Midtown Oyster Bar Opens to Public, Full Dinner Menu Begins Tonight

Downtown Newport has a new hot spot.  

After over a year of renovations, Midtown Oyster Bar, located at 345 Thames Street, has opened its doors for business. After a successful soft launch this past weekend, the restaurant plans to offer a full dinner menu starting Tuesday night. Lunch will be served beginning Monday, June 24.

Head Chef James Mitchell described the menu as “modern coastal eclectic,” with an emphasis on seafood and a varied raw bar. There will be 14 beers on tap and a selection of 50 bottled beers, including craft and local beers, said Charlie Holder, the restaurant's general manager.

When owners Larry Phillips and Patrick Kilroy purchased the building in February of  2012, they expected it would take about a year to renovate.  

Phillips said while the project schedule didn’t change, the scope of work was larger than anticipated.

“We were going to renovate the building when we originally purchased it," said Phillips. “The building was just not salvageable. We decided to knock it down and build a new building.”

Philips, who owns a business that constructs buildings to appear antiquated, said he wanted to create a nautically inspired, open-space restaurant.

The stairs are modeled after those on ships and a large flagpole that hangs over the second floor dining room is the mast of his wife’s great grandfather's boat. 

“There are a lot of recycled materials in the building," said Philips. "It is built from wood salvaged from a Brooklyn warehouse and the floors come from a factory in Woonsocket." The lights were recycled from different warehouses around the area, he added. 

The new restaurant is one of Newport’s largest venues, with three bars, two patios, and a staff of over 100 people.  

“We hope to become a fixture of Newport’s restaurant scene,” said Phillips.