Max’s Oyster Bar in West Hartford, Conn.

Max’s Oyster Bar is one of the restaurants in the Max’s Group that has locations around Connecticut and western Massachusetts. Each has its own specialty, from Italian at Max a Mia to burgers at Max Burger. Each offers a top-of-the-line dining experience. Max’s Oyster Bar, in West Hartford center, however, may be the best of them.

You could go for lunch or dinner. Max’s has an extensive raw bar and well-trained shuckers and chefs. The menu has a range of salads, sandwiches and entrees that sit in the $15–20 range for lunch and the $25–35 range for dinner. For an appetizer, the steamed Cape Cod mussels in white wine sauce are a highlight, though at Max’s you can hardly ever do wrong.

So, you could go for lunch or dinner, but the best time to go to Max’s (any Max’s) is for happy hour. At Max’s Oyster Bar, happy hour is from 4–6 p.m., Monday–Saturday, and 3–6 p.m. on Sunday. They feature a large menu (http://www.maxdiningcard.com/data/menu/MOB_HappyHour_6-16-15.pdf) with both drinks and appetizers. Everything on the menu is $5 or less, including mixed drinks, beer, the raw bar and food. I got a Max Manhattan made with Old Overholt and it help up nicely with the crabcake (one, but large) and fried calamari (clean oil which made them crisp and didn’t mask the calamari flavor).

Of course I didn’t stop there. The beauty of Max’s Oyster Bar happy hour is that you can pretty much try everything on the menu and still keep it less than $30 a person with a few drinks. And you should. The food is fresh and delicious, prepared by the same renowned Max’s chef just in, ya know, smaller sizes.

If you’re in West Harford center, Max’s Oyster Bar is the place to be for happy hour.

Max’s Oyster Bar

964 Farmington Ave

West Hartford, Conn. 06107

860 236 6299