Phenomenal raw bar.Expansive oyster selection. Good cocktails.Fun playful design.I would go back for a pre drink but not a full meal. ?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Slex
Tiny on the inside but packs a mighty oyster punch. No reservations but there’s a standing bar area you can start ordering drinks and oysters from while you wait. Obviously come for the oysters, but stay for the Bulgarian lamb burger!! Also the kimchi brine oyster shooters. Man those things were delicious (and dangerous!!) Also also pickled fried onions. Get those you won’t regret it.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brandon Brown
Had a work meeting in a Providence and was recommended to Gift Horse! If you love seafood then you’ll love this spot. I’m from Maryland but live in New York now so it’s really hard to come by really good seafood.. especially oysters.But Gift Horse was something special and did not disappoint. I stopped in for HH and came back later for dinner.Just stop by Gift Horse and do yourself a favor.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Carpaccio, Oysters on the Half Shell
Rachel W
A little jewel box of a restaurant, perfect lighting and style. The cocktails are also pretty much perfect. As is the service. An utter delight.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
YUNSHU YU
The lamb burger tasted amazing ：）Awesome vibe
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Andrew K.
Came exclusively for the oyster happy hour and did not regret it. Ordered 2 dozen oysters, 9 different varieties, for $2 each. It is astounding that they're so different in flavor, texture, and meatiness yet all from Rhode Island. Top 3 from the varieties we tried: - Watch hill: best brininess - Great salt ponds: honorable mention - Chessawanock: meatiest overall Topped it with two of their sauces, one kimchi mignonette that was absolutely delicious and the other a green chili hot sauce. Went with their two sake options, which were pleasant but unfortunately not a happy hour deal. Waiters super helpful in our choices and pleasant in discussing the different varietals of oyster. Connected to its sister restaurant, Oberlin, the spot itself is hip and fun to sit at the bar watching the shucking.
Rae M.
Little sibling to Oberlin and it did not disappoint! Fantastic oyster options and interesting drinks. Knowledge and friendly service. Bright and refreshing atmosphere, but not so bright that it bothered my photosensitive eyes. They were very allergy aware and accommodated my needs easily. Super helpful with navigating the menu to find the right dishes for our evening.
Caitlin T.
Gift Horse is an absolute gem. This raw bar knocks the socks off every other place serving crudo in this town. Our crudo and scallop roll were out of this world, and the dessert with puffed rice was the perfect finish to the evening. The servers are kind and helpful, and the interior is a sight for sore eyes. The modern gilded interior with gorgeous art elements makes staying a while quite enticing.
Z Z.
Just tremendous. I was thrilled to score a reservation for Valentine's Day, especially given their recent award recognition. It was buzzing and cute!! I think there are still some seating kinks to work out, but the far lefthand side of the bar is the place to be for sure -- a little more people-watching (the guy next to us insisted he knew the owner...) and a little less foot traffic. Love the stained glass. The bartenders are really attentive. The High Tide is perfect for two -- the crudo was outstanding, fresh, and had the perfect fruity slick punch of Arbequina olive oil. The smoked fish dip was ridiculous and the nori chips blew me out of the water. Lovely lobster, oysters, clams, and mussels. Their homemade condiments are not to be missed. To the reviewer who ragged on the paper cups -- are you the type of person who schemes to steal the metal cups from Applebee's? The paper cups are a cute homage to the shore and probably make the condiment situation way easier to handle. Each better than the last and all played nicely -- burnt onion dijonnaise, kimchi mignonette, fermented green hot sauce, and a wildly flavorful mustard were perfect. Sole regret, not ordering fries to soak the rest up. Drinks were clever and strong -- The Stingray, Tritoness, and Gift Horse Martini were all appropriately briny and lovely, although I had hoped the caviar would be served in the martini out of morbid curiosity. Still a delicious bump! Tremendous dessert program -- a potato chip pizelle with creamy smoky marshmallow cream atop chocolate ice cream that tastes like it was made by Big Feeling and an outstanding cranberry roll cake with quince agrodolce. Wished I had been feeling bold enough to order their ambitious special, fried strawberry ice cream with Parmesan and bleu cheese sauce, but that chocolate situation called my name. Will definitely be back, and I suspect it would make a stunning group dinner. Cheers!! PS: Gift Horse t-shirts!!!!!! I'll be first in line.
Alex C.
A great addition to the Providence restaurant scene! We arrived at 5:30 on a Monday night since they do not take reservations and got quickly got a seat at the bat with an excellent view of the raw bar. Our server informed us of the specials for the nights and gave us the restaurant week menu but we opted to forego that. We chose a selection of their oysters, all from RI, to begin our meal. It was accompanied by their kimchi mignonette, green chile sauce and cocktail sauce- all three paired superbly with the delicious oysters. Next up we tried the crudo that included three types of fish in a pool of olive oil and topped with capers and res onion. The freshness of the fish and olive oil were a perfect match, I could've eaten that all night. We ordered more oysters but this time they were fried and served with cocktail sauce and horseradish, a great bite. We also received the monkfish toast at the same time and it was reminiscent of shrimp toast, the monkfish was creamy and the texture of the toasted bread was a great contrast with the bouncy monkfish paste. This was accompanied by a piri piri sauce that was so good that we kept it for the next dish. The finale was a crispy whole fish ssam and it happened to be a fluke on the night that we went. The presentation was spectacular, served with rice, a bed of leafy greens, and sauces and pickles. It was a lot of fun dissecting the fish and building wraps with all the accompaniments. The fish was fried perfectly and the meat was flaky and moist. We were stuffed after finishing everything that was placed in front of us and there were a lot of memorable flavors. The restaurant had filled up while we were entranced by our meal and there wasnt an empty seat by the time we left after 7:30. I definitely suggest coming earlier if you don't want to wait but any wait will be worth it.
Kudos for getting the RI dining scene recognized. Nominated for a James Beard award for "Best new restaurant in the northeast". From Ben Sukle of Birch and Oberlin fame and other J&W alums: "Seafood Comfort Food Restaurant with South Korean Influences". 6 months old; evidently, they have a strong PR machine... We made the 1-hour drive on a Friday and since no reservations - got there about 6 PM after failing to find street parking and paying $20 at a nearby lot. The space is nicely done; service is great. We had 2 cocktails ($15 each). Every restaurant you go to have their "signature cocktails" (usually 4 - 8) by a "mixologist" and rarely do we say "wow" or "I'll try to make something like this at home...". These were nothing special and the one drink ("reef keeper") was minimalist in size. Maybe a white wine or beer with the oysters next time. We ordered 2 each of 6 different RI oysters (of 8 available) at $3 each plus charge for sauces (see below!). They are well presented so you know what oyster you are tasting - clearly the highlight of our meal. Entrees were lamb burger ($18) and lobster bisque ($24). There were a number of Korean dishes but none caught our attention on a first visit. The lamb burger ("Bulgarian style") was a winner but note may be too "spicy hot" for some and then overloaded with fried onions (suggest less or adding a pickle or one piece of lettuce). Lobster bisque also tasty. 4 slices of "side griddled sourdough" ($6) overpriced. Food 4/5 (mainly on the oysters) Service 5/5 Value 3/5 (average) Cleanliness 5/5 Noise 3/5 (average for such a space) Décor 5/5 Damages for two with tip was $160. Would I go back? Not until they have reservations or we are headed to a show and can just drop by or if we have out-of-state visitors. Bristol Oyster House is 30 minutes closer, takes reservations, always carries 6 RI or MA oysters (not 8 as here but I expect that number fluctuates weekly), and they have a menu that is not as heavily seafood oriented. Why not 5 stars? First time. Rarely give 5 stars unless spectacular. Cocktail sauces - 1 oz. in a paper cup at $1 each (kimchi mignonette, green hot sauce (not hot!), and cocktail) - wtf! Recommend? Yes - all these new spots deserve a visit and it may become your "favorite". Trendy. Concerns. I am not a J&W restaurant economist but with at least 8 staff for about a 40-seat restaurant - they better count on consistent heavy traffic with sales of much alcohol. When we got there it was at most ¼ full, when we left after 7 PM - maybe ¾ full - on a Friday night with not terrible weather soon after the James Beard nomination. Or maybe it is a loss leader for Oberlin (drop by first for cocktails and oysters) or a passion project to build brand. Recommend they take reservations (or having folks show up and it is "full" creates more buzz?), don't charge for sauces, and install a coat rack up front (everyone was sitting on their coats or draped over their chair; diner next to me on our way out said "there are racks in the back" (why didn't the hostess tell us?)).
Heather R.
I have been looking forward to trying Gift Horse for months and I finally decided to meet up with a friend there for restaurant week. One of use ordered off the restaurant week menu and the other ordered from the regular menu. We ended up splitting everything, but I have mixed feelings about the place. So I'll start with the food first: -The service and ambience were great -My friend said the beef bulgogi burger was the best burger she has ever had. It truly was delicious. The disappointing part is that this burger was only on the restaurant week menu, so I don't think it can be ordered if we were to return when it is not restaurant week. If the owners of the restaurant are reading this, you should definitely add this to your regular menu. -The cabbage savoy dish had a little kick and was amazing. Super interesting textures and flavors that went really well together. -The chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and potato chip was more like ice cream with fluff and then a homemade salty pastry on top. It was absolutely devine and I could've eaten 5 more of them. Now for the bad, which is why I took 2 stars off: -We split 18 oysters, with a kimchi mignonette. I prefer a traditional, vinegar-based mignonette, but it was still good. We got 2 of each oyster so we could each try the oysters from the different areas. I ended up having a bad oyster, which I know is the risk you take when eating a raw bar. I've eaten hundreds of oysters and have never had a bad one until then. I knew as soon as I ate it, that it was going to make me sick. I asked my friend to have the oyster from the same area, hoping that maybe all oysters from this area tasted bad. She said it tasted fine. I ended up with food poisoning and was very ill. -The seafood pajeon was inedible. My friend and I both love seafood, but it was so extremely fishy that neither of us could stomach it. The dressing and the microgreens on top of the pajeon was really good. We picked off the greens and left the pajeon. -We ordered the pickles which were normal pickled cucumbers, pickled green strawberries, and picked romanesco. They were all really delicious, but the portion was pretty small. Overall, I enjoyed our dinner. It was just so strange for two people who are not picky eaters to both be unable to eat something. Also, we thoroughly enjoyed everything else we ordered, so I'm very conflicted. I would potentially go back here in the future and try it again, but I will never be getting oysters or pajeon again.
Leona C.
Beautiful restaurant with delicious food and great service.. what more can you ask for?! We started off our dinner with 2 of everything on the raw bar menu and also tried the Kimchi Mignonette, Cocktail Sauce, and GH Fermented Green Chili Hot Sauce. The oysters were super fresh and it was a new experience to try oysters with sauces that weren't just cocktail sauce. I really enjoyed the Kimchi Mignonette with the oysters. The Crudo Plate came out with the oysters. It came with 3 different types of fish but it was difficult to tell them apart. Despite that, it was my favorite dish of the night. Our hot dishes then came out, the Crispy Oysters, Monkfish Toast, and the Crispy Whole Fish. All three were impeccable. The restaurant was a bit small and I believe they do not accept reservations so I recommend getting there early to get a table!
Linda Zack
Loved everything about this place!!Hopefully can get a reservation in for Jan 13th( Sat). My birthday!! Fir 6 people!!Vegetarian options: YummyDietary restrictions: Perfect in every wayParking: We were luckyWe went early
Phenomenal raw bar.Expansive oyster selection. Good cocktails.Fun playful design.I would go back for a pre drink but not a full meal. ?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Tiny on the inside but packs a mighty oyster punch. No reservations but there’s a standing bar area you can start ordering drinks and oysters from while you wait. Obviously come for the oysters, but stay for the Bulgarian lamb burger!! Also the kimchi brine oyster shooters. Man those things were delicious (and dangerous!!) Also also pickled fried onions. Get those you won’t regret it.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Had a work meeting in a Providence and was recommended to Gift Horse! If you love seafood then you’ll love this spot. I’m from Maryland but live in New York now so it’s really hard to come by really good seafood.. especially oysters.But Gift Horse was something special and did not disappoint. I stopped in for HH and came back later for dinner.Just stop by Gift Horse and do yourself a favor.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Carpaccio, Oysters on the Half Shell
A little jewel box of a restaurant, perfect lighting and style. The cocktails are also pretty much perfect. As is the service. An utter delight.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The lamb burger tasted amazing ：）Awesome vibe
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Came exclusively for the oyster happy hour and did not regret it. Ordered 2 dozen oysters, 9 different varieties, for $2 each. It is astounding that they're so different in flavor, texture, and meatiness yet all from Rhode Island. Top 3 from the varieties we tried: - Watch hill: best brininess - Great salt ponds: honorable mention - Chessawanock: meatiest overall Topped it with two of their sauces, one kimchi mignonette that was absolutely delicious and the other a green chili hot sauce. Went with their two sake options, which were pleasant but unfortunately not a happy hour deal. Waiters super helpful in our choices and pleasant in discussing the different varietals of oyster. Connected to its sister restaurant, Oberlin, the spot itself is hip and fun to sit at the bar watching the shucking.
Little sibling to Oberlin and it did not disappoint! Fantastic oyster options and interesting drinks. Knowledge and friendly service. Bright and refreshing atmosphere, but not so bright that it bothered my photosensitive eyes. They were very allergy aware and accommodated my needs easily. Super helpful with navigating the menu to find the right dishes for our evening.
Gift Horse is an absolute gem. This raw bar knocks the socks off every other place serving crudo in this town. Our crudo and scallop roll were out of this world, and the dessert with puffed rice was the perfect finish to the evening. The servers are kind and helpful, and the interior is a sight for sore eyes. The modern gilded interior with gorgeous art elements makes staying a while quite enticing.
Just tremendous. I was thrilled to score a reservation for Valentine's Day, especially given their recent award recognition. It was buzzing and cute!! I think there are still some seating kinks to work out, but the far lefthand side of the bar is the place to be for sure -- a little more people-watching (the guy next to us insisted he knew the owner...) and a little less foot traffic. Love the stained glass. The bartenders are really attentive. The High Tide is perfect for two -- the crudo was outstanding, fresh, and had the perfect fruity slick punch of Arbequina olive oil. The smoked fish dip was ridiculous and the nori chips blew me out of the water. Lovely lobster, oysters, clams, and mussels. Their homemade condiments are not to be missed. To the reviewer who ragged on the paper cups -- are you the type of person who schemes to steal the metal cups from Applebee's? The paper cups are a cute homage to the shore and probably make the condiment situation way easier to handle. Each better than the last and all played nicely -- burnt onion dijonnaise, kimchi mignonette, fermented green hot sauce, and a wildly flavorful mustard were perfect. Sole regret, not ordering fries to soak the rest up. Drinks were clever and strong -- The Stingray, Tritoness, and Gift Horse Martini were all appropriately briny and lovely, although I had hoped the caviar would be served in the martini out of morbid curiosity. Still a delicious bump! Tremendous dessert program -- a potato chip pizelle with creamy smoky marshmallow cream atop chocolate ice cream that tastes like it was made by Big Feeling and an outstanding cranberry roll cake with quince agrodolce. Wished I had been feeling bold enough to order their ambitious special, fried strawberry ice cream with Parmesan and bleu cheese sauce, but that chocolate situation called my name. Will definitely be back, and I suspect it would make a stunning group dinner. Cheers!! PS: Gift Horse t-shirts!!!!!! I'll be first in line.
A great addition to the Providence restaurant scene! We arrived at 5:30 on a Monday night since they do not take reservations and got quickly got a seat at the bat with an excellent view of the raw bar. Our server informed us of the specials for the nights and gave us the restaurant week menu but we opted to forego that. We chose a selection of their oysters, all from RI, to begin our meal. It was accompanied by their kimchi mignonette, green chile sauce and cocktail sauce- all three paired superbly with the delicious oysters. Next up we tried the crudo that included three types of fish in a pool of olive oil and topped with capers and res onion. The freshness of the fish and olive oil were a perfect match, I could've eaten that all night. We ordered more oysters but this time they were fried and served with cocktail sauce and horseradish, a great bite. We also received the monkfish toast at the same time and it was reminiscent of shrimp toast, the monkfish was creamy and the texture of the toasted bread was a great contrast with the bouncy monkfish paste. This was accompanied by a piri piri sauce that was so good that we kept it for the next dish. The finale was a crispy whole fish ssam and it happened to be a fluke on the night that we went. The presentation was spectacular, served with rice, a bed of leafy greens, and sauces and pickles. It was a lot of fun dissecting the fish and building wraps with all the accompaniments. The fish was fried perfectly and the meat was flaky and moist. We were stuffed after finishing everything that was placed in front of us and there were a lot of memorable flavors. The restaurant had filled up while we were entranced by our meal and there wasnt an empty seat by the time we left after 7:30. I definitely suggest coming earlier if you don't want to wait but any wait will be worth it.
Restaurantji Recommends
We need more places like this in
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kudos for getting the RI dining scene recognized. Nominated for a James Beard award for "Best new restaurant in the northeast". From Ben Sukle of Birch and Oberlin fame and other J&W alums: "Seafood Comfort Food Restaurant with South Korean Influences". 6 months old; evidently, they have a strong PR machine... We made the 1-hour drive on a Friday and since no reservations - got there about 6 PM after failing to find street parking and paying $20 at a nearby lot. The space is nicely done; service is great. We had 2 cocktails ($15 each). Every restaurant you go to have their "signature cocktails" (usually 4 - 8) by a "mixologist" and rarely do we say "wow" or "I'll try to make something like this at home...". These were nothing special and the one drink ("reef keeper") was minimalist in size. Maybe a white wine or beer with the oysters next time. We ordered 2 each of 6 different RI oysters (of 8 available) at $3 each plus charge for sauces (see below!). They are well presented so you know what oyster you are tasting - clearly the highlight of our meal. Entrees were lamb burger ($18) and lobster bisque ($24). There were a number of Korean dishes but none caught our attention on a first visit. The lamb burger ("Bulgarian style") was a winner but note may be too "spicy hot" for some and then overloaded with fried onions (suggest less or adding a pickle or one piece of lettuce). Lobster bisque also tasty. 4 slices of "side griddled sourdough" ($6) overpriced. Food 4/5 (mainly on the oysters) Service 5/5 Value 3/5 (average) Cleanliness 5/5 Noise 3/5 (average for such a space) Décor 5/5 Damages for two with tip was $160. Would I go back? Not until they have reservations or we are headed to a show and can just drop by or if we have out-of-state visitors. Bristol Oyster House is 30 minutes closer, takes reservations, always carries 6 RI or MA oysters (not 8 as here but I expect that number fluctuates weekly), and they have a menu that is not as heavily seafood oriented. Why not 5 stars? First time. Rarely give 5 stars unless spectacular. Cocktail sauces - 1 oz. in a paper cup at $1 each (kimchi mignonette, green hot sauce (not hot!), and cocktail) - wtf! Recommend? Yes - all these new spots deserve a visit and it may become your "favorite". Trendy. Concerns. I am not a J&W restaurant economist but with at least 8 staff for about a 40-seat restaurant - they better count on consistent heavy traffic with sales of much alcohol. When we got there it was at most ¼ full, when we left after 7 PM - maybe ¾ full - on a Friday night with not terrible weather soon after the James Beard nomination. Or maybe it is a loss leader for Oberlin (drop by first for cocktails and oysters) or a passion project to build brand. Recommend they take reservations (or having folks show up and it is "full" creates more buzz?), don't charge for sauces, and install a coat rack up front (everyone was sitting on their coats or draped over their chair; diner next to me on our way out said "there are racks in the back" (why didn't the hostess tell us?)).
I have been looking forward to trying Gift Horse for months and I finally decided to meet up with a friend there for restaurant week. One of use ordered off the restaurant week menu and the other ordered from the regular menu. We ended up splitting everything, but I have mixed feelings about the place. So I'll start with the food first: -The service and ambience were great -My friend said the beef bulgogi burger was the best burger she has ever had. It truly was delicious. The disappointing part is that this burger was only on the restaurant week menu, so I don't think it can be ordered if we were to return when it is not restaurant week. If the owners of the restaurant are reading this, you should definitely add this to your regular menu. -The cabbage savoy dish had a little kick and was amazing. Super interesting textures and flavors that went really well together. -The chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and potato chip was more like ice cream with fluff and then a homemade salty pastry on top. It was absolutely devine and I could've eaten 5 more of them. Now for the bad, which is why I took 2 stars off: -We split 18 oysters, with a kimchi mignonette. I prefer a traditional, vinegar-based mignonette, but it was still good. We got 2 of each oyster so we could each try the oysters from the different areas. I ended up having a bad oyster, which I know is the risk you take when eating a raw bar. I've eaten hundreds of oysters and have never had a bad one until then. I knew as soon as I ate it, that it was going to make me sick. I asked my friend to have the oyster from the same area, hoping that maybe all oysters from this area tasted bad. She said it tasted fine. I ended up with food poisoning and was very ill. -The seafood pajeon was inedible. My friend and I both love seafood, but it was so extremely fishy that neither of us could stomach it. The dressing and the microgreens on top of the pajeon was really good. We picked off the greens and left the pajeon. -We ordered the pickles which were normal pickled cucumbers, pickled green strawberries, and picked romanesco. They were all really delicious, but the portion was pretty small. Overall, I enjoyed our dinner. It was just so strange for two people who are not picky eaters to both be unable to eat something. Also, we thoroughly enjoyed everything else we ordered, so I'm very conflicted. I would potentially go back here in the future and try it again, but I will never be getting oysters or pajeon again.
Beautiful restaurant with delicious food and great service.. what more can you ask for?! We started off our dinner with 2 of everything on the raw bar menu and also tried the Kimchi Mignonette, Cocktail Sauce, and GH Fermented Green Chili Hot Sauce. The oysters were super fresh and it was a new experience to try oysters with sauces that weren't just cocktail sauce. I really enjoyed the Kimchi Mignonette with the oysters. The Crudo Plate came out with the oysters. It came with 3 different types of fish but it was difficult to tell them apart. Despite that, it was my favorite dish of the night. Our hot dishes then came out, the Crispy Oysters, Monkfish Toast, and the Crispy Whole Fish. All three were impeccable. The restaurant was a bit small and I believe they do not accept reservations so I recommend getting there early to get a table!
Loved everything about this place!!Hopefully can get a reservation in for Jan 13th( Sat). My birthday!! Fir 6 people!!Vegetarian options: YummyDietary restrictions: Perfect in every wayParking: We were luckyWe went early
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Oysters on the Half Shell