I made reservations for my wife's birthday dinner here yesterday. Probably should not have even bothered as when we got there a little early these was actually only one other table with guests seated. I was a little surprised, but soon learned why.
We chose this restaurant because we have eaten there over the years at least a dozen times together as a couple and several times with many family members. There are always mixed but mostly good reviews from others but the past two times that we have been here/there were unfortunate experiences.
We started with bruschetta and a shrimp cocktail. The two pieces of bruschetta were quite bland and small, though they were served on a large plate with lots of lettuce and a cute squiggle of basalmic reduction which BTW taste-wise was the best part of it. The shrimp cocktail was likewise a smaller than usual size. Normally shrimp cocktail are made using 16/20 (2 1/2 to 3 inch ) or larger shrimp, these ones were quite small, probably 26/30 or perhaps even smaller. A good shrimp cocktail is two-3 bites of the shrimp, these were one. The menu also states they would be served with a tequila, lime, cilantro cocktail sauce. What we got was a standard cocktail sauce of a tomato base with horseradish, nothing special there.
My wife ordered their signature dish the Onions Wellington, which is what she usually gets and is never disappointed (at least yet). I ordered the 'Jumbo' scallops. The use of jumbo (U-10) in the size of the scallops was quite a stretch, they should have been described, much better, as simply large (10-20) or just plain 'sea scallops' without overstating. 'Scallops and asparagus' over Saffron rice or Risotto is one of my all-time favorite dishes, and I have ordered it dozens of times in restaurants all over the United States, and a few foreign countries as well. I must say this was one of the worst I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, the asparagus was so bitter that it imparted that terrible flavor into the scallops, that along with a rather unpleasant old or odd oily flavor from the cooking process and you get the picture of a very poor-tasting dish. This being my wife's birthday dinner, I did not want to disappoint her in any way and so ate most of it, including some the quite pasty risotto. In doing this, I had to drink lots of coffee to wash it all down and ended up having to get two refills to do it. Very unfortunate, and the only saving grace seems to be that the coffee was actually very good.
The server was cordial enough but seemed bored or mildly upset with us even though we were the only customers in the dining room and I'm fairly certain that we did nothing to offend her, perhaps just being there was enough? Who knows.
We were happy, even chatty, and I never let on anything about the meal in front of my wife or to the server.
Note: I rarely review restaurant meals however as we have been there so many times and I felt it was necessary to at least let the owners know that sometimes the kitchen crew can drive customers away.
We dine out at several other NH places on a semi-regular basis, and the majority of them are much closer. If we do go back, it will be only at the insistence of my wife or family.
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