Most curved designs are custom, because there isn't a standard curve radius. This should have been addressed at the design phase, because your wood floor guy and GC knew this would happen.

Great feedback, really appreciate the honest input!

It looks fine to me.

Sorry Joe but it does not look good but how to fix it is a puzzle and maybe the best you can hop for is a close enough and maybe something to take you eye off the part that bugs you . Maybe a nice table with fresh flowers or a piece of art on the stair case wall , just something

It's very curious that before the stain was applied that the grain looks almost invisible, but afterwards it is so prominent. Photos don't render the color well, since in your first photo the oak looks warmer than in the second.

All that being said, it is fine, and what I would do, for both aesthetics and safety, is to have a runner made for the stairs. Because of the curve it will need to be custom cut and installed. Use a good carpet store for this--not the big box or discounters. Then you won't notice it as much.

The best option is to replace all of the engineered on the stairs with solid.

"Sorry Joe but it does not look good ..."

The two bottom treads match the grain of the third tread front edge fairly well. The third tread front edge doesn't match its field. That's not a problem created by the first two tread installers.

The team did not like how orangey the stain came out so they applied more stain on top yesterday…we don’t have the option of replacing all the stairs with wood treads unfortunately.

As someone said, the treads almost looked better with no stain as the stain picked up a ton of grain.

It does look a bit more gray so we might just live with it. I am hoping the seal doesn’t make it another color.

Can you take a couple of pictures from farther away?

The team did not like how orange the stain came out so they applied more stain on top yesterday…we don’t have the option of replacing all the stairs with wood treads unfortunately.

As someone said, the treads almost looked better with no stain as the stain picked up a ton of grain.

From further away.

I think it looks totally fine.

The engineered planks are European Oak. A different species with more closed grain structure than a white oak. I'd contact Karastan for matching tread material.You may need to join two pieces to get the width you need for the curve. There are 300+species of oak worldwide.

More stain on top of stain just makes the finish coat more likely to peel. Stain should be a once and done treatment.