Ashford Dairy Bar — Restaurant in Ashford

I’ve been going for 35 years. I will never go back. So a little history, the Ashford Dairy bar was owned by one family for decades, then maybe six, or so years ago they sold it. The new owner did renovations, and it was still good as ever. It’s been sold to another new owner according to the sign, and it has tanked.

First, they are only open until 8 p.m. on a Saturday night. Now I don’t have a problem with that. If that’s how they want to run their business that is fine, but I think it’s just turning away customers.

Having said that we got there 12 minutes before close for ice cream, and onion rings. I had to forego the onion rings as even though they were opened for business they closed the kitchen. That was literally the first thing the cashier said, “we’re closed for food (despite the fact it’s not closing time) and only open for ice cream. Who does this? You can literally leave a fryer on, and empty it last as it only takes three, or for minutes to make onion rings. Besides the cashier I saw three people working, but it was the cashier who was the only one doing any of the ice cream as it took the whole 12 minutes for a soft serve, and a shake.

I was looking forward to my usual mocha malted shake. The person at the window handed me a “coffee” shake. I told them I asked for mocha (coffee ice cream, and chocolate syrup, or vice versa). They said oh yeah, it’s mocha. When I got to the car to take a sip I could tell it was not. The milkshake was white. Not white with a little brown in it. It was white. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t mocha. I wonder if there was even any malt powder in it. At that point too fed up to deal with any more nonsense my wife, and I just left. We had come from Manchester, and went back to Shady Glen where I got a proper mocha malted milkshake, and onion rings.

I used to brag that they had the best milkshakes in the area. Those days are over. I’m never going back. At least I have memories.

(edit) So, as you can see from the response below the owner invited me back for a free meal. For me it's a half hour drive. From work at UCONN it's 15 minutes. I know what customer service is. I'm a chef. I'm a very good chef. I would never deny a customer food when we were still open. All I can say is maybe he should choose his employees better. Maybe I'll take advantage of the offer sometime this week. I don't know. I just wanted onion rings, and a mocha shake while they were open. It's sad really. I mean I have such fond memories. I don't want someone to lose their livelihood, but the truth...

Ordered online and arrived at pick up time. Stood at the front of the line and was not acknowledged by any of the staff that continued to come to the window to call out numbers for guests that ordered on site. So after standing there being ignored for over 10 minutes I stopped one of the employees before they could quickly close the window on me again. They then handed me a bag with only 1 of my items and I am told the other item is no longer available. They need to keep there ordering menu up to date and in addition they had my phone number they could have called and told me about the outage to see if I would like another item. Instead I'm offered to order something else so I get to decide to order something and wait another 10 minutes while my wife's food gets cold because most likely it was sitting there ready to be picked up 10 minutes prior anyways while I waited in line. I politely declined their offer and asked for a refund. Service have always been just ok but they are friendly typically and the food is usually good. This lack of service is below average at best and giving them 2 stars is a gift. Other issue with online menus is it says the clap strip lunch comes with soup but no soup in the bag. Overall they need to add some focus on their online menu. I could just imagine if I orders a milk shake with one of the 20 flavors of gilford ice cream they listed actually being lucky and picking one of the 8-10 they actually have available. Instead I went with a soft serve one to because i know that's in stock. Overall this trip was just ok, very small portion of clam strips, milkshake clearly sat for more than 10 minutes based on how melted it was and the meatball sub is non existent so do not order it. A simple phone call prior to my arrival about the outage or even a contact link on their web site would site to reach out with issues or complaints would have avoided this long winded...

I've written many, many dozen food reviews on this forum. This place on Rte. 44, is near, or at, the top of my list. Too bad that I don't live closer (it's about 30 mins. away).

When someone asks me: "What's your favorite food"? I'm often likely to answer 'hot dogs'. That said, that's likely aspirational. I enjoy a perfectly cooked hot dog, slightly charred, nestled in a properly sized bun with interesting and delicious toppings. I happen to like Grote and Weigel (Bloomfield, CT) dogs in particular. I say aspirational, because it's largely a myth here in CT.

OK. All that said, the hot dogs served at Ashford Dairy Bar come close to my ideal. I'll head over there later in the month to see if I can order a dog exactly the way I love it. In the meantime, drive over there, order nearly anything - but particularly their chili - (fabulous)! and enjoy.

I've mixed feelings about writing this review, I kind of want them to have the accolades due them, but I don't want to lose their relaxed service tempo or have to worry about finding a spot in their modest parking area.

UPDATE: 06/01/21

Last week I went over there again in search of the ideal dog. How things have changed! The quantity of sauerkraut on the hot dog dropped by 2/3 and the chili recipe is changed; it tasted just like it had come out of a can. I bought the beer dog, ($5.25) with cheese (cheese whiz) and sauerkraut at extra cost. It was just mediocre. On the plus side, they do have sherbet - for the lactose challenged - and their soft serve ice cream is pretty good. Pleasant service.

To whoever owns this business - your signage suggests: "your feedback is our quality control". Please accept this feedback as suggesting the current hot dog quality and maybe other food, IMHO, needs your very...