Black Prong Whiskey Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Newberry

My daughter took me here for dinner on Mother’s Day 2025. I had no idea what to expect. Whatever I expected, Black Prong FAR exceeded! I wish I’d pulled out my camera because the presentation was so flawless.

Our waiter was wonderful. Attentive and engaged and friendly. We started with a craft cocktail; mine a fun bourbon drink, hers a strawberry something. Both were well made, attractive, fresh. Being bread fans, we ordered their bread; (I think it might be different daily?) which was a carmelized onion focaccia in a cast iron skillet, and served with Chimichurri butter; perfect to nibble while we waited for our entrees.

My daughter ordered a vegetarian pasta dish that had bright, fresh seasonal vegetables in a pesto cream sauce. It was light and flavorful and piping hot. While I’m not much of a meat eater, I do love an occasional filet and decided if she’d help me finish it, I’d order one Might be one of the better decisions of my adult life.

I’m from Chicago and have had steaks at the best of places… Morton’s, Gibson’s, Smith and Wollensky. Been to my share of Capital Grills and Ruth’s Chris’s, and in Ocala to Stirrups and Katya’s and others. The steak at Black Prong wos unabashedly the best filet I have ever tasted. It was cooked to perfection, beautifully seasoned, served with an au poivre, over velvety pureed potatoes and with haricot vert. I literally ate every bite and used the last piece to scrape up the last of the potatoes. It might have looked to the dishwashing staff that I licked the plate. I did not. (But only because of manners.) Y’all - it was that good.

We finished with a shared crème brulee; generous, again just enough sugar just enough vanilla; they really do a great job with the flavors and textures here. Plated with piped whipped cream stars, blackberries, and a macaron.

This was not a meal I thought I’d be eating when the big quiet door opened into the dining room. The simple, Shaker style “farm to table” quiet vibe was a nice foil for the modern serving pieces - all of which were brought out very hot; yet with no food dried out (no heat lamps; just well timed.)

I truly give them a 100%. I cannot think of one thing I’d say I would have changed. The room was comfortable, the atmosphere welcoming yet quiet; seating private; prices fair; and staff very friendly… and the food. Just wow, the food. What more could one want?

Kudos to Black Prong.I look forward to dining with you again. Thank you for a really...

We chose this place for a Birthday Dinner to surprise our neighbor on her Birthday Over the months we heard from others how good this place was and how great of a menu the restaurant had. Upon arrival we noticed the menu we were given didn't match the menu we had looked at online when choosing this restaurant and upon asking questions to the staff we were informed this was the first day to roll out this new and limited menu to the public. Our Server Brittany was trying extremely hard even though she could read our disappointment with the menu. If we all hadn't driven so far we would had left for another restaurant with a less limited and very selective and disappointing menu. The staff were friendly but service was within limitations. We continously had to ask for refills on non alcoholic beverages. Extra napkins were never offered and each of our guest had their eating utensils just dumped from plate to bare tabletop a minimum of two times. Everytime they took away dishes from the table they would just take rhe fork and knife and dump it on the table. I didn't order dessert due to this reason. The food ordered wasn't worth the high price when the same dish could be found elsewhere extremely better priced. The icing on the cake was when we all ventured into the restroom to wash our hands and discovered candy in the restrooms. Who in their right state of mind would pick up candy to eat out of a place as germ infected as a public restroom where the majority of guest will do their business not wash their hands but reach over for the candy..... So you know I come from a Hospitality Management background having Managed High Volume Restaurants such as Hard Rock Cafes, Dave and Busters, Mortons Steak House, and more. Hotel Assistant General Manager for Marriott Marques Hotels in Magor cities so the Food and Beverage Industry is no stranger to me. While this is a beautiful property in a private and fantastic location I cannot see this menu bringing in repeat Customers. Good Luck and we wish the Owners, Staff and Management (of which never made a table visit to any of the very few occupied tables which should always be mandatory for Management mostly with a new menu roll-out to get customer feedback) Then when we arrived home and I went to take my leftover flat bread out of the pizza box and place in Tupperware imagine my surprise to find my discarded Flatbread chewed off outer hard crust (garbage) in the box with the untouched...

Our birthday party arrived with expectations of having a wonderful experience due to the recommendation received from a friend who had a previous dining experience. However, the light dimmed somewhat when we were informed tonight was the first night for a revised menu. The atmosphere of the restaurant is top notch. It has four to five dollar signs written all over it, even though the location is out in the middle of farm country. No city lights or life, it's actually located in the middle of a grass field. If you have ever driven down 41 from Williston FL to Dunnellon FL, you will know there are no high rises or big income living. Just farm country with cows, horses and a camel. Now we are seated and provided menus. After reviewing the menus, I honestly did not see anything spectacular. The starters or appetizers were not the common wings, bruschetta or dip and chips. It is bao buns, yucca fries and hush puppies among other choices. For the main entrees there were some nice choices like; duck, steak, seafood. I settled in on the JUMBO dry scallops, the 4 dollar sign scallops. They came with carrots and couscous. If you're not a couscous lover, switch it out for the potatoes. Now, not to poo-poo on the meal, it was ok, my complaint is the JUMBO scallops were no more than an inch in size. To me, if you advertise the scallops as jumbo, they should be a minimum of 1.5 to 2 inches in size. I took a picture, so I have proof of the size. They were not big at all. Others made comments about their meal but we're here and we made the best of it. As I said earlier, we ordered meals from a new roll out menu. Being married to a hospitality manager, whenever a restaurant has a new or revised menu, the manager or chef should come to EVERY patron and inquire if they are enjoying their food. Neither the manager nor chef ever came to the table, except the servers, and there were a few times we had to motion the server to refill our empty glasses. There was a minimum of 6-7 servers on the floor of a restaurant that only has 10-12 tables, (some unoccupied) and no one could see ehen our glasses were empty. We had wine, dessert (birthday) and left. Overall, it was an OKAY dining experience. For the cost and location it's overpriced. The previous menu can still be found online, and I highly suggest for the chef to return to it. Add some of the old items back to this new menu. You know the saying...if it's...