Eli Cannons Tap Room — Restaurant in Middletown

what a HUGE let down.

went here on a date because my date said they like the place, and i was so disappointed with both the service and the food. before we were seated, the hostess gave no indication about the QR menus nor did she ask if we wanted to use that or physical menus instead. when we were seated, the server also gave no indication that the menus were online by default, nor did he point out or direct us to use the little plastic stand with a QR code to find the menus.

the appetizer - pretzel with beer cheese - was baked well and had good texture, but was for some strange reason slathered in butter and was very under-seasoned. a light sprinkling of kosher or finishing salt would have made it taste great. when the waiter brought our appetizer, he didn’t even wait until we’d even gotten halfway through that before he put the main courses on the table, for which there was almost no room and which he also made US make room for the plates. so awkward. while we were eating the appetizer course, i needed something from the waiter, but the only staff in the entire restaurant was the 2 bartenders, who had to fetch the waiter for us from back of house. mind you, there was only one other table he was waiting on, so he was not swamped with food to bring out or tables to check on. after he delivered the main course, he never came back to check to see how the food was, because if he had i would’ve told him about the issues there were. my date’s fries were under-seasoned and mine weren’t seasoned AT ALL. the burgers were also… under-seasoned. probably the only thing on the table that WAS seasoned properly was the bottled Heinz ketchup. i had asked the waiter very clearly for extra mushrooms when i placed the order; my date didn’t want any (both of us ordered the classic cannon burgers) and i said “i’ll take theirs, lol but in all seriousness i want extra mushrooms.” not only did i not get extra mushrooms, but there were exactly 2 very thin slices of (cremini or button) mushrooms on my entire burger. i had to once again get up, search for my waiter, and ask for the mushrooms. he seemed oblivious to the request that i’d previously made but got them for me promptly. when they came out i tasted them and, guess what? under-seasoned. they were clearly pan sautéed in nothing but unsalted butter. as for the roasted red peppers that comes on the classic cannon burger, each of our burgers had only one slice each that was as large as my thumb. if the kitchen was running low on ingredients, they could’ve just said so instead of giving us such ridiculously small portions of toppings like that.

and lest i not forget to mention, i ordered the Fresh Blend cider and it was flat. you’re a TAP HOUSE and you serve flat beverages that are supposed to be carbonated? talk about embarrassing!

i severely regret having to tip the waiter, but since restaurants subsidize the wages of their waitstaff through tipping, it felt wrong to not pay him for his time even though he was absolutely terrible at his job. what i wish i’d done was pay him his tip and get my money back for my substandard meal, because at least the other members of the staff that contributed to our awful dining experience get paid hourly.

will i ever go back? probably not. will i recommend this place to anyone? not only will i NOT recommend it, but i’ll go out of my way to make sure everyone i know is aware that the chefs here are afraid of a...

This used to be our favorite place to hang and eat great food.. the outdoor seating is excellent.. indoors is loud and service can be very slow due to overwhelmed staff. We had a difficult experience this last time that changed our opinions. The menu seemed stripped of many favorites and burgers are all now ‘Smash burger style’ which can be fine. It should mean a well done burger with no pink. We verified this with the wait staff. My wife will not eat pink meat. The burger arrived very pink and my food was much spicier than I had anticipated and I needed a glass of water to soothe my stomach as I have a mild allergy to some peppers and hot to me is more extreme. I waited for a couple of minutes for our assigned staff person but I couldn’t wait so I went to find the hostess… she informed me I need to wait at the bar… it was packed… I waited and eventually saw our wait person who was busy outside with her other customers which is not conducive for running a smooth ship… I informed them of my need of water and the burger not being cooked as described.. I sat back down and waited. The water came pretty quickly at that point… we were offered to have the manager come over or get a new burger… my wife was fed up at just how long it took to get to this point that she forgot that they had also not given her the pickle she asked for and said to forget it. Her assumption was that we were told the burgers come out as one type… so why would the next one be any more cooked? I ate the rest of her cold burger and planned to take half of my meal home. We asked for a container and the check. We got those quickly… then we waited 10 min and I went to try to pay at the hostess station. I was told to go back to our seats and wait… 12 min later the wait person came by to process our payment! We have busy lives and being held hostage for 25 min longer than necessary is a system flaw! So sadly we...

The night started off fine. We were aware that was a 90 minute but I do not think anyone informed our waiter. He was super laid back and very relaxed. However, the hostess felt the need to come by are table every 10 minutes to inform us of the time limit. We walked in ready to order but our waiter was in no rush. But the rude hostess couldn't get us out fast enough. We tried to cash out for a good 10 minute and the hostess insisted she needed our table. We would've gladly left in a timely manner had we been assisted quickl. the hostess ruined the experience. She was the rudest font of house I have ever I met. And I grew up inside of a restaurant for about 20 years so I think I have a very good perspective of what a good hostesses and what a good hostess is not. Also the restaurant might Want to get in the habit of when you make a reservation letting their patrons know that they are only allowed to use one form of payment and maybe not play the Covid card because of that. Because let’s be real it’s not because of Covid you’re not only taking one form of payment for a party of five. No other restaurant in the state of Connecticut is doing this. So this is your choice as an establishment. Putting a little piece of paper on the table does not constitute customer service especially with a little piece of paper is not on the table and you feel the need to give attitude when you’re presented with multiple cards in your asked to split it evenly five ways. Especially when That tiny piece of paper that you were lying so much is nowhere to be found on our table. And you feel the need to Vanna White it to us. it’s basic math. However the brewery that’s located about two minutes away is extremely accommodating and I thoroughly...