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    The Downtown Grocery

    4.1 (200 reviews)
    PriceyNew American
    Closed Closed
    Updated over 3 months ago

    The Downtown Grocery Photos

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    THE DOWNTOWN GROCERY ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Classy
    Casual
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - The Downtown Grocery

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    What a special experience! This isn't just fine dining, it's a full on lovely experience that is worth every Penny! The food was as high quality as it gets, the service was as personalized and attentive as it gets and you couldn't be more comfortable and satisfied with every delicious sip and bite. Our DG dinner blew our expectations out of the snow!! We cannot wait to get back for our next special occasion.

    Lovely Warm Vermont HoneyCrisp Apple Tart
    H L.

    Downtown Grocery has long been a stalwart of the Ludlow dining scene. In common with many restaurants around here, its small regular menu is supplemented by seasonal blackboard specials. The dining space is cosy and inviting with plenty of ambiance during the year end holidays especially when it is prettily decked out with wreaths, garlands, ribbons and fairy lights. Reservations are absolutely necessary during the peak season. Couples without reservations may eat at its petit bar, seats are up for grabs at the start of dinner service. We have eaten here several times and on this recent visit, were seated at a table in the annex - a conservatory parlour with a glass roof, pine ceiling beams, burlap window treatments and a quaint furnace crackling away. The Wellfleet raw oysters we ordered to start were very fresh, slightly sweet and briny. The onion pickle ice was a lovely accompaniment. So was a crisp and zesty Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux we ordered from their wine list. Grilled Flatbread came next. The piquant mix of spicy soppressata, local raclette cheese, peppery arugula leaves and garlic oil on thin crispy bread was very appetising. We also sampled a Butternut Squash Soup loaded with tasty chunks of Maine lobster and garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds and fresh herbs. Our Seared Halibut entrees arrived, perfectly cooked with a helping of tomato beurre blanc and accompanied by creamy lobster risotto and blanched bok choy. Another entree, Breast of Chicken came impeccably roasted, with tender cubes of butternut squash and crisp watercress leaves as accompaniments. The chicken was very flavoursome while the serving of gravy displayed distinct notes of maple syrup and smoked paprika. Do not miss Downtown Grocery's desserts! Here are four we tried: Local Maple Crème Brûlée with fresh berries and mint was smooth and velvety, the added maple flavour was a subtle but welcome deviation. Warm Vermont HoneyCrisp Apple Tart with cinnamon spiced apples and vanilla ice cream was thoroughly enjoyable. It was offered on the menu with house made cheddar ice cream but unfortunately, it ran out. Trio of housemade ice cream / sorbet saw us relishing a scoop of luscious chocolate ice cream, a fruity plum, apricot and ginger sorbet, and a very refreshing pineapple basil sorbet. Three delectable flavours, all smashing. Late Night Breakfast featuring French toast, local dark maple syrup and housemade buttermilk-bacon ice cream was unexpectedly scrumptious. The well caramelised French toast still retained a soft interior which enabled it to soak up the delicious maple syrup while the ice cream, studded with smoked bacon bits, was interestingly both sweet and savory. In the spirit of year end festivities, we ate, we drank, and we had fun.

    Complimentary French bread and olives
    Jenny S.

    a cute FARM TO TABLE restaurant where you'll feel like you're dining at someone's house NOTE: Specials of the day are listed on the chalkboard & they can run out within the first hour of opening so make an RSVP for the first seating!! unfortunately we were pretty disappionted considering the rave reviews & the out-of-the-way drive ---complimentary Crusty French bread served w/ pitted olives MMmm ---Whole roasted Branzini w/ lemon brown butter: this was tasty & the best dish of the night ---Veal ribs w/ napa slaw: (2 HUGE ribs): the large portions of this dish were unexpected!! ribs were very smoky but not fall off the bone scrumptious ---Fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream: icy! (we asked for a side of creme fraiche which was nothing to write home about either) not bad but it didn't live up to the hype or price! CLOSED ON TUESDAYS & WEDNESDAYS but they offer a $27 three course deal on Mondays & Thursdays... a great deal but we'll probably never be in the area again!

    Oysters for $1 on Mondays.   They are excellent!
    Jaime R.

    Excellent choice! A very warm felling restaurant. They have an excellent oyster happy hour on Mondays with premium oysters for $1. All day!!! Highly recommended!

    Phily H.

    Farm Fresh Gastronomic Pleasures That was the scene at Downtown Grocery last night. Lured in by the 5 Star Yelp rating, I figured it couldn't be bad, even though we were 200 miles away from home in the middle of rural Vermont. Little did we know that Chef Rogan had worked at the Ritz Carlton in Boston and Mistral in the South End. The menu here embodies the local, farm fresh concept. The regular menu was just the right mix and size and was accompanied by 7 appetizer specials and 7 entree specials. We decided to splurge and ordered the following with the wine flight and an extra glass of Syrah to accompany 2 of our meat entrees. Braised Pork Belly - 10/10 This dish deserves 7 stars and was my favorite of the evening! This was served with roasted potato and peach-cranberry mostarda, which I had to look up for a definition. Mostarda (also called mostarda di frutta) is an Italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustard flavoured syrup. The fruity glaze complemented the pork belly so well and the flavors played off each other like two passionate tango dancers. I've had a lot of pork belly before and this was probably the best I've ever had. Tongue & Cheek - 7/10 Literally veal tongue on top of fresh cod cheeks. Land meat mixed with fish. Individually, the ingredients were superbly tasty and awesome, but I didn't think the combination was greater than the sum of the parts. I would have preferred to enjoy the tongue and cheeks by themselves . Still a super creative dish and premium, fresh ingredients. Maine Shrimp - 3/10 We didn't intend to order is appetizer but it came to us due to a miscommunication. They graciously took it off our bill and offered to let us keep and enjoy them. The hard part was, they were hard to enjoy for me. I love shrimp, but these were cooked on the outside but semi-raw in the inside. 100% raw or 100% cooked, but none of this in-between stuff. The shrimp were mad fresh, so it was a sad waste of fresh seafood. I ate 3 pieces and was done. They left an undesirable aftertaste in my mouth that needed to be washed away with wine. Carolina Shrimp w/ Grits - 8/10 This was a stellar dish that held its own. Perfectly cooked prawn sized shrimp with lobster flavors through. Very rich and the grits tasted gourmet. I don't even like grits usually but this was divine. Ribeye special w/ Maine Crab - 10/10 A happy marriage of land and sea creatures. The ribeye was top of the line and perfected done. Grass-fed, free range beef with crazy marbleization. Does not get any better!!! It came in 5 or 6 small rolled poker chip sized pieces. The crab was hiding in the Hollaindaise sauce, so I didn't even notice it at first. It was only a bonus to an already foodgasmic experience. Local Pheasant - 3/10 It was probably a mistake to eat this after the super intense pork belly, Carolina shrimp, and ribeye. It tasted dry, and was not satisfying after all we had. House Sorbets - 10/10 Lemon Balm, Pineapple Basil, and Mango sorbets. Not overly sweet. We were each fighting for the last bite! The staff were all very fun, friendly, treated us well, and knew the menu extremely well. $200 in including tax and tip including a wine flight and another glass of wine, but money very well spent. Another reason to come back to Vermont!!!

    Homemade pasta???

    We have heard great things about this restaurant. Our cocktail special was terrific, which it should be for $14. The Mesculin salads were fantastic at $13. As our entree we ordered Cacio Pepe for $29, incredibly overpriced, perhaps $7 worth of ingredients (total) for both meals, 1/2 of my wife's meal went in the trash, pretty much tasted like pasta water with a hint of cheese. However, a friendly staff......

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    2 years ago

    Look forward to dinner here every time we're up skiing ! Food is always amazing and the drinks are great

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    2 years ago

    The food was delicious, atmosphere was cozy and we so enjoyed the personalized attention by the hostess/waitress too!

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    3 years ago

    Food was excellent. Owners personable and provided good service. Unique choices on menu. Would highly recommend.

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    Page 1 of 5

    Ask the Community - The Downtown Grocery

    How are the vegetarian options? I don't see any listed on the menu online but I'm wondering if they can make something special if you mention it when making the reservation.

    Not sure about that I would call ahead & ask. I know you can do vegetarian at their sister restaurant around the corner also very good. They make their own pasta, the tira misu is delicious. The restaurant is called Mama's.

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

    Calcutta’s - poke nachos

    Calcutta’s

    3.3(42 reviews)
    1.4 mi

    So we came here 2 years ago as a family of 5 and had a great experience. Food was delicious. It was…read morecozy and full of holiday decorations. We came this year as a party of 8 and man were we disappointed. We checked in for our reservation and the young woman seemed surprised to see us there. They squeezed us into a table of 6 (ended up fine). We ordered 4 cocktails and 4 sodas. We also ordered 2 appetizers (the tuna nachos and breaded cauliflower) they came out in less than 5 minutes. That's a problem imo. I ordered the chicken Milanese. Sooooooo much arugula salad but that was dressed nicely. The chicken was super crispy but it was easy to tell it had been fried earlier and reheated. It was so dry! The pasta was delicious. The steak tips were not marinated as advertised. Oh and the waitress never checked on us mid-meal. We would've definitely ordered some wine. So. A different experience than two years ago. What a bummer

    Upon entering this establishment, one is met with a most agreeable, family-style atmosphere, fit…read morefor communal dining and civil discourse. Yet I must observe that the food took longer to make than I expected, a delay which tried my patience more than was desirable. In this interval, the root beer proved to be of uncommon quality and afforded some consolation. When the meal at last arrived, the chicken tenders were found to be exceptional, possessing a most commendable balance of crunch and satisfaction, and accompanied by a BBQ sauce of perfect density--neither excessive in thickness nor wanting in substance. Thus, while the experience bore notable merits, the undue length of preparation prevented it from attaining a more favorable distinction. Overall, it was aight

    Photos
    Calcutta’s - Bounce House upper level of restaurant

    Bounce House upper level of restaurant

    Calcutta’s - Cauliflower

    Cauliflower

    Calcutta’s - Buttermilk chicken sandwich

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    Buttermilk chicken sandwich

    DJ'S Restaurant - Shrimp Scampi

    DJ'S Restaurant

    3.7(173 reviews)
    0.1 mi
    $$

    Great food! I meant to take photos of the dinner but the…read morefood smelled so good I forgot. Started with the buffalo wings and they were crispy and delicious And complimentary rolls and butter So good and I want the recipe for that bread it was delicious For dinner I ordered the spinach cheddar baked haddock. It was delicious and buttery! Husband got the prime rib. He loved that it was served with a thicker gravy rather than au jus that most places do. Medium rare and came out at the perfect temp. Dinner also comes with a side salad. You won't leave this place hungry! We are definitely coming back. They were busy but that's the be expected on a Friday night. So glad to see a local family owned business thriving.

    DJ's restaurant and bar was one of the few things open on a Sunday night 8pm in this cute little…read moretown of Ludlow. So we were happy to find a place to eat. The selection of entrée items is absolutely the most I've ever seen in a restaurant, it made it hard to decide. I asked the waitress and she said the chicken Cordon Bleu was one of the top items so that's what I picked. It was basic stuffed ham n cheese in the chicken breast, it wasn't breaded, which I liked. It was smothered in a kind of a gravy or white sauce, not quite sure what sauce it was. Hot fresh baked rolls, a basic chopped iceberg lettuce house salad and baked potato included. Also ordered was the chicken tender dinner, very plentiful, enough for 3 people I'd say. Sadly the dipping honey mustard was so bad, like salad dressing with vinegar flavor, not good! I had a glass of Merlot, I'm not sure I've seen an eight dollar glass of wine on a menu in the last decade, so that was pleasant. In general, the server was very efficient, the host not so friendly, and the place was spacious but has very dated decor, which some may consider part of its charm. Unfortunately we're sitting by some very noisy people, taking phone calls and playing sports out loud on their phones acting like they owned the place, kind of ruined atmosphere. But they knew the staff and must think that behavior was acceptable. Bottom line we needed to eat and it was food.

    Photos
    DJ'S Restaurant - Dining Room

    Dining Room

    DJ'S Restaurant - Chicken parm

    Chicken parm

    DJ'S Restaurant - Outside of the restaurant

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    Outside of the restaurant

    Castle Inn Restaurant - Beef Wellington

    Castle Inn Restaurant

    3.6(56 reviews)
    2.9 mi
    $$$$

    We stayed at Castle Inn in Vermont and decided to try the restaurant during our visit. Overall, it…read morewas just okay and a bit below my expectations. For a starter, I ordered the shrimp cocktail. It was fine, though the shrimp were a bit rubbery. My entrée was the beef Wellington. The pastry outside was crisp, but the steak inside lacked seasoning and didn't have much flavor. The service was friendly but slow. There was only one server covering four or five tables at the same time, which made it hard to keep up, especially since the dining room was fairly busy. I understand it may be off-season, but one server for a full room wasn't enough. It wasn't a terrible experience, but it wasn't great either. With some improvements to seasoning and staffing, it could be much better.

    Come to Castle Hill for the ambience. Intimate dining rooms set in an English style manor home…read morebuilt in 1905. Fine dining here is a conservative affair. All of the dishes are classics and the kitchen doesn't take any risks. Our filet mignon needed a bit more sear and the lamb ribs had a tasty mustard crust but not enough of it. Everything needed more seasoning. Especially the steamed vegetables, which were served plain and really needed something to bring out the flavor. Not a bad dining experience, but has the potential to be so much more, especially at this high end price point.

    Photos
    Castle Inn Restaurant
    Castle Inn Restaurant - Shrimp cocktail

    Shrimp cocktail

    Castle Inn Restaurant - Blueberry mule mocktail

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    Blueberry mule mocktail

    The Downtown Grocery - newamerican - Updated May 2026

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