Segovia Tavern — Restaurant in Oakland

Don’t get me wrong, I am, was and continue to be a fan of the Segovia “chain.” I’ve dined numerous times at other locations.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Segovia established a new location in my target dine-out area, Oakland. So for my birthday (a SATURDAY NIGHT), the kids took us to the new digs in Oakland which saved us an additional 45 minutes of driving .

There were 4 of us, we ordered one appetizer (chorizo) and one desert (cheesecake). And two moderately-priced bottles of wine and a half pitcher of sangria.

PROS: The waitstaff were supremely professional and genuinely LIKED working with usand making us feel welcome.

The crowd was a mix of the Franklin Lakes/Wyckoff elite with some biker or “hillbilly” types from the surrounding rural areas. Some were in black T-shirts sporting full white beards with shaved heads tricked out with dark, Desert Storm special ops sunglasses (this is night time).

CONS: I had called earlier in the week and tried to make reservations for 4. I was told that “they don’t take reservations.” So OK, “what’s the best time to get there on a Saturday night to get seated right away?’” I asked. He said — in a heavy Spanish, authoritative accent “come between 5:30-6.” We got there at 5:30 and were immediately challenged with “do you have reservations?”

Ok, I get that it was a busy Saturday night with tables turning at a good clip. But when you go out to dinner and spend nearly $90 pp IN NEW JERSEY, I think there’s a reasonable expectation that you might want to hear and understand your dinner partners' conversation without making them yell their sentences, or having to repeat “WHAT?” numerous times to the point where it appeared rude. As a result, you just sit there and try to read lips. My son-in-law’s iWatch measures sound levels, among other things, and the noise levels regularly ranged between 80—90 decibels, beyond the levels that can cause damage to human hearing. While the decor looked inviting, more attention to sound deadening techniques would surely have been in order.

As I suspected, the portions coming out were noticeably smaller than I had remembered at the other locations — and certainly smaller than what we currently see at the Iberian stalwarts Down Neck. Many fewer doggie bags to take home. Additionally — even with consideration given to a nearly overwhelmed kitchen on a Saturday night — there were obvious shortcuts taken to accommodate the crowds. My seafood and filet dish ($38) was not hot and juicy, felt like it had been standing on the serving line. It was supposed to be served bathed in a garlic sauce (Segovia is usually incomparable at this), but if it was there, it was difficult to find at the bottom of the dish.

The cheesecake dessert (just under $10) was a good example of style over substance. It was a thinner slice of cheesecake than expected and a bit dry, with four very tiny dollops of whipped cream at four sides of the plate. You know how these fancy deserts have dark chocolate drizzled over them to add drama? Well, this chocolate “drizzle” was rock hard and already put ON the plate BEFORE this particular desert was placed there. You couldn’t scrape the chocolate off the plate with a knife, it had hardened to a crust. The cheesecake was placed on top of the pre-drizzled plate. Looked like it came from a cafeteria-like production line.

CONCLUSION:

For what this cost and for the reputation for quality and authenticity this location should aspire to, I found the experience a sad disappointment. The noise level was so off-putting that I would avoid this location no matter how the food was prepared and presented. It was like eating alone, in front of the TV. You couldn’t talk with or hear your dinner partners.

Beyond that and just as uncomfortable, it was extremely hot. One of our guests looked at the thermostat on the wall and it was set at 78, way too hot to enjoy good food and drink. The AC was not turned on and it was a warm night, there were no...

Not sure how this place received such great ratings but ratings caused me to try. Made reservations for 6:30 and went to visit Mother’s Day. Being that it was a holiday, surprisingly it was not too crazily crowded. We were seated all the way in the back of the restaurant at the very last table underneath the air condition unit and right at the emergency exit door. That was issue #1 but we made no fuss about it. We simply requested to move to the immediate left which was accommodated. Issue #2 our male waiter never provided his name and was really rushed with our table throughout the dinner. Issue #3 we put in our drinks orders and when the kids lemonade came out it was super sour with no sugar. Easily resolved by getting different drinks, but who thinks it’s ok to serve that? Issue #4 the utensils were not all properly cleaned but instead of looking for waiter who hardly stopped by, I sanitized with my own personal hand sanitizer. Issue #5 we placed appetizer order and was told entree orders must also be taken at the same time. That’s fine and dandy, but your appetizer should come out before any part of entree which was problematic for me. Entree soup and salad came out (my salad was forgotten) and I had to ask someone else where were the app appetizers? When appetizers came the coconut shrimp was sitting in oil and the fries came without ketchup. We asked for ketchup just for it to show up way too late because by this time the kids were starving and ate all the fries. Again this is a time issue. Issue #6 waiting on entrees and they never came. Was never given any update on status until I asked for one. Entrees finally came. The food was not tasty at all and the rice was cold. Being that we were paying for it we decided to box them all to take home and refine them ourselves. After boxing food, I noticed the table next to us also took leftovers to go, except they were given a bag for theirs. We had to ask for bag. I noticed throughout our dinner that the table next to us had no issues with any part of their dinner. Drinks came out timely as well as appetizers and main entrees. It kind of made me feel like we were not a priority because we looked different. Needless to say, we received our bill and paid it but when it came to tipping I honestly wanted to leave nothing at all, but the good in me said leave something so We left $10. I still feel $10 was not deserved at all but at the end of the day I just know we will not be going back to this restaurant ever again in life. I left a note on the back of receipt for management/owner if they care. I listed my issues with dinner in back of receipt and hate that we went to this place under the assumption it was almost a 5 star rating just to have a horrible experience on Mother’s Day. Biggest point listed within my note, treat everyone fairly because we’re all paying customers. You never know who your...

Horrible service! We had reservations and it still took over 40 minutes to get seated. Then it took over an hour to get our appetizer! Actually it was 1 hour 18 minutes to be precise! The waitress said that the owner had sent our appetizers as a complimentary dish to the table next to our with some pretty women seated. Seems like the owner was trying to impress the ladies while he flirted with them! He didn't seem to mind that his other paying patrons would have to wait even longer for there food! Maybe he had too much wine that night and wasn't thinking with his head?

As impolite as that was, the worse thing about Segovia's in Oakland by far was how over crowded and noisy it was. We've been to Giant's football playoff games that were less crowded and nowhere near as loud! On the night we attended, they had far exceeded the number of people the place could comfortably accommodate. Moreover there was no way that they were in compliance with fire code maximum number of people the restaurant was allowed to seat. There were tables blocking exit ways, people bumping into each other and aisles where people could barely squeeze by without knocking into the tables. The irony of our visit was that the owner who sent our appetizers to the table next to ours to impress the pretty women, openly admitted that they had put far too many tables into the dining area. He apologized while handing us our bill for the meal!

Maybe it’s time for Oakland Township to start enforcing the town occupancy and fire codes? In addition to being a greedy attempt to maximize profits, this type of over-crowding causes patrons significant discomfort and poses real dangers to everyone in the building. The owner however seemed to have no qualms about such concerns. Really a shameful display of poor tact. Our advice to him is that if he truly wishes to impress his female patrons he should try to display more class and...