Salute — Restaurant in Hartford

You know it’s not often that you run into a restaurant that is so finally run that it inspires you to write a review. And that is exactly what Salute is…a finely run machine! It runs like clockwork. And best of all their employees are exemplary.

I don’t know the restaurants in Hartford anymore so in real life, I have two friends…on FB. 4000 and mostly people I’ve either sold houses too or I have performed their marriages. 😉

A month ago I did crowdsourcing. I went onto my Facebook page and asked the world” “Hey, I haven’t been to Hartford in years. What’s a good restaurant?” And overwhelmingly people said Salute!

So now start the kudos… I called to make a reservation and one of the managers (I think his name was Dan) answered. Talk about delightful and fun to talk to.🥳 He was charming, charismatic, and just made making a reservation as fun as it could ever be!

We were going up to HTFD because our son was graduating from college at the Hartford Civic Center. Yesterday arrived-Graduation day… And my husband and I decided to pop in to Salute before hand -just to check it out. We sat at the bar ordered cocktail and hors d’oeuvres. The best part of that were the bartenders who were so wonderful to talk to.

I spied a gentleman who I assumed to be the owner… I asked one of the bartenders and he verified that. At the time the owner was working on a project and I since there is nobody else around, sauntered over to him & Quietly said…” Why don’t you let one of the minions do that?”😝 His response was humble and sweet…” I am a minion”! right off the bat I liked him as he is humble.

I introduced myself & we had a grand time chatting it up…along with some chuckles. 😉

We attended our son’s graduation and came back later on for our dinner reservation. Once again greeted by the bartenders who by now felt like friends😉 and a delightful Hostess who was just kind and caring.

What I like about the places, you can walk in strangers and you leave friends.

Now to the main event; FOOD! Scott was our server and he was perfect! The food was absolutely stellar delicious! Earlier in the day, we had tried their infamous garlic bread! It was perfectly cooked with a nice little crunch on the bottom, which I really enjoyed instead of mushy.🤣😉

My husband had the Giobatto. If you like spice, this is the one to get! Our son, Trey, The graduate, enjoyed his shrimp piccata! (I enjoyed it too😉) We both thought it was cooked absolutely perfectly. I had the lobster special of the evening, which I can’t remember the name but anything with lobster is always delicious when it comes to my taste buds. That had a mushroom cream sauce which was sublime! The three of us shared a delicious crème brûlée 4 dessert with a round of coffee’s and off we went back down to the beach… Happy as larks With our choice of Salute to celebrate a special evening!

You will love it too!...

We made dinner reservations for 7 PM but had trouble finding parking, so we arrived about 10 minutes late. To our surprise, they still held our table! However, my husband and I decided to check out the happy hour menu and opted to sit at the bar instead. The maître d’ welcomed us with a big smile, saying, “As you wish,” and assured us that our table would still be available whenever we were ready.

We happily settled into the lively bar area and started with the potato ravioli and fried calamari—both were delicious, and the calamari portion was generous. Since the bar wasn’t too crowded and the bartenders, Caden and Cadesi (apologies if I got the name wrong!), were so friendly, we decided to stay at the bar rather than move to a table.

We followed up with the famous meatballs and broccoli, both very tasty. My husband, who rarely drinks beer due to low carb diet, ended up enjoying two dark port beers! Since we had pre-dinner drinks and appetizers at another restaurant, I held back on alcohol, but the bartender noticed I wasn’t drinking my ice water and kindly asked if she could offer me something else—perhaps hot lemon water? It was such a thoughtful gesture, and she brought exactly what I needed. Some places make you feel unwelcome if you’re not ordering drinks, but that was definitely not the case here.

As a self-proclaimed tiramisu snob, I was hesitant about dessert. But just before we asked for the check, we were surprised with a beautifully plated tiramisu! Apparently, the maître d’ had told the bartenders it was our anniversary, and they kindly treated us to this special dessert. It was delicious—and even more memorable because of the kindness behind it. They helped took lots of photos of us and it was smiles all around.

We had a terrific evening, feeling completely taken care of in both body and spirit. Thank you, Jimmy, and the entire team for such a wonderful experience! ❤️

Ps: skipping pre dinner drinks and apps next time and going here straight for the primo and secondo! Ps2: And, we learn they validate 50% of garage parking - so it’ll be $5 max. Street parking is free after 6 but it’s tough when there’s a game or...

First time here. In the past always went to Trumbull kitchen. Never disappointed there. This place needs to learn what customer service is. Anyway the person I had the pleasure dealing with. Ordered a pasta dish. The pasta dish was real good. The waitress asked me if I would like garlic bread. I said sure. When it came it was more of a melted cheese covered baguette than simple garlic bread. Way overloaded with cheese to my liking. I would have appreciated if she would have mentioned it when she offered the bread. Took all the cheese off and could not finish the bread because of all the cheese taste. I told her that, that I did not expect that much cheese. All this was in friendly matter. Her answer was”oh well next time don’t order it” I didn’t really ordered it, it was offered to me. My guess the manager came by and picked up all the plates up without asking “was it good or anything to that matter”. Just you need anything else. Just the check. To my surprise there was a whopping $7.00 charge for that bread. Almost as much as the pasta. I overheard a different waitress at a table nearby telling them the coffee is on me. I don’t know what or why, but it was nice gesture for whatever reason it was given. I have no problem paying for something and leaving a good tip for great customer service. But this no. The food can be amazing, but for just that encounter is enough for me to never go back. I work in customer service and I have been in situations worse than this, but you offer a solution, not just oh next time. That is not a solution. That attitude results in me being just a one time visitor . My coworkers who are on layovers in Hartford for future reference I will let them know what I just wrote here. Sometimes a little gesture goes a long way for a business and this gesture from the waitress and...