Oak & Barrel — Restaurant in Monticello

Had reservations for a table of three. After ordering, the waitress did not check with our table for over an hour. When she finally did, she assured us our food was coming up and we had to prompt for drink refills. She came back 15 minutes later sharing that our food was coming, again with no offer to refill drinks, etc. Came back in another 10 minutes to share that she had only two tables left (ours and the one next to us) and she was going to watch the cooks and make sure our food would be up soon. When she finally brought our food out, she shared with me that, " I guess they ran out of fish and chips, so the chef told me to bring you this!," and proceeds to put a plate in front of me of a dish I did not order and did not get any input on. I asked, "What is this?," to which she shared it was the Halibut (double the price of my initial order) and that she thinks I will have to pay for the adjustment in meal price. I shared that I was not going to take an order that I did not order AND pay for the higher priced dish. She then, quite literally, ran off and the chef came out next to explain the same. I was not upset that they were out of fish and chips, but was upset that I was not told until food was brought out, and I was not asked about what alternative dish I would like to order. My dinner decision was made entirely for me AND they initially were going to charge me for the additional price of the meal!

In the end, they agreed to charge me with my original order and they offered dessert on the house. Sadly, the bill reflected a substitute of broccoli, to which I never received with my new order that was chosen for me.

Food was good, but the experience will keep me from...

This restaurant has a flawed and inefficient system and I’ll never go back. They asked us in the lobby if sitting in the bar area was okay with us. After agreeing, they asked if everyone in our party was over 21. We said yes. The waitress quickly took our drink order and came back with our coffee and water. After sitting in the bar area for about 10 minutes, she asked to see my daughter’s ID. My daughter didn’t have her physical copy, but rather a digital scan that proves she is 23. They would not accept it and told us we would have to wait in the lobby for a regular table. We decided to leave instead, but not without speaking to the manager first. We assured the manager that our issue was not that they were following Indiana law and requiring all that sat in the bar area to be verified 21 with an ID. Our issue is that they seated us in the bar area without checking ID and waited 10 minutes before asking for an ID. If the hostess would have checked for ID before sitting us in the bar, we never would have been seated there. The manager gave a lousy excuse that their hostesses are not trained to do that. If their hostesses are not trained to do so, their manager has failed to provide efficient systems for operation and for that reason, we will...

Oak and Barrel in Monticello is absolutely DIVINE 😍. My husband and I had reservations for opening night and I am glad we did! For our appetizer we had the bourbon chicken wontons, and to be honest I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go there without ordering more!!! They are DELICIOUS!!! For our entrees, my husband ordered the 20oz New York Strip (medium) and I ordered the 12oz Sirloin (medium). The cooks on both steaks were PERFECTION. Steak is served with red skin mashed potatoes and broccoli florets. We also ordered additional sides of the cracker crust macaroni and cheese and the bbq’d baked beans. Oh. My. Gosh. 🤤🤤 It was ALL phenomenal. I can’t get over how absolutely excellent our meal was. To top it all off we had the Crème brûlée for dessert and it was pure decadence 😍 We left with full and VERY happy bellies. I asked my husband if we could go back every week for the rest of forever! Our waitress, Fonda, was attentive and polite! The owner was also out on the floor and stopping at every table to ensure your experience was the best it could be. We could not have been more impressed. Please get out to Oak and Barrel and show this business some love and support, you...