Forge & Vine — Restaurant in Groton

For the second week of the restaurant, there are some kinks to work out, but overall, this restaurant is a great addition to the area. A group of 4 of us went on a busy Wednesday night. I was initially concerned that the hard surfaces would result in a noisy dining room, since the large space is open with vaulted ceilings. But the acoustical treatments on the ceiling really work well. The atmosphere was lively but not loud.

The seats are comfortable and the tables nicely sized. We were at a center table which was somewhat close to the booths, so wait staff often bumped into my chair, so I felt somewhat in the way, but not overly so like some restaurants with tight seating. The greeter was pleasant and took us to our tables. The wait staff is varied, some very good and some in need of additional training. [When a fork was dropped on the floor by someone in my group, the waiter asked if he wanted another one... What could the answer possibly be other than "Of course!"?] The other disappointment is the two very large brightly lit television screens which are situated over the bar, too high and angled to shine right though the entire dining room. I don't mind screens in a bar area if separated from the dining room, but that is not the case here. So it was very distracting to have two giant screens showing the same sports channel distracting me from my group all evening. A place striving for a finer dining experience should really not have this "sports bar"-type vibe.

The bread was very fresh and good, served with whipped butter. We order cocktails which were all very good, generally priced about $12-$13, in line with prices at better establishments. The appetizers we ordered were all very good. My chowder ($8) was excellent, and I can be fussy about that, kale salad ($9 very good), mussels ($13 generous portion, very good), poutine ($12 excellent with a large portion of duck confit). Our entrees were, for the most part, very good: salmon ($24 excellent - perfectly cooked, roasted parsnips, fennel slaw), fig and prosciutto flatbread ($14 excellent, perfectly cooked, crispy, not soggy and not burnt), linguini with clams ($23 very good), and pork chop ($24). The pork was considered much too salty by a member of our party, which was handled really nicely by the waiter, then the dining room manager. We are grateful for this gesture. I didn't taste the pork, but I trust my dining companion's judgment. The desserts were overall rated good to very good by our group. With cocktails, appetizer, entree and dessert, and a bottle of wine, the total per person cost with tip amounted to approximately $75/person.

We would definitely go back, and hope that the wait staff gains some...

Not a family friendly atmosphere worst Dinning experience of my life. I'd like to start off by stating I deducted two stars for horrible service from the Manager on down. I cannot recommend anyone bring their family but would be a great place to entertain a client. My reservations were on the 27th of December I just wanted to wait a few weeks to write review because I didn't want the review to be emotionally driven. The restaurant has a beautiful setting and the contractors did a great job on the building. My family of ten arrived on time we were sat in a small 3 season room on the side of the building. As we entered the room first thing I noticed was the giant fire place that was located on the far end. It had a couple couches with a couple enjoying a few beverages. The room was very toasty do to the fireplace so I was happy to start. We were seated we had 8 adults and two children. The kids wanted to check out the fire place but noticing the couple there, we told no. My brother and his wife gave the children 3 & 5 their phones to entertain them. The volume on the phones were turned off not to disturb anyone and the children were sitting still so it seemed like a win win. Our first course of apps were delicious the wait staff was a little slow but to be expected do to the location of the room we were seated in. As the night progressed the couple on the couch carried on drinking, thought it odd they were not eating but whatever. Every fifteen minutes or so the couple on the couch were getting up and exiting the room via the exit located next to the fire place to smoke cigarettes. Upon doing so the heat got sucked straight out of the room. The frequent cigarette breaks made the whole room cold as ice, felt like we were in a skating rink and I had to put my winter coat back on. I then witnessed the husband get up and hold the exit door wide open for like 3-4 minutes the whole room full of customers "two families of ten" protested telling him to shut the door The couple became very drunk. I noticed the woman was talking to the waitress like she was her friend and pointing at us. I thought it was rude considering their selfish behavior but I guess that is to be expected out of those sort of folks. Entrees arrived and my Clams and linguine were so over salted the meal was not palatable. This is only part of my review I've exceeded character limit on google. I'll try to post the remainder as I feel its important...

Forge and Vine had been on my list of places to go for awhile, so my husband and I finally were able to go and celebrate post Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately I was not impressed and was disappointed after hearing so many good things. I will say the atmosphere itself was great; we sat at a high top in the bar area and were very comfortable. We had made a reservation and were seated right away but it then took our waitress at least 10 mins to greet us. Once she finally arrived there was no apology and simply offered us bread and water for the table. We ordered our drinks, apps and entrees all out once since we weren’t sure how long everything would take. The food itself was delicious and we were very happy with the appetizer and main course. We ended up ordering the Sweet Board for the dessert which again took much longer than normal to come out. When it arrived I was surprised that I was being charged $16 for a dessert board that was so underwhelming. It consisted of caramel popcorn that tasted like it was store bought, old stale choc chip cookies that still had Valentines Confetti on it, marshmallows and a couple other small items that I didn’t even touch. It was definitely the worst dessert I’ve ever had at a restaurant. I respectfully voiced my concerns about our server and dessert to the manager and all she offered me was her business card for next time we came back which will probably not be anytime soon. It’s really to bad because the restaurant itself is very nice and has a lot of potential but for the price I was paying I expected a bit more.

2/24/23 I wanted to follow up this review with an update. I am happy to say that even though my dining experience wasn't the best, the manager reached out to me personally and made things right. I am looking forward to going back soon and I am confident that our experience will be better. It's nice to know that the management took the time to follow up and provide excellent customer...