Second Empire Restaurant & Tavern

(see explanation of ratings below) For sixteen years, Chef Daniel Schurr has been knocking it out of the... more

(see explanation of ratings below) For sixteen years, Chef Daniel Schurr has been knocking it out of the park in this beautifully restored mansi... more

(see explanation of ratings below) For sixteen years, Chef Daniel Schurr has been knocking it out of the park in this beautifully restored mansi... more

Very disappointed and have never eaten there. I scheduled, several weeks ago, a reservation for tomorrow night for 12 people. A very important meeting for my employer. We received email confirmation of the reservation right away. Guests flying in from California today. A pretty big deal. We just got an email from the restaurant CANCELLING OUR RESERVATION! No reasons given... just we are cancelling your reservation... So now I am under the gun to find another impressive restaurant that can take a last minute reservation for 12 for tomorrow night! Unacceptable. If this is how they treat their patrons, I will never be one. I don't care how good their food is. more

very pricy, but worth every dime. food is the best in town. i recommend for any special night out. more

I was very disappointed with a phone request involving a birthday surprise. I spoke with a hostess whose name I have decided not to mention. I explained that I would like to surprise a relative who had a reservation later that night by treating them to appetizers and drinks. All details were covered and my credit card was taken. I later texted them to see if they enjoyed their treat and was told they had already ordered dessert NO appetizers and one drink and their server had never mentioned any birthday surprise or that they could have ordered an appetizer and more than more

We just celebrated our anniversary in a party of 4 last night and the entire evening was just incredible. Service was impeccable, food for all of us was simply superb and the ambiance of this historic house is lovely. Upon arrival for our reservation, the maitre d' surprised us with a menu signed by the owner and the chef. He also presented us with a gift certificate from our jeweler and friend Margarita, which was not only extremely thoughtful and generous, but a huge surprise since it was not expected. We travel all over the country and also abroad and after eating there last night, we agreed this is absolutely the finest food and best service available in Raleigh and we can't wait to return. more

We just celebrated our anniversary in a party of 4 last night and the entire evening was just incredible. Service was impeccable, food for all of us was simply superb and the ambiance of this historic house is lovely. Upon arrival for our reservation, the maitre d' surprised us with a menu signed by the owner and the chef. He also presented us with a gift certificate from our jeweler and friend Margarita, which was not only extremely thoughtful and generous, but a huge surprise since it was not expected. We travel all over the country and also abroad and after eating there last night, we agreed this is absolutely the finest food and best service available in Raleigh and we can't wait to return. more

Me and my wife went there last night hungry and left hungry. I orderded a item from the starter menu and for $12 bucks I got two shrimp with the head on them and two 1/8 inch sausage slices. I ordered Monk Fish for the entree and I'm not kidding for $28 bucks the fish was half the size of a candy bar! The total price for the meal with only two glasses of wine was $155 dollars. We stopped at BoJangles before the night was over because we were starving. Way Way overpriced and not nearly enough food!! Ver y Disappointted! more

My husband and I love Second Empire. We go there for every special occasion ? the lamb is to die for! more

My husband and I love Second Empire. We go there for every special occasion ? the lamb is to die for! Everyone seems to complain that SE is too expensive but I believe you get what you pay for. The portions are perfect and the staff has always been professional, pleasant (yet non-intrusive) and the atmosphere is beautiful. We look forward to celebrating with Second Empire for years to come! more

The food was good and the atmosphere was romantic but I expected more for the price. more

The food was good and the atmosphere was romantic but I expected more for the price. My boyfriend took me here for our Christmas date and I was definitely not wowed like I thought I would be. The prices are a little too high for what you are getting. I will however say that the meals were delicious. more

My fiancee and I was looking for a place for our church lunch rehearsal. We were excited about the location and that it's such a cute historical home. So we thought we try out the menu that would be the same for our lunch rehearsal. The appetizers which weren't on the special events menu was awesome (we had the duck salad and the crab dip)! But then things just went down from there. We ordered 2 out of the 4 menu items to try, the pulled chicken penne pasta and the seafood paella. This is from the pub menu downstairs. Upstairs is a different menu. My fiancee wasn't impressed with the chicken penne pasta, and mine had hair in the shrimp. Yuk! We told the waiter and they said the chef will examine it. Then later they came out with another paella dish but lesser scallops this time. We both couldn't eat our dish. They all came out so burnning hot! I don't know why they won't let it cool before serving their dishes. Someone could burn their tongue from the dishes. So we thought, well okay, the entree isn't so great, let's try the key lime pie. And another disappointment. They should have a pastry chef there right? Wrong, the key lime pie tasted like it came out from the box, not homemade at all. They add a layer of cheesecake to the top. We were like, huh? After dinner was done, we waited for 15 minutes for our check. Our original waiter didn't seem to care about us afterwards. And he did try to push us to drink liquor/beer/coffee to up the tip on his tab early. Very disappointed, we won't go back. Giving this a one star since of the waiter who didn't really serve us came to apologize for the hair and the event coordinator too. But we walked out of there feeling as if we overpaid for everything that was bad and bad service. No compensation, just an apology. We won't be having our rehearsal here or coming back. more

Terrible experience. Food was WAY overpriced for the quality. Waiters were not very friendly and the atmosphere was stale at best. Avoid this place and visit other restaurants and this is not a very friendly place to have a meal. more

Terrible experience. Food was WAY overpriced for the quality. Waiters were not very friendly and the atmosphere was stale at best. Avoid this place and visit other restaurants and this is not a very friendly place to have a meal. more

I normally don't post about restaurants but I wish I had read more about dining at the chef table. I booked a table for my husband and I for a nice celebration dinner. He went on the web-site and found something called the "chef table" nad booked us there instead. Please note you must secure the reservation with a credit card, which was okay with us. Pros: Hands-on experience Cons: very costly, not much food, loud and bright more

I normally don't post about restaurants but I wish I had read more about dining at the chef table. I booked a table for my husband and I for a nice celebration dinner. He went on the web-site and found something called the "chef table" nad booked us there instead. Please note you must secure the reservation with a credit card, which was okay with us. When we arrived we were taken into the kitchen. Wow, the lights were SO bright in there (of course, they need to see what they are cooking) and it is very loud and hot. I thought we would be seated in the corner of the kitchen with a nice view of what was happening....nope, we were seated right in front of where the food was coming out; it was a bit uncomfortable to say the least. Everyone from the dish washers to the servers staring at you and trying to get around our table. I was so nervous and felt 'on display'. I also expected a warmer 'welcome' but everyone was so busy running around it never happened. We sat and (yes I looked at my watch) almost an hour before anyone brought us something to eat, and that was because I finanlly asked someone for bread. They encourged us to get up and walk around the kitchen and ask questions and help out. I felt very out of place....and I adore cooking. Everyone we met was very nice and kind...very hard working people. We had three courses of food, which were yummy but tiny and we also got to taste 3 wines. The chef picked everything and his selections were nice. I wish I had been eating the same food in the dining room and I wish more had been explained about eating at the chef table. Our bill was $331.00 for 2 people and I am certain I could have gotten 3 courses for so much less in the dining room. I am sure it is worth a bit more to have the kitchen experience, but for what we got, I found it over priced. I also felt it was rude for them to add over $50.00 in gratuity; it was out of line. First, not a sole even waited on us; we would have had better service in the dining room...and second, we agreed before hand to pay the money, why not allow two grown adults to leave there own tip? It was not like there were 6 or more of us. I will return to the secnd empire and I will make sure I sit in the main dining room or in the tavern. I think the concept of this was nice but it failed to live up to the standards I would have expected. I hope this was helpful. Pros: Hands-on experience Cons: very costly, not much food, loud and bright more

Unfortunately we did not get to eat at the famed Second Empire. We made reservations 2 weeks in advance for a special family dinner celebrating 4 birthdays. We reserved a table for 4 in the tavern and were very excited about the meal and knew it was going to be an expensive meal but thought it would be perfect for the occasion. We arrived on time for our reservation, were seated and watched in amazement for 20 minutes while every other table in the dining room was taken care of by multiple servers. They didn't even notice us until we started to put our coats on. The staff was very appologetic but at that point it was too late. We were ready to order bottles of wine and appetizers and the waitress who brought us water said she "wasn't our server" and wouldn't take our drink order - I was shocked. Waiting 20 minutes for the server assigned to our table is too long. Pros: Nice atmosphere Cons: Terrible service more

Unfortunately we did not get to eat at the famed Second Empire. We made reservations 2 weeks in advance for a special family dinner celebrating 4 birthdays. We reserved a table for 4 in the tavern and were very excited about the meal and knew it was going to be an expensive meal but thought it would be perfect for the occasion. We arrived on time for our reservation, were seated and watched in amazement for 20 minutes while every other table in the dining room was taken care of by multiple servers. They didn't even notice us until we started to put our coats on. The staff was very appologetic but at that point it was too late. We were ready to order bottles of wine and appetizers and the waitress who brought us water said she "wasn't our server" and wouldn't take our drink order - I was shocked. Waiting 20 minutes for the server assigned to our table is too long. Pros: Nice atmosphere Cons: Terrible service more