Atlantic City is often described as horribly inadequate by foodies.  The “good” restaurants are mostly Las Vegas celebrity chef outposts with a few philly extensions like Buddakan thrown in.  The whole area is going through a gentrification process right now; there are Coach and Louis Vuitton stores just a few blocks from the pawn shops and payday loan stores.  In three to five years, it is going to be a very different place.  But for now, I needed a solid place for dinner following the food and wine expo at Bally’s.  I figured you can’t go wrong with fresh seafood, and Dock’s has been around for over 100 years so we decided to give it a shot. 

I am glad we did.  THere were four of us.  We feasted for hours on premium oysters by the dozen, buckets of clams, huge lobsters,s and more.  Of course the east coast oysters (Blue Point, Chesapeake, Hood Canal) were incredible (you really can’t get them here in LA) but also very impressive were some of the West Coast oysters.  The Hama Hamas were the favorite of the group; they were even better than when I get them at many places in LA.  There were some great sea scallops on risotto, nice softshell crab, and lots of tasty veggies. 

Not only was the food amazing, the wine list was over the top.  Clearly a CA bias, but the prices were incredible.  I ordered two bottles. One was a 2004 Goldeneye for $75 (retails for ~$50) and a 2002 William Selyem Flax for $158 (you can’t find this one very easily. Probably runs $100+ if you can)

We stayed long after closing and got to hear our waiter’s great rendition of a Billy Joel classic at the piano bar.  What an awesome place; I will definitely go out of my way to go back the next time I am in the area. 

Address:

2405 Atlantic Ave, Atlantic City, NJ 08401-6630


Phone:  (609) 345-0092
Fax:  609-345-7893
Website:
www.docksoysterhouse.com/