Although it's located in what is now a T-shirt hawking, tourist mecca, Elliott's is an extraordinary place. Start your feast with an extensive selection of oysters, raw and in delightful broiled varieties, both common and uncommon. For those interested in fresh dungeoness, this is THE place. Their "Signature Crab Service" presents a hot or cold fresh whole crab, conveniently cracked in specific locations. No need for crackers! Just dig in. Their spicy rendition of a shrimp cocktail is exhilarating, and their equally flavorful scallops in a remoulade are exquisite. Desserts are common, but who goes for dessert? A full bar and extensive wine list round out this wonderful experience.

The actual restaurant is a nice, but small place. There is a place where you can go to eat inside or when the weather is nice, you can eat outside on the patio. The food is very good. I had the fish and chips. They gave me fries, so I was a little upset, but I got over it. The fish was halibut (I think) and was very fresh. It’s most definitely a place to eat and sit and have fun.

Make sure that you take some time to walk down and visit the first Starbucks.

A group of us spent an evening sightseeing on Seattle’s downtown waterfront. For dinner, we chose Elliott’s Oyster House. It was a beautiful evening, so we decided to eat outside on the pier. The atmosphere was fantastic. Seeing the harbor cruises pass by and watching the sunset on Puget Sound made it clear why USA Today named Elliott’s one of the top 10 outdoor dining locations in the country.

Elliott’s has a nice selection of draft beers. I like Guinness, so I had a black and tan. I also tried a couple of local brews. The "Fat Tire Amber" wasn’t bad, but the "Alaskan Amber" was a little too hoppy for my taste.

When you enter Elliott’s, you can’t miss the 20-foot oyster bar. It is filled to capacity with over 30 different varieties of oysters. I ordered the Kumamoto oyster. They oysters came with a fruity crushed-ice topping that I did not care much for. I asked for old-fashioned cocktail sauce. They were very fresh and flavorful. If you are an oyster lover, you have to visit Elliott’s Oyster House.

For my entrée, I had the Prawn Scampi. It was absolutely fabulous. This was no ordinary scampi. Besides the normal garlic butter sauce, there was the addition of a light crab sauce. One of my friends is not a seafood lover. Instead, he ordered the Top Sirloin. From the looks of things, it must have been pretty good. Another friend had the Beer Batter Fish and Chips. I tried of piece of the deep-fried halibut. It was great. By now we were all pretty full. A nice after dinner stroll up the waterfront was the perfect way to walk it off.

Elliott’s Oyster House is located at Pier 56 on the Seattle waterfront.