Amber Ox Public House

Very good beer!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

March 2025 | Spring Menu | My friend had the burger. It was his second time at Amber Ox, two different seasons, same protein. He loved it. He compared it to the fall menu burger and was so impressed that it was done this way. It was my birthday. I got the pork chop dish. Although, I love your menus, this is absolutely my favorite. I will be back before the end of the season for another taste. The staff were wonderful and attentive as always. You made my birthday dinner. Thank you so much.

The food was good except for the burger was way too undercooked for our taste. The server was very nice. She packed us a piece of cheese cake to go and gave discounts after we told her about the burger.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Overall staff was rude and snide.
We came in with our 5 month old and right from the start we were told to sit at the bar.
Full disrespect, I'm not sitting at the bar with my 5 month old in a stroller.

Needless to say, we left and will not be returning.

Kid-friendliness: Nonexistent.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

It's lively if you like that but noisy if you don't. The food wasn't as good as reviews had led me to expect. On the other hand, the pear and gorgonzola salad was really good.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

Food was great! BUT, waitress got my final bill wrong twice with overcharging. You don’t expect that at a good restaurant. Manager did nothing for the inconvenience, but apologize.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

The wait time was unexplainably long. It took at least 30 minutes for a table and 55 minutes to get food. The food was overall pretty good and I would recommend the biscuit board. Even though the food took a long time to make, it was delicious! The waiters were awfully nice and the host came over to ask how our dinner was there. The decorations and furniture are beautiful and amazingly clean.

Parking: There is not a lot of parking spots

Kid-friendliness: They have a kid menu

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Ao Burger and Fries, Biscuit Board

The wait was unexplainable. We waited at least 50 minutes for our food to come. The food and drinks were delicious though. They may have taken a while to come, but the foods uniqueness made me not mad at the wait time anymore.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Biscuit Board

Our server Lilly was phenomenal! Everything was presented beautifully and delicious. Mocktail was fantastic didn’t even miss the alcohol.

Used to be our favorite place in Williamsburg, and we went every two weeks. 8 months ago, we had a subpar experience, but we decided to try it for an early valentine’s day. Burger patty was half the size that it was in the past. My husband got pretty bad food poisoning (maybe from the rockfish or scallops). Probably a drinks only place going forward, unfortunately. Definitely not a seafood place.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 2

Service: 5

Quite possibly one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had.
We came out to Williamsburg from Texas (as we do at least once per quarter). Setup a reservation weeks in advance of our trip. One of the main reasons we were interested in trying Amber Ox is they have a decent selection of Virginia Wines.
We arrived 10 minutes prior to our 11:30 reservation and noticed the restaurant was half empty. We then watched 2 walk-in 2 tops, seated prior to us. No biggie, it’s clearly slow.
We were seated at our table and had to endure a 15 minute wait for our server to even greet us and bring water. We were rushed to order entrees at that time and I had to stop her from leaving as we never even placed our drink order. I ordered the Rosemont Vineyards Sparkling Rose’.
20 minutes goes by and nothing. Our food arrived. I got up to find our server to cancel the bottle since we clearly weren’t a priority. I Couldn’t find her so another server asked what she could help me with. I asked if she could just cancel our Bottle. A few minutes later someone arrived with a single glass of Rose’. I informed her that wasn’t what we ordered. A manager came by to help with the situation. But, honestly, by that point our experience was beyond the point of no return. We just wanted to leave. Our food was discounted, but I hardly ate any of my meal as my appetite had been spoiled.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 1

Ambiance:
W sat outside even though it was a bit chilly. The servers made sure to turn on the heaters out there and they made the outdoor area nice and warm.

Dietary restrictions:
We had some religious dietary restrictions that were accommodated (we think?). We asked about pork and alcohol being removed from items and as far as we know it was followed as requested.

Wait time:
We had reservations but had to wait to be seated, and then also waited a long time for refills, to get our orders taken etc (maybe they were short staffed?)

Food:
We enjoyed most of our meals and drinks, we paid about $175 for 4 people. There was a savory pastry the day we were there as the weekly pasty that was very good and the milk punch #19 was delicious. The biscuits were just okay, very crumbly. The dips/spreads that come with the board helped with the flavor. Pictured is the cinnamon pear French toast. It was fine, I didn't think it was bad, but it didn't wow me.

Overall, it all was "okay". I'd be willing to try it again and see if the wait times we experienced were a fluke and maybe other items were better than the ones we chose the first time.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 3

I'm somewhat picky so all I ate from here was biscuits and pimento cheese (I was with a group so I didn't choose where I went) but they were super good! The biscuits were super moist and perfectly done. The Moscow Mule was also perfect

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Biscuit Board

Meh New Year’s Eve dinner experience.

Kid-friendliness: Not a kid vibe.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Southern Ham Board

I enjoyed my experience at Amber Ox. Very inviting atmosphere. We decided to sit at the bar because we didn't want to wait. It was fascinating to watch the mixologist prepare the different cocktails. We didn't partake in any cocktails but did try a non alcoholic beer, which we both liked and ended up buying a 6 pack for home. The staff was very friendly and attentive. We had burgers and fries as a entrée. They were tasty burgers. All in all I enjoyed dining here. Only issue we had was finding parking.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5