Oak — Restaurant in Seattle

This review is about my experience on Wednesday the 9th of April around 10:30 pm.

I walked in with my coworker as we had both just gotten off of work. There did not seem to be a problem while we were there, he ordered us some drinks and paid.

The problem started when I asked for a Band-Aid. I work in the service industry As well, And had cut my thumb the other day. The Band-Aid I had on started to fall off, So I asked a girl with two-tone hair If I could have one. Not only was it impossible to catch her attention. At first it seemed. When I did ask her For a Band-Aid she immediately without thinking said “no we’re out of them.” She did not ask me why I needed one or offered anything else to help my bleeding thumb.

Me and my coworker looked at each other and shrugged.

At one point, My elderly uncle, Who had also just gotten off of work, Also at a restaurant, Came in to have a drink with us. I had not seen him in a moment and just wanted to catch up with him as his health was failing. We were able to order a drink through the other person working at the bar, but the girl with the blonde highlight and bangs refused to look at us.

At one point, I asked the other bartender for a Band-Aid just because I felt like something was off. She left and returned within minutes with two Band-Aids.

While we were finishing our beers, The girl with the highlight again came over and said that they were closing soon. I turned to my Uncle to Ask him if he would like another before they closed, as he did not speak any English whatsoever, but by the time I was able to say a few words, she had already walked away.

I could hear the girl who refused to me a Band-Aid talking to the table behind us for over a minute, So I tried to ask the other bartender if we could grab two last drinks for the road. She said no that they had already done last call.

As people filed out me and my uncle just looked at each other, again, not knowing why we were so unwelcome. It would be one thing if it was a bad night and everyone was in a bad mood, it happens. But we were obviously not being treated the same as the other patrons.

Even the cooks that had come out and sat at the bar for their shift beer were telling us they didn’t understand why we were being ignored.

I understand that maybe we don’t “look” like we belong in Oak but we are paying customers, and we work in the industry as well, and have been our entire lives.

To hear my tio ask me in Spanish if I thought this was discrimination broke my heart.

I don’t know why that server felt it necessary to make us feel unwelcome but I hope she has some way of...

We came here for brunch on a weekday, which gave us access to a lot of interesting items.

Firstly, I have to say this place has a ton of vegan/vegetarian options. When looking for American/brunch foods, it’s rare that you see a place where you can easily bring a group with a vegan member and have them be able to pick between several different menu options & not feel limited. Nice job there

I decided to get the Brekkie Poutine, which consisted of fries topped with cheese curds & mushroom gravy, and a sunny side up egg. This was my first time trying poutine.

I was disappointed that they ran out of sausage gravy (what was advertised on the menu), which left the only option as the mushroom gravy. It was still decent enough, because I like mushrooms, but I do think that the sausage gravy would’ve tasted a lot better

The fries were pretty good - there were a lot of them. They weren’t anything special, as the inside didn’t really seem that soft, but the important part was that they didn’t get super soggy on the outside and retained some crispiness, which was good

The cheese curds were excellent - this is the first time I’d had the non-fried variety - but I don’t feel like there was enough on this dish. It covered some parts, especially on the right side, but on the left there were massive gaps where the cheese was missing. I would’ve loved the meal a lot more if it was more of this cheese

The sunny side egg on top was cooked basically perfectly, and the yolk dripping through added a great & unique flavor to the overall gravy mix.

For the price of around $17, this isn’t bad - it’s a good amount of food, but not particularly filling

Overall, I did enjoy the food, but it could’ve been improved, and I feel like there’s a lot better poutine out there that I haven’t...

Technically, the food was quite good, with the exception of the asparagus soup and the bland spicy sauce for the fried chicken. The issue with this place is with the many hidden fees and the complete lack of communication regarding upcharges.

I was unsure if I would like the cider they had on tap, so I asked if it was possible to taste it. The waitress said yes and came back with a small sample that I ended up liking and asking for a full glass of. At no point did she say that I would be charged for this sample. I have never been charged to sample a drink that a restaurant or bar had on tap. And I've certainly never had the server not mention it is an additional charge.

When ordering my food, a fried chicken kale caesar, I was asked if I wanted it spicy and I said "sure". Again, the server did not say it was an upcharge of $1.50 for a side of this bland, extremely mild, red oil. When my friend was asked if he wanted fries, soup, or a side salad, he was not told that the soup would be a $4 charge. And to make it worse, it was an inedible, probably canned asparagus soup that I couldn't choke down more than a mouthful of.

Perhaps it's on me for trusting servers to be forthcoming about the upcharges and fees associated with certain items on their menu. Maybe I expect a level of customer service and communication that is unreasonable.

I don't write reviews often, but this experience left a bad taste in my mouth along with that god-awful...