Oakwood Club — Restaurant in Oakwood

Where to begin. Well, we went here for our anniversary. Was told no reservations. We were able to find a parking spot right in front, feeling like, yeah, this is going to be great. Early dinner, enjoy each other's company, boom. We saw a couple walk in and the man had a jacket, so we popped into the Goodwill to get one and be fancy. Oh yeah, fancy night, gonna eat some good food, gonna enjoy each other's company. Got inside at 5:30pm, place was PACKED OUT, standing room only. Was told it was going to be at least 1.5 hr wait. Husband said "do you want to go somewhere else?" No, this will be "fun". Quirky, weird experience. Regrets. We see people from the bar getting called to their seats, so figure there must be a system. Stood at bar for about 30 minutes until we could sit down. Bartender was awesome, sweet, attentive, hardworking. People were nice, good conversation. Husband told them about our anniversary, got some congrats. I should have paid more attention to how drunk people were and how sad the faces looked. But, I thought, well if people are lining up for this place, it must be worth it. Little did I know those people would be me in a few hours. Ate as many gardettos as I could but on an empty stomach, I got 3 sheets to the wind. After an hour and 45 minutes, husband pushed his way through the crowd to ask about our table. It seems they must have forgotten about us, and I didn't notice that none of the people that were waiting around us weren't there anymore. Also our waters were taken? Gardettos were long gone at that point. So anyway, at 7:15pm they sat us next to the bathroom/kitchen. Now I'm annoyed, hungry, and drunk. Ordered some food, and the only redeeming quality was the food. The bread and the steak were to die for. Which we probably would have done, waiting, if my husband hadn't asked. We weren't even planning on drinking, just dinner but thought screw it, we're here, let's enjoy. I don't remember much but the oysters, bread, salad and steak were good. We won't be back though, not after all of that. Husband didn't really like his food. So the key must be getting people so drunk, they think the food tastes amazing. Thanks for the super weird, and sort of...

I truly don't know where to begin with my experience here. I'm not certain how they were rated so high when the food was so bad. We went for my sister's birthday and she ordered the steak. The steak had zero seasoning on it. Beyond that she ordered it medium and it was brought back to her medium well so she returned it and requested a steak. That's a little under medium thinking, they'll probably overcook it again and it'll be accurate this time. That's not what happened. She got a rare steak. She said the dressing that they put on her salad was rancid, and her rosemary mashed potatoes were oversalted. Again. This was her birthday dinner. With my meal. I ordered the walleye. Again. There was no seasoning to be found anywhere. I found it interesting when we first sat down that they had seasonings on the table. And now I understand that. That is because they want you to season your own food. They don't believe in salt in the kitchen. Somehow they managed to burn my sweet potato. That's a talent because I make sweet potatoes for myself at least twice a week and have never come close to burning it. The oysters on the half shell were interested. The flavor was good because how can you mess that up unless they're bad oysters. However, I recognize it. They just reuse the oyster shells and they put canned oysters on top. I kid you not. They were not the oysters from the actual shells we got. They use the low grade scallop for the bacon wrapped scallops. The flavor was good but you could tell it was a low grade for what we were paying. The only thing I enjoyed truly was my veggies and the oysters Rockefeller. My pomegranate martini tasted like children's Robitussin. My sister's lemon basil martini had no basil in it. And she ordered the special for the night which was the flounder stuff with crab and she walked away dissatisfied as well. The atmosphere was overcrowded. And loud. I truly cannot comprehend how this is one of the best restaurants in Dayton, Ohio. When everything was so bad. From the top to the bottom, it was a bad experience. And I believe the hostess was high. I can't prove it but I...

Walked in with my date. Sat at the bar. Asked to remove my hat, no problem. We were told we couldn't order food at the bar for another 30 minutes, no problem. It was our first time there, which I'd imagine became obvious to the staff by this point.

We then talked to the hostess, who seated us immediately! Our server came by and offered us drinks. She never introduced herself (the tab said Heather), but left us alone for quite some time while we browsed the menu. We weren't offered any suggestions nor did our server stick around for over 6 seconds at a time. If we were to have questions, we felt there was no opportunity to ask them.

We stared at a bowl of butter, but were never offered bread. We ordered some oysters, and the only check back had nothing to do with the quality our food, but was to see if we wanted to order entrees. I told our server we were easy and just came in for oysters and dessert. At this point it started to feel like our server lost all interest in taking care of us.

I had to then flag down our server to order dessert, which she dropped off and immediately walked away (as I attempted to order a drink). After staring at our dessert for 10 minutes, I was able to flag down the server again to order beverages to accompany our dessert, as she could not be bothered to stick around for a fraction of a moment for some first timers.

A different server delivered our beverage order (Lori I was told) and made eye contact, spoke to us cordially, and pre bussed to set the stage for dessert. We interacted with this kind lady for 10 seconds, and it was the best part of our visit.

The atmosphere was wonderful though with Cops re-runs playing on the television, the dress code started to feel a bit redundant.

The oysters were meaty and the creme brulee was wonderful, but for the price point/dress code/expectations that come along with it, the service was pitiful...