Stay Away From This Restaurant

When I used to write my weekly nightlife column Nocturnal Vibe in Tampa, Florida, I tried to keep things positive. My motto was, if it's great, I'll tell you about it. If it sucks, I just won't recommend it. But then over time I've learned the power of prose. I've learned that sometimes you just have to speak your mind and make others aware of unsavory situations you may have experienced. Such is the case of a recent visit to DC restaurant Oya in Chinatown.

Let's set the stage for you really quick. It's Friday night. I booked an 8 p.m. reservation for 10 to host a secret birthday dinner for my girlfriend Joelle. The idea was that everyone would arrive by 8 and be seated. We would arrive around 10 after 8 and, surprise...everyone is there! Up until this night, Oya had been one of my favorite restaurants in a city of culinary heavy-weights. The design is impeccable, the vibe is smooth and hip and the food has always been some of the best I've had. And I've always appreciated their inexpensive prix fixe 3-course menu.

Oh, how quickly they fall!

My negative experience began when I called the restaurant earlier in the day to confirm everything. They explained they wouldn't seat anyone until we all had arrived. I explained the situation of the surprise birthday dinner in hopes they'd understand. No go. They simply would not seat our table unless we all were there. Well that sucks. Way to work with me there Oya!

So we arrive to the restaurant on time where everyone is waiting to surprise my lovely girlfriend. All is well so far despite the strict seating rules. That is until we see a party of 20 sitting at our table and realize we'll have to wait until they are done to be seated. Now, this has happened before at Oya. Dan and I waited an hour and a half one evening for a reservation Dan had made for a party of 8. We're thinking, can this truly be happening again? Well, it was and the staff at Oya didn't seem to care. In my opinion, a reservation for 8 p.m. means a reservation for 8 p.m. I'll accept a 10, maybe 15 minute delay on the table. But what's a reservation system for if you still have to wait 30 minutes or more? I could probably be seated next door at Zaytinya for the same amount of time without a reservation.

So we're taken to our table at 8:35 p.m. and everyone is still in good spirits. Joelle was happy, so that was the most important thing on this night. We ordered our various courses, drank wine and enjoyed conversation. Things started to go really bad when we realized it was 10:30 p.m. and had not been served our main course. In fact, almost an hour passed between our first and second course. Some of our guests had not ordered a first course, so they had been sitting the entire time without anything. And now, as 10:45 approaches, a few of our guests had to leave to get to prior engagements. If you had told me you had somewhere to be at 11 and our reservations were for 8, I'd tell you there would be more than enough time. But oh, not tonight at Oya!

As time continued to pass, we realize our waiter has gone missing. We finally see him and he rolls his eyes when we tell him we want our main course. We tell him we'd like to see the manager and he cops an attitude and walks away. Clearly he didn't care either. So I get up and find the manager and tell him our situation. It's now 11 p.m. and we're finally eating our main course. But my salmon was overcooked and others were finding their food to be overdone or downright cold. As Dan says, these have probably been sitting under a hot-plate for 30 minutes. At this point I didn't care. I was hungry!

The night finished with our dessert course with little fanfare. Things wrapped up with the restaurant finally realizing we existed and bringing Jo a nice little happy birthday written on her dessert. And the manager did finally stop by to tell us they were reducing our check. But to be honest, the damage was done long before they took the time to come talk to us. As Dan said, there are far too many great restaurants in DC to stand for this type of service. And it's not like there was a large tourist bus sitting outside that could explain for the excessively long wait. The two large tables next to us with just as many guests were served their meals and had gone before we were done our second course. Clearly someone, somewhere in this joint had dropped the ball. And clearly our waiter decided to step away for an hour long break while we sat wondering when, oh when our dinner would arrive. Joelle did enjoy the evening and I think everyone enjoyed the great company.

So there it is. What was once one of my favorite restaurants is now officially history. I'd love to tell you I'll go back and give Oya another chance, but I just don't see it. Not when I have literally hundreds of other choices.

Labels: Dining Out, Food, Review

posted by DVS @ 6:35 PM