Safari Room Restaurant — Restaurant in Newport

Edit. 8/9/25...The menu looks like they added more options. I would not recommend the bisque or chowder- very dense and heavily seasoned. The calamari was also heavily seasoned and oily. Brussel spouts were great. I talked to the manager and he did not offer any compensation. If I return Im sticking with sandwiches. For a wedding venue its a shame the food is not tasty..Still a gorgeous view!..... I hate to leave a negative review but I was not impressed. The view is amazing, the beautiful fountain and outside of the building was breathtaking but..the restaurant needs more modern touches and cleaning. The staff were not professional or polished. I felt like I was at a local bar. I think if they did some upgrades to the bathroom( new paint job and refreshed), removed the musty smell when entering the eating area it would be an improvement. I think this is a jewel but needs some love and attention. We had burgers which tasted fine but the fries were heavily salted. Chicken sandwich was tasty. The calamari app was very small. More menu options would be nice. The sodas were watered down. Seeing the food carried out in plastic cover containers was not classy...Managers please take notice as this place can be top notch. For comparison... We have been to Castle Inn as well..they also have a very old interior but it was cleaner and the staff were top notch...but the prices were higher then the Safari room. Again...this place...

The moral of this story is if you aren't paying for a wedding there you are not important.

We had a party of 11 and made reservations weeks in advance. The drinks were good but things went seriously wrong with food. After a long delay four entrees came out, then 10 minutes later another three. Finally the last four another 10 minutes later. The last four were the wrong items, we ordered three fish & chips and received four fish tacos. It took another 20 minutes to get the fish & chips. So the last people were eating about 30 minutes after the first ones finished.

The quality was very poor, the flatbread and fries were cold. The taco burnt and one burger bun was burnt. Some people never received their entire order.

I went to see the manager and he told me there was an unexpected party of 22 that showed up and they were busy with them. I asked if they took priority over our group and his answer was yes! He said they are paying $80,000 for a wedding tomorrow so he was making them happy. So we're not important and his answer was "correct". He never came to the table to see the quality for himself or apologize for the problems. He argued with taking things off the bill and didn't remove all the items that were inedible. The waiter claimed they have a new chef as the excuse.

Overall worst dining...

Very disappointed with my latest visit to the Safari Room. My boyfriend and I were biking along Ocean Drive and decided to stop in for drinks and snacks. We approached the hostess station where the hostess greeted us with a smile. We said we were interested in drinks definitely, but wanted to make sure there were items I could eat on the menu (I have specific food allergies). Before I got the last word out of my mouth, another very tall (hostess?) rudely approached and repeated herself over and over and over again that if we don't eat we can't sit at a table. Yeah, we got it the first time you said it. She was so close to my back I could actually feel her breath on my head...honestly! I've actually never had someone stand in my personal space like that before. It was the most uncomfortable feeling ever. After I found an item I could eat, we were walked over to our table (by the way there were only 4 other tables filled...the place was pretty empty). The food was decent, but I honestly couldn't shake off how we were treated by the young, tall brunette. If she is another hostess, how can that be good customer service???? Maybe we didn't look the part of a Safari Room patron? In any case, very bad business skills....