My work team enjoyed a dinner at Oceanaire during Charlotte's restaurant week. All around splendid experience.
About half the group went with the restaurant week promo and the rest ordered a la carte. First, the bread is awesome. Apparently its not baked on site, but its still excellent. They also provide a plate of pickled herring and veggies - also pretty darn good.
Service was friendly and informative - the guy was knowledgable enough to talk about the wide oyster selection. We started with four types of oysters, all properly shucked, well garnished, and perfectly fresh and lovely.
My clam chowder was great - a bit on the dense side, but the tender clams in the soup was fantastic. I ordered a trout dish that was super delicious. A side of hash brown (get a small) done oceanaire style was good - not as good as the ones at Smith & Wollensky, but still good. Oceanaire style is with some bacon and tobasco and some other stuff - not worth it, though it was only an extra $.50.
We shared the three promo desserts - a brownie, a key lime pie, and a deconstructed apple pie. All three were great.
Everyone in the group was really happy about the meal - not so easy.
Big thumbs up.