# How much for oysters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2015, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037 "2015-07-24T08:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/1 "2015-07-24T08:58:26Z")
How much would you expect to pay for a half dozen oysters on the half shell at a steakhouse? Context: I’m traveling to Las Vegas soon and trying to plan a fancy steakhouse dinner for my husband. I don’t eat a lot of oysters, and the ones that I do are generally free-to-me because I’m at a family reunion with cousins who have shoreline access to oyster beds. He wants to eat at Top of the World at the Stratosphere. The oysters there are sold at Market Price. Based on the prices of the other appetizers and seafood dishes, he’s estimated about $20. I think this might be low, based on the markup on dishes for which I can estimate retail price- $9 for mashed potatoes? Wow. (Also I’m just a paranoid lady about the dreaded MP on a menu.) I have Googled this seemingly simple question more than anything else to prep for this trip and feel so confused. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/2 "2015-07-24T14:13:42Z")
The only ones who would know is them… give them a call 702/380-7777. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/3 "2015-07-24T14:16:20Z")
Expect a minimum of $2 an oyster, and that’s just if the price is set low as an attractive appetizer. For an upscale place $20 or more would be typical. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/4 "2015-07-24T14:31:16Z")
I was in San Francisco last week and the ersters at upscale restaurants were going for $2.75-$3.50 a pop. I was going to indulge, but the waiter told me that that day’s offering had been shipped in from…RHODE ISLAND. Here in Brooklyn I expect to pay $2-$2.50 per. I love the oyster bars in New Orleans, where gulf oysters are still around a dollar each. I can afford a few dozen, and they’re cheap enough to indulge in the old New Orleans custom of making your own “oyster dope” from the ketchup, hot sauces, horseradish, fresh lemons, etc., lined up on the bar. When the oysters are over two bucks each I make do with a squirt of lemon, so as not to drown the experience. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/5 "2015-07-24T14:34:57Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I was in San Francisco last week and the ersters at upscale restaurants were going for $2.75-$3.50 a pop. I was going to indulge, but the waiter told me that that day’s offering had been shipped in from…RHODE ISLAND. We have a lot of oyster farms. We get local oysters but they’re often shipped here from other places also. That’s the way the oyster biz works. You can’t get local oysters year round in very many places. People are generally unaware, but oysters are alive when you eat them, so it doesn’t matter if they’ve been shipped in from far away. ETA: Alive when eaten raw. Obviously they are dead after you cook them. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/6 "2015-07-24T14:37:44Z")
A la carte oysters on the half shell in Las Vegas will run you anywhere from $3-$5, cheaper if you buy them by the dozen. ETA: $20 for a single oyster? Only if it comes with a pearl. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/7 "2015-07-24T14:48:37Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > A la carte oysters on the half shell in Las Vegas will run you anywhere from $3-$5, cheaper if you buy them by the dozen. > > ETA: $20 for a single oyster? Only if it comes with a pearl. If you mean my post I intended that to say $20 for a half dozen. For $20 an oyster that would have to be a damn good oyster and a damn good pearl. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/8 "2015-07-24T14:52:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > We have a lot of oyster farms. We get local oysters but they’re often shipped here from other places also. That’s the way the oyster biz works. I know, I know. I wasn’t maligning West Coast oysters, I love 'em. But I’m not going to spend big bucks on shellfish that’s traveled three thousand miles when it was harvested less than a hundred miles from my house. If they had been Pacific oysters, I would have ordered a half-dozen at least. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/9 "2015-07-24T15:42:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > If you mean my post I intended that to say $20 for a half dozen… Ah, that makes sense. And sounds about right. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/10 "2015-07-24T15:57:08Z")
I don’t… what!!! I don’t eat oysters more than 50 miles inland. They are already too old for me, even if they arrived in the desert completely frozen. (Also, ew, frozen oysters. Bleargh.) Disclaimer: I’m a Floridian and am spoiled by fresh seafood. Around [here](http://www.viewmenu.com/ouzts-too/menu?ref=google), a dozen oysters on the half shell should run less than $10 and that’s with zero sides or accoutrements. Just straight outta the sea, as oysters should be eaten. Besides, it’s off-season. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/11 "2015-07-24T20:31:30Z")
I go to Vegas a couple of times a year. Oysters run about $4 - $5 each at a steakhouse, depending on the steakhouse. Sometimes they’re fat and juicy and good and sometimes they’re scrawny and blah. I don’t order them a lot because the majority of times they’ve been less than what I consider average (coming from the East Coast), but that’s a small sample of instances. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-for-oysters/726037/12 "2015-07-24T23:49:41Z")
Thanks so much everybody! I really appreciate everyone’s input and feel like even the looming terror of market price won’t impact my enjoyment of the meal.