The Starlight — Restaurant in Stratford

My annual mother-daughter tradition of dinner and a show led us to Starlight, a relatively new addition to the local dining scene. The food itself was very good. My mother enjoyed her grits and shrimp, and I was equally impressed with the ribs and coleslaw. We quickly realized that the restaurant's concept focuses on small, shareable plates rather than traditional entrées with included sides. A couple at a nearby table also expressed surprise that their burger and fish dishes did not come with a side, reinforcing that this is a key aspect of the dining experience that might be unexpected for first-time visitors.

Dessert options were limited to mainly sundaes and a peach pie, and we were disappointed to find the pie was unavailable. We chose the churro sundae instead, but it was a miss for us both, as I'm not a fan of soft-serve ice cream.

The service was prompt and the staff was attentive throughout the meal. The only notable drawback was the moment of payment, when the server stood uncomfortably close, which felt a little intimidating and put a damper on an otherwise pleasant interaction.

Overall, the food was delicious, though the menu was a bit limited. Diners should be aware of the small-plates concept. I would go back for a simple but tasty meal, but would opt for...

My husband and I enjoyed dinner at The Starlight for a night in Stratford. The atmosphere is cozy, giving mid-century modern upscale diner vibes, and the location is conveniently located amongst the shops of downtown Stratford. The food is small, shareable plates, which we enjoyed, as it allowed us to try a bunch of dishes from the menu. All of the food was delicious, fresh, and well-prepared. Highly recommend the ginger hoisin wings and the arancini!

Unfortunately, the service was lacking for us. I'm not sure if it was due to it being a busy Friday night or maybe they were understaffed, but the staff seemed highly unorganized and uncoordinated in their duties. Each member of staff appeared to be doing every service job - bartender, server, bussing, etc. At the end of the evening, we felt forgotten by our waitress and sat for quite a while at our empty table before another staff member noticed. It was tricky to get their attention too as they were all running around focused on other tasks. It then took a while to receive our bill and then a further wait to actually pay. It wouldn't deter us from going back, but it was an unfortunate way to...

We had the baked oysters, shrimp and grits and kale Caesar salad. Wasn’t overly impressed with the food. Kale salad was decent. The service is what ruined the experience more so than the sub-par food. Our waiter was a snob and treated us as if we were tourists, which we aren’t, we’re locals. If he only put in as much effort into being a little bit more personable, as he did with his head scarf, it would have been a better experience. This was a birthday dinner, and we made our reservation for 5:15 PM, because we were catching a movie at 7. It was almost 6:30 and we hadn’t received our food. When we questioned our waiter as to when our food was coming, we were met with snark…it seemed to irritate him that we were inquiring on the status on our food, and bothering him. He then brushed us off when we informed him that we were asking because we had a movie to catch.

With the festival around the corner, I highly recommend management speak to this server, and remind him why he’s working there. None of us will be returning and I wont recommend this restaurant to out of...