Critic's Review
I was staying at Sunset Station and I needed some food; They call this place "Louisiana Style' cooking, and Gumbo will always get me in the door.It was a Tuesday night, so no trouble getting a seat at the bar. Not much going on here early in the week.
Sunset Oyster Bar Inside
The counter isn't designed for TV watching; there was nothing I wanted to watch so no matter.
Oyster Bar Counter TVs
I ordered a bowl of gumbo and a glass of wine; they gave me a basket of rolls and butter in foil.
Oyster Bar Rolls
The rolls had a funny taste; not what I was expecting. Maybe they were sourdough, but I didn't care for it.
The schtick here is that you can watch the "chef" make your food; you may not like what you see. Premade roux is pretty slimy stuff and seeing how the sausage is made isn't always a good thing.
Oyster Bar Bar Food Preparation
There don't seem to be recipes; they have tubs of stuff that they to combine in different ways to create Gumbo, Jambalaya or "Pan Roasts"; but it all seems to be made from the same stuff.
Station Casino Oyster Bar Pan Roast
While the original Oyster Bar in NYC was not a New Orleans restaurant; they've conflated the menu here to include their signature "Pan Roast". Except the "Pan Roast" here is nothing like the original dish (on the left), which were a decadent oyster soup. Here they drop some half and half into the jambalaya and the food dullards rant about it. (Photo on the right). They even drop rice into it.
Oyster Bar Cooking
When they put my gumbo in front of me I was impressed with the portion; this is a lot of food.
Oyster Bar Gumbo
Kind of cheap with the green onions, but I didn't ask for more. I put it all together to create an even thicker bowl of stuff.
Oyster Bar Sunset Station Gumbo Combined
There was lots of chicken and sausage, but it didn't taste like gumbo AT ALL. You can't make authentic tasting gumbo and jambalaya from the same pot; Jambalaya has tomato and gumbo doesn't. This seemed to be a soupy jambalaya (that didn't really tastte like jambalaya either).
Oyster Bar Gumbo Close
I ate about half of it but couldn't get motivated to finish. I'd had a couple of rolls while I was waiting, so I'd had enough calories for the day.
Conclusion
Oyster bar is a casual spot that's kind of interesting in that you can watch the guy make the dishes in a bubbling cauldron. If you don't know what gumbo is supposed to taste like, you might like it. Just don't expect to be transported to New Orleans; this stuff isn't anything like what you get there
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