Oak And Ember Steakhouse — Restaurant in Port Saint Lucie

Pros and Cons of tonight’s experience:

Pros:

The restaurants location is much easier to get to if you’ve been to Oceanside you’ll understand.

Christin (I’m sorry if I forgot your name!) was a great waitress, and the hostesses were friendly, it was very nice of Matthew and Bo to check up on us to make sure we were enjoying ourselves!

The restaurant is vibrant and sexy! It looks great inside and it feels like the kind of place that you go to in formal wear but also not be out of place in a nice shirt and a nice pair of jeans, it was very well decorated and the bar looked very nice! (Plus seeing the kitchen and the wheel were cool!)

The prices are cheaper! Compared to Oceanside I believe the menu prices are between 10% - 15% cheaper which is always a plus!

The crab cakes are awesome as always! It seems like most of what we had used the same recipes as the Oceanside location which is great!

The valet service and the front of the restaurant looked nice.

Cons:

The wait staff seemed a little lost, the restaurant just opened which is understood but when it came to recommendations and knowing the menu it didn’t seem like they completely had it down, given that it is new it’s something that takes time but makes it awkward as a customer not being able to ask how something tastes.

The seating we had was very awkward, I got lucky and was sat right next to the restroom and all I was facing was the restroom and the wall, going to a high end restaurant it was uncomfortable to sit at a really small table and just look at the bathroom the whole time, also that was the area where the staff would wait at and they were just standing there the whole time which was just.... Weird.

A few things that made us feel pretty rushed happened as well, while working on our appetizers one of the plates still had a good amount of food on it and 2 different staff members both tried to take it away before we finished, then after that while my girlfriend was still eating her meal they took my plate away. Made her feel rushed and awkward.

No desert menu :(

The steak tartare was very lack luster, it looked great but didn’t taste the best, it was very... Oily? I’m not to sure how to describe it but it wasn’t anywhere near as good as everything else we had during this meal and all the others at Kyle Gs Oceanside.

There wasn’t social distancing and some of the staff didn’t properly wear their masks, a lot of people might not care about this as much but we were seated right next to people and it was worrying.

All in all it was a good meal, it’s a new restaurant so it’s expected to have a few things here and there but I wish we waited a few weeks to go. If it was to stay the way it was when we went today I wouldn’t go back, might try again in a few weeks and update this review with an update if we...

Went for Christmas Eve because my mother was in the hospital. We decided to go there and had 8:00 reservations for “inside” This is my 2nd time visiting one of these restaurants I visited Kyle G last time I was in Port Saint Lucie. The food at Kyle Gs was amazing and the service was as well. Back to Oak and Ember, I gave myself some time to write the review. I figured if it didn’t bother me after a few days that I would let it go. As a previous restaurant owner in NYC, and working for Daniel Bouloud, I just had to say something. After waiting 30 minutes a family that was seated outside right before us spoke to a hostess about moving to the interior. When we were asked if we could sit outside I said I have no problem with that but I’m not dressed accordingly so if we get fast service I have no problem. She thanked me over and over. After being seated we waited 25 minutes for our server Emily. She took our drink order and that took another 20 minutes. By this time we were freezing. We placed our dinner orders. We weren’t served until 10pm. We saw couples and families that were seated after us actually leave before we even got our food. My sons who work at LeDistrict and Liberty Bistro in NYC were in shock that no one bussed the table next to us. We sat next to a dirty table the entire night. When the entrees finally arrived (my son ordered 2 entrees) so we had 5 entrees for 4 people which is generous and the food came cold. We asked immediately for the check when the food came because my partner was falling asleep at the table which was embarrassing and honestly I couldn’t blame him. All we did was wait and wait the entire night. I never had such awful service ever. Emily didn’t ask if anything was wrong when I asked for the check when the food arrived. If I had a staff member do such a horrible job I would make sure to make up for it as the manager but there was no visible manager. It was mayhem and our evening suffered because of bad service. For a restaurant of this calibre and this level of food, I’m sorry but you need to run a tighter ship on a holiday. Emily could’ve treated us with a dessert on the house but she didn’t want to be there, let’s face it she couldn’t wait for her night to end. It was a disappointment to say the least. We had 2 half chicken entrees, the NY Stripsteak black n blu, the short ribs, and a filet mignon. We had 5 cocktails total, and one appetiser. I wish I could say something more positive but I didn’t get to enjoy the food at the restaurant. My sons ate the leftovers, but it wasn’t supposed to be “wait in the cold two hours and get the food to go” This, after doing a favor for the restaurant by dining out when we had reservations for dining in did nothing for me but everything for...

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! MOSTLY HORRIBLE ANNIVERSARY EXPERIENCE.

Our visit from start to finish:

Walked in. Very beautiful scenery and warm welcome. Waited just a few minutes to be seated after confirming our reservation.

Led to our seat by a beautiful, well mannered hostess. It was extremely loud. Like I couldn’t think. We were seated in the middle of the room at a very small table ( barely enough room for menus, silverware and decorations ).

Waitress arrived after maybe 5 or 6 minutes and asked if we needed any help with menus and what we would like to drink. Water. We needed a few moments to look over menu.

The menu had some great selections. A bit pricey, but not too bad for this sort of place. But it’s so loud I’m having a hard time sorting though it.

We ordered 6 raw oysters and 2 crab cakes for starters. Main courses: Each an order of rare Australian Wagyu with asparagus and baked potato.

After about 15 minutes, the oysters showed up. Everything on the tiny table had to be shuffled around perfectly to fit the tray. The Chef must have kept the larger ones to himself because I honestly have never seen such puny oysters (and I literally have them every place they are sold)

Oysters are now gone, but no crab cakes. Waitress comes to tell us they are out of Wagyu so she recommend ribeye instead. Fine we said. We are very hungry. 25 minutes or so into the experience, our Crab cakes arrive. Pro: these are probably some of the best crab cakes we have ever had.

Main course arrives as we are close to finishing our Crab cakes, but nothing else will fit onto the table. Because of this, they scraped our appetizers onto the main course plates.

I’m getting tired of writing so I’m gonna make this quick. The “rare” steaks were so burnt that my dog wouldn’t even eat the leftovers (and there were a lot) once we got home....she eats EVERYTHING! My wife literally gagged while trying to chew it. The asparagus were extremely hard (undercooked). The loaded baked potato was actually very good! Candied bacon really did the trick.

The 2 stars from this rating are for the scenery and professionalism of the staff. The lack of the remaining 3 come from poor time management, and mostly bad food. They clearly need a new chef and kitchen staff.

Our total bill was just under $300 but outback or just about any other steak house would have been a better choice. We will visit again in a few months and hopefully I will have better...