West Street Grill — Restaurant in Litchfield

If you like going to places where the staff is miserable and rude. The owner screams at you for not liking the taste of his dirty dish soap flavored chicken. And where the staff snatches your credit card STRAIGHT OUT OF YOUR HAND RESTING IN YOUR LAP. Then this is the place for you!

Our experience at this establishment was absolutely horrendous to put it lightly. This was the first and will very well be the last time we ever step foot in here again. I have never had such a rude and absolutely apalling experience at a restaurant before until visiting this place. What owner in his right mind has the audacity to scream at a customer due to them rightfully disliking their food and wanting to switch their dish?!

Came with my mom and friend of mine as we were looking to grab some food before heading to a local church service down the street. We were immediately greated by what we later learned was the owner. Who had gloated about the food being fresh, organic and the best food in town. Nothing wrong with being proud of your dishes. But heres where things get absolutely asinine. We had about 3 different waiters during our meal. All in which appeared extremely rude and miserable, with zero care. I had ordered the ravioli, while my mom and friend both ordered the roasted chicken. The food took FOREVER to come out, we had never been offered, bread, appetizers or given any refills on our waters. Our food finally came and not once were we ever checked on by any waiter at any time. My friend had to flag down a waiter to request to speak to the manager regarding her meal. Both her and my mothers roasted chicken tasted like dirty dish water. And not much else flavor than that! My ravioli i must say was great but the portion was RIDICULOUSLY small for what you're paying! The manager or "owner" came to our table and began screaming at my friend regarding her meal. Saying that how dare she dislike his "Signature Dish" and that she has no taste etc. Literally a grown adult man yelling at a grown adult woman for disliking his food. He told her she was paying for it whether she liked it or not or she can switch her dish. Both she and my mother happily agreed to switch their dish to the same ravioli i had gotten. Though we politely asked for it to be put into a to go container as we were going to be late to our church service. Though we wanted to disclaim to NOT put the chicken in the to go container as we did not want to take the flavorless ill tasting chicken. We had a waiter approach our table to bring us the bill. We wanted to split the check 3 ways but before we got a chance to let them know. The waiter comes out of nowhere and SNATCHES my mothers credit card out of her hand that was RESTING ON HER LAP! My friend and i were working on getting our cards out when he blatantly grabs my mother's card straight from her hand. I tried to run after him to let him know it was supposed to be split but he had disappeared into one of the back doors. At this point we just wanted to leave, we headed to the door and the owner had emerged out of nowhere. He told us that he put the chicken in the to go boxes and then had the audacity to tell us "wasting food is a sin".

Ultimately we all left hungry and extremely upset and disappointed. There is no common courtesy or care for customers service here. We were treated so poorly and have never experienced something so appalling. Why be in the restaurant business when you have no respect for customers or your dignity. Makes sense why the portions are so small if the owner doesn't like food waste.

Will never return. And feel truly sorry for anyone else who has a...

Overall a very disappointing experience.

I selected the West End Grill primarily because of the special St. Patrick's Day menu, and brought a date. It has a good reputation, though it is pricey for Litchfield. The staff was polite and welcoming, taking our coats to hang by the front of the restaurant. The meal started out in a promising fashion with complimentary hors d'ouevres--a garnished 1/2 hard boiled egg and a Brussels sprout--that were delicious. Her dinner--the chicken and mashed potatoes--off the regular menu, was excellent. However, my corned beef and cabbage was subpar. The corned beef was a very generous sized portion (actually it was huge), yet was dry and tasteless. The cabbage on the side (a surprisingly small portion) was more like a flavorless coleslaw and the accompanying carrots were drenched in butter. We decided to finish with a chocolaty dessert which was sadly uninspired and not worth the calories.

Given that I ordered an overpriced bottle of wine and my check was quite expensive (for 2 people--$250), I expected more attention. Unfortunately, even though the Restaurent was relatively empty, our waiter was constantly being hurried by members of the staff to attend to other customers. He seemed like a nice young man trying his best; it certainly was not his fault that I had to pour the wine myself and my water glass was empty for more than 5 minutes.

On my way out, the owners offered up the perfunctory "how was dinner?", but did not even get up from the table where they were eating to interact with us. When I politely shared my disappointment and some specifics, much to my surprise, one of them was defensive and rude. No apology, no offer to correct the problem ("You should have told us sooner, we can't do anything now"). He seemed offended, even angry, which was a unsetttling turn of events. Unsolicited, he lectured me about the cost of the corned beef, given the generous size of the portion. I could have pointed out the excessive markup on the wine, but chose to let it pass.

The owner could have easily expressed some kind of regret and quickly rectified the situation. He could have offered something (a free appetizer or drink) in an effort to entice us to come back. Such responses are inexpensive, not hard to do and is just good for business. Almost always, it results in happy customers who return, spend more money, share the story of good service with others and recommend the restaurant to others. None of that happened. The West End Grille has been around for a while and the reviews have generally been quite good, though all say it is overpriced and I agree. Perhaps the owners had a bad day(too prideful?); certainly they were not interested in our feedback. I am sure they will have other customers, including many who will have very different experiences than the one we had. Just don't go on St. Patrick's Day for the corned beef and cabbage...and don't offer any...

I enjoy fine restaurants in New York City, including such favorites as La Grenouille, Per Se, Le Bernardin, and Jean Georges. I also enjoy what I consider the fine restaurants in CT. I've been eating at West Street Grille for over 20 years. It's as fine a restaurant as I've ever enjoyed in Connecticut. The two thoughtful owners, Jamie and Charlie, are ever watchful and affable hosts, the long-time chef has developed remarkable finesse, the ingredients are of the highest quality, and the environment is warmly inviting. While I see the comments in Zagat praise it highly as the destination restaurant it is, I also see that the food is rated at 22. I've been a Zagat reviewer for New York City and Connecticut for many years, and I can tell you that whoever gave it a 22 out of 30 arrived either comatose or had an agenda other than forthright estimation. We might quibble about giving it a 27 or 28 or going all the way to 30. But a 22? An inexcusable insult to the consistent dedication and excellence of the owners and the attentive staff. Go and taste for yourself. Tonight, for appetizers we enjoyed a crab cocktail, which was made with a gently formed cake of pure, luscious, fresh crab meat and we had crisply elegant shrimp rolls; a main course of hard-shell lobster out of the shell, formed over thinly sliced leaks, with fresh chives and fresh rosemary in an ever-so-light butter sauce, and for dessert a homemade fruit pie with a freshly baked, air-light crust and finely diced apples with currants and raisins, along with a slender glass with fresh vanilla ice cream. We also had an exquisite red French Bordeaux at an inviting price. The sooner you go, the sooner you'll know where to eat consistently extraordinary food in...