Old Bull Tavern — Restaurant in Beaufort

Ashley made this visit absolutely wonderful. While the restaurant looked fully booked, it's much bigger than first appearances, and they were able to accommodate my party of 3 immediately. They have a separate dining space from the bar that allows for ambiance but is well-designed with enough sound coming through the brick walls to provide a backdrop for any pauses in conversation. Menu has a number of well crafted choices with thought-out balance between each dish, and while the diversity of the dishes can seem overwhelming, our server was knowledgeable and patient. Ashley really was the star of the evening. She walked us through the dishes, so course after course was more astounding than the last. We were a group of non-drinkers, but the one cocktail ordered for our table was their current classic cocktail, the Corpse Reviver.

App: pork belly sliders. When only two were served we were astounded at the price point, $10 for two little mini buns? But the buns were perfectly soft to pair with the crispiest on the outside, silkiest on the inside pork belly I've ever had. It was like a real life experience of the "$5 milkshake" scene in pulp fiction. All you can think is, DAMN. That's a $5 slider! And you're not even mad at it. Starter: aslatain (sp?) Pizza. Thick cut bacon, sweet onion, gruyere, creme fraishe. You wouldn't think gruyere would pair so well on an otherwise mellow pizza, but wow! Hit all the right notes with a mellow finish. Dinners: ricotta gnocchi & shrimp, black slab tenderloin with gorgonzola butter, and cottage pie. Meals so good none of us wanted to share. Personally, my cottage pie was classic, with the gravy on the meat and veggies just right. I normally don't hesitate to reach for the salt and pepper containers, but honestly the staff was right to not even need them on the table. Very rare I have a meal that perfectly seasoned. Dessert: salted caramel butterscotch pudding & hazelnut chocolate tiramisu. The tiramisu was fresh, not soggy, and Ashley wasn't joking when she said that butterscotch pudding was the chef's great grandma's recipe. It tastes like love perfected over decades. The sort of thing people take to their grave.

I'm a fish out of water and Ashley made sure I never had to ask for drink refills. Timing was perfect for a relaxed, conversational, no-place-to-be sort of dinner, and Ashley made sure we were never rushed despite the clear crowds of people filtering around us.

Cannot recommend this place enough and cannot praise Ashley higher. We were travelling from out of town for a marine graduation and now we're looking for reasons to return just to dine here again. Thank you guys for the great evening! It was everything we...

It's disappointing that a place this cute is so poorly managed. Situated in Beaufort County, this restaurant has put-together, yet eclectic decor and a lively atmosphere for such a sleepy town. Upon arrival we noticed there was no hostess booth, which prompts us to ask a waiter if we seat ourselves. He has no idea and gets what appears to be a manager. She herself looks confused, but eventually gets us seated. Although they boast online of having "late night" food they informed us (10pm) that the only thing they served late were pizzas and desserts. This disappointed us, but since there wasn't a lot else open we decided to stay. The cocktails we got were great, but it was a lot harder to get them down after being informed that they ran out of pizza dough. Wow, okay. So you run a "late night" establishment and run out of your late night food? The waitress then informs us that she'll talk to her coworkers and find out some places that are still open in town. This would've been nice had she actually returned with the suggestions. But here's the cherry on the cream: my boyfriend attempted to order tiramisu, and he's told okay. After all, according to them pizzas and desserts were the only late night specials! And since pizza was out that left us one choice. So you can imagine our dismay when we were then told that tiramisu was no longer an option. The manager walked up and said "sorry, we can't get your tiramisu- kitchen's closed. We asked them and they said no." Uhh.... 1. You literally informed us that the only things we could get were pizza and dessert. 2. No one can go in the back and slice a piece? This isn't a prepped dish- it's a slice of cake. A slice. After all, you TOLD us this was an option. 3. The way they worded it made it sound like kitchen staff was still there. But even if they weren't I don't know how hard it would be take a knife and slice a cake. You know, that cake slice that you told us we could order? You'd think they'd especially want to help us after putting us out over the pizza thing, but I digress.

Moral of the story is that if your management is so unorganized that they run out of their ONLY hot food and refuse to slice the only thing left there is a severe problem with the way they operate. It's a real shame that the owners are letting their cute restaurant be run into the ground like it's Amateur Hour. This is disappointing because it looked like a place we'd normally love, but not getting even the simplest of things right is a BAD sign of what's going on in their...

We had a reservation at 6:45 pm in the Bar Dining. I had a friend visiting from out of town. This was her first visit to Beaufort. We were seated a little late which was no problem for us. Our waiter was Hector. We ordered drinks to start. After receiving our drinks we looked ant the menu and ordered a salad to share with 2 entrees. Ordered a second drink while waiting for our entrees. Our entrees were delivered after a longer than usual wait, we did not mind as we were enjoying our evening. The plates looked great. We started to eat our dinners and our waiter Hector, came up to the table to say our table was reserved at 8:30 pm and we would need to finish and pay our check so they could reset the table. It was about 8:15. We were not even half way through our plates. He said the restaurant has a policy of 1 hr and 45 min table limit (he said it was noted on our reservation and their website, it is not anywhere written that we could find) and if we wanted dessert we would need to move to a different table. At no time did he even ask how our dinner was. We told him we were going to eat our dinners and he left. A few minutes later, we were still eating and he brought the manager, Josh, with him and he told us we didn’t understand about running a restaurant and we needed to finish and pay so the next party could be seated. He was completely unprofessional and out of line. They both were. Josh left the table saying please leave now loud enough for surrounding tables to hear. It was humiliating. Hector brought a coffee to my friend, got our checks and paid. Did not tip the waiter and when we stopped at the hostess stand on the way out to ask the owners name, Josh came up behind the person we were speaking with, leaned in and said “Go” and used a hand gesture. These two staff members do not in anyway understand what it is to carry themselves with professionalism and respect of others. We will never return here nor would we encourage anyone to dine here. It’s a shame as we are local and like supporting small businesses. There are many, many other fantastic options for dining in Beaufort, definitely select somewhere other than Old...