Oyster Bay

March 6, 2024

This place has been hyped for so long I was really wary of going to visit. I went there for lunch on a Sunday afternoon and for a place that is that popular it was quite empty at the time (1pm) which I didn’t mind.

The place is expansive, I like the airiness, the vast outdoor seating, the bar that feels like an island in the middle of the restaurant… set-up wise they got it hands down. They have an expansive menu, which had me worried - a large menu is never a good idea.

We had the dynamite prawns (KSH1350) as a starter, I had the burger by the bay - a beef & cheese burger (KSH1300) my friend had the bacon mushroom carbonara (KSH1500).

The prawns were tasty, just really small, basically shrimp lol… The spicy sauce it came with was perfect, so yum! The burger by the bay has a beef patty, cheddar cheese and a sweet potato purée, bacon and baby spinach. It comes with fries. The waitress warned me that it was really spicy as it included a hot sauce… it was not spicy AT ALL. That disappointed me as I was ready for a nice spicy burger but the burger itself was still tasty & filling. I didn’t like the fries, I think they were overly fried.

The carbonara was plated beautifully, looked very enticing but I put a fork in it expecting a nice creamy mix… Why was there soup filling the plate?? What they intended to be a creamy thick sauce for the pasta was just mushroom soup with pasta added in and cheese grated on top. They didn’t let the dish cook fully I assume, the sauce didn’t thicken well enough - I would not recommend

We were there until around 2:30, the music was already a bit loud by then and we had asked them to reduce it a bit - they didn’t. 20 minutes later - the music switched from mellow chill R&B to super loud crunk hip hop and you could tell most of the patrons were so confused at the quick switch, people who brought their kids were just in shock at the volume level.

Weirdly enough, as we opted to leave at that time because we could barely hear ourselves speak at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, a good amount of people started milling in so it seems like Oyster Bay is another Mawimbi & Samaki Samaki… a ‘fine dining’ seafood restaurant that turns into a club/lounge in the late afternoon into evening - which clearly works for them because it’s a place that’s always so full on the weekends. It’s just not for me I guess.