Last night was our second trip to Ember and our 2 experiences were night and day. The first visit was a Saturday evening. It wasn't terribly busy. Our service was good - left a larger than normal tip because service is so awful everywhere lately. Our meals were amazing. My husband had the smoked chicken gnocchi and the taste I had was one of the best dinners I've had in a while. I had the duck which was equally as tasty. It was a great dinner. Another date night in the schedule and I wanted to go back to Ember. I wanted the gnocchi dinner. I've talked about it so many times, I wanted to have it for my own meal. Made reservations for Saturday at 6:30. When we arrived there was a function upstairs. This was ok - made the place super loud, but I can deal. Unfortunately, it ended up being a big deal. There was one woman serving all of downstairs and the patio. It took a while before she came over to ask about drinks. At which point I asked for a whiskey menu. She brought the menu and took right off. Comes back probably 5 -10 minutes later and we order our drinks. She takes right off. We knew we wanted an app but didn't have a second to blurt it out. Comes with the drinks and asks what we want to eat. I ask for the gnocchi. She then informs us they are out of that and TWO other dinner items!! I don't know how this even happens.... She doesn't seem to care much - more annoyed that I reopen the menu. Quickly says she'll be back. She should have taken my husbands order and I would have been ready by then. After about 10 minutes I waved her down and asked to put our dinner order in. Our app came and she drops it and tries to run off but I caught her and asked if my husband could have another drink. The entire night we had to chase service. As did the whole restaurant. There was a table on the patio that totally took her attention. All she did was tend to that table. Didn't seem to care about what anyone wanted. And if you interrupted her while she was back and forth for them, she acted so flustered. I blame the establishment for leaving one server while everyone was upstairs for the function. Food took a while. And there's a small bathroom for a ton of people. We were so sad it went to crap for this visit. The hardest part is the food is amazing. Our meals were so awesome. I want to try again and see if we get better service without a function. I'm torn about this place. I'd probably call to be sure the menu isn't missing items before going back. read more

No Restaurant in New England can stack up to Embers Caesar Salad. Made from crisp hearts true authentic Tijuana inspired house made dressing. And where do the get the delectable anchovies. And then there's dinner and drinks. Amazing never disappoints been coming for 15 years!!!! read more

abysmal service .we arrived with reservations at 6:30. Sat for at least 20 minutes before anyone came for drink orders. Finally got drinks and ordered . Meal came an hour and a half later. I ordered scallops and one was bad and tasted like iodine. Had to spit it out. No one asked why or if anything was wrong even though it was clear I couldn't eat it. Asparagus was almost raw. Creme brûlée average at best. Won't be back. read more

This place is new and it's fantastic! Best restaurant in Dover, if you get the chance to sit at the bar I highly recommend Chris who is established and knows his way around the menu and provides some of the best service I've ever had! Excellent service and food! We had a corporate outing and we're treated like celebrities! Thank you Chris read more

I went to Ember for my birthday brunch and it was AMAZING! The service was great and the food was even better. They also brought me a little dessert (even though they don't usually have anything dessert wise during brunch hours). I can't wait to go back for the dinner menu. read more

Ember Wood Fired Grill - Pulled pork eggs benedict - Whiskey Bars Near Me - Dover, New Hampshire

We a disappointing and not inexpensive meal here this week. The menu choices sounded ok but when served my meal was super spicy (inedible) and my date's meal was bland and overcooked. There was a crudités/cheese board/app buffet being cleared from a party in another room, and when I walked through to use the restroom, I saw them carefully plating up the leftovers... to serve again? The waitstaff knew we were not happy with the food yet did nothing or offered nothing. Service - meh. Won't be going back. read more

Best new restaurant in Dover! The menu is interesting and delicious. The staff is very accommodating and attentive. I can't wait to eat there again! read more

I can't say enough about this place! I went here last week with a group of girl friends and we all had a wonderful experience, so much so I took my husband there tonight. He was impressed as well. The menu is fun and creative. The margerita pizza, Ember Burger, lobster mac and cheese and salmon were all delicious! The kale salad and quinoa also need special mention:-) Yum! The re-due of the downstairs space (the former Orchard Street Chop House) is warm with a contemporary feel. High ceilings, fireplace, big windows and new bar make this a perfect place to enjoy great food and drinks in Dover. read more

I took my husband to Ember last night for his birthday dinner, I was very disappointed. We sat ourselves, and it took a while for the waitress to take our drink order. She never realized that she didn't give us menus, we actually took them from a nearby empty table. Then she came to take our drink order and I ordered a martini that she had to come back to the table twice to ask me questions regarding the drink. My husband order Hendricks, gin & tonic with St Germaine and a cucumber; she said they didn't have cucumbers! That they were retired! Who retires cucumbers in a restaurant. Cucumbers appear several places on the menu, apparently they didn't want to go to the kitchen to get a few slices. The food was ok, nothing to rave about, perhaps we just went on a off night. I was looking forward to a nice celebration dinner but it fell short read more

We showed up for our 6:45 reservation. Instead of sitting at our table we asked to sit at the bar. Looking to have a nice night out without our kids we settled on Ember because every other restaurant wasn't accepting reservations before 8:00. This should have been our warning. We ordered two entrees off of the specials and an appetizer of mussels. Got our drinks and waited...and waited... until our bartender told us that she just checked on our mussels and they're almost done. Maybe a couple more minutes. Ten minutes later we're told "all the orders came in at once shouldn't be more than a few more minutes" We waited until 7:30 without getting our appetizer before we had enough. 45 minutes without food we sat in this restaurant. My girl ordered a few glasses of wine and I had a Manhattan and the bartender still charged us for every drink. Not that she owed us anything but it was an embarrassment all around. I'm no chef but I do know that mussels take 10 minutes to steam up. Even being busy I'll say 15 minutes. This place is trying to be high end in a college student city. If you're looking to order pizzas to go they seemed to have that down packed but if you want to have a nice dinner with a loved one stay away from here. read more

What I had was nasty over cooked chicken with some brown gravy over it. Occupied by some baby food sweet potato's and chopped over cooked tasteless vegetables of mostly carrots and celery. $21. Yucky Not very many people in this joint. My opinion. Go here once to try it and never return. Been there done that file. read more

My wife and I went there for our 18th anniversary and the food was delicious. We started with appetizers and drinks (Allagash White for me and a Pinot Grigio for her). I ordered the Elote Style Green Beans which was just the right amount of spice ( and a healthy portion (aka big). My wife ordered the Mussels which were prepared just right with Allagash White (Belgian-style wheat beer), roasted garlic butter, Spanish chorizo, and fresh herbs. The main course for me was the Seared Yellow Fin Tuna which was prepared just right over charred cucumber and tomato couscous. My wife, a carnivore at heart, ordered the Grilled Hanger Steak. It was buttery and tender. At the end we finished with another drink. I ordered the Garden Party cocktail (made with gin and a real lovely concoction) and she ordered the Ruffino Rose Prosecco. I have no complaints other than the fact that the website does not get updated often and my wife was hoping for something on the site which was not on the current menu. read more

I wanted to love Ember but unfortunately I am unable to do at the present time. My husband and I had a reservation on Valentine's Day. This restaurant needs to decide if it wants to be a bar or an upscale restaurant . We were escorted upstairs and seated at a table in the dining room . The atmosphere was diminished by several things : the bar ( accompanied by all the usual bar noise and frivolities) , the TV showing the Olympics, the music station playing the top 40's (not soft or romantic) and the fact that it was freezing causing myself and several other patrons to put their coats back on. The waitress was pleasant in a scared ,deer in the headlights , sort of way . She was not familiar with the menu, could not answer basic questions about the specials and generally seemed scared and overwhelmed. As far as food and drink : the cocktails, while strong, were made incorrectly and were way overpriced ( $14 for an old fashioned anyone?). The Gouda polenta fries were delicious . We each had the filet. The steaks were cooked ok, although they were not marked, and I got my husband's medium while he got my medium well. They were served with a Bernaise peppercorn sauce with WAY too much peppercorn. I had 25 on my plate alone. What this meant, unfortunately was that all you could taste was pepper, and instead of enhancing the filet, it overwhelmed it. The accompanying risotto had a nice flavor despite being overcooked. The roasted Brussels sprouts had, sadly , been woefully over roasted . And all on the plate suffered from a lack of basic seasoning. For over $120 we wanted and deserved more. We are unlikely to return. read more

I noticed that the owner, in response to a customer comment regarding wrong/bad bar drinks, said that good help is hard to find and keep. That is not the customer's problem and should never be used as an excuse for bad service. Hiring, training and keeping dedicated, responsible employees is the business owner's responsibility. Poor service reflects directly on the business owner. When the quality of the service is poor, it makes you wonder what other shortcuts are taken behind the scene. read more

Great food at reasonable prices. Steaks are a personal favorite. They have great selection of whiskey and the staff is very knowledgable about them. Great place to meet somebody for a drink and or have a date with. read more

Held a business dinner at Ember - great atmosphere, fantastic food and wonderful service. The owner Chris was more than accommodating and our server Avery was very attentive. The food was cooked perfectly and very high quality. Highly recommended! read more

I have attended this restaurant multiple times since it is local to the area of Dover and many people rave about. The first time my family and I had visited, we were ordering our entrees and they were out of almost everything that seemed appetizing. Not a very good start to the night but we did enjoy our food while they were most of our 3rd or 4th choices. A few months later we attended the local restaurant again to give it a second try and lets just say, the worst experience! We made dinner reservations two nights before the event and were excited to enjoy some great food. But the reservations were "lost" and the OWNER was the one who apparently "forgot to write them down". We were given the option to go to their upstairs area shoved into a back room that was freezing and full of all the kids of the people who were at the bar. We finally, after 30 MINUTES of waiting for our table, got to their main floor to eat. The drinks were stingy and the bartender bitched about the whole process of sending the awful, under poured drinks back. Once we received our food, my burger was under cooked when I ordered, specifically, medium well. The ketchup, to add, was watered down so much that it was soup on our plates. All in all, the experience was absolutely miserable, cold, disgusting and needs some serious improvement. The waitress, though, was thoughtful and did not charge us for the drinks we did not enjoy. So kudos to Heidi and her work as a waitress :) read more

My wife and I went there for the first time recently. We ate at the bar upstairs. The bartender, a male with a mustache, was very knowledgeable and personable. He suggested 2 drinks we had never had and they were really outstanding. He also walked us through the menu, answered questions, and made recommendations which we took. Everything we had to eat was very good. The male bartender checked with us on our entrees and another round of drinks. We declined more drinks but changed our mind a couple of minutes later. He was busy cleaning tables in the dining room, so we ordered another round of cocktails from a female bartender. This did not go well. It took almost 10 minutes for her to make two drinks, with almost no one else at the bar. The cocktails she made us were terrible, and one of them was a completely different drink than we had ordered. We tried to get her attention for 5 minutes but she was glued to her cell phone and didn't look up at the bar once. Finally, the male bartender saw us from the dining room trying to get her attention and immediately came over to help us. We told him about the drinks, and not being able to get her attention. He apologized and made us 2 more drinks. They were the right ones, and they were great! We go out to eat a lot and service is important. We would have left a 5-star review but our interactions with the female bartender really soured the evening for us. read more

I was expecting a better dinner ...when I got there it seemed like everybody was rushed as far as the staff although the place was empty. They brought water to the table which came warm which was unpleasant and needed ice in it. I asked for a second Glass of wine the waitress came over and gave me a new glass of wine and then poured what was left from the first glass into see second new glass which I felt was totally wrong to do ...let me either drink it or leave it there already... I ordered the pasta carbonara which came lukewarm... my husband ordered the ribeye steak. It was a bit chewy although cooked correctly. Our waiter asked how everything was ...my husband replied ok, but she didn't wait to hear my answer she left right away but managed to ask if I want to have another glass of wine ... don't know that I would come here again ..:I was highly disappointed ..the menu is very limited compared to the website... it looks like you had more options and choices . read more

Invited some friends to join us to try out the new Dover eatery! We were optimistic and sadly disappointed! The service was initially attentive, and then completely dropped off. We were only one of two tables seated @ the time - early dinner. When attempting to get the wait staff to notice that we were ready to order, one server looked at me and then past me as I waved to him - no acknowledgement. Twice one person in our party got up to ask the server for 1 - a glass of wine, and 2 - pepper for the meal. The entrees are Portsmouth prices, but we thought they must really be good - and again were disappointed. Way too much salt in several of the sides. I tried the Spring Vegetable Paparadelle - and I had to hunt for the vegetables. Should be a nice mound of veggies but all that I could "find" were little pieces of asparagus and some carrot! We live in Dover and eagerly support Dover businesses - and certainly will give anything a second chance but not so sure about Embers! read more