Oliver's Rooftop — Restaurant in Erie

Edit to add, although Oliver's responded to this review, 7 days after I emailed them as requested I have not heard anything back from them via email or phone, so while it initially looked like they would make an effort to take positive action, I feel like their response was an attempt to make it seem that way without actually doing anything. This further enforces my feeling that there are systemic problems with the management of this facility and I will not return. This is unfortunate as it is a beautiful restaurant with good food. Based on this I've lowered my review from 3 to 2 stars.

I've been here twice and the first time the experience was what you would expect, and because of that I'm leaving 3 stars instead of two. The remainder of this review is based on our second experience, for which my wife and I had an 8PM reservation on a Tuesday evening for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. The food was very good and the bar staff and our waitress were all very nice, but that is about all I can say that was positive. We arrived about 15 minutes early for our reservation and our table wasn't ready, which is expected, so we sat at the bar and ordered a round of drinks to start off. I went to check on our table at 8:15 and it still wasn't ready. We were finally able to get a table a little before 8:25 (if we had arrived then they would not have honored our reservation according to Open Table). Our table was small, but big enough, however my wife was sitting almost into a main walkway and behind me was a POS station, and I bumped into a server a couple times as they were entering orders, so not very cozy. We were still making the best of it, it was our anniversary and we really wanted to have a good time. When our salads came out we hadn't been given any silverware, so I asked the person that brought the salads for some and she gave us each a knife and fork, but no napkin. Looking around everyone else had cloth napkins and all we had were wet cocktail napkins from our drinks. We were almost finished with the salads when the waitress came back and we eventually got our napkins after that. Seems like a miss, but the worst came as we were about halfway done with dinner when the bottom of my wife's water glass literally broke away from the rest of the glass, spilling her ice water all over the table and her. I got some more cocktail napkins from the bar and a bartender came over to help dry everything off, and we went back to the bar to finish our dinner, although by now we were really not enjoying ourselves any longer. We had already ordered desserts to take home, finished eating and received the bill. The desserts were no charge, but the remainder of the bill was in full, and this is what I feel is the most egregious of the events of the evening, or lack of, was that given what had happened with the water, I would have thought that we would have had a manager check on us and make sure everything was OK. In fact, I never saw a manager or chef making any rounds through the restaurant at all, which is something I expect in a higher end restaurant. I also feel like the desserts should likely have been complimentary for our 25th anniversary anyway, though I wouldn't have worried about that had everything gone well. When a steak dinner costs $50-$70 (salad extra) you expect a certain level of service that I feel was lacking on this evening. And they were a LOT less busy by the time the water glass incident, so no excuses there. We definitely have a 25th anniversary memory from the evening, but I likely wouldn't return here given the management culture and cost. There is no excuse for not making sure your customers are satisfied, and leaving soaking wet with a couple desserts to show for it is...

My wife and I went here on their 3rd day being open, Thursday 12/3/2020 and had a really excellent meal and the drinks were very good! Brandy L., our mixologist/server was a pleasure. I had the walk the plank, exactly like a long Island, but different!😉 it had , like, 4 different alcohol shots, including tequila, which was up front and I liked it there and it was blue. My wife had the war of 1812 which she also liked. I tasted it and a bit sweet for me, but I'm more of a sours guy. We were there toward the end of happy hour, 4-6, so the drinks were made even better by being half off! I'm not a cheap guy(🤥), but who doesn't like half off!!

To start we had Don't give up the shrimp. A light tempura batter with really a delicious, slightly spicy sauce on the side. I could have used more of the sauce... went thru that pretty quick! Would definitely order that again.

We shared a bowl of lobster and shrimp bisque. Rich and savory and perfectly seasoned. I would have liked some good bread, like a French bread or Baggett.

For the main I had the Bayfront Chicken Piccata. My wife tried to talk me into something that we don't typically make at home, now I'm not a cheap guy(🤥), I just like chicken, and it was truly excellent! Worth more than $17, but this is Erie, keep it right there! My wife tried it and she agreed, it was very good, I saved her some for her lunch the next day... that never happens, her wanting left over chicken. Again, highly recommend this dish.

She had the Walleye and there was none of that left on her plate. It came with a plain rice, which I thought was a good pairing with the rich sauce so you could take some rice with the sauce so the flavor of the sauce adds to the rice instead of the rice overpowering the sauce! Again the dish was worth the $27 dollars and we both recommend it!

The most expensive dish is the 22oz cowboy steak at $49. The Scott's are a smart group and they have been at this a long time and have been in Erie forever and have invested a lot of their own money into the community. Keeping that price with a 4 in front of it was very, very smart! Now I'm not saying Erie is cheap(🤥), I've lived here my whole life, except for 15 years in the military, but the Psychological affect of the price being $50 as opposed to $49, in Erie, huge! And the Scott's were smart to see that.

We will definitely be back, many times, to try all the items and have already recommended this as a must in anyone's dining rotation! Try to support local! I hope they can maintain this quality as time goes on and with good leadership and good customer focused employees like Brandy L, I'm sure they will! Good...

This is the 2nd time I’ve visited Oliver’s Rooftop. Its biggest appeal is the scenery of a beautiful sunset over the bay. The drinks have always been great. I’m a fan of Moscow Mules and my Triple Berry Mule was amazing. They have their own version of firecracker shrimp they call “Don’t Give Up the Shrimp,” which was one of the best things I ate all night. Great amount of spice, nice plating, well executed. The lobster deviled eggs were surprisingly generous with a heap of lobster over each egg. However, finding a few small pieces of lobster shell in the made the last mound of meat hard to consume.

Having visited a 2nd time I was most interested in seeing if the entrees had improved. My first visit the plating was pitifully remiss. This second visit was still mediocre with plating as well as flavor. First entree was the “Lacquered Salmon.” The salmon was fine. Just fine. The glaze was decent, but beyond the exterior nothing short of something I could make at home. Both visits the “seasoned” broccoli they serve as a side is over-boiled as though they expect to feed it to a toothless, picky, 3-year-old. And “seasoned” must mean with a dash of salt, making the broccoli simply plain and uninspiring. Instead, a side of crisp broccolini with an interesting sauce or glaze would have elevated the dish. The side of rice was also over cooked and clearly “seasoned” with some simple butter and salt. I would have recommended a risotto for some elegance and technique. Not worth a $30 plate.

My Lobster Pasta was also mediocre. The brandy cream Parmesan sauce was flavorful, but reminded me slightly of Chef Boyardee. The lobster pieces were too large, almost resembling a sort of chicken nugget. The dish claimed to contain mushroom, which I saw a handful of dime-sized pieces that definitely tasted like canned mushrooms, not fresh. The asparagus thankfully had some crunch, unlike the over-boiled broccoli from our other entree. All-in-all, not worth repeating and I didn’t even care to finish the dish or take home leftovers. Also not worth $39.

The one thing Oliver’s cannot fail to do - thankfully - is dessert. Our tiramisu was decadent, creamy, full of the expected signature espresso flavor. Would 100% order again. Luckily for this visit, I had a $100 gift card that covered most of our meal. In the future, the only thing I would bother coming here for are some drinks and deserts, possibly an appetizer like the firecracker shrimp, while watching a gorgeous sunset over the Bay. Unless something drastically changes, I am completely uninterested in ordering another entree from this...