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    Cooley's Kitchen

    4.4 (45 reviews)
    Open 11:00 am - 8:00 pm
    Updated 1 month ago

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    Loaded pizza
    Michele J.

    Fantastic find driving through CT. Great staff well educated in their menu and food allergies. Pizza was delicious! Can't wait to stop next time we come through

    Cheeseburger Grinder - 12''

    We stopped into Cooley's Kitchen while visiting family in Connecticut, and somehow it already feels like part of "home" for us. Jen helped us find a table near the back during dinner rush, which ended up being perfect. Low traffic, quieter, and right by a beautiful sunset. As disabled guests with a power chair, sensory overload can happen fast for us, especially in busy restaurants. Whether intentional or not, both Jen and Aaron seemed incredibly aware of the environment around us. Several times when the sun started shining directly into our eyes, one of them would naturally step into the light while checking on us so we could keep enjoying our cheeseburger grinder without getting overwhelmed. Small thing maybe, but it mattered a lot to us. What stood out most was how human everything felt. Not forced "customer service." Real care. Jen sat and talked with patrons and you could immediately tell this is a place locals genuinely love. Friends, families, regulars. Everyone seemed comfortable there. They checked in with us based on timing and body language, not because some policy told them to stop by every few minutes. Even the thumbs up from across the room felt personal and warm. We had a chance to talk a little about the restaurant too. Hearing that this was Aaron's dream and that they've been building it together for the last two years honestly made the experience even better. You can feel the passion behind the place. Aaron being a chef and Jen helping build the community side of it makes the whole restaurant feel alive in a way chain restaurants never do. Every time we come to Connecticut, we stop here...usually more than once. Truthfully, places like this are part of why we've started looking at Ellington as somewhere we could someday call home, even all the way from Iowa. Good food matters. But being seen as human matters more. Cooley's Kitchen gave us both.

    Chicken parm
    Sandie P.

    We tried Cooleys on a whim! So happy we did! The meatballs as an appetizer were dee-lish! My chicken parm was perfect and I could only finish 1/2. My hubby (whose Nana lived in the north end of Boston) said he had the best eggplant parm in years! Kudos to the owner Jen who was working so hard and was sweet, accommodating and attentive! We will be back!

    Shrimp scampi pizza -small
    Kevin D.

    Tried again, decent food but still some stumbles Saw a bunch of good reviews roll in, so decided to make the trek here and give them a fair shake. Sometimes quality gets lost in delivery, so I went for a dine in experience to get it as fresh as I can. Place was quiet, was only myself and 4 staff. Staff were engrossed in conversation, was a slow night. Seated myself and eventually ordered meatballs and a sausage Taormina. After about 35 minutes, everything gets delivered at the same time. I took pics and dug in. The meatball was much better this time around. Soft, almost too loose, but flavorful. The sauce was still really good, and it was coated in cheese rather than being buried in it. That was a solid bite. The soup and bread were good but lacking. The soup needed seasoning, it was creamy with plenty of sausage bits in it, but lacked any semblance of flavor. The garlic bread was soft and crisped nicely. only one side looked toasted, and it had some garlic flavor but it was very subtle. Both needed salt, which helped. The sausage Taormina is a dish I have no frame of reference to, and it was okay as a dish. The pasta was cooked well, the sausage was nice and charred, there was a large portion of pasta, and there was plenty of butter. The issues were that the olive oil and butter didn't really stick to the pasta. Pasta was cooked well, but water was not salted. The garlic was nowhere to be found, and the Italian seasoning and Parmesan was lightly added. Meaning that it was a big plate of buttered noodles with little flavor contrast to help it along. The broccoli was a little firm for my taste, and very much an afterthought. Easy enough fixes. Salt the pasta water, use salted butter and saute garlic cloves in butter. Fully drain pasta then saute pasta in butter before tossing in seasoning, olive oil, charred broccoli, then garnish with freshly grated Parmesan. None of that was done, but if it was it would've been a much better dish if they did. The staff at this location are not use to having dine in customers. Water was never filled, nothing was paced, was only checked on after I asked for the bill, and when it came to pay I waited 5 minutes till I gave up and paid cash. There is a potential here, but it's very much comfortable as the basic pizza delivery joint. In that way, it can be good for that if they focus on that aspect. It's not the best as a dine in location, but they do use quality ingredients and they can put out good food if they want. Good meatballs, good bread, but stick with the pizza and maybe the fried items.

    Monique F.

    Anytime we have come to Cooley's kitchen. Very consistent with quality and quantity. And yes you will get a higher quantity of food. Salads are hugggge. Small garlic bread is very large. My son loves their grinders and pizza. And the size of the meatballs are big.. we haven't had a bad meal. I normally get salad with grilled chicken and I have had the chicken wings. Friendly staff.. great service. Nice addition to the Ellington area.

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    2 years ago

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    Jen C.

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    2 years ago

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    2 years ago

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    Jen C.

    Thank you! Happy to hear you enjoyed your meal , see you next time !

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    2 years ago

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    Jen C.

    Glad you loved your meals !!

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    3 years ago

    The food was amazing we ordered three meals and it was delicious! customer service on the phone was horrible.

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    Ellington Pizza Restaurant

    Ellington Pizza Restaurant

    3.0
    (57 reviews)
    2.5 mi
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    What a cute find!! Definitely have to know where this place is, because even from the road it's…read morehard to see. I was definitely surprised by the interior seating and restrooms. Recently remodeled- clean and modern, especially for a town pizza house. We came for simple dinner and ordered a small pizza and small salad. Staff was friendly, attentive, and efficient. There had just been a storm (power outages) so a lot of last minute phone orders - that the staff wasn't expecting. But they handled it very well. The kitchen did charge us extra for the 1/2 and 1/2 pizza on a small. But we didn't mind. We ordered a small 3 cheese with 1/2 veggie. Pizza was cooked well and good sauce. Definitely the best pizza house around. On the way out - we noticed the grinders another table had and they looked delicious!!! We looked at each other and said - we have to come back for those. lol. Not a destination pizza house, and not a New Haven style pizza place, but it's not trying to be. It's your local CT town pizza house - good pizza for a good price. Support Local

    Basic pan pizza, very much the local pizza place…read more When you think about small town pizza restaurants, you usually think of the cookie cutter formats. Tall dark booths, red and white checkered tile in one area and carpet on the dining side. Red cups for water and white dishes for food. The pizza is okay but it's the only place around and it's cheap, so you settle for basic and get yourself a pie. This is that place for Ellington. The staff I did interact with were very nice. We ordered online and our pizza was on top of the oven to keep warm. By the time I got it home I had to throw it in the oven to warm it up a little more. The toppings were present but sparse, the sauce was existent but not detectable easily. The cheese was not too greasy, and the crust was a generic pan pie crust. It was cooked through and crispy on the bottom, but very bready. As a pizza, it's the quintessential pizza coming from the quintessential pizza joint. You can't expect much from this style of place, but given its location it's not looking to be gourmet. It's going for the locals as a local pizza place, and it does that. The trouble being that pizza is very common for this area. I had to drive past 4 other restaurants that served pizza, and that's not even covering the amount of places that can deliver. It's not great pizza, but it's that style of pizza place that somehow survives the test of time. It's good enough, but doesn't strive to be better

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    Difiore Ravioli Shop

    Difiore Ravioli Shop

    4.5
    (48 reviews)
    1.2 mi

    Decent ravioli, not the best dine in experience…read more Came here as a lunch option for the area. The inside is well decorated and there was a lot of coolers with pasta and raviolis. We went to the front and ordered the butternut squash ravioli in butter sauce and their lobster roll special. Food came out in a reasonable timeframe, we perused the oils and vinegars while we waited. The lobster roll was a flop. Dry lobster on top of lettuce barely warmed on a non toasted hot dog bun. It's a ravioli shop, so I didn't have high expectations, but figured they have worked with lobster before so I had higher hopes The ravioli we got were also a pretty big flop. Raw uncooked pasta in broken butter sauce and no seasoning. The butternut squash filling was puréed to heck and reminded me of frozen butternut squash sides you buy from the grocery store. Not bad, but lacking. The fries and onion rings were good. Bagged but good quality, the highlight of our meal. The staff were friendly, and the space was small but cozy. I highly suspect the faults of the kitchen are mainly due to them not having dine in orders frequently. I would stick with the prepared pastas and make whatever you buy at home.

    I ordered 4 different trays for a birthday party I had to travel out of state . I really loved the…read moreway they packaged everything. The food stayed well. My favorite and everyone's were the manicottis, they were delicious. The gluten free chicken Parmesan was delicious as well as the gluten free penne. The gluten free shrimp were ok. I and one other liked them 4 others did not. They had a gluten free stuffing which was too heavy on the shrimp which were flattened for some reason. It took away the succulence of the shrimp and the gluten free stuffing needs some seasonings and not so much of it. The gluten free orange Italian cookies were fantastic! I loved them and so did most everyone. All in all they did a very good job and most of the fishes were great. I highly recommend them and would order gluten free itslian from them again especially those orange itslian cookies! Amazing!

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    Scratch-made lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream!!
    Scratch-made lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream!!
    Difiore Ravioli Shop

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    Holiday Restaurant

    Holiday Restaurant

    3.3
    (31 reviews)
    0.7 mi
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    Good, cheap pan pizza…read more Still trying to hit all the places in my area. Holiday was one of the smaller shops that switched its location, so came here to give it a try. Restaurant is a little hard to find. It's a small shack with a sign obscured by trees. Once you go in it's segmented to a traditional pick up on the left, dining area on the right. It's very much a mom and pop shop, with a nonna manning the register and pop making pies. Both were kind and accommodating. They recommended their fish dishes, but I opted for a medium ricotta pizza with some meatballs added. Got my pie after a little bit of a wait. Took it home and dug in. The crust is a traditional pan pie crust. Fresh dough and ample toppings. Cooked through, good amounts of ricotta and the meatballs were reasonably tender. Their sauce is a tad sweet and a tad watery. They knew this, so they go very light on their sauce. This led to a properly cooked pie, but was missing the tomato sauce acidic sweet bite to offset the salty cheeses. The fact that they corrected for watery sauce shows a level of care and commitment that beats a lot of pizza places. However, it's a lack of knowing how to fix it that leads to an imbalance in flavors. A sprinkle of panko on the pizza crust can help leach some of the water out. Simmering the tomato sauce, and brushing the topping side of the dough with oil can all help. Overall, a good pie for the price. There's a lot of pizza places, and this one is good but needs just a little polish

    Great pizza, family owned restaurant. Pizza is always done perfect with attention to quality and…read moredetail. Service is always fast. Friendly staff. New location is great off of west road. Nice dining area that is clean and new renovations to the building best pizza spot in town. 5/5

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    Our dinning room at the new place
    Our dinning room at the new place
    The crispy chicken salad with ranch.
    The crispy chicken salad with ranch.
    Holiday Restaurant

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    Cooley's Kitchen - italian - Updated August 2026

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