The Herb Lyceum at Gilson's — Restaurant in Groton

My husband and I got married at the Herb Lyceum a week ago and I HAD to jump on here to leave a review for this true gem. Our wedding was simply magical. Having an outdoor garden wedding at the end of September in New England is risky- but from the moment we booked they told us what the rain plan was. Sure enough, it rained the whole day of the wedding... and it was 50 degrees. They set up two beautiful large tents with twinkle lights for the ceremony, enclosed the outdoor dance floor which doubled as cocktail hour, and pulled strings to get patio heaters for the whole space. I don't even think our guests noticed the rain. The one time it rained the hardest was during dinner- and everyone thought it was extremely romantic to hear the pitter patter of rain on the greenhouse roof while enjoying a lovely candle lit DELICIOUS dinner surrounded by twinkle lights from above.

We worked closely with Ryan and Ariel- who are both so patient and caring. They truly want your wedding dream to come to life and will do almost anything they can to make the space, the food, and the atmosphere tailored to your specific vision. During the evening our guests drank more alcohol than we had planned, and Ariel checked in with us several times to addend the bar plan. They were flexible and allowed us to make decisions on the spot. The day-of staff were also incredible. Even my extended family was commenting on how their whole staff continued to check in on them throughout the evening.

Last and certainly not least, THE FOOD. The food we ate at our tasting was the best meal we have ever had- no exageration. When it came to our food the day-of, at least 30 guests came up to us after dinner and the consensus was "this is the best wedding food I have ever had". We've also been to their smaller weekend dinners and if you aren't getting married here, you at least have to attend a dinner. Foodie paradise. So so SO GOOD and so creative. These people love creating and they love food.

We would get married at the Herb Lyceum 100,000,000 more times. Our wedding was unique, intimate, romantic, and so special to us. We'll always look back on our wedding day as...

TLDR: We had the most magical wedding day and (all things considered) stress-free experience planning our wedding with the Herb Lyceum -- we would get married there again in a heartbeat!!

I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about the Herb Lyceum. My now-husband and I went to a farm dinner to check out the grounds and try the food, and we immediately knew it was where we wanted to get married! Tavis was our coordinator and was so lovely to work with on our Lord of the Rings inspired wedding; she, Ryan, Derek, Ariel, and all the staff were patient with answering our questions, helped make our ideas come to life, and were always kind & welcoming whenever we stopped by. Three weeks before our wedding, there was a devastating fire at the HL carriage house that destroyed their kitchen. Despite the grief that the Gilson family and staff were feeling over the loss of a beloved & historic piece of their property, they were nothing but reassuring in our conversations following the fire and kept us updated on the work being done to make the grounds safe and usable. When they got the green light to still host our wedding, we were overjoyed! They worked with us to pivot elements of the day that needed relocating and were able to provide the full food and beverage service that we had planned. On our wedding day, Tavis and the staff made the day run so smoothly. And the food!! HL is farm-to-table and our wedding dinner was served family style – all of our guests walked away full and happy and are STILL talking about how amazing the food was. I could go on and on but the bottom line is, HL is an incredibly special place and their team is professional & caring; you can tell they love what they do and they will do everything in their power to help you have the wedding of your dreams. Thank you so much,...

We purchased tickets to the "Father's Day Pig Roast". I understand they had a fire last year so went into it giving them the benefit of the doubt. Left wanting to do a charge back on my credit card because nothing was as advertised.

When we got there, no one greeted us or checked our tickets. We absolutely could have shown up without paying and no one would have known.

The event description specifically called out a selection of local brews, cocktails, mocktails, and juice for the kids. When we got there, it was basically like a bad wedding bar. 3 macrobrews, 3 pre-made cocktails, and coke products. No mocktails and no juice, and they immediately ran out of seltzer water.

One of the reasons I picked this place for Father's Day was that it was outdoors and they advertised corn hole and lawn games. There were zero games out. Not only that but there are piles of scrap metal and literal trash everywhere on the property, which is challenging with 2 kids exploring.

I was willing to get past all that since we were there for a Pig Roast after all. Zero pig roast to be found. Nothing even smelled like food. The "servers" at the buffet just stood there as the serving utensils all slide into the chaffing dishes and we helped ourselves. Nothing was labeled, which is crazy if you're going to line up 3 bottles of sauces and 3 random dishes of salsa/toppings (?) and expect people to know what they are. The event description said "pig roast with sides of chicken and salmon". They had pre-sauced pulled pork, swordfish and beef tips. I am absolutely positive no pig was roasted at this event.

It really sucked because I wanted to support a local restaurant, especially after their fire last year. But this was basically a bad wedding buffet with zero entertainment or even a...