Captain Daniel Packer Inne — Restaurant in Groton

Had dinner reservations on 7/3. With the new normal of COVID19 Pandemic, you're required to make reservations and cannot walk in or wait in the lobby. You have to wear a mask otherwise they will not let you in. When we arrived, we called to let them know we were there and we were able to go right in for our reserved time. Upon entry, there was a large jug of hand sanitizer available to use. Also, parking lot is gravel so there aren't any parking lines to park within. Only trouble with that is people can't seem to figure out proper spacing between vehicles - i.e. they can't park.

We were cheerfully greeted by the masked host who led us to our table. Lighting was dimmed but it wasn't so dark that you couldn't see. It was also quite busy with the amount of people that were dining. Attire is casual even with white linens on the tables.

Our masked waitress Heidi was great! She was quite personable, incredibly friendly, and very attentive, which made our dining experience that much better.

We decided to really splurge and got the beef chili nachos to start with. While we were waiting we were provided with warm bread, butter, and a whole roasted garlic bulb. The garlic was easily spreadable onto the warmed bread and was great with the butter. When the nachos came out the portion size was much bigger than we had anticipated. It came with guacamole, sour cream, and pico de gaillo. It was covered on cheddar cheese, beef chili, tomatoes, jalapenos, and chunks of the tomatoes from the chili. The chips were pretty thick but it worked well with the topping. It wasn't salty at all and had the perfect mix of zing from the lime juice in the pico de gaillo.

For our entrees, we ordered the hot lobster roll with the truffle fries and the paella with seared scallops. Both dishes were delicious and weren't salty. The seasoning for the paella was perfect, didn't have an overbearing amount and the scallops were tender. The hot lobster roll came with a sherry butter in a boat dish. Lobster was sweet and the sherry butter made it sweeter. The truffle fries were greasy at all and came with both ketchup and a mix of buttermilk ranch dressing and horseradish, which the latter was a perfect pairing for the fries.

For dessert, we had the Xango. This dish was probably the best out of everything we had. It was a slice of banana cheesecake, wrapped in a flour tortilla, deep fried (again wasn't oily or tasted like old oil), and dusted with cinnamon sugar, caramel sauce, and had a side of whipped cream. Whipped cream tasted like it was homemade and not from a can. It wasn't overpoweringly sweet at all.

Highly recommend...

This is a slight rollercoaster of a review ride.

Edit: for clarification our waitress was VERY nice.

We started with the oysters as an appetizer. Which was good. About the quality and price of other near by locations (which is very good). They also had whole roasted garlic next to the butter, for our bread, which was delicious.

Then me and my wife both got Steak entrees. She got a filet, and I got the pepper jack steak. Sadly both our steaks were not cooked correctly. I asked for medium rare while my wife asked for rare. We both have the habit of cutting into our steaks before we do anything else to make sure it is correctly cooked.

I cut into my steak to find that it was well over cooked. Somewhere between medium (at best) and medium well at worst. It was mostly white/ cooked with only a little bit of pink in the middle.

My wife cut into hers and saw nothing but purple/ red. Her eyes grew big, and I quickly put my finger inside her steak to see if it was even warm in anyway, and to neither of our surprise, the meat was cold, not luke warm, but cold as if it came out of the fridge , quickly seared and thrown onto the plate.

We both saw the mistakes, and quickly discussed if we should let them try again, or order something completely different. Neither of these mistakes is a deal breaker, for us, because we know that getting steak temp right can take a try or 2. We decided to get a seafood dish since the restaurant specializes in seafood. (Which in hindsight is what we should have done)

The manager then came over. (We assumed it was to apologize, which is fine, but not needed) And started telling us that we were wrong about our opinion about how the steaks were cooked. She even said she went back and asked the chef, and he agreed that the steaks were cooked to the right temperature (they weren't) . She even tried to blame the lighting in the dining room for why I thought my steak was over cooked.

This obviously put a bad taste in our mouths, we continued to turn the steaks down since she was holding it next to our table, trying to convince us they were fine. We finally got her to let us order a new meal for each of us.

We ordered the scallop entree. And when it came, it was absolutely delicious. Sadly the manager confronting us had bothered me and my wife so the rest of the meal we weren't able to enjoy the scallops as much as we wish we could. Probably won't come back here when we vacation in...

Update on 9/29/25

Our annual trek to DPI (as we celebrated our anniversary), was once again enjoyable. It never fails, the dwelling built in 1756 is truly enchanting. The shrimp presented in the cocktail were cold, crisp and fresh and the sauce had a great taste and consistency. We also enjoyed the DPI skewers that included a bit of steak tip, a sea scallop and a fresh shrimp that was that was grilled to perfection and drizzled with a bit of horseradish cream sauce. The staff members are always welcoming and the aura of the visitors -since we became a nation seem ever-present. Bravo DPI… See you soon.

On a visit to Mystic, I could not wait to find a restaurant that served more seafood than I could easily settle on. Sitting in the Mystic Marriott lobby, yelp pointed us to the Captain Daniel Packer Inne. What a find. Although the building was restored in 1979, it's origin dates to 1756. Everything seems to have been preserved -including the aura. As you would expect with a building older than the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is small in size but large in hospitality. Without reservations, we did not stand much of a chance in the upstairs dinning area, but a flight of stairs down to the pub in the cellar... and we were seated in 20 minutes. For appetizers, we had the phyllo dough lobster lollipops and an order of artichoke hearts that were resting in a light lobster sauce (the artichoke that is) that invited us to soak up what was left with the delicious homemade bread we were served. For our main course we had the halibut steak that was sitting on top of freshly mashed potatoes with a smattering of fresh corn kernels. The customer service attendants were mindful of their tables and visited at opportune times. -Not when you start to take a bite and never did we wonder where they might have gone off to. Parking was a bit of a challenge but by far worth the hunt. If you are looking for a very friendly restaurant with a historical beginning and great food... Look no further. DPI is a definite...