Linden + Front — Restaurant in Bath

first time dining there tonight. They have a really nice looking menu with some great craft cocktails, and a reasonably priced wine list/good choices. i’m excited to come back with our dog and sit outside on the deck. Tonight The weather was misting and we were not aware that they had a deck, but they said they’re dog friendly when the weather allows outside. Some of the things that they could tweak is that we ordered cocktails and maybe not even five minutes after we ordered the cocktails our appetizers arrived and the appetizers were quite huge, which is great, I guess, we even ordered a half order of the calamari and it could’ve been a meal in and of itself. But five minutes after we were starting into our appetizers our dinner arrived so we could’ve literally been in and out of the restaurant within 30 to 45 minutes with the rapidity of the delivery of the food. so that’s why they’re getting less stars from me tonight. It just kind of ruined the whole dining experience for us. The appetizers we had were the razor clams (quite good) and as I mentioned the calamari. I’m not a huge fan of the calamari. It is very thick cut like steak fries and when we inquired about that cut because we’re usually used to crispy small rings and tubes. They said it was from the body of the calamari so I feel that a little thick and rubbery and oddly, even though they arrived so fast, I did not find the calamari that hot. However, the razor clams did come out hot, and the quantity was huge too. not necessarily bad thing, but again you could’ve made a whole meal out of that one appetizer. There was six large razor clams, and because our food came out so fast, the waiter came out and had a shove all of our appetizers to the other side of the table so we could accommodate our dinner. I had a steak with a blue cheese salad, and my husband had the swordfish. The swordfish was absolutely fantastic looking and came on a bed of buckwheat and puréed carrots. He really loved it. Again, oddly, my steak, even though it came out so fast was a little lukewarm. It was the blackened steak and I liked the spice on it but it just detracted from hall experience bc 15 minutes-20 minutes after sitting down, our entire dinner was sitting on the table so we didn’t really get to enjoy anything. So they just need to fine-tune this aspect of the dinner obviously. my husband had the margarita, which was quite nice and I had—I don’t remember what it was called, but it was the second cocktail on the menu. I think it was called Todd’s something. And it was also quite good. I also had a glass of red wine with dinner and like I said, I like their wine list and the wine was nice. Couple extra tweaks are that I had asked the waiter a couple of times for a few things. But he was quite attentive . Maybe even too attentive given how fast all of the food got set down. He did pick up my cocktail halfway through me finishing it and start to walk away with it. I asked him to bring it back. He didn’t ask me if I was done. He just picked it up so all of this is just fine-tuning. We will definitely go back and try it again for sure. very...

We really, really wanted to love Linden & Front, and were incredibly excited to see a restaurant of this style open in Bath, but after our second visit we doubt we'll return unless some of the issues are worked on.

We first went in late April and had a lovely meal with decent service, and noted that the bread was some of the best we had ever had; moist, chewy yet delicate, and very flavorful. The bread we received this evening was tough, bordering on stale. Realizing this restaurant is still new we did let our server know at the end of the meal that the bread seemed to have been improperly stored, as the bread had been the highlight of our first visit, and were hoping that this may be addressed.

We ordered the steak frites on both of our visits, with the second being less enjoyable. Both the demi glaze and the steak itself had a distinct burnt flavor. The fried items on our second visit also felt different than they had on our first, with both the french fries and a fried mushroom being darker and having a stronger oil flavor than expected. The mushroom risotto was listed as containing Wild Fruiting’s local mushrooms, but only the fried branch of oyster mushrooms seemed to fit this description. The bulk of the mushrooms on our plate were large, whole criminis, and it was unclear if these were from Wild Fruiting’s selection.

We struggled with the menu a bit; many of the items share ingredients, and while we're all for a streamlined pantry, it felt like 3-5 items could be removed to help perfect the remainder. A more refined menu may help to make each dish stand out. Our server was very diligent and kind, but the noise was quite loud, and conversation was a bit difficult.

This restaurant has so much potential, and we would really, really love to see it succeed! Our cocktails were delicious on both visits, and the drink menu was well-stocked. The fresh bread and steak frites on our first visit, and the citrus and beet salad on our second visit, were all delicious. We think that this restaurant does have a lot of potential, and that condensing the menu and nailing down proper food storage techniques with the kitchen staff could go a long way to making this place a great date-night location. Based only on our first visit, we likely would have rated Linden & Front 4/5 stars, and are hoping to be able to rate higher...

I think these guys are still trying to find their footing. But let me start with the positives... the food was PERFECTLY PREPARED. I haven't had scallops or trout that well prepared in years. I was recently at Street & Co and the scallops from Street & Co were slightly overcooked. L&F NAILED the preparation! The food was excellent although I question some of the flavor combinations. The plating was also EXCELLENT. They certainly have a skilled kitchen staff. Now, for the negatives... it was by far the worst service I've ever received. My server was a "fill in" because one of the servers called out. This woman, if she has any experience in the restaurant industry, could only have worked at a low level diner in the past. I felt like I was ordering bacon and eggs at a counter because that was the level of service she provided. She couldn't provide us with any information about the food on the menu, the wine selections, or how it was prepared beyond "I've had it and it's delicious". Also, the seating was a bit too close. When you're charging at this level and serving such a high quality food, I'd like to see a bit more spacing in the dining area with more elegance in the service. She literally dropped off the bill, while we were eating, and said "no rush". Clearly there was a rush. Please, please, please train up your wait staff. I would consider coming back to give this place a 2nd chance because the food was so exquisitly prepared, but if the dining experience is a repeat, they'll have...