Liberty Kitchen & Oysterette - River Oaks — Restaurant in Houston

Use to come to this establishment at least once or twice a month . We always ordered the same meal for the past 2 years . The last time I came, it was very disappointing . Service was beyond horrible . Server didnt come for about 10 mins , when finally came he took our full order and never again saw him till after we finished our meals . Yet my husband left a 20% percent tip . He assumed the serve was just having a difficult day .Fast foward to today , he’s been asking to go back for weeks to give it another chance. We decided to go in again, came in around 4 pm . The place was basically empty ! Only 3 other tables and a few people sitting at the bar area. We get seated and few mins go by , server comes and greets us . We get our bottled water & wait for husband to arrive . As we have been here more times than we can count on our hands , we know there’s usually specials. After they arrive he greets them and takes our order (appetizer and entrees). Don’t come back till our entrees come . No checking on the table if we needed anything , nothing . My husband drink was empty .& we ran out of water ., in which the gentleman helping the table behind us noticed and offered assistance . When our entrees came we noticed this wasn’t exactly what we normally get ! The fish looked horrible especially for $40 each plate (we got 3 of the same entrees). We usually get the redfish with the lump crab . It was not even 6 little tiny balls of crab !! Nothing like what it was before , no sauce , no seasoning just salt & pepper and the bare minimum crab !!! When he finally came to our table we asked if the menu had changed since this wasn’t what we originally get when we order that plate . In which he proceeds to tell our table with an attitude , the chef walked out that morning and they were having a bit of hectic day in the kitchen . Husband started explaining how we come often & the plate seemed off .. in which our serve replied with an attitude how he knows we come, that he’s seen us more than enough times … He asked if we wanted anything else so we asked if they had any specials for the day in which he replied again while rolling his eyes “our chef left so we have no specials today “. We said okay , & continued our overpriced bland meal . Husband asked for 2 different sauces as well as salt & pepper to add on top ! The total came out to 181$ + 30 tip . 3 redfish + calamari + kids meal + bottled water

Sadly now I understand why the establishment has lost so many customers as well as why it’s rating has gone down . So sad & disappointed with my recent experience, hopeful for the future . Was one of our top places in Houston .

Forgot : there's valet for your car ... but when I went to retrieve my vehicle . Nobody was at the valet tent , I proceeded to wait 5 mins outside in the cold. My 6 year noticed the keys were left right there in the open . I went inside and asked hostess if she had any idea where they could've went . She proceeds to come outside & show me where they should be , when she steps outside she notices there's no one . I show her my ticket , grab my keys and place the ticket down . My husband was in the bathroom at the moment , so while I'm waiting in the car I'm texting him about how upset I was about our situation & how our keys were left outside unattended . As he's walking out the restaurant finally there's valet coming to my car asking if everything was okay ... it had been 15 mins . Could've been a horrible situation, someone car or belongings could've...

Been to the Bunker Hill location several times, first time coming to the River Oaks location since its closer to my house.

If you don't want to read the full review below, just go to Bunker Hill location if you wanna eat here.

Let's start with what this place is, its a casual restaurant with a broader range of food. Its not a dress up place or a high end restaurant by any stretch of the imagination. Its like a tier or two below Traveler's Table for example.

So I don't have high end expectations when going here, I just want decent seafood with a higher attention to detail.

This location missed the mark on anything associated with details.

Service:

We went on the Sunday before Labor Day at 7:50. Our reservation was for 7:30 and we got there around 7:47, the restaurant was probably 10%-15% at capacity and the host said, just an fyi we have an automatic cancellation 15 mins after your reservation. I thought that was unnecessary information considering we could have just been a walk-in. I considered leaving right at that moment, but my daughter was ready to eat so I said whatever.

After sitting at our table for about 10 mins, we finally got water and our drink order in and we asked for sparkling water and iced tea, which took another 10 minutes to come out.

Then we got our appetizers which I'll get to later. I always order the rolls at the Bunker Hill location and swap out the bacon jam for a fruit jelly. When I requested to do the same at this River Oaks location, the waiter said we don't have any other option. I said ok, we will carry on.

Later my ice tea was empty for another 5-10 mins and as the waiter came by, he asked if everything was going well I said well no because what my daughter ordered was chewy, more on that later. He totally ignored that or wasn't really paying attention and just walked away.

I finally flag him down after 15-20 minutes of me looking around for someone to notice. Now lets talk about food.

Food:

My daughter ordered the salmon sashimi, it came out like rubber. She was chewing on it and couldn't get it to break apart with enough effort to chew into a steak. That's what prompted me to let the waiter know. He took the plate (which she did not eat) and offered to replace it but enough time had passed where we were pretty much ready to go.

I ordered the broiled seafood platter and the market fish was mahi mahi, I could hardly tell because it was cooked to a level of dryness that should be forbidden for a restaurant.

I didn't even bother touching the parmesan oyster as it looked awful. The scallops were fine.

Got the check, I payed it, tipped him $32 on a $142 tab. I considered leaving less, but I was like this dude doesn't care, I really don't care to be here so let's just move on and let this guy learn some other day.

All in all, its a casual restaurant with better food and service, but its no where near what they think it is. The Bunker Hill location is way better in terms of execution...

Our waiter was fabulous...so hopefully my less-than-stellar review will not reflect on him. My husband and I are visiting from Iowa this week. Sadly, oysters are hard to come by in the Midwest, so I made a reservation at Liberty solely on having a great reputation for good food, AND obviously, oysters. My son and I both ordered a half dozen raw oysters as an appetizer. I chose the Gulf oysters ($3 each) while he ordered the East Coast ($4 each). When our oysters arrived, very pleasantly plated on dry ice and appropriate condiments, we were anxious to "dig in." After 2 or so, my son asked me to "smell" one of his East Coast oysters. It was not only a solid black, but the smell was absolutely putrid. In fact, as he handed it across the table, I could easily smell it from a foot away. As we took a closer look at his plate, not only was that one "dangerous" but 3 others were much too dark and smelled unsafe for consumption. We asked our waiter to please have the kitchen replace those 4 with Gulf variety which they did. I also asked the waiter to make sure the kitchen SMELL what had been served. The rest of the meal arrived, which was fine. However, when our bill arrived, we had been charged the "East Coast" price for the oysters that we had asked to replace. We called our waiter over, he profusely apologized and corrected the bill to reflect the "Gulf" price and did tell us that after the obvious bad oysters, the restaurant was not selling anymore East Coast that evening. Overall, the restaurant did the "minimum" needed to address customer satisfaction. Considering that eating spoiled oysters has highly dangerous health ramifications, the fact that Liberty calls itself an oyster bar, it is concerning that whoever is heading up the storage of, shucking, and plating of oysters cannot identify a very dangerous oyster by smell and appearance. While I realize the days of "the customer is always right" are of a bygone era, to have food served to patrons with total disregard for safety, and then to do nothing to rectify even the tiniest of concerns by CORRECTING the bill, is not good business. We didn't ask to be comped or anything. But at least show some attempt to make sure that the rest of the evening is without a concern I am not going to post a picture because it's quite unappetizing. But happy to share with the...