Where to eat seafood in New York: Fulton Fish Bar – Pier 17

Last visit: December 2024

My rating: 9/10

Price range: €€€€/€€€€€

Cuisine: Seafood and shellfish

Pier 17 is one of the most modern and scenic hubs of the South Street Seaport area in Lower Manhattan. Completely renovated in recent years, it is now an elegant waterfront complex that combines high-end restaurants, panoramic cocktail bars, shops, cultural spaces, and one of the most spectacular terraces in the city, with direct views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River.

To be clear, we are just steps from the Financial District, and this is one of the places where New York’s wealthier residents come for an aperitif or a business lunch; it’s not a backpacker-friendly spot, but — as I’ll explain — it’s also not as exclusive as one might think. What you find at Pier 17 isn’t fine dining, but it’s not the usual touristy seafood shack either: it sits in that upper-middle range where you eat well, without frills and without disappointment, spending a reasonable amount (reasonable by Lower Manhattan standards, that is).

Ambience

The location has been recently renovated and is quite dazzling. I’ve read that astronomical sums were spent on the renovation — numbers I find hard to believe — but in any case, every dollar shows. The style may or may not be to your taste, but it’s clear the goal was to create a high-quality space suitable for the regulars of Lower Manhattan.

The large windows overlook the East River and the bridge, and on clear days the view is spectacular.

The Food

The raw bar menu is fairly predictable: oysters, scallops, shrimp, mussels, lobster. What genuinely surprises me are the decidedly reasonable prices for an oyster bar in Manhattan’s Financial District. I would not have been shocked to see oysters at 10 dollars apiece, but 4 dollars is literally the minimum I would have expected.

I approach them with some skepticism rooted in a long-standing prejudice of mine: Atlantic oysters simply cannot compete with European ones (I won’t compare them to Cancale — that would be cruel — but not even with those from Sardinia, to mention an excellent niche product). In general, I remain convinced that my prejudice has solid foundations, yet the oysters at the Fulton Fish Bar — which I’m told come from various locations along the U.S. East Coast — exceed every expectation, especially in terms of salinity, a quality that, in my limited experience, Atlantic oysters often lack.

We continue with the scallop with kombu and shiso, which once again — against my expectations — surpasses even the oysters. Served with kombu, shiso, and a touch of oil, it proves to be a small masterpiece in enhancing an ultra-fresh, high-quality product through just a few minimalist touches. The result highlights freshness and clean marine flavors, adding a subtle citrusy note. I could eat ten of them, but one must show restraint…

The crispy rösti with smoked salmon, caviar, and cucumber yogurt is the final coup de grâce. I bring it to my mouth, take the first bite, and I’m instinctively compelled to close my eyes for a moment to enjoy that harmony of sea flavors — seemingly obvious, yet anything but banal. One might say that serving quality salmon and caviar is “winning easy,” but that is not necessarily true. Salmon and caviar don’t always complement each other; and in similar contexts, the caviar is often of such poor quality that it gets overwhelmed by the salmon. Here, I believe the secret lies in the cucumber yogurt, which provides exactly the right acidity with expert balance, tying the two flavors together and making the dish even juicier. Magnificent.

At this point, after so many successful dishes, it becomes inevitable to order the lobster with melted butter (well—“inevitable”… it’s not as if a doctor prescribes it, but once you’ve come this far…). And it’s a triumph.

Lobster is a personal torment of mine: once in my life, I ate a truly exceptional lobster, and that flavor became imprinted in my memory. Since then, it has become a quiet obsession, forcing me to get swindled over and over again with bland, mediocre specimens whenever I see the word lobster on a menu.

Here, for the second time in my life, I finally had a lobster worthy of the name: perfectly cooked, tender, intensely flavorful, succulent — all the more so with the melted butter.

Service

The staff is young, quick, and clearly used to a constant flow of tourists, yet without slipping into carelessness. The organization is efficient: waiting times are short, even during peak hours. If I had to point out a flaw, perhaps there’s a bit too much coolness — at times it borders on aloofness.

Prices

We’re at South Street Seaport, in the new Pier 17, with a full view of the Brooklyn Bridge: inevitably, the prices reflect the location. Not cheap, but far more reasonable than one might expect for the setting. The quality of the seafood and the freshness of the raw dishes amply justify the cost, and as I mentioned earlier, I would almost call the prices “affordable,” given the circumstances.

In summary

You really couldn’t ask for more. I feared I would end up spending an absurd amount of money for mediocre food — as often happens in trendy places in Milan, for example — and instead I got top-level quality at the exact price one can legitimately expect in Lower Manhattan.

If you’re in New York and want to eat raw seafood, this is the place to go — not the Grand Central Oyster Bar, which appears in every tourist guide and blog but doesn’t even come close in terms of value for money.