Jessop's Tavern & Colonial Restaurant — Restaurant in New Castle

With the goal of always supporting locally owned & operated establishments when traveling, I consider two aspects of each visit to be the make or break: Hospitable service and food quality.

Recommended by a trusted local, my dining partner and I visited Jessop’s. Moderately busy given our 2:15ish pm arrival. The host informed us no tables were available but the bar also served food. Great! To the end of the bar we went.

Upon sitting, the bar tender looked at my half finished Dunkin’ coffee and said “you can’t really have that in here” then walked away. First impression complete- Blonde Hostess = Friendly. Blonde Bartender = Not Friendly.

Approximately 5 minutes later the bartender returns: “do you know what you want?” My reply: “Yes, a Coke, a Diet Coke with lemon, and menus, please.”

Drinks appear in silence, with no eye contact. I did ask for the flatbread, but there was no acknowledgement.

15 minutes later our appetizer appears- Olde English Flat Bread. Oddly delicious in its soggy, cold and questionable texture.

By this point we’ve struck up excellent conversation with our fellow diners; who have clearly had a few rounds- but they were truly the highlight of the evening.

After 10-15 mins of attempting to gain Blonde Bartender’s attention “Excuse me, ma’am, I’d like to place my order.”

Order placed from half across the bar as the bartender remained expressionless, as if I were the headlights and she was the deer: “A Shepherds Pie, a Pot Roast, and a chicken pot pie to go, please”

These came out pretty quick. The main event I was there for is the featured photo. A mile high pile of gravy covered heaven on a platter. Full stop. The roast was equally delicious- but this is my review, not that of my dining partner. So enough about that.

Yes! It was massive! I could only consume 1/4, and It really did become 4 meals.

Once completed we turned to dessert. Realizing our to-go pot pie had just arrived at the bar, we placed our dessert order to go.

Bread pudding & peach cobbler - because we couldn’t get insight on the “Mother Jessop’s Oven” selection.

Bread pudding was on point. 10/10, would recommend. The “cobbler” was nothing more than a basic yellow cake with some peaches on top. “Peach topped cake” would have been an 8. “Peach Cobbler” it is not. But, meh- that’s ok.

Credit cards placed on the bar is generally a solid signal for “we’re ready to pay”. Not for blonde bartender “BB”. With cards having been moved around and once covered by BB with extra menus, we had to ask for the bill twice - after our new friends humorously suggested we “should have just left since she didn’t want to be paid.” Fortunately we’re not those people.

The entire dining experience was just over 2.5 hours, with about 2 hours of that just waiting and being filled in on local gossip.

Our total was just over $100. I generally keep a new Franklin and a little “thank you” bill holder to leave even moderate service providers. Benny got me a new pair of shoes about 30 mins later.

In closing, Jessop’s provided an adequate meal within a local tavern atmosphere. The locals were friendly - albeit slightly dramatic. Our chance dining neighbors were spectacular! Our hospitality provider, whom we affectionately now reference as “BB” clearly prioritized socializing with her row of regulars above basic service - and we clearly felt the lack of concern as the new visitors…. Though we expected this since the prohibited Dunkin’ cup was the chosen greeting.

PS: There’s no sign identified stating no outside food or beverage, but no, I did not consume my Dunkin’ coffee at Jessop’s.

In closing- Enjoy Jessop’s when you’re in New Castle- Just...

We had a wonderful evening at Jessop's. All of the staff was super friendly. The atmosphere was a perfect blend of old timey and updated. The beer list was out of this world, and the food was so delicious I could barely walk to my car after stuffing myself. Save room for dessert!!! We will be back!

I tasted 6 different beer selections but the Gouden Carolus Imperial Dark Quad blew my socks off. It had a subtle under note of sour similar to a Flemish red, a sweet taste similar to a 20 year tawny port wine, and a thick body similar to Guinness. If I lived closer this place would become a regular spot, maybe in a dangerous way.

We started with bread, crab dip, and fried pickles. It disappeared so fast I didn't get photos. The bread was tasty and chewy with dried dill mixed in. Crab dip was a hot creamy dip with plenty of crab and served in a bread bowl. Again the bread was fantastic! The fried pickle special came with a lightly spicy sauce which reminded me of a chipotle aioli. The breading on the pickles was thick and crunchy. Unlike any other fried pickles I've had. The crunch really was perfect.

For the main courses we all took our servers recommendations and wow was it good. The fish and chips were made with exceptionally fresh, high quality cod. It was flakey and moist. It had a thick well seasoned breading on it which everyone else loved. I found it to be a little too much. The chips were thick cut potatoes spears with a sprinkle of sea salt and herbs.

I went with the Beef and Beer pot pie. It came out piping hot with a flakey golden crust. When I broke it open the inside had a rich beefy gravy with chunks of beef and vegetables. This isn't something I would normally order, but I'm sure glad I did.

My daughter ordered the open faced grilled cheese sandwich with fries. It was made with three cheeses on big slices of bread.

My wife got the Fricken Chicassee which was fun to say and even more fun to steal bites of. It came with fresh cooked green beans and wild rice. Usually things like this aren't something to get at a restaurant and I was pleasantly surprised with them both. The chicken was moist and savory. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, but I could have licked the plate clean. Each bite was filled with an almost overwhelming experience. The sauce was well developed and had such a depth of flavor that it really stole the show.

Desserts were peach cobbler and a few bowls of ice cream. The ice cream is top notch, very thick and creamy. It's exactly what you want with I've cream. The flavor selection was also quite unique with limgon berry and peach lambic being my two choices, and the vanilla was pure and stood on its own. If I hadn't been so full I could have eaten the cobbler by myself. It came out hot with the ice cream just starting to melt. The breading was sweet and spongey; covered with sweet...

Very quaint, rustic, colonial setting (300 year old building) staff wears colonial style garb.

Wife had crab cakes that were not full of fillers but were also not seasoned well...rather bland, but the serving was 2 large cakes. Good if you are hungry for bland crab cakes.

UPDATE: I HAVE REEVALUATED THE CRAB CAKES AND WHILE THEY DO NOT APPEAR TO HAVE FILLERS, THE TEXTURE IS VERY FIRM AND CAUSES ME TO QUESTION HOW THAT WAS ACHIEVED. NOT A TYPICAL CRAB CAKE.

The chicken and Apple curry soup was very good. Another in our party had the seafood soup (tomato based) and raved about it. My wife got Caesar salad which she said was good but be aware it is served with walnuts...so if you have nut allergies, watch out.

No bread & butter served.

I had the turkey (as did my mother). I was disappointed that it was some sort of processed white meat rather than simply roasted turkey. The gravy was acceptable but not remarkable. They are not roasting real turkeys so I'm not sure what they are using as a base for the gravy.

Three of us got the vegetable of the day which was broccoli. The serving was close to half a head of broccoli...but it was fresh and not overcooked.

The smashed red potatoes were bland. The cornbread stuffing was tasty. There was a biscuit of some sort served in the middle with gravy, it was about the size of a golf ball and was devoid of moisture. It literally crumbled into pieces.

The underlying theme to all the food was that it is not served hot. It all seemed room temperature...not at all good for smashed potatoes or gravy. Broccoli not even warm. The only thing served at an appropriate temperature was the soup.

Ironically, the cranberry.relish was fantastic.

The service was incredibly slow...efficient, but slow. We were there in the late afternoon and there were very few other people dining at the time . The bar area was crowded. Don't know if it was the wait staff or the kitchen... therefore you don't know whose fault it is that the food was cold. But regardless, the food was cold.

I imagine this place is handicapped accessible however the pathway to the dining area is narrow. You squeeze between people sitting at the bar on one side and people seated at tables on the other. If you want quiet atmosphere you'll need to get through this gauntlet to get to the dining room. My mother needs to hold on to someone to walk and it was a little tricky.

There is a very large beer selection.

They feature a number of ice cream flavors. We sampled three of them: vanilla, chocolate, and motor oil. (yes motor oil not a typo). They were okay not outstanding. Despite its name the motor oil was good.

I posted pictures of the whole menu and I guess they were removed. I did this because the Google maps link to the menu was extremely out of date and didn't really represent the menu at...