Mixed Experience at Oak Room
DC and I had a $75 groupon to the Oak Room that we needed to use yesterday before it expired, so we decided to go for a late lunch in an attempt to avoid brunch and dinner crowds. When we got there, the oak bar was about half full (and curiously enough, with more than a few small children) but the restaurant did not seem packed. Upon approaching the hostess station, the hostess and the manager looked at us, looked at the lounge, and then told us that they were sorry, but they would be too full and couldn't seat us in the dining room. I was rather taken aback, since the restaurant did not appear to be too full, but I asked if we could get food in the bar instead, and we were told to go seat ourselves. We sat at a 2-person table in the lounge for about 3 minutes until a waiter came by and asked if we wanted menus. I briefly explained that what we really wanted was to be seated in the dining room, but that we would order food in the lounge if it was full. He made an odd face and told us that he would go check if there were seats available, then came back less than a minute later and told us that he could seat us. When we walked into the dining room, there were several empty tables, and we were seated in the back right-hand corner.
While things had gone rather strangely up to this point, we were happy to have made it into the main dining room and ready to move on with the meal. A server came by to fill our water glasses and check in with us a few minutes later, so we felt like things were moving in the right direction, but when he put my water glass back down, he placed it upon the seam of another cloth folded underneath the tablecloth (about a 1/4" difference in height off the table), and my water glass promptly fell on the ground as soon as he had walked off, spilling water and ice cubes but not breaking the glass. Several servers walked by without saying anything or stopping, but one finally came by with some bread and tried to make a joke about us spilling things. We politely explained that the man serving water had put the glass down on an unstable surface, but he smiled and walked off, without cleaning up the pile of ice cubes next to us. After another few minutes, our actual server came by and immediately cleaned up the ice cubes while apologizing that the water man had spilled it, then came back with the wine list and took our orders. Since it was lunchtime on a Sunday, they had a very limited menu of brunch, a few sandwiches, several soups, a steak and fish option, and the RW lunch, which we were told the groupon could not be used on (which is strange, since didn't another hound say they could use theirs earlier this week?). We both ordered the NY strip steak, cooked medium, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus, as well as two glasses of shiraz. The waiter was VERY generous with his pours, giving us each at least 1 1/2 glasses in the glass, and the bread and butter that came out was good.
Food came out within ten minutes but was not as hot as it could have been--not saying it was cold, but it could have been hotter. The mashed potatoes were pretty good, but we had just eaten incredible mashed potatoes at Market last week, so the Oak Room potatoes paled in comparison. Asparagus were fine, steamed with butter, but nothing special. The steaks were definitely cooked slightly more then medium, going into medium-well territory at the edges, but the au jus served with it was great and helped to add a little bit of moisture back into the meat. On a side note, I had kept an eye on the open tables in the dining room to see if they filled up with reservations. The dining room continued to empty over the course of our meal, so it was pretty disappointing that they originally said that they could not seat us when 1.) there were tables available and 2.) they were amply staffed. Overall, the food was good but not great, but the ambience was the really nice part. The meal would have been better as a whole if the front of house staff hadn't acted so strangely towards us. We are both in our mid-20s and were dressed respectably (no jeans, sneakers), so it's unclear why they treated us as they did, but in any case, it was fun to be able to try the Oak Room. I'm not sure that I would go back again for dinner unless it was for a business purpose, as the food is overpriced and not as good as at other places we've been around Boston, but we are glad that we were able to go.
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Oak Room
138 St. James Avenue, Boston, MA 02116
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Bob Dobalina
Mar 22, 2010 11:42 AM
Sounds you had a real champ of a waiter...sounds like he saved the dining experience from being blah to good...sounds like he should be promoted to manager....
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I also had a Groupon so I dined at the Oak Room last week, too. I found the service to be very attentive. In fact, when I asked if I could get a steak even though it was not offered on the lunch menu, they very cheerily said they could accommodate that request. I enjoyed the meal. Not blown away, but it was a nice experience.
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Oak Room
138 St. James Avenue, Boston, MA 02116
