A lively Thursday evening is in full swing at The Oaks with the bar area and tables full of happy diners. At the center of all the bustling activity is co-owner Nancy Carter. She is simultaneously greeting folks by name, managing a wait list, checking on tables, and doing it all with a warm sense of humor. Over the past 30 years, she and husband Marty have created a welcoming neighborhood restaurant that also functions as Lively’s hangout as evidenced by the handshakes and hugs as diners greeted one another.
Since it is tucked away in what N. Carter affectionately called “lovely Lively,” if you are coming to the restaurant, it probably means you were referred by a local. “We’re this popular because of word of mouth,” she said. Those rave reviews are due to a combination of great food and attentive service—including a lack of definite closing time to accommodate diners—and the menu. Carter relishes the feedback.
“We have an open conversation” about the menu and often include suggestions through weekly specials like Comfort Food Thursdays which range from meatloaf and country fried steak to shrimp and grits and frog legs. Weekly specials are posted on their Facebook page as well as pushed through email. Among the dinners featured over the past few weeks—grilled or blackened North Atlantic salmon, grilled lamb chops, barramundi, catfish, soft shell crabs, and flat iron steak.
Although everything on the menu is freshly grown, prepared and cooked to order, The Oaks’ real claim to fame is being “The Home of the Ribeye.” For multiple years, the restaurant has topped reader polls for Best Steakhouse, a feat Carter found “humbling and amazing.”
So what makes it so special?
It starts before you even enter the restaurant. The second you leave your car, the smell of grilling wafts through the air, hinting at the meal to come. The fresh, never frozen ribeyes are cooked on an open flame, providing that savory, smokey crust that comes from cooking at such high heat.
reason.
“This is one of the best steaks I’ve ever had,”
my husband Blaine said between bites. Carter said the focus on that particular cut is due to its rich marbling which gives it a flavor and tenderness popular with steak lovers.
If you are not in the mood for steak, there are other options from the grill—pork chops, chicken breasts and Angus burgers—as well as classic seafood. At my server Michelle’s suggestion, I tried her favorite, the garlic pepper shrimp which was sautéed with ample amounts of butter and garlic. They also have jumbo lump crab cakes, fried clams and local oysters. Dinners come with two side options like baked potatoes, French fries, coleslaw and a daily vegetable. A salad bar, freshly stocked from Carter’s garden, also is an option for lighter appetites.
Generous sized sandwiches—crab cake, fried fish, fried oyster and soft shell in season—make a meal as well. You’ll also want to save room for dessert, which are homemade by Carter. I can recommend the dark sweet cherry cobbler, served with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
While the ribeye and crab cakes are market priced, dinners and weekly specials run in the $17-$25 range. A dinner from the kids menu is $13 and comes with a side.
Carter said she wanted their restaurant to feel like home. “The community needs a place like this,” she said. From the homey decor and welcoming staff, to the comforting and homemade meals, the Carters have definitely delivered. This is a hidden gem definitely worth discovering. Even if you have never been, expect to be greeted and treated like family.
The Oaks
5434 Mary Ball Road, Lively
804-462-7050
Open
Wednesdays through Saturdays, 4 p.m. – until. Carry out available.
Customer favorites
Garlic pepper shrimp, grilled lamb chop special – Specialty: Home of the ribeye
Did you know?
The restaurant is located in the former Lively Drug Store soda fountain. The name is a nod to the town’s historic post office designation, Lively Oak.
