A raw bar is a small restaurant or a bar within a restaurant where live raw shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

 are shucked and served. These restaurants are traditionally popular in coastal resort areas, and increasingly with the advent of fast shipment of seafood, in major cities away from the coast.

Raw bars serve a selection of oyster

Oyster

The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....

s and quahog

Hard clam

The hard clam , also known as a quahog , round clam, or hard-shell clam, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk which is native to the eastern shores of North America, from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula...

s, and sometimes supplement the menu with cooked versions of the same seafoods such as clam chowder

Clam chowder

Clam chowder is any of several chowders containing clams and broth. Along with the clams, diced potato is common, as are onions, which are occasionally sauteed in the drippings from salt pork or bacon. Celery is frequently used. Other vegetables are uncommon, but small carrot strips might...

, oyster

Oyster

The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....

 stew, and steamers

Steamed clams

Steamed clams is a seafood dish consisting of various types and preparations of clam that steamed according to local custom in various countries....

. Condiments, such as cocktail sauce

Cocktail sauce

Cocktail sauce is one of several types of cold or room temperature sauces often served as part of the dish referred to as seafood cocktail or as a condiment with other seafoods. In America it generally consists of ketchup mixed with prepared horseradish. Some restaurants use chili sauce, a spicier...

, may be available for consumers.

Though there is some similarity to a sushi

Sushi

is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...

 bar, the two types of restaurant are considered different and are not generally mixed or confused. Sometimes raw liver

Liver

The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...

is served as well.