Artisan Restaurant — Restaurant in Fairfield

We went here for our anniversary dinner on a Saturday night and were pretty...disappointed. It started off promising as the outdoor patio is really beautiful, despite this loud wedding music next door competing with the restaurant music.

Similar to what someone else wrote, our seating time was after our reservation and we too sat without menus for maybe 15 minutes, when waiter 1 finally came by to take our order. He apologized and said he'd be back. When he did, he dropped off the menus at the table next to us, walking away without looking. We decided what we wanted quickly, and waited about 10 more minutes to place our order... with another waiter who my husband caught the eye of because we hadn't seen ours for a bit. He was nice. We were told they'd bring some bread by shortly (this never happened). So about an hour after our reservation start time, we got a couple appetizers. They were good, but one of them was the grilled octopus, and there were maybe 2 nicely sized pieces and 2 small ones. Overall it had more chorizo than octopus over a few greens. For $18. I can't remember a time when my husband has actually said something when a meal is off but he did this time, explaining it was good just not what we were expecting. We were told everything gets weighed sooooo... they'd talk to the chef. They came back and brought out another portion which was nice, but were again told everything gets weighed. (Even though this new portion definitely had more octopus... 😬 I digress.)

Our main courses came as we were finishing up this app. They were pretty good. We still had about 50 minutes before we had to be back home for the babysitter so we decided to have dessert because it was a special occasion. Waited about 10 mins for it but were feeling ok. Finally finished it and we waited for our check. And waited. Got our card ready so we could just pay and go. That was our bad! Got charged for 2 cocktails we did not order after we saw what got charged. Waited to see our waiter to get it fixed... and waited. Husband got up to find him and we waited some more for it to be corrected. We were told it was because we had multiple waiters so everything got a little muddled. Finally with about 10 minutes to get home in time, we left.

Did I mention the table next to us must have been friends or something with someone who I assume is the owner?? Or a manager?? It was really frustrating to see, as this table had her at their table for quite awhile for multiple times, and with multiple servers at their attention, while we were just waiting and waiting.

Overall nothing truly offensive or terrible happened and a few of these things on their own wouldn't have been a deal breaker and totally understandable. Everyone was nice, just super busy and seemingly overwhelmed. Ultimately it just thing after another and I can't imagine why this restaurant is highly rated??? Wasted a rare night out for us. Maybe it was an off night??? Like, really off?? Sadly won't be coming back to compare. It was supposed to be a special night out but ended up being an expensive regret. We felt like an...

Everything started out great, then went down hill when we started to order. I asked what was on the charcuterie board and the waiter (I want to say his name was Ethan but I'm not 100% sure) said he wasn't entirely sure but there were 4 types of meat (he wasn't sure what kind and that he would check), and that there were 5 cheeses. I personally am not a fan of salami and similar meats but my partner is so we ended up getting the board thinking I would have most of the cheese and he would have the meat. The waiter then immediately asked what we wanted for our entrees which made us feel a bit rushed, but was fine. I ordered the hanger steak medium rare while my partner ordered the duck breast, also medium rare. The waiter asked if we would like more bread, we said yes please (we never got more bread). The charcuterie board came out fairly quickly, however there were no cheeses like we were told there would be. Additionally, the waiter never did ask about what would be on the board, or if he did, he didn't care to correct his mistake and let us know the types of meat or the fact that the board did NOT come with cheeses. When he eventually checked on us 10+ minutes later, he didn't correct his mistake then either. Eventually another member of staff boxed up most of the board for us to take home. About 40+ minutes after we had initially ordered, our food came out. Both the steak and the duck were over cooked (Medium rather than medium rare). We ate the food as it was given how long it took to come out and that I was hungry without an anticipated appetizer or additional bread. The food was fine, my partner enjoyed their duck, the hanger steak was alright though I've had better. Our waiter did not come to check on us or the food until after the food had been eaten and we had been sitting there for a bit. At this time, after our drinks had long been finished, he asked if we would like a refill. We of course said no because just getting a beer and a root beer had taken a while in and of itself. Based on comments I heard from other tables, it seems this waiter is either new and not properly trained or is just bad at his job. With all the other restaurant possibilities in the area, we do not plan on returning or if we do, not for several years. We have received much better service and food at much lower "quality" establishments. I am not sure if we were treated more poorly because we are younger or if we were under dressed (though I doubt it is the second option as there were several people more under dressed than ourselves). If this is the case, that is very unfortunate and not an experience we have at had other similar establishments. Overall, I would not recommend this establishment to my friends or colleagues which is very unfortunate given that my partner and I were discussing utilizing the hotel for accommodations for future...

I've never written a review for a business before, however, Artisan has left such a bad taste in my mouth, it feels worth sharing with the masses. We came in for a birthday dinner at 7:45pm. Immediately, we could tell it was a busy night and they weren't remotely ready for the five other parties awaiting their tables ahead of us. After being seating 20 minutes after our reservation (because we had given up on getting our reserved table outside), we sat for an additional 10 minutes without menus as our server came to ask if we wanted drinks -- we asked for our menus. Another 15-20 minutes went by before our server dropped back to the table (around 8:30PM) we placed our drink and dinner order in fear of waiting even longer to get a food order in. Almost 30 minutes later, we received our first courses but didn't receive drinks until 5-10 minutes after they took our plates. At this point, we're starving. It's well past 9pm and we've asked our server for bread (we saw other tables were given it) or something and after being blown off the first time, we finished the warmed bread within minutes of it arriving at the table. By 9:30, we were fading fast to the point where I had to order a coffee just to stay awake. And then, our food finally came out except we were missing an entire entree because our waiter had forgotten to put it in. As someone who has worked in the food industry, I get it -- it happens to all of us! But to have the waiter not come out to check-in on what was going on for 10 minutes and then when he did, telling us it was coming right out when we didn't get it until after everyone had finished their meals was ridiculous. At this point, we were tired, felt ignored, and all-around extremely let down for a birthday dinner that cost $200+ (before tip and tax). By the time the check came, we finally saw a manager who let us know the steak (which was cold, under AND overcooked, that sat in a to-go box and something I had asked to be canceled 20 minutes into waiting for it) and an order of birthday donuts would be comp'd. Nearly 3 hours wasted and we left feeling extremely discouraged and had to try to make the best of it. I really wish that the manager had come out earlier during one of the many mess-ups of our night and checked in with us. We had even asked to see one multiple times and nothing. At this point in a service, I really would've liked to have had the entire meal/part of it comp'd. We've eaten at Artisan before and really loved our times there, however, I think this experience has left us feeling we shouldn't come back...