Rating system... 2 out of 5 forks...
Where: Hartford Road, Manchester, CT
When: Jan 2011- within a month of opening...
Now, I must admit I didn't remember to bring my camera, so this photo is one taken of my leftovers when I got home. Nulli's Style Baked Haddock with Crabmeat stuffing.
We decided to check out this place, since it was
1. around the corner from our house (maybe a mile or so- very long walk)
2. and we love the owner's other restaurants, Corey's Catsup & Mustard, and Pastrami on Wry (last name of the owner).
The first impression was nice, although it's hard to not see pieces of the last restaurant that was there. The decor was ocean blue and soft browns. Nice placemats (kind of a open-weave, woods-y look to it), however the tables are really too small to have nice heavy silverware and large plates (mine came on a rectangle plate that I almost had to place cock-eyed on my 'space'. But, ... I'm getting ahead of myself.
Staff was very friendly... thanks, Dominique. You were soooo attentive, along with a woman, whom I'm assuming was upper management. Prices were more than I was expecting, but probably not out of bounds for 'fine dining'... anywhere from 17.00-29.00 per entree. Dinners come with one 'side', but I notice that the sides were $3.50 each or three for $10.
My tea was served in a VERY wide mouthed cup... so much so that the tea cooled off VERY quickly ( after three sips) and I kept having to ask for more hot water - that was irritating for me, so I only asked for one refill. I like HOT tea.
House Salad was a very 'fluffy' bowl of greens....baby spinach, chicory, escarole... And the lightest dressing I could have ordered was oil & vinegar or a 'creamy' (not very light in my book) balsamic (and I love balsamic dressing, just not anything creamy). With this day of people trying to eat on the light side, you would have thought they'd offer more vinegarette dressings than -creamy. I opted out for lemon wedges. As disappointed as I was in the salad 'greens', I wish I'd known that there was a (1) slice of tomato, one (1!) slice of cucumber and some shredded cheese at the bottom of the bowl! I noticed it after I'd eaten more than half of it. (btw, if you want to know why a restaurant can charge a lot for a salad, have the chef serve the thin tomato slice with no skin on it.- people will pay more for that tomato (?)--not me). I like my salads to look colorful, not 'fluffy'. Much more appealing AND looks like you took time to make it look nice.
It seemed like a long wait for our food, but when it came, it looked delicious!! I had a Baked Haddock with Crabmeat stuffing and penne pasta, with lemon butter sauce and grated parmesan. Unfortunately, the pasta wasn't all that hot...kinda warm. Almost cool... Sorry, but I like my food hot or very warm when I get it. My husband had Kansas City steak and loaded baked potato (hmm...maybe that's where they went to get the dinner). It was 'okay', but for $24, it should have been wonderful or even exciting!)
No room for dessert, but I figured I'd spent more than I wanted to already.... Not planning to go back anytime soon. Sorry, Corey, ... this one wasn't for us.
ps.... while talking to a fellow parishioner at church, they said they had a awful time there, too.... Hey, Corey, pay attention, please. We LOVE Catsup & Mustard and Patrami on Wrye... We've converted from Shady Glen people.
