Whitaker's — Restaurant in Conway

My wife and I recently ate twice at Whitaker's, and our experience was very different from the first to the second time. It is clear this restaurant has potential, but the second time was a frustrating one. Furthermore, I called and spoke to a manager a couple days later and he was not helpful. I'll explain, though it will take a bit to do so. The first night we were there we had a truly excellent meal. The hamachi was perfection, the cocktails beautiful and creative, the food and service in general was wonderful. We were very happy to have found this place in Conway and were excited to go back, as we knew we had occasion to be downtown a few more times in upcoming days. The second night was not at all like the first. The service at the bar was not as attentive, with me having to clarify more than once if the bartender (who did not introduce himself) heard me. I did, however, ensure that he heard me say "we will be ordering two California rolls to go for our kids who are at a performance nearby. In the meantime my wife and I will eat and have some cocktails." It's at this point that I need to clarify the California rolls are on the happy hour menu. It did not occur to me that the restaurant may charge full price since that food was "to go". We were not informed that they would charge full price. I want to be clear: I don't object to a restaurant having a policy that happy hour prices are not for to-go menus. That makes sense. However we did not think about this, were not informed of this, and it's not on the menu. When my kids' to-go food came, we thought the rolls wouldn't be enough food for them (the rolls are smallish at about 6 inches long), and so ordered two more rolls to go. At no point during this time were we informed that the rolls would be full price for being to go. We only noticed this when we got the bill, which included four $11 sushi rolls (which, for the record, were nowhere near as impressive as our meal from two nights prior, itself which contained happy hour prices that we ate entirely in-restaurant). We went ahead and paid the bill, not wishing to make a scene at the small bar area. (Not that I wanted to argue, but I didn't feel comfortable engaging here.) I resolved to call and speak to a manager, which I did two days later (waiting until after Thanksgiving). When I spoke to the manager, who did not introduce himself by name (I had to ask), I conveyed the above story in basically the same terms, being sure to praise them for what they did right, and admitting that the bartender may have been very busy. The manager, however, said that they get a lot of repeat customers who know that the happy hour menu isn't for to-go, and so it's not always the case that their employees inform their customers about this fact. I admitted that the policy is fair (though I noted we did in fact eat and drink there, just for a different portion of the meal). I still admit it's a fair policy. I said, however, that this feels like he's shifting total responsibility on to me, the customer, for the unfortunate events. He said they would print new menus with this information on them. I asked "is that everything, then?" And he said "yes." I told him to have a nice evening. In my view, this manager chose to rigidly stick to a policy rather than serve his customer who had a legitimate complaint. I understand some customers are belligerent (I was a server for about three years). I was definitely no belligerent. A wise manager, in my view, would have offered some minor form of compensation, say a free appetizer, or something. Had this manager done so, we would have eaten there that very evening with more people, and dropped quite a bit more money on a full meal. We wanted to love this place and support it. Now we...

I never would have guessed but this restaurant definitely has an Asian bent to it's menu. Everything we ordered was delicious. We got the pressed spicy tuna sushi. It was beautiful to look at and to eat. There was a micro thin slice of fresh lemon on it, which absolutely popped the whole bite and made it fantastic. The only criticism would be that by my taste it had a little too much rice. But that's a personal preference. And I don't have to eat all of the rice, right? Next, we ordered the coconut shrimp. It was served with a sweet - hot chili sauce. It was pretty standard fare and I found it to be slightly overcooked as it was more brown than golden and the shrimp was a little bit rubbery. The grouper bites were, what can I say, grouper forward (in the best possible way). They were coated in a light tempura batter that stayed crispy. It was accompanied by a traditional bang bang sauce. It was delicious. I ordered the spicy tuna crispy wontons, which were fantastic. The chopped tuna was mixed with some form of seasoning, which I couldn't quite place. It was so complimentary. Also, there were little tiny slices of avocado embedded into the tuna and again the thinly sliced lime this time, sent the dish right over the top. I don't know how they did it but the wontons stayed crispy throughout the entire meal. That was far and away, my favorite dish of the meal.

The server, Benji I think, was welcoming and timely. We tried the Grouper Bites on his suggestion. He was available but did not hover. Not one criticism. All raves.

The atmosphere is fresh, contemporary, comfortable, and welcoming.

I will DEFINITELY be returning to Whitaker's to try some the selections that I didn't...

Looking back we shouldn't have tipped the lying waiter. Our party of 6 got there after 3:40 p.m. on Monday and noticed the happy hour sign outside the door with half off sushi on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. It was a bonus or so I thought. Well, don't believe it because they will weasel their way out of it. It's not a big deal but we asked the waiter if we ordered the sushi after 4 would it be considered happy hour? He reluctantly said yes ( just be truthful from the beginning please). We already planned on getting a couple of appetizers and drinks anyway and just waited to put in our order after our appetizers and drinks. He messed up our appetizer. He put in Brussels instead of the grouper bits. But it ended up semi-working out with a cold dish of Brussels that we paid for. The bill came out and lied and said "he was caught putting in the happy hour order because we sat down before 4. I haven't been to a restaurant that denied happy hour and then lied to about it. The staff will usually suggest it. It wasn't a big deal that we saved a little bit of money it's about the experience. But the lying employee could have just been truthful and we would have ordered and been out of there faster. Food was good but there are too many great places to eat and not lied to. A restaurant needs great staff as well as great food. Hopefully, you don't get a liar for a server. I'll stick with King Kong sushi I've been going there for years and will...