The Oak House — Restaurant in Newmarket

Went there for the first time to nite since they changed owners....GREAT new, updated look, new menu, and nice choices on menu.... Also the staff were great and very helpful!....to a point. Ordered a French Martini, which is different in a lot of places.....told them the 3 ( THREE) ingred. in it when they asked.....watched him make it ( granted, he was a new bartender), and saw he only used the 2 of the ingred......he poured it, and it was a 1/2 a glass....he then put some more of the liquors back in the glass, and when he served it, it was minus the splash of pineapple juice. 3rd time, absolutely PERFECT, and I couldn' t complimented him enough! Ordered a cup of vegetable gizpacho, it was more like V8 juice with some greens on top....I then thought I'd try another app., instead of a meal. Ordered the "dry rubbed " wings, with chili garlic sauce. They came out uncut, unclipped, not tender, and barely cooked. I said something when one of the guys asked me, and he said "yeah, I noticed they didn't look very crisp" or something like that......I could barely get the knife in between the one I tried to cut the bones apart to eat ...and the skin was still white, with just the sauce coating them. I asked for a box to go, and am cooking them now on the grill , till they're tender and crisp. My husband ordered a burger which sounded delicious......it said on the menu, " order it pink or NOT pink".....he ordered it pink...it was well done....he didn't say anything. We still tipped very good, and will definitely go back and try again....just will order different things that came out looking delish.....we are never complainers, but this was a sad first try for us.....the reviews looked so good.....but we both agreed...all the young servers, bartenders, etc...

We ate here the day after their grand opening. We tried three appetizers: oysters, poutine, and the cheese platter, and then shared the surf and turf for our entree. The appetizers were all good. The poutine was the best I've ever had (they could easily add Nanaimo Bars and Butter Tarts to the menu to complete the Big 3 of Canadian cooking; throw in some tortière and back bacon and the transition would be complete!) The surf and turf was presented on the menu as if it was for sharing but the portion size was more appropriate for one person. The steak and lobster were good, however, and included delicious mashed potatoes with some sort of bearnaise sauce. We tried both desserts, a fruit tart and an ice cream sandwich, which are each made in-house and were excellent. The ice cream sandwich was thick and impenetrable by forks and knives but really good once you got your teeth into it; well worth the fight. The tart was thin and light and had a sweet butter-sugar filling.

They have an extensive list of beers and did a good and creative job with the cocktails. They had decaf coffee at the ready but the pot had been on the burner too long, the only down note of the whole evening. They were short staffed but we received a good amount of attention and excellent service regardless.

I would highly recommend checking this...

The food was great; however, the service was terrible. We were seated and it took 20 to 30 minutes for someone to take our drink orders. Even after we ordered drinks, the service was spotty at best. There were five of us at the table, and we were cut off after receiving just two drinks each (beers and margaritas). Meanwhile, other patrons were served multiple drinks, and they seemed more aligned with the restaurant's atmosphere, which catered primarily to middle-aged Caucasian males and females. Our group consisted of three white men and two women, one of whom is a woman of color. When we asked if we could get another round of drinks after ordering food, we were told no. This was particularly disappointing as we were hoping to catch up with friends and have a good time. It felt like a very...