O C White's Seafood & Spirits — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

First off. Let me just say that I hope my experience with OC White's was a fluke and not truly representative of a normal experience.

My wife and I visited on Saturday, 1/12. We had first planned to visit the new Chatsworth Pub, but their food selection was limited, so we walked a bit further south to OC Whites. I had never been there before, so we went in and sat outside.

Our server, (let’s just call her Jane, shall we?), popped by and took our drink order and we ordered the chicken wings as an appetizer. The wings were great! For our entrees, my wife ordered the “Island Chicken”, and I got the “Ribeye” which was one of the off-menu specials. I asked for it to be cooked medium rare (is there any other way?) and since I’m on a keto diet, I decided to skip the mashed potatoes and got a small side salad instead. “Jane” said that there would be an upcharge for the salad. I scratched my head a bit and asked why would there be an upcharge if I’m skipping the mashed potatoes? I’m ordering less food, but I’m being charged more? That didn’t make any sense. She mumbled something in reply, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue, so… whatever.

My side salad came first and let me tell you something, for an upcharge for a total of $5.99 (let’s just call it 6 bucks, okay?) it was pretty lacking. Some lettuce, a bit of onion and some dressing. Not bad as far as a simple side salad is concerned, but for 6 bucks I expected something a bit better.

The entrees came and although my wife’s chicken dish looked great, the chicken was cooked to the consistency of shoe leather. It was beyond well done. Inedible in fact. So, she said something to “Jane” who agreed it was overcooked. “Jane” took her dish away and my wife decided to get a cup of the “Wedding Soup” as a replacement, but instead they brought her a full bowl.

My steak, however, was another story. It arrived on a bare plate (minus the potatoes of course), but my problem was that it was well done. Very well done. I had asked for medium rare, but that sorry looking thing looked like it had all the juices squeezed out of it by an angry gorilla. I ate it though because I was starving. “Jane” popped by and, of course, I said something…and like the chicken, she agreed it was well done.

At this point, I just wanted to get out of there, so we asked for the bill. It came and although my wife’s chicken dish was removed, they charged us for a bowl of the Wedding Soup instead of a cup which is what we had ordered. So, I asked Jane to make an adjustment to the bill by removing the wine from it thinking that would be a better fit considering my wife’s chicken was inedible and my steak wasn’t cooked that way I wanted it to be. “Jane” didn’t like that and suggested removing the soup instead but needed to clear it with her manager first. She came back and gave the ‘ole sob sorry about how the difference would be taken out of her pay. Really? Trying to make me feel guilty for making what I had hoped to be an enjoyable evening with my wife into a regrettable one? I guess it was then I realized I had stepped into The Twilight Zone. At that point, I just didn’t care and asked if the dishwashers were working the kitchen instead of the chef….and, she basically agreed with me! The chef was MIA, and his “assistants” were preparing our food. They should have stuck with cleaning the floors. “Jane” couldn’t have cared less and simply wanted us to leave IMO. Well, we did, and went straight to River and Fort where the food is simply fantastic.

My advice to the owners of OC Whites. Make sure you are staffed properly…especially on a Friday evening. Make sure the food you’re presenting your guests is cooked properly. Make sure your servers show a bit of concern for your customers.

My experiences may be unique of course compared to other customers, but I won’t...

Thanksgiving regret… We had reservations on Thanksgiving, this was the first year that I did not make a traditional meal at home, I wanted to do something different with my family and enjoy a nice dinner out along with the famous Night of lights atmosphere. When I walked up (first time there) I noticed a hostess, who had two lines on both side sides of her after standing in line for a few minutes I decided to walk over to her and ask if I was in the correct spot. The hostess, who was there that evening would not even make eye contact with me when I asked her if I was in the right spot, she rudely answered “yeah”. I proceeded to go stand back in line after another few minutes go by and the line not moving. I asked the gentleman in front of me if I was in the right spot for reservations, he told me no it’s on the other side after I get through that line and get to the front back to the hostess who still refuses to even look up and make eye contact. I give her my name and tell her I have reservations, she told me She has a table inside for me. I then tell her politely that we had reservations for the upstairs balcony, She rudely responds back” I know that ma’am, but your table is not ready if you would like to wait you can wait or take the table inside” I then said OK, I’ll take the table inside. (Meanwhile the stranger standing next to me, hears it and gives me a look ) As the nice older gentleman proceeds to seat us, she turned her head to the side and hollered out SNARKY “Happy Thanksgiving” . I was honestly shocked that she hollered that not only in front of my two kids but in front of the Entire first floor of the restaurant, including outside. The nice man continues to walk us Upstairs to a table that is set and ready for a family of four (funny after she had just told me our table was not ready ) After being seated, We waited a good 10+ minutes before we had anyone come to our table and ask us for drinks, by the time our waiter arrived he was great, He was polite, he was efficient and he was friendly! The Thanksgiving meal was not great at all, For the price that it cost as well as the small amount of food that was served, I honestly had buyers remorse after dinner and felt sick to my stomach with the amount of money that it cost and the disappointment that came with it . The food was not great at all, The only thing that tasted fresh was the mashed potatoes , The rest tasted premade, or had been sitting for a while. The green beans were so chewy you could not even chew them. The bread was a Hawaiian roll with no butter, not toasted or anything on the side of a plate. When I had originally called and asked about the menu, I was told a choice of ham or turkey with all the fixings and a side of pumpkin pie little did I know the size and proportions were so small as well as not kid friendly. I understand that it was Thanksgiving evening, and I’m sure Everyone was tired and really probably wanted to go home, However, treating your customers the way that we were retreated that night is unacceptable and I hope that it’s Addressed appropriately for your future customers.. I really hate to leave this negative review as I never ever have left a bad review, After days of thinking about this, I didn’t want it to go unnoticed and felt that it needed to be Acknowledged by a manager. I did not get the woman’s name but it was about 630 Thanksgiving evening hostess. Thank you kindly for reading this...

We really wanted to like this place. It was sad that the food just was not up to par. It was a bit of a walk from the San Marcos fort because we were already up that way and it would have taken way too long to wait for a trolley to go all the way back around the city. So we walked less than a half mile down and we're seated promptly. The patio is nice and it is covered with a pergola with a lot of Vines over it. So there is a good amount of shade. Though a few tables were in the Sun. Not all the tables had chairs. Some had bunches so for people who might suffer from ailments you might want them to change out the table seating for you. We did not sit inside so I really can't comment on that. Our server was pleasant but there were a few missed cues. The food came out in a timely manner. Though condiments were offered and ketchup was requested. It never showed up. Not a huge deal. However, the three people in our party that ordered fish dishes all got the wrong type of fish. All three ordered flounder and founder is very distinctive from mahi and all three received mahi. That wouldn't have been so bad but the texture of Frozen mahi is not the same as fresh mahi. Not sure how they can claim it as the catch of the Day when it didn't seem like it was a fresh catch. If it was it was a poor grade of mahi or improperly cooked. The fish was dry regardless. The waiter was informed that they had requested flounder but got mahi and he indicated that they ordered founder which we knew. We were disputing the fact that we did not get what we ordered. No attempt or suggestion or offerings were made to correct anything or even to give a discount or have a manager visit. Yes, we could have taken it a step further and demanded some sort of resolution. But we just wanted to enjoy our meal get out and get on with our tours. We felt something in the manner of an apology or something would have been in order. My husband definitely knows his fish and he definitely did not get flounder. Our other two guests agreed. Plus you can physically see that mahi has a darker area in it known as a blood line, for those of you who do not know fish, and this fish definitely had a bloodline which meant it was the mahi and not flounder.

Since I don't eat fish, I ordered from the right side of the menu which were entrees and there was no time frame indicated on the entrees. But apparently you cannot order entrees at lunch time. The only time that was specified was when you could order the lunch. It did not say that dinners were only available after 4:00. They need to adjust their menu to indicate time frames for each part of the day of which meal you can order or separate their menus and only give out a lunch menu or only a dinner menu. Therefore, I had to choose a standard lunch item which was fine. So I ordered the blackened grilled chicken sandwich and the filet was butterflied in half so it was relatively thin and it was overcooked so it also is dry. No condiment accompanies this such as mayonnaise which is common with blackened chicken. So the whole sandwich was pretty dry. The fries were decent. It came with lettuce and tomato which was fine and one half of one single thin ring of an onion.

Maybe we were there on an off day and you'll have better luck, but there are so many good restaurants to eat in the downtown St. Augustine historic area that I myself or my guess would not waste my time...