Aiken Speakeasy and Eats

«Swing and a miss!» I really enjoyed the idea of this place when it opened — a ‘speakeasy’ sort of themed restaurant in downtown; but after a few years, it appears to be a good idea that was poorly implemented.
Either the door code ‘trick’ was too tricky for the locals to pick up on or nobody in town ‘gets the joke’ (ending up in having the door kept open with the door code written on a chalkboard for when it is actually closed). The front window isn’t tinted, so you can see everyone who is at the bar and most of the tables, so again, the ‘speakeasy’ theme isn’t really real.
The dining room has been shrunk down by ½ since it first opened, as the owner has walled up the connection to the next building; leaving the place with a good bar space, plenty of high-​tops and maybe 8 sit-​down tables all near the kitchen as a result. When it first opened, it had plenty of sit-​down dining space and even a couch/​chair area for sipping cocktails with friends ‘afternoon toddy’ style. It appears the place is in decline.
The menu has a variety of offerings but none of which I have found yet to be ‘fabulous’. Everything I’ve tasted, from the Filet Mignon to the Crab Cakes was very good but nothing to write home about, in my opinion. They do have an awesome Remoulade sauce, I will give them that. However, I have yet to find what they have that is their ‘signature item’ on the menu that would drive a loyal customer base to keep coming back.
The real ‘kicker’ for me on my last visit (4÷19÷16) was getting my 2^nd glass of red wine — it was warmer than room temperature by a lot! It was actually warm! No respectable ‘gourmet’ restaurant is going to store their wine in an area that isn’t even temperature controlled… at least none that I’ve run across until this place. That’s a fail in ‘restauranting 101′ in my book.
For the high cost, you can easily find other downtown eateries that have similar menu offerings at more reasonable prices; and that seem to be thriving rather than shrinking as a business.

Good beer selection, and decent service. The food on the other hand is not so good. I ate and drank her with my self and 3 others, we drove from Augusta to give it a try, everyone enjoyed the beers but we all disliked the food.
If you’re looking for a drink, then by all means. But if you’re looking to eat, save your money and go elsewhere.

My husband and I had our date night here! It was a great experience! We had oysters fitz patrick for our appetizer, along with caesar salads and ended our meal with the filet mignon. All of which, were fantastic! My husband doesn’t even like oysters and he LOVED the oysters kirkpatrick here!!! Our server was very nice and he made great recommendations for our bourbon and oyster palates. Therefore, the service was great, the food was great and the intimate atmosphere was also great!
Being that it’s masters week, I understand how a lot of golfers who are visiting Aiken have a tendency to drink all day and night, but there was one very loud customer at the bar near our table. This was the only drawback from my whole experience and since that’s not necessarily the restaurant’s fault, I would still come back here anytime!

Had a great lunch with my Dad. We ordered two dozen Oysters Kirkpatrick that were delicious. Six rotating craft beer taps and full bar. Nice place but can get crowded since they down sized so make reservations if your going in the evening. Try the Oysters Kirkpatrick… Well worth it!

Wonderful Saturday night out in lovely Aiken, SC. Live music, excellent and multi-​talented performer, room to dance and OK to sing along. Acoustics were perfect so they must have resolved that issue. Food was 5 star, best fish entrée in Aiken– just incredible food all around. Friendly staff.

Awesome Happy Hour drinks and food. Best oysters around and the roaring 20’s chips are delicious. For lunch the Hot Brown is wonderful! Definitely recommend this place.

If you’re in Aiken, for whatever reason (I feel for ya) come here.
From the cute code on the door to enter, the beautiful old bar with the very obliging bar man, Scott, to the knowledgable and professional staff right up to the incredible food, this is an Aiken must.
We’ve been staying in Aiken for a couple of months and we’ve been here countless times. The appetisers are incredible. The roaring twenties chips, the crispy duck wings are probably the best I’ve ever had, the oysters rocker fella are to die for and sometimes we just come here to tapas style the appetisers for dinner.
We’ve had the braised ribs with both pasta and then with mash potato, which are one of my favs, the Ahi tuna which blew my husbands mind, the shrimp and scallops are incredible also.
I cannot rave about this place enough, the locals are friendly and I’m never short of a friend to do a shot with me at the bar.

Brunch menu had plenty of choices and everything we ordered was excellent. Food was prepared well and the omelette was full of the chosen fillings. Service was friendly and staff was helpful. Great value for the money, fun atmosphere.

Love the décor :)
Quaint atmosphere– and the roaring 20s chips are really good! We ate the WHOLE PLATE!

Fantastic, and well done for this small town. Great drinks, good people. Very nice menu and fantastic happy hour. The ambiance is exceptionally nice a place I would definitely return to again.

I don’t have much to say. The filet was very very very low quality. I am a steak snob but I am a serious expert when it comes to all top cut meats. I say shame on you for charging a price of a mid to hi quality filet and giving us this poor excuse of a steak. If it wasn’t for the flavor I would have thought it was a sirloin. The good news they both was cooked perfectly so we can’t blame it on the cooking.
I do try all restaurants 3 times, so you have two more times to get it right. Fair warning, I will send it back next time if the quality of the steak has not improved.

Best thing going in Downtown Aiken! Nice atmosphere… cool, mellow spot! Check it out if you’re in the area. Live music on the weekend.

Nice atmosphere, great service, good food. Definitely worthy of a visit. I can personally recommend the pork chops and the lobster. The coffee was also surprisingly tasty.

Checked this place out while back in town for the holidays. Nice to see that people are trying to do some creative themes in the downtown restaurant scene. I give a star for that.
As other reviewers have said, this is a pricy option for dinner. Average entrée is around 18 bucks, but you have some offerings that have been missing from Aiken upscale casual dinning. I had the Ribeye with mashed potatoes. Decent steak. Cooked how I asked and the flavor was good. Portion was nice. My friend had stuffed shrimp and scallops. They were also good. Our bread was served cold. Desert was chocolate cake that was amazing. Nothing spectacular and a bit overpriced, but not so bad I was angry about it when the bill came.
The theme is different for Aiken, and sadly doesn’t quite work. The code to enter is neat, but once inside the whole speakeasy concept is gone. They do have some attempt at craft cocktails, but I didn’t have the opportunity to try any.
When I was there they had live music (Saturday night). It was a nice touch.

Second visit and I am in love. The duck wings are heaven. Service was prompt and friendly; bar service was excellent. Will be back soon.

Four of us went for dinner on Saturday November 22^nd. It was very disappointing. Two people had the stuffed lobster special … A poorly done crab cake atop a split lobster. No presentation, lobster and crab were overdone. Another special was ordered … A steak with blue cheese etc. topping. Thin, overdone and without imagination. I had the French dip. Way overdone beef with a slice of cheese. Presentation was terrible, food was awful and service was slow, slow, slow. We will not be back.

Happy hour is pretty good. Reasonably priced appetizers and cocktails Tues through Friday. I was in between meetings, so no drink for me. Scott, the bartender was very friendly and suggested food and drinks based on our conversation. The mussels and toast points were delicious and I was offered more bread to soak up all the yummy buttery, saffron, garlicky goodness. I love the ambiance, but I wish it was more of a secret as the name Speakeasy suggests. The happy hour was quite with music playing in the background, just how I like it. So I hope this place stays in business so I can make it my new happy hour spot.

Oh, Speakeasy… you’re like the really nice guy that I want to like but I just can’t bring myself to have feelings for because there’s no chemistry. I’ve been here several times so I feel I have enough experience with this place to write an accurate review.
Pros: the atmosphere, while not an authentic speakeasy for several reasons, is still really cool. I’m kind of obsessed with wine, jazz, and the roaring twenties (seriously, I was born 60 years too late) and this place has all of that. Good wine selection, Prohibition-​style cocktails, live jazz, and Charlie Chaplain silent films playing on the wall all add to the nice ambience. We had an impromptu birthday party of six without reservations and the manager was super nice and accommodating. For the most part, the service every time has been good. They also make their desserts in-​house and they’re excellent.
Cons: the food quality simply does not match the price you pay. I had a boring chicken salad once, bland salmon, terrible filet which came with what tasted like instant mashed potatoes, and grainy oysters. During the last visit, most of the people in our party were disappointed with the food quality. And the charcuterie platter… oh my. With that price, I was expecting something along the lines of what I had at Charleston’s Bin 152 (check out that review). Oh nay nay. It was a huge plate of average grocery store cheeses, meats, fruits, and nuts served with Ritz crackers. It broke my heart as I’m obsessed with charcuterie in general. My heart broke even more after seeing the bill compared to what we had just eaten. Despite that, they have a good mussels appetizer. If I go back, it’ll just be for wine and jazz (and maybe dessert if I’m feeling saucy).

Dined here several weeks ago with a group. There was live music, which we enjoyed. That said the acoustics could use some work. The staff was dressed in a «Speakeasy Style» and was very helpful and friendly. They easily answered all my questions about the menu.
For an appetizer we had the House made chips, and we devoured them. My husband had the pear salad and enjoyed it thoroughly.
For our entrees my husband had the short ribs and the only way he could have eaten more would have been to lick his plate. Delicious! I had the pork chop with rice and broccoli. It was excellent.
Others in our group had the scallops and salmon. Everyone enjoyed their meals, though we all would have liked a better balance of rice to broccoli. Less rice, more veggies!
We enjoyed our dinner and would go back!

This place could be so great, but it isn’t. They’re expensive, without the chops to justify the price.
The kitchen is mediocre: it would do well with bar food, and not be disappointing, but «fine dining» is out of its reach. The cheese plate had wildly disproportionate amounts of cheese for the dozen crackers and three pieces of burnt melba toast. The bacon-​wrapped scallops (my entrée) were tough and rubbery, and the bacon beyond crispy and well into blackened and burnt. The soup of the day was chicken and rice, and had less flavor than the can of Campbell’s chicken noodle your mom always gave your when you had the flu.
Service was very poor. All of our glasses (six ounce wine glasses for water and tea, trying to look upmarket) were empty for twenty minutes or more at a time, several times throughout the protected ordeal.
One couple ordered appetizers as their shared entrees, and were very clear with the server that this is what they intended. Yet forty-​five minutes after taking the table’s orders, he came and asked if we «wanted him to put in our orders yet».
He consistently blamed us for his shortcomings:
«I thought they’d want to finish their appetizers before I brought you your entrees.»
«I thought you said you wanted your soup at the same time as you’re entrée.»
«I didn’t see your glass was empty.» (It had been sitting at the edge of the table, empty, for ages.)
Then the live music. It was ostensibly jazz, but it was incredibly loud, distracting, and all-​over-​the-​place. Several times the musicians hit such pronounced and extended trebles the entire dining room jerked their heads at the stage.
All in all, the «speakeasy» theme consisted in cheesy menus, a keycode door, and … that’s it, really.
Highly disappointing, all told.