I'm a newbie in photography so my comment may not be correct hehehe:bsmilie:
Just feel that the photo looks kind of dull and the colour kind of over- saturation
As for 2nd photo I assumed your main subject should be the mussels but your DOF is kind of too thin to see the mussels
Just my 2 cent~ Hope to see more food photo from you
IMO, i think mayb the placement of ingredient on the plate abit not appealing and the table cloth can try to use other color instead of pure white. Colors are fine with me.