One of Austin’s Coolest Seafood Hangouts Finally Makes Its Houston Debut

After more than a year of anticipation, Austin’s seafood haven Clark’s Oyster Bar has finally landed in Houston.

The restaurant opened its third largest location over the weekend, on Sunday, October 22, in Montrose, and staying true to its brand offered a bevy of seafood classics, including East and West Coast oysters, lobster rolls, saucy mussels and clams, delicate crudo, daily fish specials, and piping hot bowls of chowder. The restaurant is promising other fare, too, with catches from the Gulf and seasonal fish around the country, bread baked freshly in-house, including its popular sourdough, and its award-winning pan-roasted Black Angus Hamburger, which is topped with Sauce Gribiche and gruyere cheese, and a side of its cult-favorite shoestring fries.

Justin Cook

Those familiar with Clark’s know that its dedication to seafood goes far beyond its menu. Its decor also drives home a nautical, dock-side aesthetic, with nods to New England, including a yellow and white striped awning, a painted shiplap, and a marble-topped raw bar.

Diners can also experience various styles of seating depending on their mood, whether at the raw bar’s counter, the spacious bar that seats 23 people, the dining room, which is complete with leather booths, or the expansive outdoor patio, which seats 90 people. The Houston local will also be the only Clark’s to have its own private dining room.

Clark’s Oyster Bar

Justin Cook

Justin Cook

Clark’s, which opened its first location in Austin in 2012 and its second in Aspen, Colorado in 2018, announced that it would open an outpost in Houston in February 2022, with owners noting that it would make its debut by the end of the year, taking over the former location of an auto shop in Montrose. Only now, though, is the restaurant finally here, but better late than never. The recent opening follows the emergence of other seafood restaurants in the past year, which have further tapped into Houston’s local love of seafood. Chef Aaron Bludorn and his team opened Navy Blue in November 2022, followed by the already-acclaimed Little’s Oyster Bar, which opened in Montrose in May 2023, and most recently, Balbao Surf Club, which opened in September 2023 just steps away from its sister restaurant Il Bracco on Post Oak Boulevard.

Clark’s is open daily, with weekday lunch served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner starting at 3 p.m. on weekdays and at 5 p.m. on weekends. Weekend brunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Happy hour runs on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and valet is complimentary. 3807 Montrose Boulevard, 77006.