The Establishment — Restaurant in Chelmsford

Our youngest will be getting married a few weeks from now in a small ceremony. She and her fiance wanted to celebrate the upcoming event with extended family and friends. One of their favorite local places is the Establishment so my wife and I (mostly my wife...) set about to arrange a gathering for about 50 people. Dawn was our contact for arrangements, though all staff we spoke with were very helpful. Dawn was completely flexible to our needs. They have two function rooms - we chose the Tuscan which has a strong Mill building vibe. Though they have several packages to choose from at different price points, Dawn had no problem pricing specific dishes for 50+ people so we were able to include the couple's favorite dishes as well as gluten free options (the gluten free pasta primavera was indistinguishable from regular pasta and quite tasty). On the big day we brought in decorations, a digital slide show and music. Their screen and speakers were easily connected and the staff was very accommodating of our early arrival for setup. Steve and Hanna were assigned to our function for service - they are so friendly and professional! Bottom line, our kids couldn't have been happier. The day was exactly what they had hoped for. The food and drink were enjoyed by all. Everything went off without a hitch. We found out after the fact that in addition to our function, there was as an event in the other function room plus a group of fifty showed up in the dining room with 10 minutes notice. In other words, the kitchen was slammed all at once. We would never have known. The food kept coming and the quality was top notch the entire time. Thanks to all at The...

The appetizers were pretty good. The pulled pork nachos were lit. Theeeen it went down hill from there. It seems our waitress was overwhelmed with the two tables she had. We were in the corner with another table next to us. The wait staff had to keep asking me to move over so they could squeeze by. Lifting tray after tray over our heads. There was definitely a fire hazard risk at that point. Our waitress took our entire tables order and completely forgot about asking me what I wanted . A couple of meals came out with the wrong sides,. Therr was supposed to be two orders of the steak tips. Three came out, they oh don't worry just keep them. Well when we got the bill they charged us for three orders so yeah that is why they said keep it.

I felt like I had to go speak with a manager I met Greg the manager who apologized and said there was no excuse for what was. happening. He said he would take care of the issues and make sure we didn't get charged. Unfortunately that was not the case. We were still charged for the third steak tip dinner which tasted like burned charcoal BTW.( I do not recommend it) And two more random salads.

After I went and spoke to Greg again when I was walking by our waitress I heard her say "what's wrong with the check now". I'm sorry, but when there were many many mistakes and I am being over charged for not good food I feel I have the right to make sure the bill is correct, walking over us with food trays, asking us to move over because way to many people were crammed into one area . I have the right to ask for my bill...

Stopped off at The Establishment on our way to NH last night for dinner. It was recommended to me so I was looking forward to it. The space is nicely decorated with an industrial theme seeing as it’s in an old mill building. I ordered the Cobb salad with grilled chicken. My friend had the House Salad with Steak Tips and the waitress couldn’t stop raving over their steak tips.

Our salads arrived and it was the saddest Cobb salad I had ever seen. The grilled chicken was so tough I couldn’t even cut it with a steak knife. The menu said it came with Bacon more like Bacon bits that were tiny and tiny avocados that looked old. It’s supposed to have both Romaine and Iceberg but I only got old Iceberg lettuce. My friends Steak Tips were equally as tough and were raw inside, he ordered them to be cooked medium.

We informed our waitress who was visibly upset. She kept apologizing and offered to bring us something else but we had to get going. They claim on their website that they make everything with fresh ingredients on their website. But there was nothing fresh about our meals.

I can’t believe they charge $19.99 for such a lame salad. The place was packed and we noticed the majority of people ordered pizza. That should have been a hint what to order. The service was very slow. Live and learn, very...