An oyster’s taste depends on variable factors, such as water temperature, salinity, and its early childhood exposure to ballroom dancing and Fancy Feast commercials. Cultivate a cultured taste with today’s Groupon: for $25, you get $50 worth of seafood at Hale Street Tavern, Sushi & Oyster Bar in Beverly.

Waves of fresh seafood crest the tables at Hale Street Tavern, where succulent oysters, inventive sushi, and a family-friendly game room sets patrons adrift in a sea of neighborhood dining camaraderie. Start off with small bowl of scallop chowder, chock-full of corn, pancetta, and chives ($5/$7), or nibble on pancetta-wrapped shrimp with roasted-pepper relish and balsamic syrup ($12.)

The dinner menu is a captain’s log of protein staples, boasting hearty entrees, such as the roasted-chicken dinner, coated in gravy and glazed carrots and stuffed with andouille ($18). Shepherd’s pie sings with meat's greatest hits, as ground lamb, beef, smoked pork, and bacon get down with corn, gravy and garlic potatoes ($17). Kids' dinners come with a drink and a Hoodsie cup, with picky-eater stalwarts such as corn dogs, chicken fingers, and the FluffaNuttaNanna, which means peanut butter, banana, and fluff sandwich, when translated from the original Sumerian.

The pearl at Hale Street Tavern is the oyster bar, where a finely culled collection of touring mollusks from the East and West Coast await lick-lipping shuckers. Tongue the buttery finish of a plump Duxbury oyster, or suckle from the sweet, mineral essence of a Kumamotos variety. The sushi menu stocks spicy rolls of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, or crab ensconced in seaweed and cucumber ($9). The specialty yellowtail jalapeño sequesters seared hamachi, mango, avocado, jalapeño, and citrus sauce into a piquant rice-filled antechamber.

The friendly ambience of Hale Street Tavern welcomes postwork gatherings, dinner dates, and family outings alike, with a fully stocked game room replete with checkers, Uno, and Scrabble to determine once and for all who has to lick Grandma’s plate clean for her.

Reviews

Twenty Yelpers give Hale Street Tavern, Sushi & Oyster Bar an average of 3.5 stars. Four Google Mappers give it an average of four stars.

• I looooove this restaurant. We went for the first time a month ago or so with my parents, and everything we ordered was completely delicious. – Lesley D., Yelp, 2/21/10
• Very good sushi bar adds in a fun flavor to a great local watering hole. Lots of deals ongoing through out the week. – corgimas, Google Maps