J. Gilbert’s – Wood Fired Steaks & Seafood - Worthington

Review summary

1. S

   Shannon

   New York City

   8 reviews

   2.0

   8 reviews

   Dined today

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 2
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 4

   I chose J. Gilbert’s for a Christmas-slash-birthday dinner because we wanted to celebrate both occasions with a special meal out. I booked the reservation weeks in advance, reviewed their online menu, and was excited about the options. However, our experience was deeply disappointing for several reasons. 1. Lack of Transparency Nowhere on their website or during the reservation process did it mention that only a prefix menu would be available on Christmas. I expected the full menu to be offered alongside the prefix menu, but upon arrival, we were informed that only the prefix menu was available. This was a shock, as the dishes I had been planning to order (salmon or blackened chicken pasta) weren’t included. The only fish option was sea bass, which I’m not a fan of, and they ran out of the filet mignon option early in the evening. Guests were effectively forced into spending $65, $80, or $90 for a meal, even if they only wanted a single entrée. 2. Poor Substitution Communication When I ordered the sea bass, it was listed as being served with quinoa, vegetables, and potatoes. I asked to substitute the potatoes for au gratin potatoes, assuming the rest of the sides would remain. However, when the dish arrived, it was just the fish, two shrimp, and a large portion of au gratin potatoes—no vegetables, no quinoa. The staff explained this was because of my substitution, but they never clarified this upfront. Exchanging one potato for another should not mean losing the other sides entirely, especially for the price. 3. Unacceptably Long Wait Our reservation was at 7:00 p.m., but we weren’t seated until 7:40 p.m. We placed our orders shortly after being seated, but the food didn’t arrive until 9:05 p.m.—well over an hour later. This was especially challenging since we had a four-year-old with us. For a restaurant charging premium prices, this kind of delay is unacceptable. To make matters worse, there were no gestures of goodwill to acknowledge the delay.
   

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2. H

   Hope

   Columbus

   4 reviews

   1.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   They were way overbooked. Not fair at all to their patrons or staff. Even with our reservation, they seated us after a 45 minute wait. Food was fine. They ran out to several items around 7 pm or so. Our reservation was at 6:30 pm and we left at 8:30 pm just finishing our meals and taking our desserts with us. For a $200+ meal - we expect more.
   

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3. L

   Leona

   Columbus

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 3

   When we originally arrived at 6:15pm (our reservation time) we were told they were running behind. We waited about 1/2 hr. We got seated and were told the kitchen was behind. So we placed our dinner order immediately. We were told the 6 oz Filet was sold out. So we ordered the 8 oz Filet. He put the order in at 7:30. It was a few minutes after 8 and our server came and told us that they were out of the 8oz Filet. So we ordered the Top Sirloin. Around 8:30 it arrived and my husbands had gristle in it and it wasn’t medium. They forgot my green beans and gave us cold asparagus. During all of this our server came over and apologized. He was very good and polite during the fiasco. It wasn’t his fault. The manager came over 2 times and apologized and credited our bill generously. They were not good at anticipating the number of people coming for Xmas dinner.
   

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4. L

   Leslie

   Columbus

   49 reviews

   3.0

   49 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 2

   Very excited to find a high end restaurant open Christmas Day. Arrived on time for our reservation (party of 3) and told they were running 20 minutes behind, we were able to find seats in the bar to wait and have a cocktail. When seated, no one came to wait on us, after 15 minutes as a waiter was walking by we stopped him & mentioned the issue, he responded, I can be your waiter, as if no one had been assigned. They were offering a 3-course dinner with various entrees at $55, $65, & a couple of other higher priced options. We ordered from the $55, only to find out the 6 ounce filet option was sold out & wound up ordering the 8 ounce @ $65, no compensation offered. We waited another 20 minutes for drinks, + 10 minutes for 1st course, had to ask for entrees. We were surprised that the food turned out to be very well prepared & very good. We ordered more wine that didn’t arrive until after we had finished our dinner, we sent it back. Again had to ask for our desserts which we took to go. Not sure what caused all the delays, perhaps poor planning or lack of experience being open on Christmas. While service wasn’t up to par, staff members remained calm, friendly, polite and professional.
   

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5. D

   Daniel

   VIP

   Columbus

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 1

   J. Gilbert's used to be a hidden gem of fine dining in central Ohio, but it has gone downhill drastically. I just had Christmas dinner there and was very disappointed. The quality of the food is nowhere near the same as it used to be. The special Christmas menu listed items that were not available, such as 6oz filet (which is what I wanted to order). Why have them on the menue if the kitchen does not have any? I ordered the Mac and cheese, without the lobster, and received lobster Mac and cheese, which could have killed me due to severe algeries to shellfish. The kitchen has been very slow the past few visits, to the point where it seems like there is not enough workers to keep the kitchen functioning. Because the kitchen is spread so thin, food, is coming out at different times and not all together (my crab cake came out 20 minutes after the rest of my food and was cold) and some food is over cooked while other items are severely under cooked. During the Christmas dinner, from the time we order to the time we received our desert was 2 hours. It does not seem like the workers are being set up to be successful, from the servers who have to explain that the special Christmas menu is wrong, to the kitchen which doesn't have enough members to prepare food in a timely manner. Mismanagement like this makes a long time customer such as myself miss the old days of when this restaurant was under different management, a management that focus on supporting and developing their employees instead of cutting corners and sacrificing quality and customer experience to save money. The only highlight of our experience was our server, Manny. He went out of his way to do everything that he could to ensure the best dining experience that he could, but he can only do so much. Management seemed a scent during the Christmas dinner, at no time did we see any member of management checking on customers of helping the employees.
   

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6. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   San Francisco

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Wonderful food… waiter was outstanding! Would recommend!
   

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7. J

   Jason

   Columbus

   15 reviews

   3.0

   15 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 4

   Service wasnt up to par. We were told three times we couldn't have an espresso martini only because they were out of vanilla vodka which isn't even part of the typical recipe; we had to demand the drink. The waiter was slow and inattentive, took forcer to come back to the table to order our meal after finally getting drinks.
   

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8. M

   Michael

   VIP

   Columbus

   17 reviews

   5.0

   17 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   We eat at J. Gilbert’s frequently and this time we were taken care of by a newer server, Tory, who was excellent at her job and very personable.
   

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9. F

   Freddie

   Columbus

   4 reviews

   3.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 4

   The food was good and the experience was average. I couldn't note anything extraordinary.
   

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10. L

    Linda

    Columbus

    6 reviews

    5.0

    6 reviews

    Dined 2 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 4
    4. Ambience 4

    The food quality is great , meals were present beautifully. They even provided bread first, for free! I know all fine dining restaurants did this before the COVID, but lots of those restaurants don’t do it anymore. Beautiful and elegant deco, also. Everything looks perfect.
    

    J. Gilbert’s – Wood Fired Steaks & Seafood - WorthingtonResponded 1 day ago

    Hi Linda, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience at J. Gilbert’s – Wood Fired Steaks & Seafood - Worthington. We're thrilled to hear that you enjoyed our food and found the meals presented beautifully. We're also glad to know that our service met your expectations. We understand that dining during these times can be challenging, and we appreciate your understanding for our new policies. We're glad to know that you found our new initiative to provide complimentary bread to our guests to be a pleasant surprise. Thank you again for your kind words and we look forward to welcoming you back soon. Best Regards, J. Gilbert’s – Wood Fired Steaks & Seafood - Worthington Management Team
    

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