The Oak Tavern — Restaurant in Prattville

Before we get started here I'd like to say that the rating I am giving does not reflect my experience here. As a restaurant manager myself I know how important internet ratings have become for the success of a business and I never want to hurt a businesses success unless my experience was so egregious that I believe they don't deserve to be successful.

The Oak Tavern is a restaurant inside of a Marriott hotel. So going in I expected this to be a very nice experience. The dining room was very nice and the seating was comfortable and clean. So first the first impression was a good one.

We sat at a table close to the bar as me and my wife like to be close enough to be able to have quick access to a drink if the wait staff isn't readily available. Our waitress was also the bartender which we were happy about.

First thing about the bar I noticed is that it was bare. Lots of empty spaces where liquors should have been and many of the bottles that were still there were nearly empty. I'm a beer drinker most of the time so it didn't hurt my feelings, but I thought that it was odd. I order liquor for my place also and I understand that some things are hard to get right now, but not that many things... It seemed likely that no one had bothered to place an order for some time.

Our server was friendly and knowledgeable and very good with my daughter and my wife enjoyed the drinks she made as well. She was great throughout the whole experience. The only negative here was the tie dye head band she was wearing which I didn't think was appropriate for the dining atmosphere the restaurant seemed to be trying to portray. However, that isn't the server's fault, that would be the fault of management that allows their employees to wear things like that.

The menu was well put together, I thought that the selection was a good and appropriate for the style of restaurant. The prices were high on many items, but were appropriate for the atmosphere and what I assumed the quality of the food we would be receiving would be.

So we ordered drinks which came to us quickly. As we reviewed the menu with our drinks at the table I noticed a fruit fly buzzing around. No big deal, again I manage a restaurant, I understand that there is no way to completely eliminate every pest, the fly or crawling types. I swatted him away, no problem. Only a moment later another showed up and before we could get that one gone another and another showed up. Literally our entire meal we were fighting with 2 to 4 flies at a time. So that told me that despite the nice clean atmosphere that was viewable, some areas that we couldn't see must be very dirty.

First; appetizers arrived. We ordered a crawfish and shrimp queso bread bowl. The first thing I noticed about the dish is that it wasn't very hot. The cheese was already starting to get thick and shortly after we were having trouble scooping. The dish was served with pita chips which seemed like they had been out for a while. The bread bowl was less than half filled with dip which was mostly cheese and very few crawfish or shrimp and the ones that were there were obviously low quality seafood. This was simply a very cheaply made dish. Not at all appropriate for the price or intended atmosphere.

Now the entrées. I ordered a the loaded cheeseburger and my wife, who couldn't decide on one item, ordered a margarita pizza and a Conecuh...

Okay. One positive thing. The fried wickles are delicious. Kind of a sweet pickle deep fried in a beer batter and a great dill dip. Love them so much!! So many down sides other than this. Service sucks so bad!! Slooowwww! Also, These crab cakes are pitiful for the price. Like come on. $23 for two of the tiniest crab cakes I’ve ever seen in over 7 states traveling and ordering them. They taste good but def not worth the price for portion. The drink service was super slow!!! One order took 19 minutes to get a glass at the table. Every drink order was 10-15 delay. And the bartender had just one customer at one point. Maybe it was the old man waiting our table or the bar tender. I don’t know. Service sucked. Also, they had a two person band playing outside in the 80+ degree heat for a group of 5 outside. Meanwhile there are 30 of us inside and can’t hear the music. Brilliant guys. Also. We were charged an outrageous $19 per drink for a simple bourbon mule with Buffalo Trace. Shocking up charge for a simple drink with a cheap bourbon. Don’t waste...

While my wife and I were walking to the patio I stood and watched what I assume a manager berate her employee behind the bar. The manager was extremely rude and disrespectful. We heard her belittle the employee and question her why she would take her prescribed medication and come to work. My wife and I decided that this was not an establishment we wanted to support and started walking out, as we were going back to the front doors that same manager was talking about the other employee saying ugly things about her. At that moment we knew this wasn’t the place for us and we will never get behind a company that allows managers to talk to hateful and almost embarrass their employees, then the manager was allowed to walk around to Other employees and continue to downgrade that girl. The highlight a of our visit was driving away knowing that we will...