Prime & Pearl — Restaurant in Gainesville

We all locals know there are 2 big places in town when it s about steak. Im not mentioning them because this is not about promoting them. I decided to give a chance to this place because I really love oysters (sad to say oysters are not in the menu of the other 2 places). This is my experience. Reservation was at 800pm. We arrived 750 and asked host about our reservation. We were just said that my reservation was at 800...is that bad? Maybe not. Bad is that there was zero intention to be nice and welcoming. Many other places would invite you to wait in the bar...some other would tell you to leave a number "we will call you when your table is ready" and some others would at least pretend that they care their customers. We were finally taken to our table 810. The table....not a tablecloth on it and the distance with the next table was literally 14 inches so you could hear everything next table. We were sit there for around 40 min to just get some courtesy water. Server was nice but busy. In the meantime nothing to eat in between (any other place would at least offer some bread to cover for the slow service). Drinks arrived in other 20 min. I also ordered a bottle of wine (77 us). Worse wine ever..they just shouldnt have available such a bad quality wine. I asked for another one (199 us)..soon after someone came to question my decision for the change...I thought they were showing interest for providing good service...I was wrong. He told me that he could not continue opening bottles. I reassured him that I knew the bottle I was ordering and that I would not order another unless damaged... A decanter was offered, but the bottle was taken to the kitchen and the server just brought the decanter with the bottle opened. Appetizers arrived (finally) oysters were awesome. Proper temperature and they felt fresh. Dinner was served.. the around 70us, aged, full of flavor ribeye was thin, with barely adequate amount of salt and cooked over an...electrical grill? No, but ABSOLUTELY no flavor at all. You better go Publix and eat the piece of meat raw. Comparison is unavoidable..the other 2 places in town prepare fantastic meat. Then, the most prentious and nonsense thing. The served brought a box with several knifes so you could choose your. Sounds cool...it is not. Just a bunch of random knifes from walmart. It would be cool if a nice and carefully selected collection of japanese knifes were presented with some technical or historic aspects ...but none of that. Just a random box with knifes. In my mind, I would summarize as just a pretentious place. They need to work on service and flavors. I would be back...Monday morning to eat some fresh oysters in the bar with a white wine. I would not repeat my almost...

I really want to leave 3.5 stars but, since I cannot, I am leaving 3 stars. I will revisit this restaurant and revise my review - hopefully to a 4 or 5. We arrived 15 minutes before our reservation, hoping we could get in, as we were really hungry. Luckily they sat us within two minutes. The space is nice with a very attractive bar. The seating is comfortable and the tables nice. Tastes differ but some of the lighting fixtures are either unattractive or seem totally out of place. Was weird enough that we both noticed and mentioned it. We were quickly greeted by a waitserver assistant who promptly delivered our water and we were welcomed by our server within minutes. She seemed knowledgeable and pleasant. I have to disagree with other reviewers who enjoyed the popovers. I found them rather bland, however the blueberry butter was delicious. So, now the important part - free bread and light fixtures aside. The Sea Bass was a generous portion, cooked superbly, and the sauce was simply delicious. It was definitely the star of the show. Next best was the off-the-cob corn. Sweet, flavorful,, and seasoned beautifully. We joked we would come back just to have the corn. Now the not so great: My bone-in, 20oz. steak looked delicious (even though the plating was not the most attractive) and I couldn't wait to dive in. I had ordered medium-rare but the steak I received was at least 150-155 degrees....which made it a little tougher and dried it out a bit. The cut was still very high quality and the price was about right for the quality of the meat. I would overlook the temp mistake at an Outback or some such place but not at a place in the category of an Embers or Mark's Prime. However, there was something even worse (and very odd) that really changed my experience - my steak was very salty. A little salt can bring that flavor right out but....this was definitely over the top....almost like a mistake. Each bite was this terrific meat taste followed by this punch of salt to my taste buds. It made it hard to enjoy it. Making it worse was we found ourselves in one of those no service zones - where the waitress and bus boy just stop coming by for a while - right as I was out of water. The salt was making me so thirsty and there was no relief in sight. It was almost like I was being Punk'd. When the waitress did notice I could tell she was looking around as if thinking, where the Hell is that guy... I am really hoping my next experience at P&P is better. It would be a great place to take friends and clients and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume this is not the norm here... However, if you are going to charge a prime price you must deliver a prime experience...each...

We visited for my stepson’s birthday dinner. We notified the restaurant in advance of the occasion, but no one even acknowledged his birthday during our entire visit. We waited at least 10 minutes before the waiter showed up to take our drink order. He was extremely unprofessional and rude. He casually skimmed over the menu and told us what he liked. He asked us to repeat our steak orders repeatedly and still got the order wrong. Then he had the gall to ask my husband if he had ever had an aged steak when he placed his order. He asked in a condescending way not a helpful way. We were treated like we were trash on the bottom of his shoe. He got my son’s order wrong and did not apologize but instead explained to him that he would like the steak just fine and it was better because the price was cheaper and then didn’t ask if he wanted another drink but instead told him he didn’t need one. Never asked if he liked the drink. Oh and then the manager walked over to our table after hearing from the waiter. He again does not apologize but instead acts like he is doing us a favor by instructing us that we would receive a dessert. He also brought my husband and I a glass of red wine Nothing for my 24 year old son who received the wrong steak order. And we were drinking white whine but I guess he he felt the need to educate us on what we should be drinking with steak. I know red wine goes with steak. We ordered white because that’s what we wanted. .my husband politely asked the manager to forgo any desserts because we planned for cake and icecream after dinner. The manager had the same stuck up presumptuous attitude as the waiter. The waiter never came back to us to check on things and left us alone after the mistake he made. We received the check from the waiter and he told us the cost of my son’s steak would be removed since we wouldn’t accept the dessert, “even though you ate it all” directing his comment to my son. So rude and ungrateful. We will never be back! We tried this restaurant, hoping for a special experience for a special occasion. That was not the case at all. We left the restaurant wondering what in the world caused such poor service and rudeness towards us. We will go back to Ruth’s Chris where they know good service and know how to treat customers. The oysters were not fresh. Tuna was served with no wasabi and was bland. Filet was dry and the creamed spinach tasted frozen. Brussel sprouts were the only thing I liked. Krystal’s has better service. I did see other restaurant staff being attentive. However, this waiter and poor management outweighed any good that we could find at this establishment. The multiple empty tables in that restaurant on a Saturday...