18 Oaks

Reviews 5

MA

Marisol LaSelva

18 Oaks is worth every penny and so much more. The setting is not your typical steakhouse setting, the rooms are far more open with soaring ceilings, light fixtures made of carved wood, a roaring fire in a limestone fireplace and beautiful windows that look on to the perfectly manicured greenery of the JW Marriott landscape. We were greeted by Steve. I don’t even want to call him our waiter because he truly became more of a guide to us. He is a trained chef and sommelier; his love for the dishes that 18 Oaks creates is evident. If he recommends something… TRY IT. He changed my mind about a few foods and beverages. I am not typically a red wine girl, but he coaxed us to try a particular bottle. By the end of the evening not a drop of that bottle was left. He even taught us about the differences in aerators and decanters. We started with salads. My boyfriend had the wedge salad and I tried the citrus and roasted beet salad. When I tried to eat the salad the lettuce was so amazingly tender that at times my fork slipped right through it. We learned that all of the lettuce as well as most of the organic veggies are grown hydroponically at the Marriott for 18 Oaks. The restaurant has a gardener on staff to grow your food. WOW. Steve then brought out the most amazing scallops. They were seared in a honey-jalapeno sauce and served over riced potatoes. The scallops were firm on the fork but just melted in our mouths. Then the mains came. My boyfriend had the rib eye and I chose the Axis Deer. Much like the care they give their vegetables, their meat is sourced from local ranches that use no hormones and have grass fed livestock. The meats were sublime, grilled to perfection, each with a sauce on the side to perfectly compliment the particular taste of the cuts served. I was afraid that the Axis would be gamey but to my joyous surprise the flavor was addicting. I wanted more stomachs to fill because as mine started to fill I just wanted to taste more and more. The sides that we got with our meal were all flavorful. In particular the caramelized cauliflower opened my eyes. Normally I think “cauliflower?... Meh.” But this cauliflower had a smoky sweet flavor with the perfect texture. I cannot believe it but I was excited about cauliflower! By this time Steve was asking about dessert. We told him to bring us two of his favorites. He produced a molten chocolate cake with a handmade vanilla bean ice cream and a crème brulee. Again 18 Oaks changed my mind. Most crème brulees are way too sweet for my palate, but this egg nogg crème brulee was not overly sweet and I found my spoon dipping into it again and again seemingly of it’s own volition. We will definitely be back often. I want to thank 18 Oaks and Steve for making the second anniversary of our first date into a very special evening. To those of you reading this review… do yourself a favor and go to 18 Oaks, they will surely impress with their fabulous food, their expansive knowledge and their elegant assurance.

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JE

Jeff Turpin

18 Oaks is in the wonderful J.W. Marriott Resort in the Stone Oak area. This restaurant serves delicious food, provides excellent service, and affords stunning atmosphere - although I do feel it is a tad overpriced for what you get. I especially appreciated the waiters in-depth knowledge of the menu, which helped us clarify what exactly we wanted to eat. As you wait, they serve a house-made beef jerky, pickles, and bread with butter - each of which are delicious. My wife enjoyed her red snapper but the star of the show was my Akaushi beef sirloin cap steak! It was probably the best steak Ive ever eaten, mainly because its grass-fed, high-quality beef as opposed to the lower quality grain-fed beef. Plus, Akaushi is three grades above Prime. We had the mustard greens with bacon and the gourmet mac n cheese as sides. We personally dont care for mustard greens, but gave them a shot anyway. Unfortunately, even with bacon, we still didnt care for them, but the greens seem well-cooked and the dish was flavorful - just not our cup of tea. The mac n cheese is gourmet and uses some different, more subtle cheeses. It had too much bread crumb topping in relation to how mild the cheeses were, but it was tasty nonetheless. Finally, we opted for the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake. Its exactly as decadent and delicious as it sounds; it was utterly fantastic. I found this dessert to be far better than the equivalent at the Cheesecake Factory. In short, this was a memorable fine-dining experience although not the best Ive ever had. Its especially worth it if youre already staying at the resort.

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MI

Michael Carter

So to start, we live about a mile from the JW and 18 Oaks. We have seen the ups and downs of the restaurant and theyre definitely on a "down". We made reservations to celebrate a family "win" and were excited to dine outside. We arrived, and the hostesses had no clue as to what was happening around them. They were at best confused. After some time we were escorted to a table in the overflow dining room, we corrected the girl seating us and she confusedly went back to the front, left us standing there and eventually returned to escort us to the patio (awkward). 11 minutes passed and as I was headed to find a manager, our server arrived. The subsequent lack of 5 star, or 3 star, or even "Dennys" service ensued. We ordered the Caymus, appetizers, bone in Ribeye, scallops, the works. I can say the best part of the meal was the Caymus Cab, no surprise. I ordered the ribeye medium rare, it was well cooked, you would expect it to have at a minimum been an inch to 1 1/2 inch thick, it looked like it should have been served with eggs at....Dennnys. Totally disappointed again! Do yourself a favor, if youre going to spend $250 on a meal, go to Bohannons, Kirbys, or any other 5 star restaurant in San Antonio. Or maybe just find a Dennys, at least you wont be disappointed having spent $20 on a sandwich slice steak and some eggs!! 18 Oaks, we wont be back. --Frustrated Locals

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RA

Ray Furchak

It is a mediocre restaurant. Probably 2-3 star dining but at 5 star pricing. I had a very fatty rib eye ordered medium rare, served medium well. Beet salad with spiced yogurt had no hint of "spice". Truffle corn had no evidence of truffle. In fact, I have ordered truffle French fries elsewhere at 1/2 the price and they inspired me to buy truffle oil. I would not have known how awesome truffle tastes if my only experience was from 18 oaks. Great service until the sever collected the finalized check BEFORE we left. I dont think I have ever seen a server so eager to see their tip before a customer left.

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AN

andy gjata

Brunch is okay for the money you pay eggs Benedict comes on a short bread not very tasty. Shrimp penne was stale they leave the food out for a while with a heat lamp after a while the food becomes stale very disappointed at least echo she the food every 1 hour so server didnt ask if Id like to order anything from the money had to request it myself wasnt very happy with the service and kinda the food stale food doesnt taste good desert and pastry was very tasty on the other hand

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