Madison Oyster Bar

hookah tips by doodlebug

I noticed that the tips to the hookah are rarely changed. if you dare to order a hookah from this place i highly suggest that you demand a brand new tip. Make sure it is still in the wrapper. i have seen them take the tips off and run them under water and put them right back on.
Beware!!!

by Dan S.

I was mostly impressed with this place because it was open until 3:30. Why the fuck are some bars in South Bend open this late, when they all close at 2:00 in Minneapolis. They even serve food until at least 2:00. The place has a dark, intimate feel. The tables are small and close together, the music is just loud enough that it's hard to have a conversation without leaning in to speak. Next to Corby's, it seemed to be the busiest bar in South Bend. It was quite a bit nicer though.

by Dennis C.

We ended up here when nothing else was open at 11pm on Monday night. I probably would not have enjoyed the food at all if I wasn't so hungry. This is purely a review of the food they have, not the bar as a whole.

by Em J.

Could be a very nice place;  however, the consistently terrible attitude of the wait "staff" makes me wonder why I didn't stop going there sooner. Servers act like you should kiss their feet because they are allowing you to be served by them.  Give me a break!  Also, the crowd is mostly 20-somethings and wannabes.  There are much better and classier alternatives in this town.  i.e. LaSalle Grille, Bistro, Vine, etc.

by Marc R.

I actually eat the oysters here and they are good. The rest of the place is pretty lame and can be a funny sort of pick up bar. I tend to like it after 11 pm when people pour in. I think it is the only place in town to get oysters on the half-shell. Now, it is not like a big city Oyster Bar where you might have oysters from the West and East coasts, but what they get has been good and you can order them all night. Awesome.Hookah bar also. Smoking is allowed as well.

by Micaela C.

I went to the Oyster Bar a few weeks ago for the first time EVER.  It was a Thursday around 8pm and I ended staying there for over 3 hours drinking with a friend.  I was mostly psyched about the fact that for $10 you can smoke their Hookah!  It's the only place I know of where you can smoke Hookah in this town.  It was NOT crowded at all and it was a good setting to catch up with a friend.  However, I will say the music was loud to the point that we both had to raise our voices to hear each other.  But I'll still go back...for the hookah.

by Peter B.

do NOT come in here with clothes that you care about. The smoke stink will follow you around forever!I came here alot on wednesdays after bowling club during my senior year and it was always a decent spot to grab a few beers before calling it a  night. I never seemed to grab a pool table on the 3rd floor- those were always taken by varsity athletes... and I never actually got food there, although i'm sure it could be nice if you stayed on the 1st floor. Floor 2 is more transitonal than anything really (they don't like you leaning on the railing).Decent place.

by Casey D.

I always had a good time at the Oyster Bar during the "off" evenings. When I was in school at good ole ND, I do believe Monday nights were THE nights to make an appearance on the upper most floor of the Oyster Bar. Those nights were drunk, sweaty, waiting in line for that one-person bathroom while getting poked in the ass by someone's pool cue, trying to maneuver around 93 people at the bar for a simple High Life, having your cigarette put out by the drunk freshman who can tell where's she's standing so she leans into your hand and consequently your smoky treat....yeah those kind of nights.But on the non-Mondays, I loved coming in here with my best bud, LMay and tossing back a few pints with a few smokes while listening to some tunes we painstakingly chose on the REAL jukebox. I never partook in the hookah, but it is an interesting option - not one you see often in the South Bend world. The food was always satisfying, if not overly greasy. The fries were splendid. I never had an issue with service because going on an off-night meant the one server could be attentive and wasn't fed up with all the moronic college kids (yeah, I include myself in that group). It's definitely one of the first bars I try to patronize whenever I return to ND, because I'm just getting too damn old for that Club Fever bullshit.

by Craig M.

My grandmother, who had to feed a family during the Great Depression, used to buy a sirloin steak and feed 7 people. She would take a mallet to it, allegedly to "tenderize" it, but what she actually did was pound out all the flavor and juices until you had something that approached shoe leather. My mother used to refer to this process as an "meat murder". The cow may have been slaughtered, but the steak was murdered later by Grandma. What they do to seafood is the Madison Oyster Bar is a similar crime. I ordered the Seafood Platter Friday night and everything on my plate looked and tasted like it had been murdered by Grandma before placing in the deep frier. The breaded Cod fillet was tasteless, about 1/8 inch thick and looked like it could be better used for a roof shingle. The Scallops, normally tender and juicy , were rubber and tasted like the socks from my gym bag. And the shrimp... what can you do wrong with shrimp? Well these shrimp could have been used as a replacement for a hammer to drive the roofers nails into those singles. We started out as a group of 7 trying to get into the Irish Pub next door.  It was full and with scheduled entertainment, it didn't look like tables would appear soon. We were not willing to wait for a seat, so we went next door to the Oyster BarThe fact that at 8:00 pm on a Friday night  there were many empty seats  should have been a clue that something was amiss. My mistake... One redeaming quality... 32 oz Killian's for $3.50.Madison Oyster Bar, as a restaurant,  is a 100% colossal FAIL!

by Lauren K.

Three floors. Top floor is enclosed (with full bar and pool tables), and very smoky. Bottom Floor has full bar and tables and looks up to the second floor, which is more like a lofty sort of space with tables, and I think there's a pool table up there as well. Bar tenders are very nice when you sit at the bar! Also, they have hookah available at a reasonable price! I never ate there, but drinks are cheap. Its a nice atmosphere if you want to sit with a group of friends and chill. NOT packed with only Notre Dame/St. Mary's students, so that's always a plus IMO as well.