Newport Officers' Club - US MILITARY BASE — Restaurant in Newport

This review is for wedding services only.

While the view of the Newport Bridge from the Officers’ Club and location of the venue are second-to-none in the area, the customer service and professionalism of the staff of the Officers’ Club and MWR was, quite frankly, abysmal. I did not feel like our once-in-a-lifetime event mattered to them beyond the money they made off our wedding. I was not impressed with the level of attentiveness (or, in this case, inattentiveness) to detail or our event in general, but the guests all had a good time and enjoyed the food.

Pros: We were satisfied with the food and level of service we received from the waitstaff at both our rehearsal dinner (held on-site) and the reception. Keith, the head waiter, was courteous, on top of things, and friendly, which we really appreciated. We also had many complicated food allergies and restrictions that the Officers’ Club seamlessly accommodated. The ceremony and reception ran smoothly, but only because our personal day-of coordinator (a friend of ours) basically had to take over running the event and I had created a detailed day-of timeline on my own that all of our external vendors relied upon.

Cons: Our point of contact changed 3 times over the 15 months of planning our wedding with the venue, and every single one of them were disorganized and slow to respond to our e-mails or phone calls. The sales manager who we initially dealt with was downright rude and unfriendly (and that’s putting it nicely). She also led us to believe that we would get to try every type of food they offered at their once-a-year tasting, as they would not let us try the food before signing the contract; we were disappointed that only a small subset of all entree, appetizer, and dessert choices were available at the tasting. There were also multiple miscommunications with the venue that day. 2 days before the wedding, the venue coordinator called to say that not only would she not be at our rehearsal dinner or wedding due to a family emergency, but 3 of our foreign guests had been denied (one of whom had just flown into Newport from Scotland that morning) after telling us the week prior that all foreign guests had been approved by base security. This caused major frustration and consternation for my husband, who was beside himself that his dear friend could not attend our wedding, after spending time and money to travel thousands of miles to be there for our big day. No one greeted us on the day of our rehearsal, so we had to run the rehearsal ourselves and figure out many solutions for our questions on our own. The venue’s day-of coordinator left me with the impression that she hadn’t done many events at the Officers’ Club previously and was not very attentive. She didn’t know how to turn on the AC in my bridal room, she didn’t deliver the water and fruit and cheese plate to our bridal room until we’d already asked multiple times, and we had to approach her during the reception to ask that she make the reception room cooler, as guests were complaining to us about the temperature...

The O'club is not a bad place if you want a a good view of the bay and pell bridge. The food however is something else completely. I love taking my family out to eat and I always side with the establishment because i know how difficult it is to operate a successful restaurant. I took the family there for mothers day brunch this past Sunday and i was so dissatisfied that im still considering talking to management not to get a refund because people worked for that but to tell them that they need some serious overhaul in the kitchen. So to start there were very limited veggie and starch options. Green beans which were still raw not al dente was the only veggie option. Mashed potatoes and bowtie pasta were the only two starches which were ok. A prime rib table that noone seemed to care for. One seafood option which was salmon. The salmon was dry as hell on the outside and raw on the inside. It was completely inedible. The salad, cheese and bread table was ok but very basic. The dessert table was the only thing me and my wife enjoyed. The desserts probably cane frozen from a company. Definitely not worth 30 dollars and...

Forgettable. If they weren’t on base and with a view, no one would patronize this place.

Last time I visited NWC, I said I would never return to the O’club, because of terrible service. (Waited ten min in line to be told kitchen closed five min ago?!)

This time, I was dragged back w a friend as they were doing a Shakespeare evening. Okay, how bad can it be?

Server could have been less interested in being there, nevermind actually waiting on tables. I saw her three times: once to take my order, once to bring a beer and burger and once for the bill. Forget about a glass of water or a second beer…

I ordered the burger, figuring that’s gotta be the easiest thing on the menu - and the hardest for them to screw up… nope. Served Luke warm, not hot not cold, but like it’s been made and sitting somewhere, just waiting to be eaten… just not by me.

My stomach churned all night… a terrible burger and another terrible experience at the Newport...