Brinkley's Chop House — Restaurant in Aiken County

So, after reading all the reviews, I guessing maybe we just caught them on a bad night. Because our experience was less than stellar and subpar to say the least. My fiancé and I are big fans of Steak 48 in Charlotte, so when we heard someone compare Brinkley's to them, we were excited to check them out. We made our reservation to celebrate our anniversary. When we arrived, everything was fine. I loved to ambiance and atmosphere. They then sat us at a tiny table in the back of the restaurant. I didn't mind the location, but I knew were planning on ordering one of their signature boards and felt the table was too small for that. I informed the hostess of this and she ensured me that it was fine, even though I knew better. Well then our waitress Kiara comes over. She doesn't even introduce herself or give us any of the introductory jargon that we hear the other servers giving. I start asking her questions about food and drink items and she is giving me the most uninterested, short responses. I just ordered a random drink and the calamari and hoped for the best. After about 30 minutes our appetizer and drinks come out. The calamari was so salty that we had to send it back and my drink was prepared incorrectly. We are still keeping hope alive because we are not pleased at this point, but we go ahead and order the main course. I tell her we want a board, she then just walks away with no warning or explanation. So my fiancé and I are both puzzled. She then comes back and tells us that we have to switch tables because the board won't fit on the one were are seated at! I'm now bothered because I asked this BEFORE we even sat down! So she tells us that the party behind us is getting ready to leave and that we'll be moved to that table. What she did not tell us is that our order would not be put in until the move happened! So after about 15 minutes, we move. After about 35 minutes of not seeing her or our food, I began to get beyond annoyed. Our food finally comes out after about 45 minutes and it's wrong and missing things. She finally comes back over to check on us, because someone else brought the food out to us, and after I explain what's missing, she tries to correct me as if I don't know what I ordered! At this point, I'm just ready to go. She asks if we want to go boxes, and I politely mention how the servers were boxing up the leftovers for the tables around us. She then send someone else over to the table to take our food in the back and package it up for us! I explained to BOTH servers that my fiancé has an allergy to basil and that the sauces needed to be packaged separately for this reason. I was too annoyed and didn't check the boxes before leaving, only to get home a discover that our food was covered in the one sauce that we specifically told them needed to be separated! The biggest waste of $330 we've ever experienced! We really had high expectations for this place, but needless to say, we will happily take the 2 hour drive to Charlotte and get food and service that matches that experience we are paying the hefty...

UPDATE: We received a phone call from Mr. DeFelice, the executive chef, who extended his apologies and went ABOVE AND BEYOND to make it right. This type of service is exceptionally refreshing and absolutely restored my desire to be a patron again. He exemplified the old fashioned way of doing business, and I am very appreciative of the effort he made to reach out to us. Thank you! We've been several times when it has been a good experience, but last night flopped. We have sampled many things from the menu over our visits, from the Tomahawk to the NZ lamb, the filet, and the salmon. All have been delicious. However, when I asked about my absolute favorite dish that has gone away, the poulet rouge that had been on the menu in the past, the waitress gave me an odd look like I was crazy for asking as she had no idea what that was, and then she proceeded to point to the menu and say "that's our new chicken setup". I liked the former dish for its pesto, unique rustic gnocchi, with the greens and beans. She shrugged at me when I explained the dish I was asking about. When my husband asked if they could possibly make something similar to the dish, the waitress seemed put-off by the question and replied "no, we can't do that" without even asking kitchen staff. Now, I understand it is not a special order restaurant, but it was just a politely asked question and not outlandish. Plenty of restaurants are capable of whipping up an old dish off the menu. Anyway, all in all, last night was a lack luster experience from waiting for a while to have a waiter come to the table in the first place, to her nonchalant service, and then the scallop dish was "meh". I'm a little bummed. Augusta really needs more restaurants with good food, minus the hype. Just disappointed when an average $300 experience is just that ...average. OH!! Edited to add: I ordered an extra side -- Brussels sprouts-- and they NEVER arrived!! Now that I think of it, waitress was pretty bad. Not sure we...

Overall, a very pleasant experience. Having been to a lot of high end steakhouses, I think Brinkley’s has a few areas where it stands out against others (like Hall’s, Ruth Chris, etc.) and ultimately I would say it is the best upscale restaurant in the CSRA currently.

Started with the mussels which were excellent, some of the best I’ve had.

They make a very nice smoked old fashioned, I ended up ordering two because I thought the first was so well done.

I ordered the 16oz delmonico duck fat ribeye. It was a nice cut of meat, seared well and cooked right. Honestly, it didn’t need the side sauce. Very tasty and a normal price range for a quality steak, but I would say I’ve had better cuts elsewhere.

My wife had a special, 14oz Ribeye, dry aged for 45 days. I had a few bites and enjoyed it, but again I have had better steaks elsewhere.

The sides: brusselsprouts with pork belly were amazing, even those who don’t like brusselsprouts may find themselves enjoying this. The Mac and cheese is top tier. It’s rich and delicious, nice golden crust and keeps it flavorful throughout.

Rounded out the meal with the chocolate torte. Very good the peanut butter fluff was an interesting addition but not overly peanut buttery so it paired well.

Service: Overall good - we were seated near a kitchen exit but not once did I feel like it was busy or too close for comfort. My only complaint is I did not like being handed a tablet to pay that only showed me the total. I’d rather see an itemized list from the start as I found a discrepancy later ($10 dessert we didn’t order was on the emailed receipt).

Atmosphere: For an upscale restaurant it has a bit of a sports bar feel with the multiple tvs. Granted it’s attached to SRP Park so it makes sense, just worth noting.

There was no dress code but several men were in blazers with jeans, so very smart/modern...