Oak House Distillery and Speakeasy — Local services in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

We visited Labor Day weekend, Sunday, at roughly 2:30PM

THE GOOD -The space is BEAUTIFUL! Ton of great indoor AND outdoor seating

-Drinks were generally delicious

-Staff was very friendly

-Clearly, people like this place as it started to fill up after our arrival

THE "COULD IMPROVE" -We walked into the establishment, and headed to the bar. Then, a staff member standing behind us started taking an order from the people who arrived after us (also behind us). The new guests kindly did say 'they were here first, you should take their order', and then we were given priority. Not a big deal, but this attention to detail is what differentiates a 4-star place from a 5-star place.

-We opted to sit outside. When we went outside, there was only one other party (3 people) sitting outside. We sat down, and an older couple arrived, and another bigger table behind us. I believe it was the owners (or owner with a couple of guests) who sat down behind us as well. We sat and waited. 2 servers (one in training, it appeared) came out and waited on the older couple, even offering them a small tasting. They then waited on the table behind us, who said they ordered inside. Then, they visited the table that was there prior to us. We waited for roughly 20-30ish minutes (the wait wasn't super concerning -- the establishment is only open for a couple of days, and there appeared to be only 1 bartender) until they came to us. What was a little upsetting to me was that the older couple was seen 3 times, the table behind us twice, and the table that was already there at least twice before they even acknowledged us. My partner wasn't worried about this, but even a "your drinks will be out soon" would have been somewhat sufficient.

-Lastly, we ordered the Basil Cucumber Smash and Habanero Heatwave. Both were absolutely delicious, but the Habanero Heatwave had 0% essence of habanero flavor and lacked even a tiny bit of spice. I liked the drink, but I was really hoping for habanero -- this made me wonder if they forgot it all together.

All in all, I'd be willing to give this place another shot. I decided upon 4 stars instead of 3 because I'm hoping the "negatives" were generally a one-off, and I think it's cool that it was started by UGA faculty. Still, I hope that our waiting without any sort of recognition for 20-30 minutes isn't taken lightly -- especially because we saw others get multiple visits to...

The establishment is lovely, however, we waited 30 minutes for our cocktails to never arrive at our table, we literally saw them sitting at the bar and finally went and picked them up ourselves. Our orders were incorrect twice, one food item was completely forgotten about, and the next round of drinks was also wrong. We were never told about the restaurant week special , even though we ordered items on it. I did not realize this until I looked at the establishments facebook page and saw that we could have saved half of what we spent. They seemed extremely understaffed, and the staff they did have was clearly weak at...

If you haven't been to Oak House for their award-winning gin mixed into a wide variety of delicious and surprising cocktails, then you haven't been anywhere this summer! This lovely old building provides a relaxing atmosphere for you to sit and sip with friends and family. Enjoy the natural surroundings on the outdoor deck or the quaint vintage decor in the air-conditioned rooms inside. Either way, you will have the BEST gin and tonic anywhere, served up by a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Go for a cocktail or two, and be sure to take a bottle...