The Oar House — Restaurant in Rockwall

We opted to have lunch at The Oar House with a business lunch in mind on a Friday and wanted a place that would not be loud and intrusive. It had been years since I had visited, but I was still hopeful for a good lunch, excellent service, and an atmosphere to be relaxed. We were not disappointed. Before we selected a place to eat, we all looked at online menus to get an idea of what sounded good to everyone. The pricing is not what made our decisions, but it should be noted that the menu you are handed in the restaurant has a few items with higher pricing than the online menu. I would recommend they correct that for transparency's sake. This meal alone was $19, more expensive than the online menu. I am not complaining, but that's an extra lunch entrée at additional costs.

Now, I got lost in conversation and did not get nearly enough photos, but did grab a few here and there. When we arrived at 11:45 am, the parking lot had only a few cars. Lunch service runs from 11 am to 2 pm, and they close again until dinner. When we walked in, two of my business partners and one of their wives and I were greeted warmly and guided to our table. The place was clean and well-lit but not bright, which is always a plus. The decorations seemed well maintained, the ones we noticed. I was reminded of all the many trips here in the past as the rustic interior welcomed us in. The little touches like stained glass windows and old world style feel made the place feel like we were no longer in little ol Rockwall.

Our server took our orders for drinks promptly, and we opted for a few appetizers to share. We ordered the Funghetti Ripieni, bruschetta, and Cozze al Vino Bianco. Bread and butter were served at the table as well. We ordered Spezzatino di Manzo, Suprema Al Ferro, Caeser con Pollo, Ravioli Di Formaggio, and lobster bisque for lunch.

Overall the meal and the experience was amazing. The food was great, and the atmosphere was very inviting. I love the old, cozy feel of the place. It feels like you are in a comfortable, warm place with an appealing atmosphere. The server, Ryan, was terrific. We felt like the only people in the place the entire meal. Even though there were a few other people there, the service was top-notch. The Oar House will stay in my rotation of places for a while. They continue to impress and provide great food and service; with a few tweaks, they will be just that much better. We over stayed our welcome and got lost in conversation. We looked up and it was well past 2pm, and they had already shut down. They were patiently waiting on us and never interrupted our conversation one time. We apologized for keeping them past 2pm, and they were very kind. They kindly said, not a problem at all. Happy you enjoyed your time. Come see us again. I can say that I will continue to go and will keep them in the...

I decided to try Ore House again since the food I received wasn't too bad the first time and I had a craving for Italian food that wasn't Olive Garden. This time there were two cars in the parking lot at peak lunch hour and I should have taken that as a red flag. So I ordered the featured chicken dish for the day and in theory it sounded great. Unfortunately, the chicken came out completely RAW! Of course I had eaten about a third of the uncooked chicken before I noticed due to the heavy sauce. When I say raw I do not mean undercooked, I mean it was seared and plated. YUK!!!! After informing the waitress she took the chicken to the kitchen and came back offering to recook the dish or to get something else. I refused and said no thank you. She seemed kind of panicky and went back to the kitchen. During this 7 minute wait, I expected for the manager to come out and say something, but they did not. Instead the waitress brought me a ticket for my iced tea. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! YOU SERVED ME RAW CHICKEN!! THE LEAST YOU COULD HAVE DONE IS COMPED MY ICED TEA TO WASH OUT MY MOUTH!!! The manager NEVER CAME! What a joke of a restaurant and what BAD BAD BUSINESS! I am in Sales and Marketing for the Rockwall community and Im ashamed to have this type of service in this town. Shame.

First Review: Very strange atmosphere for an Italian restaurant. I went during prime lunch time and I was one of 4 tables in the entire place. This had me a little nervous, but my food was decent. The presentation of the food was sloppy and the side portions were small. I had two waiters, one was a space cadet and the other was quite pleasant, however, I was sat next to the wait station and had to endure the wait staff's conversations. Nobody wants to enjoy a nice lunch while listening to the waiters talk about what they think about the customers and what kind of tip they think they will get. Just unprofessional. Overall, decent food, a little pricey, WEIRD décor and atmosphere,...

A one does not describe the experience we have had oar house. We had a reservation for nine people at 11 o'clock for a graduation lunch. We were seated promptly and order drinks the sodas and waters came out kind of slow but average. The place was so dark that everyone had to use their phones to read the menu. It seemed that there was two waiters on shift no manager and a total of four tables in the restaurant. I noticed that the rest of the tables had bread and butter which we had nothing. We had a three-year-old with us and found that there was little to no options on the menu or that they could come up with for him and he was getting restless. We placed our order for food about 15 minutes into being there most of the people at the table ordered this stake and salads 30 minutes after we ordered our food everybody's drinks at the table were empty and had not been refilled the drinks ordered from the bar had still not arrived. Our waiter had ben extremely rude since the time we arrived we finally flag down the other waiter to see what was going on with our food sense we had been there for over an hour at this point with no refills and no salads come out yet. That waiter was also extremely rude and when we mentioned that we were thinking about just leaving he said well that's up to you go ahead right after he walked away our waiter came out with are salads when we asked to see a manager she went back to the kitchen and we could see her on the phone we waited another 10 minutes before we decided that we were done with our experience and ready to go get food Somewhere else. Recommend the Sawgrass across the street before the ore house. I am not a person who normally write reviews but I think it is important to get this place obviously needs a...