Summers Roof and Cellar — Restaurant in Abingdon

I see the the response from the "owner" of this restaurant. It's lengthy and it is also "lashing out" at a customer who gave an honest rating of their honest experience both with the food and the manager's response. At No time was I confused nor did anything state a Waitlist feature as the owner indicates. The RESY Reservation system worked and I received updates throughout to indicate our dining reservation at the date and time booked. This is simply untrue of the Owner to state so. I reserved a full 5-6 weeks ahead to ensure the date because our kitchen was dismantled with a remodel. There was nothing at any time on the website that indicated this Restaurant was closed. There was also another patron that got booked for Thanksgiving, all stated by their Reservation manager, who called me at 3 pm on the Mon before Thanksgiving to " spring this news!" If Summers has the caliber of oversight indicated by this Owner, then they would have known RESY was booking for Thanksgiving BUT this clearly indicates their practices of Reservation Management are not proactive more than checking the week of dining. Additionally, this Owner never had the wait staff ask if we drank Champagne prior to serving. When I mentioned a bottle of wine would have been nice I certainly didn't expect more than we ordered on any past visit which had been a $34 bottle! Evidently, this type of passive aggressive response to my review by this owner, shown by belittling a customer for something the customer had Zero control over, but was their own internal oversight issues is what to expect if one submits honestly. Our family has been in business for over 70 years and this is Not how you stay in business. A humble spirit goes a long way as well as putting yourself in the customer's place. Whether you agree or disagree, our motto was, " take responsibility to lessen the damage, not flame the fire!" Additionally, it was I, who told the wait staff, we'll after being seated and mentioning our "Thanksgiving issue." So, if the table had been marked as the owner indicated, " for special attention, " then clearly the wait staff should have been the first to mention something and not me, the customer! If you dig deeper into other Reviews there are a few others indicating the same negative experience with the food.

We dined at Summers Cellar on New Year's Eve. This was our first visit to the cellar but not to Rooftop. The Cellar provides nice ambiance for a winter evening.

However, the food this time was very subpar. We ordered the roasted brussel sprouts as an appetizer and they arrived cool. These appeared to have been precooked and then dished out without thought to serving a warm dish.

My husband ordered sea bass, which turned out bland and without taste. It was flaky and not overdone but the paella cake was described as "eating cardboard" according to my husband.

I ordered the sauteed scallops, which one could not enjoy the sear or taste the scallop due to them being served in a massive amount of nontasty "glop", which was also being used to finish another dish on the menu.

The menu hasn't changed from our summer visit. It's really too bad the food offerings don't have the quality, creativity and variety to stand up to the wine list.

We had an earlier issue here around Thanksgiving and without getting into too much detail felt the owner was a bit "chintzy" with us making up for their Big mistake, which caused us to cancel our Thanksgiving meal (only getting informed 2 days prior ). It's evident that their was not much empathy for the spot it put our family in as anyone knows that's hosted, the Turkey, itself won't thaw in two days! Ownership blamed RESY instead of taking responsibility...not even a "sorry" this happened, just a pivot to divert the underlying internal issues, which are management not being more proactive with an advanced "look out" of their Reservation calendar. A nice bottle of wine would have been...

Grew up in Abingdon but left too many years to count. To say that this town has changed would be an understatement. The level of restaurants that call it home is truly respectable. On this visit we tried to get into The Tavern but alias, we could not. After having great drinks there at the bar we walked across the street to try out The Summer and the Cellar and although Tavern would always be my first choice, this establishment runs a very close second. Let’s break it down:

Atmosphere 4 Stars: we found the name was very fitting to the vibe in a very good way. It’s a small intimate experience that exceeds expectations. The amount of work that must have been done to make this a viable and outstanding place to dine shows itself throughout.

Service 5 Stars: our waiter waisted no time to make us feel at home. He was very attentive to my wife’s wine needs and allowed her to taste several before committing. He was involved without being suffocating. His knowledge of the menu was spot on.

Food 4 Stars: they excelled. We started with the bread which I would strongly recommend. My only “ask” is that they provide olive oil. We had the wedge which was very fresh. Main course was the NY Strip. Cooked to perfection and very flavorful. We did not have desert. Selection seemed uninspiring and limited but after that meal, we were cool with that.

Value 5 Stars: all this for $110 plus tip. In nashville it would have easily would have stung the wallet for over $150 or more.

Overall we were very satisfied wirh the entire experience. Plus there is the bonus of the roof top which we indulged for drinks before dinner. I have definitely aged and matured in the years since living here and it’s great to see that this wonderful town has done so with...

What started out as an awesome evening/meal, ended with cold food and disappointment. When we arrived, we were told that due to possible weather, there was no outside service, but we could order from the bar and seat ourselves outside if we liked; ok great no problem. Except less than 5 minutes later, as I'm ordering from the bar and my wife is sitting outside, customers were brought outside for service. We were then told the "radar cleared" and we could have a server if we wanted. A waitress later came by to let us know that she was taking over the ticket and would handle everything from now on. Ok cool. Appetizers come and they are amazing, legit amazing. Brussel sprouts with the bacon and aoili and the fresh hot bread with house butter was all GREAT! However, it soon started to rain and that seemed to just bring everything down with it. As it began to rain harder, someone, who i assume was the owner, came out to ask each table if they wanted to move inside... every single table except our table (that had all arrived after we had sat ourselves) , in the far corner. We decided to move ourselves to the bar and it felt like we instantly became second class diners. Once seated at the bar, the bartender (who initially took our order!) never acknowledged us. We proceeded to wait another 20 minutes for our food, while other tables that arrived after us began to receive their meals. When our food arrived, both entrees were lukewarm & bland. My burger was overcooked and dry, tasting like a frozen patty. My wife's grits were clumpy & bland. It felt like our entrees were a completely different experience than the apps! My wife had intended on ordering a second cocktail, even requested the menu again, and waited so long with an empty glass that she...