The 1901 — Restaurant in Oxnard

In the last 5 months my wife and I had been to La Dolce Vita twice. Everything was O.K on the first occasion. We were there with a party of six. No tip was added to the bill, and we left a 20% tip. On that occasion we had a waiter who was a very pleasant and efficient young man. The food was good, and the service was impeccable.

Because of that pleasant experience, we returned on April 11, 2012, with our 2 daughters and sons-in-law to celebrate my and my wife's 55th wedding anniversary. Much to our chagrin, the experience was one of the worst restaurant experiences we have ever encountered. It seemed like the prior competent chef, waitress, and other staff were replaced by incompetent help. After we were seated, it took 15 minutes before the waitress, who advised of the specials, and took our order for drinks, attended to us. We ordered a bottle of wine and a glass of ice tea neither of which was delivered for another 20 minutes. Another 20 minutes passed before the waitress took our food order, soup and salad of which were not served for another 10 minutes. The minestrone soup was very watery and otherwise unpalatable. When the entrees were served 30 minutes later the food was cold. My son-in-law and I had ordered filet minion steaks, both of which were over cooked and very dry. (I had ordered mine medium rare and it came medium well.) One of my daughters returned her pasta which was extremely seasoned, (hot) for a milder one, and the other returned her pot roast the meat in which was tough and chopped into little pieces and loaded with fat. She chose not to reorder a substitute. I substituted with Seafood Linguine. It was O.K. in taste but had no scallops, or shrimp, (they were on the description on the menu) and instead of those, pieces of fish (not on the description on the menu.) My son-in-law law substituted a pork and pasta dish, which was just O.K. (He would never had ordered it if he knew what it was like.) We waited 25 more minutes for the substituted dishes to arrive. It took us 25 minutes to complete our meal after the substituted dishes arrived. Then it took 15 minutes for a bus boy to clear the table, and 15 minutes more to get the check. All in all, we spent 2 and 1/2 hrs in the restaurant, from our reservation time of 7:30 to 10:00.

The rest of the service was horrendous. The waitress never appeared unless we summoned her. She never asked my daughter if she wanted more tea, and of course never gave her a refill. When she brought my seafood linguine, she didn't bring a bowl for the discarded shells, a cocktail fork, nor a spoon for the broth, and it took her two trips to bring them separately. She never offered cheese for those who had pasta, nor did she serve bread until she brought the soup and salad. The bread was served with brochette (which was fine) instead of butter or olive oil. However, when we ran out and she brought more, which we never requested, she charged us for the second brochette. She never asked if we wanted dessert or coffee. Of course we would have declined both.)

A short time after we had first complained, a lady in a chef's apron who I believe was also the owner stood behind the reservation booth for about 15 minutes with her elbows on the counter and chin in her hands glaring at us, making my daughters very uncomfortable. And finally, when the check was prepared it included an 18% tip, which of course we didn't authorize, and typically such inclusion is never added unless there is a party of 8 patrons or more. HOW...

TL;DR -- a bit annoyed, food mostly good, bar downstairs is a winner

Found this place while browsing Google Maps looking for places to eat not too long ago. Saw The 1901, went to the website, and I was intrigued. Oxnard could use more places like this, and there are few restaurants in Oxnard that I'll actually go to sit down for service. We gave it a shot for a Saturday night at 7pm.

Now, it's on Google Maps as The 1901. The website is all about The 1901 for the "speakeasy" and the restaurant and the catering. It's the first time in 13 years of living in the area that I went to this area actually, so I knew nothing of the place. So, when we arrive via Lyft, I see a big sign at the bottom of some basement stairs that is emblazoned with 1901. OK - that's where the bar is. Where's the restaurant? There's a sign that says La Dolce Vita on the corner of the building. Walk to the other side, and we can look through an open door into a kitchen; obviously not the entrance to The 1901 restaurant. We walk back around the other way, and there's stairs to the door of La Dolce Vita with more signage. Where the __ is The 1901? We arrived the same time as another couple, and they were also walking around trying to figure out where The 1901 restaurant was located.

WELL ... The 1901 is La Dolce Vita. I'm sorry; I'm not up on all things happening locally to know that it was turned over. But, if you're going to launch a new restaurant and you go to the extent of having a nice polished web presence, but you can't/don't/won't put up new signage at your actual physical location that replaces the restaurant that is no longer there ... ???? ... well, color me perplexed and annoyed for walking around and eventually going into the bar to ask where The 1901 restaurant is!!!

Finally, inside and seated, we were fortunate to get a corner table inside. However, the lighting was awful. Some accent lighting on the walls, but one overhead ceiling lamp was the main lighting for the room. Ceiling is painted red with cream colored walls. It simply could be done better. I don't want to really feel as if I'm sitting in someone's great-grandmother's living room.

Service was slow. We waited 15 mintues before someone brought bruschetta. Water came after that. Perhaps short staffed? It seemed like the ladies waiting on tables were also sharing hostess duties. We also brought our own bottle of wine, and it wasn't until just before dinner that it was asked if we wanted it opened. We didn't want it opened right away, but it wasn't even asked. We didn't see a manager caring to guests and staff. Staff dressed in black, but wait staff wearing hoodies? Good management seems a weakness.

Bruschetta was not very good. Calamari was decent; breading and seasoning was quite nice but the squid itself was a bit chewy. Potato crusted halibut was very good. Pork loin was good except for too much gorgonzola. Whomever is cooking the sides vegetables needs to be promoted, because the side veggies were cooked to perfection ... aspargus, squash, and zuc. We didn't order dessert.

Downstairs in the bar ... great! Great atmosphere. Good live music. Cocktails were nice. Service was good. Actually, a place that I'd go out to on Saturday to meet up with friends for a night out.

Rating is really only for the restaurant, because the downstairs bar is 4.5 stars. I'll probably go back to the restaurant to give it a second shot for improved service, perhaps better atmosphere, and hopefully a menu that evolves and...

I hosted a small, intimate Celebration of Life. We were a group of 12 relatives, many who hadn't seen each other in 20 years, and we wanted someplace with great food that was also quiet or private enough for us to reminisce and catch up. It was difficult finding a restaurant in Ventura County that even takes reservations, let alone can accommodate a group of 12 in a private/semiprivate room.

I called in advance and spoke to the manager, who set arranged for us to have a medium sized upstairs room to ourselves. The room would normally have accommodated at least 24, but the entire space was ours for the evening.

We ordered both wine and mixed drinks, given that mixed drinks are the restaurant's specialty. I ordered the Second One is Always Better, a tequila drink with Tajin on the rim - delicious! Among the things we ordered were wedge salads, garlic fries, mushroom soup, seafood linguine, linguine with clams, rack of lamb, the roasted duck special with risotto (this was my dish, and it was delicious!), and ahi tuna. All of the portions were very generous, enough for two. The tiramisu desserts were enormous and delicious.

The prices were quite reasonable, all things considered - the meals and drinks, with tip and tax was less than $70 per person. The servers were very attentive without being obtrusive. All in all, it was the perfect way to gather for such an intimate moment. Thank you, 1901 staff, for your wonderful food...