It had been far too long since I had been to Oak Steakhouse.

Immediately walking in, my dad and I were greeted by a horde of servers and managers shaking hands with him and exclaiming how much I had grown since the eighth grade. The atmosphere and ambience matched the collectiveness and mellow gestures of the workers, and we were automatically sucked into the calmness of it all.

Service was as fantastic as I had remembered at the restaurant at 17 Broad St., the waiter being knowledgeable as expected and adding in humorous comments every few moments.

Appetizers consisted of my all-time favorite, fresh Virginian oyster rockefellers with the perfect amount of baked topping that I enjoyed. We also had scallops sent to us, nicely cooked and plump with a complementing sweet tomato-based sauce. Last, the beef carpaccio we had would’ve been perfect had the beef been sprinkled with a dash of salt along with the amount of fresh pepper on the beef.

Normally, caesar salads are such a well-known and generic dish I wouldn’t bother ordering it, but from an early age I had long figured out that Oak Steakhouse has a classic style of preparation and has the best anchovy filets and parmesan to top the dish. Yes, I am complimenting salad.

During the dinner, the servers continued walking over to fill up water and ask how everything was going, which was wonderful. They were close but not suffocatingly close. Attentive, but not annoyingly crowding over our shoulders.

As for entrees, we got what the steakhouse is obviously best known for: steak. The 12-ounce filet mignon was cooked to a slight medium and the foie gras topped on the steak was a fantastic balance of flavor. Since I was not able to choose one sauce, our server brought all the sauces for me to taste and I fell in love with the béarnaise and hollandaise. We also ordered the jumbo lump crab cakes, and I loved the delicious vegetables consisting of peas, greens, potatoes and others underneath the crab cakes along with a tart spicy aioli battling the sweetness of the crab. As a side, mac and cheese was a necessary classic, so we enjoyed the creamy and thick southern staple.

To finish the long two hours of a meal, we got a white chocolate cheesecake with hazelnut ice cream to satisfy our sweet tooth.

Overall, Oak Steakhouse once again has knocked down my standards of excellent food and I will be looking forward to my next visit, but keep in mind, save up your money from work. This is a place of fine dining and prices to match it.