Raw Bar Near Me in Chelsea Market: Lobster Place Oysters by the Piece

Lobster Place sits inside Chelsea Market at 75 9th Avenue, and it is the raw bar near me that works like a fish market first: you walk up to the counter, point at oysters at $3.75 each or littleneck clams at $2, and eat standing near the ice. It is open every day from 11 am to 9 pm, and The Sampler with a dozen oysters costs $45.

Lobster Place says it has been bringing live lobster straight from the Maine coast to New York since 1974, and the business is in its second generation of family ownership. The Chelsea Market location grew from that wholesale trade into a full seafood hall: a fish counter, a raw bar, a sushi bar, lobster rolls and steamed lobsters, all under the same roof. The seafood market side closes at 8 pm, an hour before the raw bar.

The company is a partner of the Billion Oyster Project and donates about 1,500 pounds of oyster shells every week to the program, which uses them to rebuild reefs in New York Harbor. Its sister restaurant, Cull & Pistol, is right next door inside Chelsea Market, for anyone who wants table service and a cocktail list with the same seafood supply.

Oysters are $3.75 each, and the board lists where each one comes from. Recent names on the menu include Glidden Point from Maine, Duxbury Gem from Massachusetts, Fishers Island and Widow's Hole from New York, Hammersley from Washington and Kumiai from Baja California. Ordering one of each is the best way to taste the difference between a briny New England oyster and a sweeter Pacific one.

A simple way to build a tasting for two is to pick six oysters from three regions, two from Maine, two from New York and two from the West Coast or Baja, which comes to $22.50, then add four littlenecks for $8 and two pieces of shrimp cocktail for $6.50. That lands under $40 before drinks and shows you how much the same shellfish changes from cold Atlantic water to the Pacific side.

Clams are cheaper. A littleneck is $2 and a cherrystone is $2.50, so two people can add half a dozen clams to a round of oysters for about $12. Shrimp cocktail is $3.25 per piece, the diver scallop with olive oil, yuzu and sea salt is $15, and a portion of sea urchin is $27. In early October the market announced Santa Barbara sea urchin had arrived at its raw bars.

If you do not want to order piece by piece, the platters do the math for you. The Sampler is a dozen oysters for $45, The Double Down is two dozen for $89, the Feast of 7 Shellfish is $35 and All Hands on Deck brings six oysters, mixed shellfish and half a pound of king crab for $79. A Sampler plus a chowder is a full lunch for two.

The Maine Lobster Roll costs $28 with four ounces of meat and $38 with six. The Roe Boat Lobster Roll, topped with Kaluga caviar, costs $42 or $52. Our honest take: skip the Caviar & Pringles at $65, a novelty plate of Siberian sturgeon caviar on potato chips, and put the money toward a second dozen oysters. The hamachi crudo at $12 is the better small plate.

Chowders come in three styles, New England, Manhattan and lobster bisque, listed at $7, $9 and $11. Local New York draft beers are $9 a glass. The menu lists no reservation policy because this is a counter and market setup, and there is also online ordering at order.lobsterplace.com if you want to pick up a lobster roll and walk.

Order at the raw bar first, then the hot items, so the oysters arrive cold and the roll arrives warm. Chelsea Market opens its doors at 7 am but Lobster Place starts serving at 11 am, so arriving right at 11 gives you first pick of the day's oyster list. If the hall feels too busy for lunch, order online and take your lobster roll toward the river.

Because Lobster Place is a fish market as well as a raw bar, the line mixes two kinds of customers: people buying whole fish and shellfish to cook at home before the market closes at 8 pm, and people who came to eat oysters on the spot. Weekday lunch skews toward the offices around Chelsea Market; weekends bring more visitors walking through the food hall.

The market posts a lot about how it builds its seafood towers, and in an October 12 Instagram reel it walked customers through the art behind the tower. Ordering by the piece makes this a good first raw bar for someone who has never had oysters and wants to try two or three without committing to a full restaurant meal.

Chelsea Market itself is open every day from 7 am to 10 pm. The official directions are to take the A, C, E or L train to 14th Street at Eighth Avenue and walk west to Ninth Avenue and 15th Street. After your oysters, walk west to the Hudson River and Little Island, the park built on Pier 55 at West 13th Street, which is a short walk from the market.

If you want to keep eating seafood, The Clam at 420 Hudson Street in the West Village is about a 20-minute walk south. It is a sit-down restaurant with a two-tier tower and littlenecks from Long Island, a good contrast to the counter style at Lobster Place. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for the best walking route between the two.

Address: Lobster Place, inside Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10011. Hours: daily 11 am to 9 pm, with the seafood market closing at 8 pm. Chelsea Market is open daily from 7 am to 10 pm. Nearest subway: 14th Street on the A, C, E and L.

Prices to plan around: oysters $3.75 each, littlenecks $2, cherrystones $2.50, shrimp cocktail $3.25 per piece, sea urchin $27, The Sampler (12 oysters) $45, The Double Down (24 oysters) $89, Maine lobster roll $28 or $38, chowder $7, $9 or $11, draft beer $9. No reservations; order at the counter.