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The Wheelhouse Restaurant has officially had its first open weekend and owner Merrill Culverhouse said it was a successful weekend.

“I think we had a great response this weekend,” Culverhouse said. “We did experience the usual first few opening day problems like computer glitches and a little bit slower service time, but everyone was accommodating and understanding. We finally got the computer glitches worked out and everything went smooth. Saturday night was really smooth.”

Culverhouse said on the opening night he was a little anxious and nervous, but through the night he relaxed.

“I was kind of nervous as to how the people would respond to the food,” Culverhouse said. “Our menu is a little different. We have dishes that haven’t really been introduced around here before. Everyone was really open to trying nearly everything on our menu. We had a good velocity on the seafood dishes and Jon, our chef, was really surprised at how many steaks were ordered, because we aren’t a steakhouse.”

Throughout the week and weekend, Culverhouse said things got slowly better and better.

“Wednesday was a little rough because of the computer glitches,” Culverhouse said. “Thursday got a little better. Then Friday because of the Christmas parade and still a few computer glitches, we got slammed pretty good. Saturday night was great. It was smooth, Jon got all of the computer glitches situated and it went very well.”

Culverhouse said that Christmas will be a busy season, but they are hoping to expand their radius to 60 miles.

“We still have a lot of Christmas parties on the books,” Culverhouse said. “We are looking to hopefully expand our reach further out. We are going to target a 60-mile radius because we are looking to draw people to Opp to try Chef Jon’s food. We are just looking for continued growth. I know when you first open, people want to try the food, but we want to maintain high food quality and service to keep people coming back.”

The Wheelhouse does accept reservations, but they have to be made 24 hours in advance. They also will be selling gift cards for the holiday season and Culverhouse said any amount could be put on the card.

The Wheelhouse is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 5 p.m., until 10 p.m.