some octopus buried in there somewhere was disappointing. If it says octopus, I want to taste the octopus. I was sad to see if covered up with something as overpowering as chorizo, this dish does not work at all. Scallops covered in Ritz crackers must have been a joke. Why would you cover up scallops with something as processed as Ritz crackers? The dishes worthwhile have been the Mussels, the grilled fish taco on the HH menu and the oysters, other than that I’m unimpressed.
The main reason I’m not returning is the abysmal service. With a half empty restaurant during HH we must have fallen into a black hole since our server up and disappeared for over 30 minutes. Our entire table would have ordered one or two more rounds of cocktails and some more food if our server had been anywhere in sight. In addition to being MIA during HH, when we put our cards down with the receipt and were ready to go, she up a disappeared for at least another 30 minutes. This is not good service and if it was not for the fact we were with friends and we did not want to ruin our evening we would have been talking to the Manager.
I had high hopes for BIOB, however I will take my business elsewhere where the seafood is the star of the plate and the service is consistently good.

My first impression of Blue Island Oyster Bar (BIOB), a restaurant in the Concept Restaurants, Inc. «portfolio of restaurants» is that it is a very new restaurant which is still trying to find its sea legs, principally with respect to the food being turned out by the kitchen.
What better way to start an evening at an oyster bar than with a selection of oysters, duh! We selected the Kumamoto and Naked Cowboys (from Long Island Sound) and were not disappointed. The oysters were fresh and each had their own distinct flavor, no complaints on the taste or quality. The price point for each oyster was around $ 4. Slurp.
We then selected a variety of items from their sharable plates and one entrée: two orders of the charred octopus ($ 14), a crab cake ($ 16), steamed PEI mussels ($ 13), and the baked sea scallops ($ 24).
The best of the sharable plates was the bowl of mussels. A generous portion to be sure, the mussels were steamed, and served in a flavorful curry broth, however I did think that the cilantro garnish was excessive. Although not inventive in any way, this dish was executed well.
The chef however deserves a drubbing for the brutal handling of the octopus dish, my least favorite of the items we’d selected. When the plates were presented, I thought the food runners made a mistake and brought us some other menu item since at first glance there was no octopus discernible, not even one tentacle could be seen due to the heavy handed ladling of the chorizo vinaigrette which obscured any trace of the mollusc. The gusto of the chorizo, albeit mild, dominated and obliterated any remaining flavor that the overly charred and dry octopus should have had. The smashed potatoes served as an unwitting sponge to the leftover grease from the chorizo vinaigrette. It makes one wonder why the chef decided to cloak the main ingredient rather than highlight it. Skip this dish.
The crab cake presentation was a lot less confusing, and although not as disappointing as the octopus, the cake was a bit mushy, with a slightly less than fresh taste which lingered on the palate after each bite. The Louie dressing was bland with no noticeable heat from chili or cayenne, and the pickled salad remained untouched on the plate by our group.
After trying the baked sea scallop entrée I can categorically say that not everything tastes better sitting on a Ritz. OK, to be more precise, the buttery and delicate scallops were buried underneath what appeared to be at least half a sleeve of crumbled Ritz crackers. Once again, I don’t understand the rationale of hiding the main ingredient and making the guest play hide and seek in order to find each scallop. The accompaniments included the same simple smashed potatoes used with the octopus and a side of sautéed spinach with tomatoes. Yawn.
As for desserts, our dining companions dissuaded us from ordering the Key Lime Pie ($ 8) which they tried on a previous visit. They did however praise the Ice Cream Sandwich ($ 6), which on this occasion consisted of two huge oatmeal cookies with delicious vanilla ice cream in between. Although quite tasty and fun, this is a hard dessert to eat gracefully in public — none of us really minded. Gluttons that we are, we also tried the warm Blondie with salted caramel and ice cream ($ 7). This dessert was overly sweet due to the cloying caramel, with no salted-​ness whatsoever.
Service was efficient and friendly throughout, even if it was a bit robotic in that corporate overly trained way. Relax.
The space is nice and can be described as upscale beach chic. The banquettes and booths are upholstered in a watery blue; the chairs are handsome and evoke salvaged driftwood casually put together. Above the long bar hangs an undulating whale bone sculpture made of warm wood, which although a bit overly stylized, fits with the overall unobjectionable coastal motif.
Now, please permit me to whine for a couple of moments.
Why does Cherry Creek not deserve to participate in Denver’s creative restaurant scene? What did we do to piss off every creative chef in the city that they instead choose to set up shop on Larimer, South Broadway, or LoHi?
The answers to those questions are likely a function of the real estate economics in the Cherry Creek North neighborhood: land prices are high, therefore rents are high, which then tend to result in corporate owned, multi-​concept, upscale restaurants which usually end up being formulaic and all too often fail to execute and deliver on their promise. Let’s hope that Blue Island Oyster Bar can find a better blend of commerce, creativity and execution as it matures.
Thank you for indulging me my whine.