White Horse Tavern

Reviews 5

S

S K

Hands down the worst environment ever. If you are pregnant, elderly, military, or ethnic, you should consider leaving before you walk in. Walked in and got ignored. Then my family showed up and we were not even greeted. The manager simply shook her head and said it would be an hour. After we told her we would be sitting with our brother and his friend, who are officers in the Navy. My mom is 56 years old, Im pregnant, and we are all professionals: dental hygienist, registered therapist, published author, engineers, accountant, etc. I dont know how to describe what happened except as utterly embarrassing for this entire staff. The most flagrant display of discrimination I have ever seen. We tried to sit together but they wouldnt let us so we sat apart in separate rooms. A young waitress eventually told us we could push tables together an hour later but the owner said this was not possible because she had another reservation and didnt want to make up our table. When one of the officers asked if that was too much to do and she walked away. But she told the waitress that it was because she didnt want the waitress to have to serve different tables...whatever that means. Mind you, we still didnt have our food by this point (an hour later). I said i felt discriminated against and they laughed at me. By the time we got ready to leave, it was a lunch ruined by a woman with an agenda to get rid of us, nasty food and dried salad. The entire restaurant was empty, so obviously no reservations to blame their disgusting behavior on. And while I was trying to have a conversation in the bathroom with my sister, some older looking girl interrupted and tried to justify themselves by saying they are big on reservations and when I explained to her that her place was empty she said she meant reservations for the rest of the day. I told her whatever and that race is obviously a factor and she laughed. She wasnt even our waitress i think she just liked the drama or was upset with her waiter life. I personally think people that dont like their jobs should work towards something else and not take it out on others in such a petty way. Needless to say, I strongly believe this place has something against pregnant women, military, elderly, or Hispanics. Either that or they simply do not understand how to run a business or treat customers. This owner clad in drapey shirt and old jeans doesnt seem to care about quality and Im horrified to have met her. Do not go here.

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MI

Miray Kurtay

We were visiting Newport and were really looking forward to dining here but had a very unfortunate experience. We arrived at the White Horse Tavern in time for our reservation and were told that our table was still occupied and that we needed to wait for around 15 minutes. We said we were fine and started waiting. We had two 5-year old boys with us (which the restaurant was aware as I talked to them during the day when confirming our reservation) and they were excitedly talking and moving around at the entrance (nothing out of the ordinary or loud) while we were waiting for our table. This is when the General Manager came and warned us that they will have to kick us out if the kids diid not behave at the dinner table (not at the entrance to the restaurant where we were standing mind you but as a pre warning). We have told the GM that we have been to restaurants many times before with kids and that they always behave well as they play with their toys or watch iPad (which I believe was invented so that parents can go out to restaurants :) once they are seated. We also told them that if they could have given us our table on time we would have already been settled with the boys sitting calmly and having our dinner. In short it was very presumptuous and arrogant on their part to come and warn us before we were even seated or the boys have done anything to disturb the patrons. We were at Castle Hill Inn the day before (which is a much finer establishment by the way) and had no problems with the boys or the patrons. Actually this is the first time that I have observed such a rude behavior from any restaurant since my son was born. I know of restaurants where kids were not welcome but at least they are upfront about it. The White Horse Tavern had no such restrictions and their attitude and arrogance was unwarranted and very unfortunate. So definitely would not recommend this place especially for families with kids. It is especially sad to see a restaurant with so much history to not have learned the importance of customer satisfaction.

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DA

Dave Sykes

My wife and I dined here last night for our anniversary. She ordered the Beef Wellington and I had the Prime Hanger Steak. Her Wellington came out with raw dough and nothing inside the pastry but the steak. She sent it back and it returned to the table a few minutes later a steaming hot mess... overcooked and mushy. She decided not to eat it. My steak was prepared fine but it was a small portioned plate. I would guess the steak to be 4-6 ounces. It was served over potatoes and mushrooms with onions on top. There were very little of the potatoes and mushrooms, which were delicious, and a mound of onions and greens on top. The onions were undercooked and tasted like straight vinegar. I did not complain about my dish because we already felt uncomfortable sending back the Wellington. The manager came and kindly apologized and said he would take the Wellington and our first round of cocktails off the bill. When the bill came they had only taken the Wellington and one drink off. By this point we were so disappointed we just wanted to leave and find dinner for my wife. They charge $42 for the Wellington and $36 for the Hanger steak. We left hungry, disappointed and still dropped $100 there.

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JA

janet bishop

We had a wonderful walk in experience. The food is great, definitely pricey but we were looking for a great ending for our day. Service is outstanding however the General Manager displaced us from our seat when he came in at the end of our meal and informed us that he had a reservation for our table who had been waiting 20 minutes. We had just received our check and were promptly paying when he request we basically hurry up and finish. It was a very disappointing ending to an otherwise outstanding meal. When I called to inquire about the man who had been so rude I found it was the general manager TJ, who told me he would have acted the same way if I had been the one with the reservation waiting. I am not sure why such a good restaraunt would want someone who would be so rude to the customer. Speak to the staff about speeding up the process but not to the customer. Highly unprofessional and left a bad taste in our dinning partys mouths.

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BI

Birgit Clager

Ate there just a little while ago on 7/16. Wonderful service. Unfortunately, the food was disappointing for such a high-end restaurant. The mushroom appetizer was surrounded by a ring of teriyaki-tasting base which unfortunately overpowered the mushrooms delicate taste. The same with the Bouillabaisse, which I was so excited to order. The broth was dark and so strongly flavored that I had to take the seafood out on a different plate just to get a taste of it. The aioli on the accompanying bread was also too strong for a nice balance; I was able to use the table bread as a substitute. so. The Creme Brule was well done but the espresso I had ordered arrived so early that by the time the desert arrived, it was cold. Overall, my expectations of being able to eat in such a wonderful historic place were regrettably undermined by the food. More is not always better, it is often only more. I would not return.

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