Pearl's Oyster Bar has held its spot inside Reading Terminal Market since 1981, when the Braunstein family took over what was already a long-running seafood counter. Second-generation owner Dave Braunstein has kept the original classics on the menu — oyster stew, snapping turtle soup, fish fry — alongside fresh oysters and clams on the half-shell and fried seafood platters and sandwiches.
Alongside the raw bar, Pearl's runs a full sit-down breakfast, lunch, and brunch menu: bacon and apple walnut french toast, crab cakes benedict, pan-seared scallops with butternut squash, oyster sliders, and crabby deviled eggs. It's given the counter a second identity inside the Market, pulling in a crowd that comes as much for the fried chicken and waffles as for the oysters.
Regulars point to fast service and friendly staff as much as the seafood itself, and it's earned a reputation as one of the Market's consistent, dependable stops.
Alongside the raw bar, Pearl's runs a full sit-down breakfast, lunch, and brunch menu: bacon and apple walnut french toast, crab cakes benedict, pan-seared scallops with butternut squash, oyster sliders, and crabby deviled eggs. It's given the counter a second identity inside the Market, pulling in a crowd that comes as much for the fried chicken and waffles as for the oysters.
Regulars point to fast service and friendly staff as much as the seafood itself, and it's earned a reputation as one of the Market's consistent, dependable stops.