Michael Dean's Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar of North Raleigh, NC

We decided to try this place a few weeks ago during the week, figuring that there wouldn't be a large crowd and we would have decent service. Our waiter disappeared several times and would return without the item he was sent for. We had to find another wait staff twice to hunt them down. The food was very average at best. I think the menu was over priced for the quality of food. I would not recommend this one!

Last week, my sister and I went to Michael Deans for their weekly Monday dinner special. We started off with wild mushroom and goat cheese wontons, which neither of us has had before. They were phenomenal and really unique. The bottle of wine we ordered was really good as well. I tried the pistachio encrusted salmon and my sister enjoyed the pan seared corvina - we tried something you can't get everywhere and we both absolutely loved both entrees. The best part of the evening was that it was only $40 for all of that food! My husband and I are going back next Monday!

my wife and i went on our anniversary. i had heard great things about this place, but never had been there. we called ahead, and made reservations. we showed up 30 min early and were seated before anyone else standing in the lobby. we were greeted by just the most knowledegable and plesant server (doc). he guieded us through their menu and helped us pick out items we would love. we started with a rosemary bread and a garlic shallot salsa dip that was absoultly delicious. then DOC guied us through the appetisers. we chose the 3 pepper calimari. this was searved with a lemon dipping sauce. we couldnt leave it alone. we had to force ourselves to stop so we could save room for dinner. my wife had the crabcake trio. 3 delicious CRAB cakes with rice pilaf and pan rosted veggies. the crab cakes were mostly blue crab meat. just enough "cake" to keep them together. the rice and veggies were wonderful and freshly cooked. I had the NC same day caught swordfish. with rice pilaf and broccoli. the sword fish was perfectly cooked and flacky and wonderful. the best i have ever had. we both couldnt stop eating. our server constatnly wanted to know how we were doing. great attention. For desert we had their famous crem bruley. this was the perfet topping to the best dinner we have ever had. soft and delicate, and perfectly done. Most places i go out to i have something to complain about, but here i had absolutly nothing to complain about. Not only was i happy but my wife was happy not to hear me complain. if you have ever thought of trying this place. i would recomend it. over and over again. no other seafood resteraunt in town can ever touch this place.

I am impressed each time I go to Michael Dean's. Nowhere else do you get the kind of service and food you get here. The place is nice enough for a date night out, but never stuffy or intimidating. The waitstaff is incredibly friendly and well-informed. Their North Carolina-inspired cocktails are lovely and their seafood is some of the best I've had in NC. My favorite is their Sushi Grade Tuna, but my one nitpick is their daikon and wakame salas they serve with it, it definitely needs to be served separately, its flavor tends to infect everything else on the plate. Make sure you save room for their desserts, their creme brulee in particular is work a trip.

My wife and I went to Michael Dean's this past Sunday because a friend of ours told us that they had a really nice raw bar and we are big seafood fans. We were not dissapointed by the recommendation. We knew we didn't want an actual entree, so we decided to sit at the raw bar and have some fresh oysters and clams. The bar was fairly crowded for a Sunday (we soon realized that the crowd was there for the Sunday special - 1/2 off all raw bar items), but we found a couple of seats. The service was fast and friendly and the atmosphere was relaxed, but nice. The seafood was awesome - we opted for raw oysters instead of steamed, a risk for an inland raw bar, but the oysters were fresh and served with all the sauces we could ask for. The steamed clams were just as good. Overall, the recommendation proved to be well worth the trip out to Raleigh.