Orsay - Jacksonville

This is a hard review to write because I just want to gush about everything. The infused cocktails are fab they take you to a very nice place. Being a new restraunt my lady friend and I wanted to sample as much as we could we got the escargot and the roasted oysters to start, the escargot is the best in jax, not just the boring puff pastry w/ a couple snails, couple mushrooms. The oysters were one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. I got the lamb two ways my wife got the lobster pot pie both were heavenly. The service was impeccable, fold your napkin while you’re in the restroom type service. Really nice and you feel quite welcomed. I was really impressed when the bartender came across the dining room to see how we liked the afore mentioned cocktails. The only thing that I didn’t care for is the lighting, it 's like spotlight track lighting and they 're a little too bright. Can’t wait to go back.

Dear Neighbor: Thought I would share my experience with the new restaurant Orsay which is now operating in the Park Street location formerly occupied by Crush . Yesterday was Anne 's birthday. She asked me to take her to dinner at this new restaurant so I went online and made a reservation through their automated system. I received a confirmation email etc., and (remembering that Crush was notorious for attitude issues) took the precaution of printing it and carrying it with us. We arrived a few minutes early for our 7 PM celebration. We were greeted by a hostess who acknowledged our reservation and then informed us, Because of the large party booked to tonight we hope you don 't mind eating at a high-top. She pointed to one of the small snack tables in the bar area with two barstools for seating. When we resisted this absurd suggestion, no hint of a better placement was forthcoming. By the way, we were certainly well-dressed enough for this place so I deny in advance any imputation that somehow we did not hold up to Avondale standards of upscale casual. Needless to say we left rather than have our celebration dinner at the bar. Insofar as we could judge the place was as noisy as we remembered under the old regime, the hard surfaces and floor have not been damped and the consequent din of music and conversation was as we remembered it from the previous incarnation. The place looked busy so I guess they didn 't miss us. I hate to wish a failure on anyone running an eatery in our neighborhood, but the contempt shown for our reservation and the disappointment of finding ourselves on the street on my wife 's birthday all dressed up with nowhere to go at 7 PM on a Friday night made me feel like I was back in Miami or some other place where an insolent stratification is the coin-of-the-realm rather than in Jacksonville. That 's why I 'm writing to give you a heads up on this place. If you are not already among their A-list diners, you are probably not welcome. Happily (for us) we drove over to Pastiche. We were given a table, had a wonderful dinner and dropped around $350 with tip for a great meal and a superb burgundy. As usual (there) everyone was entirely gracious, no one patronized us or had a hard time because we had no reservation etc. Just a nice place to dine. As always. Well, as you know I 've only been in town for a few years so my circle of acquaintance is not as wide as yours. Pass this on to whoever might benefit from it. I plan to post this story in as many internet sites as I can find that focus on local dining. As to my pals at Orsay: I won 't be imposing on you further since we are clearly not important enough to warrant the table we reserved.