Huitrerie Régis in Paris was a pretty big disappointment during our October 2015 trip. There is a dozen oysters per person minimum and we sampled a dozen Speciales de Claires (Nº2), six Speciales de Claires (Nº3) and six Fines de Claires (Nº2). The oysters were large and briny like a good oyster should be but the overall taste was a bit murky. They had not gone bad but they were missing any distinctive character. They also all tasted exactly the same. I later learned that Huitrerie Régis single sources its oysters so if you get a not so special batch you are out of luck. 
Read the rest of our oyster reviews here
Hi Kara,
I came upon your blog while looking at posts about Uni on Hungry Onion. I certainly disagree with those who criticized you for posting a link to your blog, but that is not what I am writing about.
For the past six or seven years my wife and I have been spending a week or two in Paris each November. A visit to Huitrerie Régis has always been an integral part of the trip. In 2014, for example, Régis provided the best oysters of the trip. And the day before we had eaten very good oysters at Pleine Mer, one of the favorites of Chowhound’s Ptitpois. Those from Régis were simply better, tastier, brinier, I can’t really put my finger on it, but they were better. This past November I was disappointed in Régis’s oysters. It’s not that they were bad, but there was something indistinct about them, diffuse and muted. We were also disappointed in Pleine Mer’s oysters last November. This may have something to do with the fact that we had just come from a week in Brittany, where we had some of the best oysters and shell-fish ever. This year I’m considering giving Régis a miss, since I want to try a new place that I’ve read about, Huguette, that is in the same area. On the other hand, since I try to eat eight or nine dozen oysters during our visits, we may get back to Régis after all.
Well, this has taken us quite far from Uni, which inspired this missive. I do not know if we will get to Uni when we’re in Boston this year, but I will make it my business to have lunch at Select Oyster Bar, and maybe, again following your advice, at Legal Sea Foods in Chestnut Hill.
All the best,
Thanks for all the feedback Bob! As mentioned above, we have learned that Huitrerie Régis oysters are single sourced so if they are not on their game at that moment (weather, water temp, etc.) the whole batch will be dull or off. We were there just a week or so before you and, like you, found the oysters disappointing (dull). Our BEST oysters ever were at Monk’s YEARS ago in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. Unreal although I do not think it is the same place anymore. On the Boston front – Select is terrific! And Legal Chestnut Hill for oysters is terrific!
Hi Kara,
We’ll be off to Paris in a couple of weeks, to find lots of oysters and other good stuff. We’re just back from Boston and Manhattan. In Boston I had 2 dozen Wellfleets at Legal’s in Chestnut Hill. I must say, I was not too hightly impressed. I started to question my great love of Wellfleets. A few days later we lunched at Select Oyster Bar. There I had a dozen, 4 Wellfleets, 4 Norumbegas, and 4 something else. Here again, the Wellfleets were disappointing. The Norumbegas were fantastic. After the oysters I ordered the daily special, a lobster sandwich. It was just ok. Not bad, but not great. When I went downstairs to the restrooms, I saw a large bowl of lobster pieces sitting on a counter. It put me in mind of Anthony Bourdain’s admontion against ordering a fish special on a Monday.
A week later I tried some oysters in a much too noisy bar close to our hotel in Manhattan’s Chinatown. It was their Happy Hour half-price offer, which I tend to trust more than $1 oysters. Well, among the dozen I had were 4 Wellfleets, and they were fantastic.
It’s clear to me that restaurants vary, and that life comes without any guarantees, but it does give one certain pointers: (1) Legal Seafood in Chestnut Hill–never again. (2) Select Oyster Bar–gets a second chance. (3) Huitrerie Regis–maybe.