The PO House — Restaurant in Sumter

Accompanied my husband here Friday for his birthday. I went around 5:30 and they were slammed. Not one parking space available for almost 10 minutes. No seating except outdoor, which I gladly obliged to. The door was held for myself and my husband by a cheery fellow, which happened to blow my mind, and contradict all the unsatisfactory reviews about customer service and hospitality. Hmm..

Ambiance was very interesting. Lots to look at, with a super country, bayou vibe. Was not impressed with our server, Chris at the end. He did recommend a decadent, well blended cajun pasta dish. We had chicken with ours. The alfredo sauce was made from scratch, however the kitchen used a hydrogenated based margarine (leaves an oily film that separates when the sauce cools) instead of a natural or organic butter. I also tried a few of their craft beers, wasn't a fan of the reds. The pound of steamed shrimp was unseasoned, watery, and not de-veined. My oysters I ordered were not chilled. They were warmer than the outside air. With the steamed shrimp, I used their house cocktail sauce and was amazed. It had the perfect amount of horseradish. Brightly infused with lemon, with a touch of sugar, it was a welcomed addition of fresh. After our meal, We received our check of $40.08. We added our tip in, making the amount $50.08. We handed the bill presenter to the server, and as we were leaving he was standing near the door counting the money we placed in with the receipt, and he wasn't at the kiosk! I didn't see him do the same to his other tables that left before us. Not a big shock, this is typical, jilted genetics of all the anti-miscegenates saturating Sumter. I recommend this place for their suds, and their chow. Best to grab it to go or at the bar to avoid the contrasting visceral personality colors their...

Below you'll find my original review from 5 months ago. I had to edit my review because the last three times we went the food quality has slowly went downhill until tonight which is the first time we've been to the restaurant in about a month and the food was completely inedible.

I'll start with the ribeye that I ordered medium rare. When it came to the table it was medium-well to nearly well done with barely any pink inside. My wife ordered the grouper grilled, it was so covered with seasoning you couldn't taste the fish and not to mention it was completely undercooked. Grouper should not be translucent when it's done.

I sent the steak back and did not ask them to remake it or give me anything else. The server removed it from our bill.

After paying our bill on the way out I asked to speak with the manager. I was directed to a man sitting at a booth with a customer. I explained to him very politely that we were not pleased with our food.

Before I could explain why, I was cut off by the manager who told me " I cut into that steak and I promise you it was medium rare"

I almost couldn't respond because of how rude he was. I guess the customer is always wrong in this establishment? I the mentioned my wife's grouper was inedible and severely undercooked.

As I was walking out I received an Unapologetic "sorry you weren't happy".

Unbelievable. We will not be coming back to this establishment. Ever.

Here is my review from 5 months ago.

It's so nice to find a restaurant in the city of Sumter that has quality food decent prices and excellent staff members. I hope they can spread some of that amazingness around to other establishments in the area because they...

This rating is more so for the customer service versus the food.

Host: How many people do you have in your party?

Me: 4 and I would like a booth if it’s available. (I could see several booths available from where I was standing)

Host: There’s no booths available

Me: What about these booths over here?

Host: Walks off to talk to a gentlemen in civilian nor restaurant attire. Host returns and proceeds to take to one of the booths that was clearly available.

Me: What was the confusion about the booth? Were they reservered?

Host: No, we didn’t want to sit anyone there because we were giving the waitress a break.

Me: (silently speaking) the restaurant just opened at 5pm and there’s another family eating in that area already......clearly a lie!

Long story short, this started to draw a lot of questions from myself and my family ie. Was this an racial thing? Why wouldn’t they want us to sit in that area?

Just something to think about while dinning here. Furthermore, the food wasn’t bad outside of the burnt steak and missing items from our order......food for thought, a...