BEECH — Restaurant in Jamestown

New restaurant which apparently opened less than two weeks ago.

It looks smart and new. Unfortunately, the area we sat in (high top tables opposite the bar) still smells of fresh paint, which is off putting in a restaurant.

The stools at the high top tables have spars where you can comfortably rest your feet. Unfortunately, if you are sitting on the bench seats facing the bar, your legs are left dangling.

Water is served in carafes with stoppers, which looks fancy, but the water is not iced. Separate glasses of ice were brought.

The menu is attractive. We ordered the roasted clams and the beef spring rolls as starters, and the fish and chips and grilled tuna for mains. (There were two of us dining.)

Unfortunately, all our food was presented at once!

The bus boys seemed confused at our unhappiness with being presented with our entire meal in one go. They said it had all been on one ticket. The server came over and said she could only apologise, and that's all she did do. She didn't have a solution, and I didn't think of one quickly enough.

I didn't want to send the mains back, because I feared they would sit on the pass under a hot lamp until we were ready to eat them, and they would have spoiled. So we started eating the masses of mis matched dishes that were placed before us.

The toasted clams worked as a side for my Tuna. But the beef spring rolls really didn't sit well alongside my friend's Fish and Chips, so he left most of the spring rolls.

The clams were really not very good.

The Tuna was excellent, but the "seasonal vegetables" were bizarre - bell peppers and slices of zucchini. I'm not sure if they were meant to be hot or cold. The peppers were soft and had the texture of peppers in oil that you might buy in a jar.

The Tuna was very good, as was the rice.

My friend's Fish and Chips were good.

Its just a pity that the experience was spoiled by the poor service. I know that the hospitality industry generally is having difficulty in recruiting staff post covid. The bus boys were out of their depth, but our server should have been keeping an eye on things.

I'm retrospect, we should have rejected the starters and simply eaten the main courses.

In retrospect, our server should perhaps have suggested that. Or perhaps comped the starters.

As soon as our plates been cleared, we were presented with the check. We didnt ask for it. We weren't asked if we wanted desserts (perhaps this restaurant doesn't serve desserts?) or coffee. The server just seemed to want to get rid of us.

This restaurant has potential. But it needs to bring the service up to standard before I could recommend...

This is a tough one to review. Full disclosure : we didn't have food (somehow lost our appetite...)so I'll give food a neutral 3 and hope that's fair. The place is very pretty. The decor is modern and elevated without being pretentious. We sat outside at the bar under trees in the shade. Thursday early evening during peak season and the place is busy ish getting busier. The bartender hands us a couple of menus and goes about her business. We sat directly in front of her and while she is competently cranking out gorgeous looking cocktails 5, then 10 and then 15 minutes go by without her making eye contact or asking for our drink order. It's not THAT busy (before someone calls me a Karen) and there seemed to be plenty of time to chat with other staff, wipe stuff down and look generally annoyed at the world...this is a feeling thing. And it was not welcoming. It was not warm. I legitimately felt a bit hurt and ignored and most definitely like a nuisance. In the end that's all that hospitality is about. You can have beautiful and staff in breathtaking surroundings and if I feel you don't want me there you still kind of suck. The very young blonde hostess that wished us a pleasant evening on the way out was the most cheery and welcoming person we encountered and even she seemed relieved we left. The vibe about this...

I have a wonderful memory about our visit to Jamestown, as we are locals from Newport. As we arrived for our dinner reservation, we were warmly welcomed by the friendly hostesses who were patient and kind as we couldn't make up our minds about sitting indoors or outdoors. Eventually, we settled on a cozy corner table indoors, which offered a lovely view.

Our server, Hailey, was exceptional, remaining patient and courteous despite the specific requests from our party. We were celebrating one of the members return to Newport and decided to start with a bottle of Taittinger champagne. For appetizers, we enjoyed calamari, a hummus plate, Burrata salad, and sticky ribs for the rest of our group.

The calamari was good, but I felt it could have been described better, and it needed a touch more aioli as it was lightly drizzled on the plate. The hummus plate was nice but rather average. However, the Burrata was fantastic, with excellent seasoning and a delightful salad with tomatoes - a great choice. The entree choices are great, lots of variety for everyone, either you’re looking for a seafood or meat dish. Scallops are to die for, as well as the seasonal fish.

Overall, our experience at the Beech was as wonderful as always, and we look forward to returning...