Materia Ristorante — Restaurant in Litchfield

I have enjoyed many meals at Materia, and I've spoken of them highly to friends in the area. I don't really think the prices are always justified by the food, but I was grateful to have a fine dining option in the area, and it's always a good meal with some standout dishes. Usually the service is great.

However, I will not be returning. My last visit, nothing about the menu was well-communicated, and the inattentive waiter would/could not help us navigate the options. In order to make a decision, I ordered a truffle pasta off the specials, and was shocked to find out at the end of the meal it was $90. I order a fair amount of truffle pasta, and this is well above market rate for three grams of white truffles. I also think as a curtesy to guests, when staff is reading specials orally and they're 3x the price of the other pasta dishes on the menu, staff should convey those prices. It should not be the patron's responsibility to ask. The dish itself was nothing special and excessively heavy and sticky. The truffles were dry and lacking in any flavor and had only a light aroma, though the overwhelmingly heavy pasta certainly didn't help. I'm also going to say - for $90 for a small dish of truffle pasta, the truffles should be shaved at the table. If they aren't shaved in front you, you can't verify they are real. And frankly, the truffles had no taste, so they either weren't real, or older than they should have been to be served.

I think you can have a nice dining experience here if you get a good waiter who can point you in the right direction on the menu, and don't order the flashy, hollow items. One of the most boring dishes I've had here was the gold risotto. It was a mild-flavored, pointless dish. I think they are a little high...

I personally never leave reviews, although I felt it was warranted for my experience here. To be clear, the service and staff members’ knowledge was excellent. They all made my evening very enjoyable, especially Gio our server. There’s no doubt the chef and kitchen staff are extremely talented. The food was wonderful, but personally could have been better. The portions were to be expected, no issues there. I also must take into account I visited during a busy fixed menu night. We were only able to access a limited range of their culinary talents. That being said, some of the dishes were a tad outdated and left more to be desired. While other dishes were confused and incohesive. They lacked the synergy and spirit I look for in food prepared by establishments of this caliber. Each dishes components weren't as complimentary to each other as they could have been. Dull and not very interesting. Possibly for someone who doesn’t frequently have meals of this distinction, the food could have been more stimulating and exciting to them. They clearly have many solid reviews, one of the reasons I decided to visit.

I don’t like to refer back to prices, but for the meal we were given there is far better within CT or especially NYC. There was no issue with the actual price, however the caliber of food just didn’t match. For reference, two fixed menu meals, a bottle of Nebbiolo, two cocktails, tax / tip was within a rounding error of $450.00. The experience for my guest and I was unimpressive. Again it truly was good food, extraordinary service, and a wonderful wine menu. However, the overall evening could be summed up as slightly above average fine dining. The vast majority of reviews seem exaggerated. Overall worth...

My husband and I had dinner here recently. . We had heard good things about it.

First: I have NEVER written a review of any restaurant I have gone to but I actually feel compelled to write about something: The food that arrived was very good. But the portions were absurd. I ordered the Halibut ($40.00) and the piece of halibut that arrived on my plate was about 4" long by 1 1/2"" wide. It was plated very artistically, and to the side were 3 tiny pieces of 'artisinal' lettuce leaves (2") over one slim slice (1/2" x 2") of a portabello mushroom. A guest of mine had the entree size pasta and a swirl of tagliatelle about 5" in diameter arrived at the bottom of a large white bowl.

I am a very light eater - I generally find the portions at most restaurants much too big (much to by husband's delight - because he always finishes it all!)

But these portions are ungracious and ludicrous! We often go out to eat, and enjoy fine dining - no matter the price. Honestly, I rarely even look at the right side of the menu - But these portions at these prices....???

Also- strangely, there are no salads and no vegetable side dishes.Very odd. I would look at the menu on line before making your reservation. The service was good, the place looks nice, the wine list has a lot of variation (we ordered an inexpensive Italian red, and it was great) and the place is friendly -so no problem with any of that.

Just don't...