Queen's Raw Bar

Step into Queen’s Raw Bar on a weeknight evening and you’ll find yourself in what feels like the final scene of an indie film. Stained glass casts a warm glow over the U-shaped marble bar, ambient electronic music hums in the background, and well-dressed diners lean in close over plates of glistening oysters. This Eagle Rock spot from the Found Oyster crew nails the atmosphere—it’s the kind of place where lingering feels not just acceptable but encouraged.

The raw bar is where Queen’s truly shines. Creamy East Coast oysters arrive on ice, their varieties listed on a handwritten chalkboard that changes weekly. The halibut crudo comes adorned with juicy sungold tomatoes and a zippy ginger-citrus dressing, while buttery peel-and-eat prawns make for excellent finger food between sips of lambrusco. If you’re craving something from the land, the smothered pork chop holds its own, and the chicory salad offers a satisfyingly bitter counterpoint to all those briny bivalves.

Where things get tricky is the Charleston-style entrees. The kitchen’s ambitions sometimes outpace execution on the larger plates, so the smart move is to treat this as a grazing destination rather than a proper sit-down dinner spot. Camp out at that beautiful bar, order a few rounds of oysters, share some crudo, and save room for the Derby Pie—a bourbon-laced showstopper of pecans and dark chocolate that demands to be eaten.

Queen’s Raw Bar works best when you embrace it for what it is: a neighborhood gem with one of the most alluring bar scenes in the area. Bring someone you want to impress, settle into a marble perch, and let the evening unfold over seafood towers and good wine. Just skip the fish entrees and you’ll leave thoroughly charmed.