Gelston House

Reviews 4

MI

Miche Bernier

Went for dinner prior to a show next door, We made reservations but then asked to sit outside and had no idea it was a different Pub type menu, but when we asked about sitting outside the waitress sat down, pointed to the door and said, out and round to the back. "Great Service" NOT !! I fully understood why only three tables had customers in the entire restaurant. Once we got to the back we were seated, and only about half the tables had customers "Strange for a Saturday Night" we finally ordered and were very disappointed. I ordered shrimp 4 came for $13.00 a bit pricey but none-the-less a bit tough. We waited a while for apps to show up. We ordered the Pub Dinners, which was 2 - Fish and Chips and 1 - Fish Tacos, a round of drinks for 3 people, and it took close to 45 minutes. Tables next to us said theyve been waiting even longer. Once dinner was served, I asked for a set of sliver ware and another round of drinks. 25 - 30 minutes later they were clearing the dinner plates and the drinks finally showed up. So did my silverware. By then dinner was cold and I preferred to have dinner with my friends not to sit there after everyones done and shovel dinner down my throat. The waitress took my dinner off when she realized I wasnt eating, but with 3 apps, 2 pub style and french fry dinners, and 2 rounds of drinks, then coffee and 1 desert for one of my companions, dinner was $154.00 without tip. I left the cost of my dinner and a full tip. We went back for drinks after the show, and waited 25 minutes (believe me I bartended for years and there was not 20 minutes worth of orders a head of us. Finally we got the drinks, and NOT ONE of them was right ! Come on the place is beautiful, and it had a reputation of being the standard for all others to follow, now it has slipped well below standard. The Food was just ok. In speaking with friends who have been many time, they have all said the same thing, THEY AVOID it now at all costs, its not worth the price paid, and the service just isnt good anymore. I can see I should have listened to the locals.

CH

Christian Haerter

The restaurant location is fabulous with outstanding views of the Connecticut River, the swing bridge, Eagle Landing State Park, and Goodspeed Opera House. The menu is quite varied with choices from steak to seafood. Service is generally pretty good and the food itself is good. Outdoor dining and a bar area are available during Summer months. If eating in the more formal dining area isnt your thing, there is a separate pub with a pub menu. Update 6/21/2017 I ordered the lobster shrimp scampi over fettucine. Literally, no lobster at all...not even one tiny pinhead speck of lobster. I complain to our waitress Jordan who shrugs her shoulders and says she doesnt know why there is no lobster. So I ask her to maybe have the chef come out and explain why 1/3 of the ingredients were missing from the dish. This would have been easy for the chef to do since there was literally not one other table of diners at 6:15 PM on Fathers Day 2017. We wait....and wait.....and wait some more. Finally Jordan comes back and says the chef doesnt know why there is no lobster in the dish either but he will send up a bowl with some lobster in it. Really?? Can he send up a pan, a stove, and some butter to heat it all up again? Jordan leaves, we just chuckle, and decide I cant wait any longer to eat so my date and I start eating. Just as Im finishing my shrimp and pasta, Jordan pops up with another entire bowl of fettucine with some shrimp and specks of lobster meat. Why? Am I supposed to eat 2 meals now? I cant take it with me because Im traveling. Im easy. If you make a mistake admit it and move on. Yes the chef is probably inexperienced or incompetent or both but to miss putting lobster in a lobster based dish? I cant tolerate people not accepting responsiblity for their mistake and then bringing me a bill for the full amount of a screwed up dinner....no "sorry", no offer of a free coffee, nothing. This place needs a new dining room manager and a new look at customer service.

CH

Charlie Owens

This review relates to the guestroom experience, not the restaurant, where we did not dine on our recent visit. It is inconceivable to me that the sophisticated, first-rate Goodspeed Opera House organization -- which owns, but does not operate, the Gelston House building -- would permit such a poorly run hotel to exist on its otherwise impeccably maintained, picture-perfect property. Some examples: 1) no reserved parking for hotel guests on a busy, double-performance Wednesday (we parked at the far end of the rear parking lot); 2) no drinking glasses/plastic cups in the guest room; 3) wires hanging from the ceiling where the smoke detector had been; 4) a headboard that banged loudly every time I sat on or rolled over in bed (turns out it wasnt connected to the bed frame, but merely wedged between the frame and the wall; I was able to pull out the mattress a few inches and simply lean the headboard against the wall; 5) drapes that didnt close because the pull mechanism and clips were broken -- flooding the room with hot sunshine the A/C couldnt overcome in the late afternoon and unwelcome light in the early morning; 6) a coffeemaker that rested on the one luggage rack, because the cord couldnt reach the outlet from the bureau; 7) a naked fluorescent tube over the bathroom sink that buzzed so loudly we couldnt bear to turn it on; 8) an alarm clock/radio that wasnt plugged in; 9) a television that wouldnt turn off with the remote (it was showing static when we checked in) -- only the power strip; 10) low-grade soap and shampoo (the only toiletries provided) -- perfectly serviceable but not befitting the resort-quality setting. On the plus side, the beds were comfortable, the room was spacious, and the location was perfect for weary travelers stopping at Goodspeed for a show. But for $200 per night ($230 with tax), this was an experience I would not repeat.

JO

Jonathan Lawrence

ONE OF THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCES WEVE EVER HAD! SERIOUSLY, NO EXAGGERATION: I will try and be brief, but also specific so you know why I made the statement above. Service was horrible. Took 10 minutes to get the stale bread and water. When they cleared silverware between courses, they never bothered to bring silverware to eat the next plates. The quality of the food was comparable to the service. Calamari had absolutely no flavor. Blackened sea scallops appetizer was undercooked (even for seared fish it was still way underdone) and extremely over-spiced. The Caesar salad was the bagged lettuce variety and came drenched with some commercial flavorless dressing. The Lobster and Shrimp Scampi was prepared with frozen fish (clearly, not fresh) and both the pasta and seafood were overcooked. The sauce was supposed to be scampi but we could not figure out what it was and really did not want to find out as the taste was disgusting and the sauce was thin/watery. The Bismarck Swordfish was cooked to the point of where the fish texture approximated shoe leather, and was served on a black bean puree (go figure). The sword fish was accompanied by green beans which were wrapped in one seriously undercooked bacon strip (Got Tapeworms?). And, for the death blow, we decided to go for broke and order the chocolate layer cake for dessert which was accompanied by a small dollop of cheap/super market whipped cream. The cake was stale/dry and seemed to be anything but fresh. EVEN IF THEY LOWERED THEIR EXORBITANT PRICES ($15 for an appetizer and $30 for an entree) I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DINING THERE. IF YOURE THERE TO SEE A PLAY AT THE GOODSPEED OPERA HOUSE, I WOULD RECOMMEND TRYING A DIFFERENT RESTAURANT IN THE AREA.