Homestead Restaurant — Restaurant in Bristol

I really wanted to love this place. It's an adorable place in Bristol NH. We had one of the nicest servers - a very grandma-esque lady. Two of the kiddos we had were impressed with the addition to the normal crayons with the wiki-stiks - scored total mom points. They seated us in the tavern side, probably assuming we would be noisy (which I totally get), but I hate televisions when we are out to eat. The food was subpar. My son's grilled cheese was not even grilled. At 7 years old, he would not eat it and enlisted his 14 year old non chef sister to be his new chef. (I mean really she can make a REAL grilled cheese). I ordered the cordon bleu and I had 3 other people try it at the table - I heard the word abomination. It tasted like canned chicken. Someone who appeared to be the owner came and said hello before our food arrived and he was as nice as could be. A real sweatheart as my grandma would say. My 12 year old chef had the mac and cheese - homestyle supposedly. Now she's the chef in the family and knows how to cook. She took 3 bites and couldn't do anymore. I tried it. It tasted like Velveeta, which is not what I would have expected. The 14 year old had a wrap that looked AMAZING but she couldn't even eat it (she is not picky). My significant other ordered the shrimp and scallop risotto. Besides that they added lobster (which we think is far overrated). The seafood was not seared, as expected, and the risotto got lost in the sauce. When I looked at the clientele around us I realized it was a lot of people that probably have attended this restaurant for the last forty years. I hate to leave a bad review. This could be an amazing restuarant. I know they are looking for help, tacky sign posted, I think they...

Unfortunately, after years of bringing my mother to the homestead we'll have to find another place to take make a new tradition. We were really let down by the service and any interaction with someone to take accountability or inquire if anything could be done to make the experience turn around. Party of six the service was really bad. Waiting for each step to take place and waiting for everything way too long. Our drinks ran dry after waiting 10 mins to get the first round. Had to ask for the second round as our server dropped off 5 out of 6 meals and was on the way to next table. My fathers fettuccine was forgotten so after 10 mins of our 5 meals getting cold I went to kitchen and luckily caught someone who ran to kitchen to see what was up. Another 5 to ten minutes passed before my fathers meal arrived. I totally understand that its a tough job and industry but if you're going to charge approximately 43 dollars per person you need to be at that level of service. Food was fine, not best or worst nothing memorable. We tipped 70 dollars on 260 dollar tab because I believe that its the corporation who has dropped the ball. More training and some accountability should come from an upper priced restaurant. The 2nd round of drinks should have been comped or dads meal or offer him dessert. Anything, even a visit from the manager to say sorry would have been something. Very sad to have to corporations instead of families running...

Food was good but that's where the positive part ended. Atmosphere was terrible. We chose to eat in the restaurant part rather than the lounge. When we got there, there was a party of 10 or 12 people already there. There were three, maybe four kids running around the tables and fooling around. The parents did nothing to curb it. Then the kids started making paper airplanes and flying them in the restaurant by the tables. I think they were using paper placemats. When the planes landed on the floor. They would pick them up and fly them again, sometimes landing on clean tables with napkins and silverware. When I finally had seen enough. I went out and complained to the manager. I told him that if he didn't talk to them. I was going to. No one ever said anything to them. As a favor to people I was eating with, I decided to just count to ten and shut up. Now here is the worst part. These disrespectful people left about 15 or 20 minutes before we did. None of the staff came in to clean and reset the table that the dirty paper planes had landed on. I wonder, would management like to eat at that table knowing what went on before they were seated? It's hard to watch disrespectful people like that. No wonder the kids wouldn't behave with parents like that. And the restaurant should be reported to the board of health for allowing...