Ellacoya Barn & Grille — Restaurant in Gilford

March 08 - Gilford NH Elacoya Barn and Grill

I had never been to Elacoya Barn and Grill, but my wife had been here a couple of times before. We arrived at approximately 1:00 PM on a Sunday. There was about a 5 minute wait for a table of 2.

If you haven’t been before, the restaurant is aptly named, as it is in an old Barn. The lobby consisted of the hostess desk, a couple of love seats and a very eclectic collection of books.

We were seated at a small booth tucked into a little corner of the main room. We were promptly greeted by our server Sierra and asked if we wanted something to drink. I ordered a Cold Snap and my wife got the Unified Press from Citizen Cider. Both were served in extremely cold glasses. Sierra also told us about the specials for the day, which were a Crispy Chicken Parm Sandwich and the soup of the day was a Basil Tomato.

For our app we decided to order off the appetizer menu, and got the prosciutto flatbread, without the sun dried tomatoes (my wife doesn’t like tomatoes). When it was delivered it was very hot. The thin crust was crispy on the bottom, but still had some tooth to it.

It was quickly devoured by both of us.

Sierra returned and cleared our appetizer plates and asked if we knew what we wanted to order. My wife ordered the Truffle Fries and a French Onion Soup sans the crouton. I then explained the situation to her. She asked if I had any food allergies, and I said no. She asked if there was anything on the menu I didn’t want. I told her that anything looked acceptable. She asked if she had told us about the specials. I indicated those were fine as well. She looked very considerate for a few seconds, then smiled… My wife said “Don’t tell him. Just bring it out.” She then walked off with a little grin.

While we were waiting for our mains another round of drinks were ordered. When the mains arrived mine was the Crispy Chicken Parm Sandwich. Sierra indicated that they didn’t have it as a special very often, but it always gets good feedback when they do have it.

The chicken was cooked very well. Crispy on the outside, but tender and juicy on the inside. There was enough marinara on the sandwich for me to make a mess of myself by dribbling some of it in my lap and the cheese was deliciously melted.

My wife’s soup was cheesy, hot and delicious. There was a depth of flavor that showed that the soup had been well cooked, not just some broth that had been poured over some onions.

The fries had a little bit of a strange appearance, but appeared to be hand cut, and were crispy and delicious. Her Truffle fries were just right in my opinion, not overly truffle flavored. My wife thought they could use some more truffle flavor (but she likes her truffle fries to be what I consider overpowering).

As Sierra was clearing my wife’s soup bowl and my plate, my wife asked if they had desserts (as there were none on the menu). Sierra started to describe what desserts they had. My wife asked her to stop. Just to pick one for her and pack it to go. Sierra replied with a smile “I love you guys. The kitchen didn’t believe me when I told them about your order”. A few minutes later Sierra returned with a boxed up dessert. She explained to my wife that she was getting an Italian Lemon Cream Cake with a Blackberry Sauce. Very creamy, lemony, and the blackberry sauces was a...

I've eaten at the Ellacoya Barn & Grille and had great service in the past, but we went there this past Sunday after a long day out. We had four kids with us who were very hungry. The place was very quiet when we got there. We got a very comfortable & quiet place to sit and order our meals. But what happened next was awful... our waitress truly forgot us and our food. And at NO POINT DID SHE apologize or explain (truthfully) the reason why we still didn't have our appetizers after 1 hour & 15 min! The place started filling up about 1/2 hr after we got there and ordered. But she never came back. We had to track her down. Finally the other mom I was there with went out front to talk to the Mgr. Other tables had come & gone - and one actually applauded when we finally had to talk to the manager. Our children were slowly slumping down and going to sleep - they were all "hangry" as they put it - 12-15 yrs in age. Not a good age to have them sit and be hungry. When we finally got our food (waitress's name was Mariah I believe), we didn't get an apology or and kind of "we'll comp your food" or anything. She never cleared a plate off the table. Our drinks were empty - it honestly was some of the worst service I've ever had! It really made us upset that they didn't realize how hungry the kids were and no one came over to check on us at our table... even the Mgr at the time (Sunday night 7/23 6pm) never came over to us - we always had to go to her. Really? After the Mgr told me that she'd "spoken" with Mariah, she asked me "but was the food to your satisfaction when it finally come out"". The food was good, but they ran out of romaine lettuce and a few other items since we got our food last, and the service was beyond substandard. The end result? The Mgr did comp a couple appetizers and gave me a gift card for the "next time" you come in... That's probably that last thing I wanted at that point! And still no apology from her or the waitress. We just wanted a sincere, "we're so sorry your experience wasn't good the first time we asked. Our asking seemed to annoy them - REALLY? This group of kids and my other mom friend are the easiest people to please and go out all the time. So this experience made us want to write a review. I hope things get better there, or they'll be losing a lot more local business - and travelers through. I go from the seacoast to Meredith all the time and I refer many folks about where to eat before shows at BK NH Pavillion, but I'll be skeptical next time I think of this...

Gonna leave my old review below this one

Dropping to 4 stars... Went again and was excited to be back. The typical quoted long wait time of 45 minutes ended up being only 12. Unfortunately, once seated, service was slow. No problem, Covid has made me much more patient and understanding of staffing issues. Our waitress was fine except for one issue later. The three of us got three apps to share. The maple jerk chicken was chewy. The glaze would stick in clumps to your teeth. Still tasted ok, tho. The stuffed portobello mushrooms were good size, good flavor. The kale and vegetable dumplings(kale is not a vegetable?) were tasty. But for over $10, 4 little dumplings were such a poor value. The portions on the apps(except for the chicken) left much to be desired. The dinners were all excellent, though! My garlic parmesan fried chicken with parmesan risotto was well cooked and not too much in either garlic or parmesan cheese. The vegetables it came with made me want more. My friends both really enjoyed their dinners. However, the drinks were a letdown. Two of us got margaritas. They were obviously used with a pre-mix. No problem, I wasn't looking for a top shelf and it was enjoyable, in a tall glass and plenty of salt on the rim. We each ordered a second. The second had little mix, seemed watered down and had almost no salt. My friend had about a 1/3 of his. I told the waitress mine just wasn't good and nothing like the first. She said they just switched bartenders and I just asked for a coke. I never took another sip from the second drink. When I got my individual bill, both margaritas were on there. At $15 a pop!!!!!!!! My Coke was also added. My total bill came out to $70. $85 when all was said and done. We drove home and lamented that we didn't have an $85 experience. It wasn't a horrible experience. It just wasn't what we have grown to love about the place. We'll probably keep coming back, we just won't come too hungry again and we'll avoid ordering drinks.

Went two nights in a row. Pretty much anything you get here will be excellent. Service is fantastic and everyone we interacted with was very friendly. There can be a decent sized wait, but it seems like most people who put their names in ghosted the receptionist. They were always calling names of people who disappeared and our waits were always about half the...