The Decantery — Restaurant in Fernandina Beach

Beautiful place, great dessert and drink. The service was possibly the worst I've ever experienced. I hope that it will improve soon as the place was great otherwise.

We visited the Decantery the evening of Thursday December 20th.

The young woman serving us was kind initially, then my husband and I told her that we'd like to share a cocktail and dessert (we had just finished dinner and really only wanted to split a dessert, but felt bad because the place was quite empty at the time so we ordered a drink as well) her demeanor changed immediately. Our order arrived from the man that had been working the bar and the young woman did not come back to us again. She stayed at the bar talking to a couple that appeared to friends of hers. After a half an hour or more we began to stack our dishes and napkins to indicate that we were ready for our check (we were sitting directly in front of the bar so we could very clearly see her and vice versa). We then sat there for about 10 minutes before standing up and walking to her at the bar. She made eye contact with me and smirked then went over to talk to another couple that the male bartender had been taking care of, she chatted with them for a minute before even printing our check. No apologies were given and she did not appear concerned or to really care at all that we had both moved to her at the counter after she had abbandoned us as her guests about an hour prior. This is uacceptable service for a town with so many lovely places and...

We were so excited about visiting here for the first time ever and have been wanting to come for months. As out of town guests, we were unfamiliar with the Decantery, but very impressed with the atmosphere, decor, and ambience the second we walked in. Unfortunately it took about ten minutes for anyone to acknowledge us from the time we sat down at the bar. Yes, they were busy. Yes, it was a Friday night, but it takes little to no effort to acknowledge 2 people. We looked through the menu, and while we had some questions, we wanted to pick something easy because it seemed like the two bartenders were “too busy.” When we were finally helped, we said we’d like to split a bottle of red wine, but I didn’t see a wine list to decide on which one. He replied, irritated to say the least, while simultaneously pointing: “that’s sort of the point of this entire wine wall. Kinda hard to put all this on one list.” Wow. From where we were seated, we didn’t even know the “epic wine wall” was there. Needless to say, we scratched the idea of a bottle of wine, especially after he further explained that “his” favorite was $70 bucks and that may be more than we want to spend. Got one...

I find it very odd that whenever my wife and I get drinks here, we get ignored. Makes me feel like the staff doesn't want to serve us, or the service is just really terrible. I have NEVER complained about feeling like I was treated a certain way for being married to a woman, but something is off about this place. My wife and I are from the area, and we've watched this place become a huge tourist spot. The atmosphere isn't like what it used to be, and it's starting to feel trashy.

We want to support our local businesses, but unfortunately, after another bad experience tonight waiting 30mins at the bar to order drinks that were subpar (short pours and badly mixed), and then not receiving a dessert we ordered, we won't be returning or continuing to support this business, and we would like to encourage other people to explore better venues.

We sincerely hope the ownership gets it sorted out and treats their other...