I went to eat at Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant with a Luis and a bunch of my favorite past coworkers from VS. I arrived at the restaurant having no idea what to expect. It has such an old school feel you have to experience for yourself, and the food is great.

Located on the lower level of Grand Central Terminal at 42nd street and Vanderbilt Ave, the restaurant has been in this same spot since the station itself opened in 1913.

The place is huge, we were seated immediately, as a party of 6. Bread was put on the table immediately, which was important since food did take a little time to come around, or more so our waiter. Thankfully none of us were in a rush. Don’t get me wrong though, it was a great experience!

The menu is quite extensive so it could be a little overwhelming. We knew we wanted oysters, but didn’t know which since there were so many and we didn’t know about any of them. The question was, East Coast – Salty, or West Coast – Sweet? We decided on 6 per person and a mixture of both of course. The waiter made a mix for us and they arrived with a huge container of horseradish, which I LOVED, vinegar, cocktail sauce, Tabasco AND Cholula.

After being elated by the oysters, I was finally able to dig deeper into the menu, where I discovered they serve a salmon Benedict at all times! Eggs Benedict is my all time favorite thing to eat. It came perfectly poached with smoked north Atlantic salmon, topped with creamy hollandaise aside perfectly seasoned green beans and broccoli rabe. It made my month I’d say.

It is really not typical of me to not get dessert, but it was getting late for a Monday and we all had buses and trains to catch, so we skipped out. But they had some desserts I was really interested in, and I hope to go back and try, such as passion fruit and lavender ice cream and rhubarb cranberry sorbet.

Make sure if you are a female you stop in the ladies room and have a photos shoot with the famous Lips couch, and the pair of baseball mitt gloves for men or women!

On your way in or out try out the whisper walls. The archway is famous for having and acoustical quirk. If two people stand in opposite corners, facing the wall, and whisper at any volume they can hear each other perfectly. I am always very amused by whispering galleries. We had a few around my college campus, State University of New York at Stony Brook.

I definitely recommend checking this place out, and I will definitely be going back! Yum.