Michael Deans Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar

A group of my girlfriends and I were trying to find an entertaining place to go out on a Saturday night in North Raleigh. We decided to try Michael Dean?s karaoke night. We had such a good time. The crowd was great and the bartenders were fast and friendly. I would recommend Michael Dean?s karaoke night to anyone who is looking for a great Saturday night out! Pros: Bartenders, great crowd more

So I went here with my wife for an anniversary dinner, we started with an oyster sampler. They were clear and clean looking, they tasted fresh however the cocktail sauce was lacking and the horseradish was inadequate as well, dry and tasteless. I had the shrimp with grits which sat too long and the gravy had gained a skin. The gravy tasted like franco american canned, the serving size was also small. It has about 5 shrimp. My wife had the salmon which was dry. The dessert of creme brulee had no crispy sugar top it was more of a custard. The only saving grace was the server was nice. Lousy food and overpriced. Pros: Fresh Oysters, Nice Service, Attractive Setting Cons: Lousy Food, Gravy With Skin, Overpriced more

I recently took a larger party to dine . We made reservations to reserve one of the private rooms. I got a little anxious because the room was not ready in time for my reservation and my group had to stand around but once we were sat the night totally changed. Our servers were amazing- very knowledgeable and funny even. The food was absolutely delicious and everyone loved what they got. The executive chef even took the time to come talk to our party. I feel that the wait staff and kitchen staff went above and beyond to provide an excellent experience. The bill can get a bit pricey if drinks and appetizers are involved but it is SO worth it! I would recommend this restaurant to absolutely everyone! Pros: Food, Service, Atmosphere Cons: Parking more

So I went to this place last night, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I thought Michael Dean?s was a place for old business types, but it?s gotta pretty rockin atmosphere. I had the tasty shrimp and grits (who knew?) and I just had an awesome time. I definitely have a new outlook on Michael Dean?s. Pros: Surprisingly cool inside, good food more

i left and not come back.management saw the behavior not good at all. not do anything about it.male and children customers in a group get good service. not female customers,female groups only. hostess and Waitstaff rude to females.the hostess will not volunteer to wait on female customers,talk rude to female customers,not say much at all,not busy and rush to get rid of female customers,and walk away from customers and not come back at all,without saying anything at all beforehand. Waiters/waitress-waitstaff will do the same. they will not volunteer to wait on female tables,not volunteer to give food,drink and bill.not come back to see if needed.does not want to write down the menu. said it is not a job requirement. knows the food order is wrong to the female table.will not volunteer to correct. will give food,drink and bill,then run away,not busy at all. females have to get out of seat and ask the waiter and waitresses to come back to the table. and female customer tables have to ask the waiters and waitresses to come back to the table.to continue to do job. the waiters and waitresses interrupt female customers,and talk back rude. walk away from females while they are talking to them.the management sees the rude behavior and will not do anything.the food is not good at all.i have been given food that is not fully cooked. more

This restaurant is REALLY close to where I moved to so after I moved in--I went with my family to this establishment. The atmosphere is okay, but the food itself was very unimpressive. None of us was really impressed with the meal here....so I am not sure if I will be going back again. Pros: Nice for entainment, staff Cons: FOOD, OVERPRICED, more

I went here with some friends of mine last Saturday, and it?s just as good as people say it is. We all shared the Chicken Quesadilla as an appetizer and then I had the Atlantic Salmon for my entree, and they were both awesome! The service and prices were both really good. And with $9.99 pitchers of draft beer and karaoke on Saturday night, we didn?t want to leave. I really recommend this place. Pros: Awesome food, Good prices more

My friends had been trying to get me to check out the raw bar at Michael Dean?s for a few weeks, and so we finally went on Sunday since it?s their Raw Bar Night. The service and their raw bar selections were great. The steamed mussels were my favorite. Even though I knew ahead of time that it was half off all raw bar selections I was still surprised when we got the check, getting all that great food for such a low price was a steal! Also, the atmosphere in the restaurant was great. The servers were nice, the food was quick and overall I had a great experience. Pros: Raw bar, price more

We decided to try this place a few weeks ago during the week, figuring that there wouldn't be a large crowd and we would have decent service. Our waiter disappeared several times and would return without the item he was sent for. We had to find another wait staff twice to hunt them down. The food was very average at best. I think the menu was over priced for the quality of food. I would not recommend this one! more

Last week, my sister and I went to Michael Dean?s for their weekly Monday dinner special. We started off with wild mushroom and goat cheese wontons, which neither of us has had before. They were phenomenal and really unique. The bottle of wine we ordered was really good as well. I tried the pistachio encrusted salmon and my sister enjoyed the pan seared corvina - we tried something you can't get everywhere and we both absolutely loved both entrees. The best part of the evening was that it was only $40 for all of that food! My husband and I are going back next Monday! Pros: Great selection of food, great service more

my wife and i went on our anniversary. i had heard great things about this place, but never had been there. we called ahead, and made reservations. we showed up 30 min early and were seated before anyone else standing in the lobby. we were greeted by just the most knowledegable and plesant server (doc). he guieded us through their menu and helped us pick out items we would love. we started with a rosemary bread and a garlic shallot salsa dip that was absoultly delicious. then DOC guied us through the appetisers. we chose the 3 pepper calimari. this was searved with a lemon dipping sauce. we couldnt leave it alone. we had to force ourselves to stop so we could save room for dinner. my wife had the crabcake trio. 3 delicious CRAB cakes with rice pilaf and pan rosted veggies. the crab cakes were mostly blue crab meat. just enough ""cake"" to keep them together. the rice and veggies were wonderful and freshly cooked. I had the NC same day caught swordfish. with rice pilaf and broccoli. the sword fish was perfectly cooked and flacky and wonderful. the best i have ever had. we both couldnt stop eating. our server constatnly wanted to know how we were doing. great attention. For desert we had their famous crem bruley. this was the perfet topping to the best dinner we have ever had. soft and delicate, and perfectly done. Most places i go out to i have something to complain about, but here i had absolutly nothing to complain about. Not only was i happy but my wife was happy not to hear me complain. if you have ever thought of trying this place. i would recomend it. over and over again. no other seafood resteraunt in town can ever touch this place. Pros: promt seating, service, food, desert more

I am impressed each time I go to Michael Dean's. Nowhere else do you get the kind of service and food you get here. The place is nice enough for a date night out, but never stuffy or intimidating. The waitstaff is incredibly friendly and well-informed. Their North Carolina-inspired cocktails are lovely and their seafood is some of the best I've had in NC. My favorite is their Sushi Grade Tuna, but my one nitpick is their daikon and wakame salas they serve with it, it definitely needs to be served separately, its flavor tends to infect everything else on the plate. Make sure you save room for their desserts, their creme brulee in particular is work a trip. Pros: Great food, wonderful service Cons: not enough parking more

My wife and I went to Michael Dean's this past Sunday because a friend of ours told us that they had a really nice raw bar and we are big seafood fans. We were not dissapointed by the recommendation. We knew we didn't want an actual entree, so we decided to sit at the raw bar and have some fresh oysters and clams. The bar was fairly crowded for a Sunday (we soon realized that the crowd was there for the Sunday special - 1/2 off all raw bar items), but we found a couple of seats. The service was fast and friendly and the atmosphere was relaxed, but nice. The seafood was awesome - we opted for raw oysters instead of steamed, a risk for an inland raw bar, but the oysters were fresh and served with all the sauces we could ask for. The steamed clams were just as good. Overall, the recommendation proved to be well worth the trip out to Raleigh. more

After being disappointed several times at the old location, we decided to give the new location a try since we received a gift certificate to Michael Dean's for Christmas. The new location is definitely a nicer atmosphere, however, we each ordered seafood at this seafood restaurant, and it was not only very disappointing but terribly overpriced. I ordered the wood-fired salmon and my wife ordered scallops. The scallops were very overdone and my salmon tasted like rubber. Neither had any real side dishes and the plates looked barren. Pros: Good in-house beers. Service was good. Cons: Food was very overpriced and disappointing. more

This used to be a staple for family and friends. Since they moved locations I haven't really been impressed. The raw bar looks nice, but as far as the regular menu is concerned, I find it lacking. Fresh fish selections that no one else in the area could match is now absent from the menu... Probably because they don't have enough customers to support all the fresh fish. We had the ""Prosciutto"" wrapped shrimp. Not bad, but seemed more like country ham than Prosciutto. We inquired to our waiter (good service, btw) which prompted a visit by the manager. We told him that while the app. was good, we didn't feel like it tasted like Prosciutto. He got very defensive and asked if we wanted to talk to the chef. Then he felt it necessary to bring out some actual Prosciutto on a plate to prove they actually had it. Since we were so unimpressed with the menu, we decided to leave and go elsewhere... Pros: Service Cons: Fresh fish variety, Management more

I have been to Michael Deans four times in four months, usually only because others want to try it. more

We really love Michael Deans, and have for years. The new location is even better than the old. What a great atmosphere. more

had dinner with friends last weekend - what a GREAT time! service was spot-on and the food was delicious. the oysters are so good and the server really helped us choose between all the different specialty oysters. The patio was great and the drinks flowed probably too smoothly! Pros: service, food and atmosphere more

I can get the same food at Chili's or Ruby Tuesday's for 1/3 the cost. When we visited there were a lot of flies. And for a place of this ""caliber"", please get your sanitation score up higher. Pros: wait staff Cons: everything else more

If im spending $145 for dinner and drinks for two, I think they could try and get that sanitiation rating up above 95. Thats gross. I also like the old location better. more