Jay's Seafood — Restaurant in Dayton

Would I go back?

TL:DR We arrived at 8:30pm. Received main entrees at 9:45pm. (Yes 1 hour and 15 minutes later). Departed 11:00pm. Restaurant overbooked reservations. They tried to compensate by seating people in a lackluster side room. Waiter Kori was great, and was the most enjoyable part of the dining experience.

I visited Jay's Seafood in the intent of having a nice double date with some friends. We had a reservation set for 8:30pm and arrived promptly. We walked in to see a beautiful romantic dining area. There was a nice warm dim light, lots of wood accents, and every table was set up elegantly with a candle in the middle. Upon checking in, they stated there would be a small 5 minute wait as they finished setting up their other dining room. "Not a problem!" we said. Being that it was our first time visiting here, we just assumed it would be a dining section that was similar in beauty to the dining section we were in currently.

We were very wrong.

They finished setting up this other "dining room" and ushered those waiting at the now cramped entrance to go over there. By over there I mean we walked out of the entrance, around the building, and into a back door. On our way around the building, another couple that had been taken to this area before us was on their way back. They seemed displeased and asked the hostess not to be sat in there, and to wait for an area in the main dining room. This kind of put us a bit weary as to where we were headed. The other couple passed us, and we continued on with the hostess. She takes us into this back door and into a closed off room that had maybe 5 tables. She took us to a fold out table and sat the 4 of us there with menus. It was not the experience we came there for, and far from what you would expect from a restaurant where each patron is anticipating paying $40+. The entire experience to this point just felt awkward. It almost felt like we were in a closet compared to the size and luxury of the main dining section. What we came to find out was that this was the area the rent out for private parties. If you are planning on having a private dining party, I would suggest a different venue for your room rental.

After having sat down and discussed the situation we were in, we decided to ask the waitress to do the same as the couple before us and get seated at a table in the main dining room. After asking this, the hostess brought in another couple who saw the dining area and asked not to be seated in there as well. In total, 4 parties all asking the same thing should give note as to how much of a BAD idea it was for them to open this seating section for patrons. What I can only assume is they overbooked their reservations, and as such, they tried to compensate by quickly setting up a section to seat another 30 more people.

Once we FINALLY got seated in the main dining room we had been at the restaurant for 40 minutes. That is, if you count the walk around the building to get to the other "dining room" and back as being "in the restaurant." I digress. The couple that was seated directly before us had been seated, ate, and were getting ready to leave before we even got food ordered.

The food was nothing that really blew me away. It wasn't bad, but I didn't feel like it was something that compelled me to have to come back. Nor did it compensate for the distaste of the service we had received by this point.

Our waiter however, Kori, was wonderful and absolutely made the night much more pleasant. He was funny, quirky, and charming. The best part about the dining experience by far was the service we received from him.

Final thoughts. Honestly, I am quite surprised that nobody offered us any kind of compensation for the time we had spent waiting there or giving us such a terrible environment in comparison to the normal experience you should receive. Had we been there as a walk-in, I wouldn't be as annoyed with the service as I am. To have come in with a reservation though, I can't see how they would have thought it...

Was at Jays restaurant 12/21/24. Been many times through the years. Last year we decided to start a tradition for our anniversary and chose to go full blown no holding back because of the bill. Had the best time 12/21/23, awesome waitress(asked us if we were celebrating, took our picture and suggested a perfect wine after asking what we liked , food perfect and bottle of wine, . It was outstanding. Got on Jay’s seafood website one week prior and it linked me to google reservations, I thought great, got a confirmation and was satisfied. A day before our res. I called to ask if we could sit in the upper level(it is better if you go) , the person that answered said there is no record of our res. I was told owner would call me, I did call back and was told paperwork problem and they have my res I asked since I did this a week ago can we sit at the upper level I was told by owner that only if I was there at 5 and not late. I promised we would and that all worked out nicely. We were greeted with a distracted server and had asked for her suggestion for a wine and she wasn’t sure and quite frankly had no idea how to ask us or converse with an interested customer for our preference. After a few minutes we just picked Kendall-Jackson, she came back with the wine and asked about appetizers. We said yes shrimp cocktail $38 and oysters Rockefeller $17.5 Had a nice time deciding what the main course would be(we never order appetizers or bottle) server came back with the shrimp, looked lost and said well you can eat this first(where’s the Rockefeller? I’m thinking she forgot) so I ate my shrimp and we waited and waited and finally I contacted server and said where’s the oysters? Again looked lost and took off, but asked us about ordering main course before she left , I said NO. Came back, my wife was not one to complain, but the oysters were hardly warm. I said I’ll say something, “No it’s ok 👍 let it go” Server came back ready to order ? I ordered the Scallops in butter $45, baked potato and salad wife ordered scallops with ginger soy sauce green beans salad. Server brought salads, wife’s had wrong dressing still ok with it(ugh) and mine was perfect. Main entree came, What a disappointment, mine was hardly warm and same with wife’s. Our server was lost with all this process. After this we ordered dessert, still hoping for a home run meal, it was mediocre (crème brûlée and vanilla ice cream Nutt ball. You might ask why did you let this go? And complain on here? After salad dressing, ya think “well the next course will be ok”We kept thinking it will get better with previous experiences but it just never did. I am only writing this to say it all has everything to do with the waitress, our meal was hot, and perfect 2023 and when we got our bill 2024 $197-change she walked away said happy holidays, with no feeling. Now just saying also, it wasn’t us, we walked in, sat down and was so happy to be there again and celebrating our marriage. But this waitress was terrible, food barely warm had to ask about different things and we were addressed like we were a pain in the ass. If it had been just me , trust me I would have asked for the owner, place was crowded maybe someone called off. For this much money, we should have the same service every time we go and there should be no exceptions. I’m sure there are a lot of people to disagree with this and blame us for the experience but how many times should someone complain to a waitress especially after hearing other tables complaining also(we did) all I can say is stand up for yourself cause we didn’t and I guess for this bill I really didn’t think I should of had to and it was just a terrible dinner date. Will we go back, probably not. Oh and you should ask for parking refund, we always get asked if we paid parking and they take that off the bill but server said well I’ll have to go back and refigure and forgot to ask....

This is a place that charges you for the privilege of dining with them. When you charge as much as they do, I expect the quality of the food and service to be near impeccable. Sadly, neither was the case here.

We had reservations for seven PM. It did not take them more than 20 minutes to seat us, which I thought was acceptable because they were very busy. Reservations are not an exact time, it is more about trying to seat around that time, which is okay.

After we were seated (table of four) it took the server about ten minutes before he attended the table. Again, the place was packed, but this was a little too long of a wait. Not the worst thing, but not acceptable either. The server then brought drinks and it took about another 15 minutes before he took our appetizer order. In the meantime the server bought over some bread. Recommend you skip the bread, it will break your teeth it's so hard. We ordered the mussels in garlic wine sauce ($14.00) and raw oysters ($16.50). These were done to perfection. The mussels were some of the very best I ever had and the oysters were just as awesome. Really good size and the cocktail sauce with horseradish was perfect.

We then placed our entree orders. My date and I order the lobster platter ($54.00). I also added the horseradish potatoes as my side. It came with a house salad with a lemon vinaigrette dressing. For my taste, the vinaigrette had a tad too much much vinegar in it and took away from the taste. My date had asked for Italian dressing, which they got completely wrong and she had to have another salad brought to her. They did and quickly, but they made an error.

The platter came and was made up of a 5oz lobster tail, a piece of cod, four fried shrimps, and two scallops. The lobster was rubbery. It was clearly over cooked. I actually had to use a knife (which was requested because we never got one at the beginning of service) to cut the lobster. I have eaten lobster many times and can tell you; lobster done right does not require cutlery to eat it. The scallops were under cooked and barely had any kind of sear on them (Gordon Ramsey would be kicking a bin and calling someone a donkey!) These had to be re-fired and they brought us new ones, which was done right the second time. The cod was okay, just a little on the watery side, but not bad. The fried shrimp were just okay too. Nothing special at all and really not noteworthy.

I want to talk about the potatoes. These could have been really good if they had done them right. The horseradish gives them a really good flavor. The problem is they are using a Idaho potato or a russet. This causes the potato to become very dry and loading it with butter doesn't fix the problem. They should be using golden potatoes as this would make the mash a bit more creamy and they should be adding a bit more salt and possibly some sour cream. That would make them better in my opinion.

Overall: The food is not bad and it is not great. For the money they charge, it should be great. The service should be impeccable, but again it was not. We left an 18% tip, but it was too much I think in hindsight. The food quality is about on par with an Outback Steakhouse or maybe one of those Japanese Hibachi places. You can spend your money here if you want, but if you are going here expecting some fine dining, I suggest you...