Parque - Forsyth County

I thank the reviewer who posted the inspection report because that is the first thing I looked for when I arrived for a Valentine Dinner, reservation made by Open Table at 7:15 pm for two. The report is now at 88 and easily found at the front by the oysters. I suspect in the next week or two it will be over 92. I'll keep this short as possible. We were greeted with a smile by the hostess and seated at our reservation time. The place was full. Our server knew the menu and drink offerings. During the entire meal I was able to watch the staff. Even though they were very busy, the service was prompt, pleasant and the body language of the employees was relaxed but on task. Servers were smiling and interacting with each other and guests in a professional manner. Kitchen has hired a sous chef that has vastly improved the flow of food orders. The cooks were also smiling, relaxed body language and were busy. We had Elderflower Spritz (refreshing), Red Hare Tangerine IPA (liked); whitefish spread and crackers were excellent and fresh; Roasted beet salad was generous and delicious; we each had the catch of the day, one had blackened swordfish and one had pan seared swordfish with creamy celery root purée, sautéed spinach, chimichurri-basil pesto, hakurei turnips, crispy fried leeks . Excellent and priced right at $32 . For dessert we had chocolate gelato with dark cherries and a smoky Manhatten. Our server was Abby and the greeter was Heather. 4 stars.

Scored a 50 U on their health inspection on 1/20/2022. Won't be going back until they get their score up.

Service definitely needs upgrading. Ate 12/3 reservations at 7:30 for two. Yes date night. Kept us waiting for table for 15 minutes. Could have grabbed a drink at the bar if we knew the wait, but no just kept us standing there. Sat down, menu selection was very small, but nice variety. Very noisy restaurant. Placed drink order martini and a beer. Waited over 20 minutes for the Martini, the beer was over 30 minutes. During this time we were continually asked to order. Our response was after we get our drinks ..... hint where is the alcohol. Once drinks came we ordered calamari for the appetizer and we wanted that out first and after the appetizer we wanted our entrées which was the snapper and the muscles. Well the entrées came out before the appetizers and then we're like OK just hold the calamari until we're done with the entrées and we'll have the calamari afterwords well about two seconds later the calamari came out. The food was prepared very well and the prices were good but service was awful. The server was very soft spoken and her middle name was sorry. For a place that is trying to have an upscale atmosphere and service, it failed. The food and drinks were good. But everything else was out of a bad comedy about a restaurant. Would I recommend this place. Probably not even though the food and drinks were good, it was not the dining out experience that one would want at their price point.

SO CLOSE! We had raw oysters that tasted great but they were only opened and not separated/loosened from the shell. We both loved our salads. She loved her muscles. My seared scallops and pork belly tasted good but the 5 scallops were small and the scallops were not seared and had zero caramelization. A pet peeve of mine is an open kitchen if there is nothing unique to see. We saw food sitting under the heat lamps too long, chef/ cook on their phones, kitchen banter and other stuff .

If we hadn 't had Luke for our server, the evening would 've been a wash. 4 of us went on a Sunday. The place was pretty busy. I ordered a dozen Blue Point oysters on the half shell for an app $32, if all the oysters had been removed from the shell and placed in a measuring cup, it might 've been half a cup. Luke brough out 3 more oysters without us mentioning anything because he could tell they were tiny. My husband had muscles, usually I get to eat a few, unfortunately there were maybe 15 muscles and again, good flavor but tiny. It took at least 30 minutes for the apps to come out. For my entree, I had the snapper prepped as follows, mango papaya salsa, puréed tomatillo, crispy plantains, garlic lime crema. Snapper was small, but good, the pureed tomatillo, tasted exactly like canned Herdez salsa verde, the plantains were like a greasy hash brown patty and the mango salsa was good, IDK where the "garlic lime crema was ?? Another person had fish and chips in a translucent oily batter along with tasteless fries. Two others had the salmon, excellent quality lacking in flavor, just a fish on a plate. I 'd rather have really good food in a roadside stand than quality seafood blandly prepared in a $5 million build out. Ocean Acre has a lot invested and I would suggest hiring a chef, and training the children assisting excellent servers like Luke to ensure return business. I will try O A one more time which will be our third, but I will definitely go during off hours in the hopes of attention to detail and flavor which one would expect at restaurant of this calibre at these prices.