The Elm — Restaurant in Great Barrington

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had. I took my wife out for Valentine's Day dinner and this place had good reviews so I figured it would be a great option. However, it was absolutely terrible.

We sat down at 5:45 for our reservation. We ordered 4 oysters, mussels, and two drinks to start. The oysters were legitimately the size of a dime for $4 a piece and the mussels were so drenches in red sauce, they didn't have much flavor of their own. We saw other people's drinks just sit at the bar for 20 minutes to the point where the beer had no head left. Additionally, whoever wrote their beer menu up just made up names for beer (Big Elm Dexter's Pils does not exist).

However, appetizers were not the issue. We ordered the filet mignon and the duck and waited an hour and a half. When they came both were cold. When they dropped the duck, the runner absolutely drenched the duck with sauce, which I assume he was hoping would warm the food. My wife ordered a second drink and by the time it came, about 25 minutes later, we just wanted our check to get out of there. Our bill with tip was $215. When we were sat there were two tables in front of us who got their entrees in under an hour (clearly they got lucky) and when we left there were about 15 tables all without entrees. On our way out, I said to the table next to us, "Good luck!" She responded, "Hopefully we'll be out by midnight."

We left and went straight to McDonalds because that was the only place that was open.

I also understand that everyone that it is incredibly hard to get good staff right now and it is not one person's fault. However, I would have appreciated someone to recognize that it is unacceptable to wait an hour and a half for cold food that cost $215. When I jokingly told the server, "I'm sorry. this must be stressful" she responded as if it was normal and no big deal.

We will certainly not be returning. We would much rather go to Number 10, the Well, Prairie Whale, or Xicohtenctal. All...

We dined here last night for the first time, and though we enjoyed the quality of the food (for the most part), we were very disappointed in the service. When our entrees came out, the servers brought the wrong entree for one person in our party of six. It took approx. 15 minutes for her entree to come from the kitchen, and when it arrived (after everyone else had finished theirs, of course), part of it was undercooked and inedible. This was surprising given that there was only one other table in the entire restaurant occupied, along with a few people at the bar, so it couldn't have been that the kitchen was slammed.

While the server immediately told us that the entree would be comped, we felt that the restaurant could have done better. They could have told us how long it would be, and perhaps offered another entree that could have been cooked more quickly (giving the diner the choice of what she wanted to do). They could have also offered to bring out an appetizer that could have been prepared more quickly, such as a salad, so she would have at least had something to eat with the others' entrees while waiting for hers.

The other problem we had was that one of the bar patrons was so loud - loud enough that it was almost impossible to hear each other talking at our table on the other side of the room without shouting - that one of the members of our party had to ask our server to ask someone to speak with that patron. It quieted down for a bit, but the noise from that person started up again a little later. And again, this was at a time that the restaurant was almost empty.

While I generally am willing to give a restaurant a second chance if I have a bad experience on my first visit (especially if it has generally positive reviews), there were some serious issues here that would make me...

So my husband and I decided to try this spot tonight. Literally 10/10. Corey the bartender is amazing, Emma who does some of the cooking is just out of this world. The staff is spectacular, service was exceptional, I’m super sorry I didn’t get our servers name cause she was so sweet and my husband loves to drink a lot of water when he eats and usually is sad when the server doesn’t refill his glass, but at the elm that problem doesn’t exist! They are refilling constantly and don’t even get me started on the food. I got the bread service, and the dip was to die for. I got the vegetable tart and was basically in a coma cause it was so good. Then we got the cinnamon flan and I’ve already gushed so much about the other food I don’t even want to get into how incredible it was. It is expensive but it’s legit unlike any other place we’ve tried around here. We just moved from California and have been a bit disappointed with some of the food in this area, but The Elm literally shines like a diamond. This review is so long I know but I had to because it was that good. But I dare you to get the vegetable tart and then NOT write a...