The District: Seville Steak & Seafood — Restaurant in Pensacola

First the positives. The atmosphere was wonderful. The attention of the manager or owner was superb. The attention of the wait staff was very good. This is a Steak House Restaurant but they do have some other featured menu items if you don't eat red meat or you are some form of vegetarian. I would recommend when going there to try the steak. I was at a large table and while I did not try everything I saw how the food came out. I think the Ribeyes came out best. I'm partial to ribeyes. I was dying to try the Chateaubriand but it was for two people and I was only one.

I really liked how they did the descriptions of cooking temperatures for their steak. When it came to well-done description, the comment was "would not recommend."

I think they did a wonderful job on their appetizers specifically the calamari which was addictive and could never be confused with the mass market chain restaurant versions. The cooked oysters were also cooked perfectly, just heated enough and tender and juicy and very fresh tasting. I would have liked to try the raw oysters as well as the crab meat. I think it would have been cool if they would have stated what type of oysters they had and where they came from but I could have missed this. I can't tell you whether or not the crab meat is pure lump backfin blue crab but I sure would hope that's what they serve. The charcuterie tray was also very nice. Their cocktails were amazing. The old fashioned was one of the best cocktails I believe I have ever had. I had the feeling that whichever specialty cocktail you chose you would be thrilled. The wine selection was very good. However, I would only recommend white wines by the glass if you are not getting a bottle. I would not recommend red wines by the glass but rather by the bottle, unless you enjoy chilled reds, which to me is like getting a steak well done. I hope they find a way to correct this so things may be different when you order a glass of red. I love that they put a New Zealand Pinot, and a Rioja on the menu. I would have loved to see more big Spanish Reds and a couple of good malbecs on the list. In general the food came out as one would expect for very expensive entrees and steaks. However, I personally would not recommend the fish/trout and especially would not recommend the pork. Why not the pork? Pork can an amazing dish if not the best at a steakhouse if the cut is right and it is cooked properly. I just think you would do better with any of the steaks here by my limited experience. They did a great job on the asparagus and the sweet potatoes. I did try the brussel sprouts. I like the way they cooked the brussel sprouts but the seasoning I believe had something vinegary and sweet in it, like a balsamic. I'm a purist and would have liked to had the brussel sprouts cooked with just garlic salt and pepper and a little oil. Maybe deglaze with a little white wine but nothing else. I would not personally recommend the dessert wines as mine was served in a warm glass and with a very short pour and the wrong type of glass. You may have better experience with their choice of ports... in my opinion, temperature and glass can make a big difference when drinking wines. Interesting how they really get this right with their mixed drinks. The creme brulee was very good but it's done in a very thin ramiken and in my opinion would have been much better in a taller ramiken and chilled well after firing. I was very excited that they did not have a seasonal variant and did a traditional creme brulee. Their chocolate and raspberry dish was beautiful to look at. I didn't order it, but if I had, I would ask to pour the raspberry sauce myself. I love their attention to personal contact and interaction. They did make you feel special. I'm planning to go back on my own and a try a steak as soon as possible. And the negative? I thought about this for a while and there are really no negatives. I know what it's like to run a restaurant in good times but doing things at this level during covid-19 really shows this is an...

We had been wanting to try The District for some time and decided to go last night for our 22nd Anniversary. We started off with the Shrimp Cocktail and the Lobster Bisque. The shrimp were huge and had a great flavor! The Bisque was okay. It had more of a pungent flavor than we thought it would. We've had Crab Bisque before and was maybe expecting something along the same lines. My husband ordered the Hand-Cut New York Strip and I ordered the Filet Mignon. Both were top notch and cooked to perfection. I ordered mushrooms to go with my steak, but they weren't my favorite. This was probably just me, but they had a really earthly flavor; kind of like they had just been picked out of the ground. We topped it all off with the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulée. It was delicious! Ivy was our waitress and she was very friendly and attentive. Great job! The only problem with our evening was the atmosphere. We were seated at a two person table between two other two person tables. One of those tables was about three feet from ours, but the other one was no more than a foot (if that) from ours. Both other parties were fine and courteous, but we felt we couldn't even have much of a conversation. It was really loud and we felt like we were sitting in their laps. The foursome across from us felt it necessary to shout their conversations to each other, along with swear words to boot. The only time they were quiet was when they were eating. Apparently, they didn't eat much, since the conversation only stopped for a few minutes. Maybe the restaurant needs some of those sound absorbing boards to go on their walls. When making the reservation, we used Open Table and it asked if we were celebrating a special occasion and I put 'Anniversary'. But my question would be; why ask if it wasn't going to be acknowledged? A simple 'Happy Anniversary' would have been nice. We weren't expecting anything. All this is to say, if our review was based solely on the food, it would have been excellent, but since the atmosphere overshadowed the food, we probably won't be back. That's a lot of money to spend on a great meal, yet can't have a decent conversation with each other because it's so loud and we're practically sitting in our...

Our server did not write down our order and forgot our appetizer. When we asked about it she apologized and said she'd get it out to us in a few minutes. Not two minutes later our entrees came out. My wife had salmon that had so much salt that it was all she could taste. My swordfish had a peppercorn sauce that was so heavy on the peppercorn that it burned my tongue. When we explained our issue to the server she said that she could have them remake the salmon without salt but that my swordfish has a peppercorn sauce so it's going to have pepper in the taste. I didn't appreciate the connotation that I didn't know that there was a pepper sauce and elaborated that I like pepper just not when it burns my tongue. Our entrees were taken back and a few minutes later our forgotten appetizer arrives. Steak skewers that were very charred. I tried one piece of the meat and all I could taste was the carbonization which seemed odd for a place that advertises as a steak and seafood house. Almost as soon as the appetizer came out our new mains also arrived via the manager who apologized and advised he was not notified one of our courses was forgotten or he would have paced everything out so it didn't arrive all at once. These new mains were acceptable but nothing to write home about. We were then visited by another employee who didn't identify himself but told us that he was sorry about everything and that he was comping the majority of our meal and even dessert if we wanted it. At this point we figured in for a penny in for a pound so we ordered their signature chocolate dome with raspberry sauce. Our server brought it out and advised that it would be a video worthy moment so we started rolling. She poured the sauce on the dome and nothing happened. I don't know if the sauce wasn't hot enough or the chocolate shell too thick but there was no grand reveal to be had. Fortunately it still tasted good. After all was said and done, basically our entire meal was comped and the staff seemed apologetic that we had a negative experience which I am appreciative for, but it will probably be some time before we try The...