First & Oak

Over priced mediocre food. We didn’t mind the price but the amount of food and quality did not match the price. We had no idea it was expected to order one item from each section. The waiter informed us of this expectation. $ 20 for one tiny slice of duck was not worth it. It was not crowded on a Friday night. Only us and one other table. I won’t be back. Disappointing.

Just returned to Los Angeles after an incredible weekend in Solvang to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday. I wanted to find a restaurant that would be memorable, delicious, and inviting. First & Oak was beyond all of those things. On the ground floor of the beautiful Mirabelle Inn, we had a very private and extravagant experience. Every course was impressively presented and equally as delicious as the next. Our favorites being the scallops and the pressed octopus. Flavors just springing in your mouth with excitement. Our server Daniel, was extremely genuine and kind to us. He helped pair us with perfect wine pairings for every course and made us feel special. I am very grateful for the wonderful meal we shared this Sunday evening. Unforgettable. Can’t wait to come back to Solvang and visit again.

Wow where do I start? This place is amazing. The place is gorgeous and the food is great. Eric and I went out with our co worker Wayne and his girlfriend Hilary. We ordered everything on the menu (literally.) Eric and Wayne are total foodies and have been in the industry for years, Hilary and I have been servers for years. We were impressed by the great food and attentive service. My personal favorites were the duck and octopus. The wine selection was great as well! Steven Snook is a great chef, he invited us over to the kitchen and had us sign his board. We will most definitely be back: D

The food was good, but not great. We expected small portions, but this was a bit smaller than anticipated, so we left a bit hungry after 3 courses. If this review was only about food, I’d give the place 3.5 stars. But what bring it down as the service… it was awful. It was tough to ask for anything because our waiter hardly ever came by. I actually had to go up 30 minutes after our meal had ended to ask him for the check by the reception area. I can say with certainty, I will not be back.

I’ve eaten here twice now and both times it has been amazing. I love the small plates concept as it allows me to essentially create my own tasting menu. The quality of the food has always been exceptional and the service outstanding, I’m looking forward to my next visit!

Our first night’s dinner for our New Year’s getaway was at our Inn. First & Oak, like the Inn itself, has been newly renovated & sorry to say we were not impressed
The waiter came over to speak w/​us about their «new» menu approach & immediately I was not a fan. Advised their dishes are «really» small portions and how multiple dishes should be ordered by each person… or we could take advantage of the «chef’s choice tasting menu»
So basically, there are 2 tasting menus… the difference is that it’s either my choosing (at a la carte prices) or the chef’s (set price)…not a fan. If you offer an a la carte menu, the portions should reflect that… otherwise, it would be better to have a setup where you offer a 3, 4, or 5 course, set-​price, tasting menu that allows the customer to choose a dish from each section of the menu, ensuring the customer has the experience *they* want. There was no indication of what the Chef’s Choice Tasting menu was & given we’re vegetarian, the assumption was that it wouldn’t have worked for us
Especially since there were no vegetarian entrée options, so we asked if 1 of the appetizers could be made into an entrée & apparently, no one understood what we meant by that… but to give credit where it’s due, they did go back & ask the chef if he could prepare something for us & were told he had a special dish just for us… turned out it was their parsley risotto but without the meat
So our meal consisted of their thimble-​sized butternut squash soup; the tablespoon of whipped cauliflower; roasted carrots with duck egg; and the over-​salted parsley risotto. The dishes were okay at best but I guess have to admit the portion size made them a little less appealing
We also tried to order a bottle of the house red wine but were only served a glass & good thing because we did not care for the wine at all. It was recommended as coming from «their» winery — Coquelicot — but after just that one glass, we safely felt we were not interested in further tastings of the wine & had no intention of visiting the winery after our glasses
So to recap, have to say the flavors of the dishes were okay but paled in comparison to the incredible lunch we had enjoyed that afternoon, in Carmel. Added to the «new» setup of the menu & growing pains they seem to be experiencing after the renovation, have to say overall, we’ve experienced better

Absolutely brilliant. Well done Bernard Rosenson; beautiful ambiance. Kudos to amazing chef Steven Snook for a gorgeous meal from beginning to end. We shall be back. Oh… and the bread… AMAZING :) !!!

We had originally come to First and Oak when it was run by a Master chef named Norbert. He left a few years ago and the restaurant had still maintained the high quality of his cooking. We found out that the restaurant and hotel recently changed ownership and decided to try it again.
I’m trying be balanced — the food was mostly high quality – but the portions for the prices that they charged were a joke! First explaining that we should consider ordering «2 entrée’s each» as its a tasting size — averaging $ 18 – 20 per entrée. Then the soup came out — for $ 9. The initial warning that something was amiss was when they poured it out of a tiny buttercup the size of about ¹⁄₃ cup of coffee. The entrees were also «Tapas tiny» yet grande prices.
Personally I just feel it’s inappropriate to charge entrée prices for taster size portions.
I won’t be going back.

Service? BAM!
Ambiance? BAM!
Filet? BAM BAM!
Bread? Daaaaaayummmm!!!
Cobbler dessert? Eh.
Wait time order to delivery? 45 minutes. Ask for more bread while you wait.
Must say however… was with my über-​beautiful girlfriend, so waiting didn’t faze me much.

Yummy Delish X100. Seems this might be the only place in Solvang that you can actually wear a tie and heels but totally not necessary. The dining room is cozy and refined… it is missing that extra umph… nothing two beautiful chandeliers couldn’t fix.
Bread was AMAZ-​Balls
Fillet and Mahi were delish.
Luckily I am madly in love with my boyfriend so I didn’t notice the 45 minute wait for our entrée… until the end when I started banging my knife on the table.
5 stars except they lost 1 for the wait time.

Best restaurant in the valley. Small dining area. Intimate setting. Pricey but worth it.

We had an excellent anniversary dinner here last night. The city wide power outage even added to the experience by forcing a candle lit dinner on a very stormy night. Very romantic!
Lobster mac and cheese is to die for. It would certainly be enough food to make a perfect simple dinner with a glass of wine.
The duck breast with figs was really excellently prepared. The chef really knows what he is doing. Classically French trained I suspect.
N’s steak was really excellent although more M than M/​R, it was still very tender and juicy. Her arugula salad with honey and manchego cheese was a little sweet for her but perfect for me.
Finished with crepes Suzette. Perfectly prepared French style.
This place was a great find and we will certainly become regulars

Excellent food, great ambiance, wonderful service!
We ordered the chef’s tasting menu and every single item was superb! We also order sled the Lobster mac and cheese and it was delish!!!
We’re thankful that we picked this restaurant. A true hidden gem in Solvang.
We’re hoping that this won’t stay hidden for a long time!

Nice ambiance, good food and good service.
We ordered chef’s tasting menu with wine pairings. Started with two seafood appetizers. European style, small portions but delicious. The main course was lamb. I don’t eat meat so I passed on that. They offered to switch with any other entrée. I had salmon. All of them were delicious.
We finished the night with desert which came with a nice port.
Service was really good. They reserved a table for us inside but we wanted to sit outside and they switched that very quickly. Our host was very friendly, explained everything in detail. Even tough we were the only table outside, we never had to call them. They checked on us very frequently and brought everything timely.
The lady mentioned she and her husband own the restaurant and make the wine. She was very nice and friendly.

My husband and I went to Solvang for a few days after our wedding, and heard a couple of great recommendations on this place, so we decided to eat here for dinner one night.
The location is nice, a bit secluded from the rest of the town, which makes it a little on the quiet side. The ambience of the place is really intimate.
I just wasn’t crazy in love with the food, unfortunately. Kinda fell a bit flat. Especially the watermelon and crab appetizer, when the waiter came back and asked how everything was (with all but 1 bite taken out of the appetizer), I said, «Okay. I wasn’t too crazy about it.» He replies with «Yeah it’s not for everyone’s palette…» Then takes the food and walks away. Really? Not even a «Oh I’m sorry, what was wrong with it, let me take it off your bill»?
The food isn’t worth the prices, in my opinion. Probably won’t be coming back here when we come back to Solvang.

The restaurant is conveniently located downstairs from the inn and is a very cozy and intimate atmosphere.
It gets busy during its short hours (5:30ish to 8:30ish) but they sat us in a separate dining room away from the main room. Despite this they checked on us regularly and serviced did not suffer.
The place is definitely on the more expensive side at dishes averaging $ 30 and portions run small but the quality is up there and the chocolate cake was the best I have had and the Lamb was perfect.
Definitely if you are in town I would stop here for a nice intimate light dinner.

If you LOVE food like we do… If you know the importance of details… If you happen to be in the area… make reservations.
This place changes their menu weekly… and I do say, it is worth the weekly trip, if your budget and waist can afford it.
We had impeccable service and food. Would not have desired anything more.
Prices are well worth the quality and if I dare say, not as expensive as one would think.

Um… wow. One of the best meals we have had in several years. I had a chicken rollini starter and then the sole. Wife had the tasting menu, which was a steal at $ 50. Two appetizers, a main course and a dessert. And a different wine with each course. Everything we had was stellar. Not only was the food and service terrific, but the wine pairings were really tremendous. For $ 50, they could have been miserly on the wines with each of the four courses, but they used very good, not cheap wines. One was an ’85 Diamond Creek Cab which may be the best wine we have ever had.
You have to love places that really see dinner as an art and that take seriously the desire to please the customer. If we lived nearby, we’d be there very often.

Food: ⁴⁄₅
Almost all the dishes are very significant. You don’t usually find the same way they prepare the food as other restaurants. We had filet mignon, Double Lamb Chops and Scallops.
Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅
It’s a cozy restaurant, it’s more like a dining room of a house. We, party of 2, arrived at 8pm after making reservation the day before. There was a big round table with 5 guests there, it was very noisy the whole time when they were there… Other than that, everything was fine, food was awesome, atmosphere was there.

Vows are spoken to be broken
Feelings are intense, words are trivial
Pleasures remain, so does the pain
Words are meaningless and forgettable
– Depeche Mode «Enjoy the Silence»
While I enjoyed my stay at the Inn, the restaurant itself was an example of strong expectations followed by a severe letdown. Much like the attractive person with no brain or the brilliant student who fails on tests, the pretty descriptions and pretty photos belie food that is under-​seasoned and rather bland. Maybe this is pandering to the rather aged clientele visiting, but this restaurant could be so much more.
There are many good things about the restaurant. The service is professional and unintrusive. The wine list, meticulously developed by owner and Wine Director Brigitte Guehr, is thoughtful and interesting with a deep selection of wines from Santa Barbara, Napa, Sonoma, Paso and a few interesting, well priced selections from France. The special when I dines was a 1992 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon. An excellent example of older California Cabernet and a steal at $ 15 a glass or $ 60 a bottle. Their other by the glass choices are excellent especially the Tercero Grenache Blanc. The room attached to the Inn is quaint and warm. To have wine and maybe an appetizer, this is a lovely place.
Then the food came and that is where the letdown was. Lobster mac n cheese, scallops, braised beef ribs: all very pretty looking and plated nicely but frankly I do not remember how they were cooked and with what sauces because every plate was bland and forgettable. The buildup was so nice, and the food looked so lovely, that it was heartbreaking to have it taste so pedestrian. The craft and care that is put in the Inn, that is put certainly on the wine list; was definitely missing this night at dinner.
So, recommended for the wine and lovely ambiance. Definitely one of the best wine lists in Solvang. But the dinner was not executed as well as we thought it would be.