Mission Oak Grill - Newburyport — Restaurant in Newburyport

Absolute worst dining experience, EVER! This was to be a birthday celebration dinner for my wife which included our adult son and myself. We had a 7:00pm reservation and were seated within a few minutes of checking in, the bar and dining room were very busy on this Saturday night. Our server “B” arrived a few minutes after being seated to pour water and take our drink order. We opted to wait on ordering any food until after our drinks arrived. B leaves to place drink order. After 15 minutes B returns to say the bar is really backed up and drinks would be coming soon, did we want to order any food. We again opted out ordering until after drinks arrive (we learned the hard way before), B says she’ll bring us bread in the mean time. 10 minutes later B returns with the bread, sans any drinks on the tray and again says the drinks are almost ready, she thought she saw two of them up and waiting for the third drink. B asks, did we want to order any food.....nope, not yet. 10 minutes later, now 35 minutes after being seated, couple at the table next to us get served their drinks (they were seated at the 15min mark) by the manager. He stops at our table to apologize for the drink delay, says there was some sort of mixup at the bar, and that our drinks would be on the house and arriving immediately. 10 minutes later still no drinks, B stops by to apologize and says the manger is going to make them himself. We though the manger would have been all over it quicker than this. Drinks finally arrive, I’ve lost track of time. Wife’s Martini was ordered with an olive, but none was to be found. So B scurries off to get olives, comes back with 3 olives on a stick. We place our food order now that drinks have finally arrived, 1 appetizer to share, 3 dinner entrees...and wine for 2 to be served with dinner. After we finish the appetizer, B takes the small plates and most used utensils saying she would bring new utensils for dinner. Our dinners are eventually served by a kitchen runner who drops our plates and leaves without asking if we needed anything else, like more silverware or maybe wine. So with one knife to share we start our dinners, 5 minutes later B arrives to see how everything is going...are you kidding me! We ask about the silverware and wine that hasn’t arrived but was ordered at the same time as dinner. B rushes off and returns shortly with missing utensils but no wine, she is going to check on them. 10 more minutes go by, B is flitting about the dining room and no wine...we are now finished with our entrees. B returns to apologize again for the wine and that it will be here momentarily, I tell her we don’t want the wine and to bring the check immediately. B arrives with the check and 2 glasses of wine, says we could drink them outside or something like that. We don’t take the wine and are preparing to leave when the manager stops by our table with a smile on his face and asks “ Is everything good here?” to which wife and I both flabbergasted lay it out for him how the second drink order was just as screwed up as the first one and never arrived while we ate our dinner. He apologized and asked if there was anything he could do with the check to make it better, but the moment and experience were lost, and we weren’t looking for a handout. So I paid our bill and left to salvage the rest of our evening.

This was our second time dining at Mission Oak, it is highly unlikely there will ever be...

So I get a Mission Oak Grill gift card for $100.00 from a friend for doing some work and I keep it in my wallet. Several times on a whim my wife and I are in Newburyport so we take a chance and stop by for dinner. Each time we are told that without a reservation we might be able to be seated in a couple of hours. Wow we think, this place must be great. We give it another shot on a recent Tuesday afternoon at 4:30pm and score, the place is pretty empty and we are seated in a booth. Maybe the crumbs on the dirty booth seat should have been an indication as to how the rest of the meal would go but we just brushed it off in front of the hostess and sit down.

I order a bottled beer and my wife ordered wine. I see where the Caesar salad has baby kale in it. I don’t do kale but our waitress assures me that I won’t even notice it’s there. Well, I noticed. To her credit she offered before I ordered it to take it off the bill if I didn’t like it. I got the Delmonico steak with cheddar mashed potatoes and fried asparagus. My wife ordered the large filet with boursin mashed potatoes. The steak was cooked perfectly but loaded with fat around the edge and very chewy. Reminded me of eating a piece of liver as a kid. Certainly not good and not worth the $34.00 they charged. I was starving so I chomped my way through it. Now I love potatoes!! Anyway they are prepared, and I don’t remember a time I’ve not finished the helping put in front of me until this meal. Bland would be the best description, not a hint of cheese and they had BIG chunks of unmashed potato in the pot they were served in. I chose not to indulge in the deep fried asparagus but my wife loves asparagus so she ate 2 of the 6 spears. Mistake as she later found out when we arrived home.

On a positive note, our waitress was very attentive, the bread before the meal was delicious and the beverages were of course good. So. . we’ve decided next time when we are in the area and in the mood for bread and drinks we will consider stopping in. LOL

The bill came to $102.22 w/o tip. I would have been disappointed had it not been for the gift card . . . but really after adding in the tip I WAS disappointed that I spent $22.22 out of pocket for the experience.

Maybe we hit an “off” day for them. I wish them continued success but as for us, they’re...

My husband called and reserved a table for 3 for my birthday. When we arrived, they sat us and took our order for our drinks. When we were ready, we ordered a brussels sprout appetizer, my husband ordered the ribeye and I ordered the filet and we got the kids fish.

As requested, the appetizer and our son’s meal arrived together. The brussels were really good. Shortly after the main meals arrived. As I cut into mine I noticed it was rare. I ordered medium. The server agreed it was definitely rare. I was fine with them putting it back on but not too happy since it is a $60 cut and now it will not taste as good being recooked. It took about 10 minutes and when it arrived the manager asked if I could cut in to see if it was OK. Oddly enough, it looked exactly the same. The manager said, “I think we need to put on a new steak for you”…I’m pretty patient but couldn’t help replying…”you think?” So while my husband and child finished their meals the 3rd attempt was made. The server brought it over, I pushed gently on the steak and it was so squishy, at that moment we both looked at each other knowing this was rarer than the first 2 tries. I just said I wasn’t hungry anymore. I didn’t want anything I was upset, this was supposed to be my birthday dinner.

The manager came over a few moments later and apologized and actually said, “we won't be charging for your meal and will comp the appetizer.” Gee thanks for not charging us for the $120 of steak you ruined! I was surprised no one checked it before bringing it out to us. A place like this should know how to cook a steak.

Side note, not once did they ever acknowledge this was a birthday either. My husband also reminded them when we arrived in case it didn’t come through when he made the reservation. He asked if when we order dessert, they can please provide a candle…. needless to say we didn’t get dessert (but they could have offered one to go… knowing they ruined a special occasion)

HUGELY...