The Blue Duck Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in New London

It was not a great experience by any means. The one positive takeaway was the hostess who was extremely nice seating us and as we were leaving. There was love music with a women singing and a man playing piano, but the sound was so loud we could barely talk or hear each other. Our service was absolutely horrendous, our waitress wasn’t mean or rude, just forgetful I guess. We started the dinner by ordering Water, a beer and PB & J wings, the food came out after about 15 minutes with minimal jam sauce, ( enough for about 3 wings) but our dinner order still had not been taken at the point, by now we had been seated for about 25 minutes. We were halfway through our wings when I was finally able to flag down our waitress and ask if we would be able to put our dinner order in. She was a little flustered I.e. because she wasn’t expecting me to ask that. Our order was placed and the food came out within the next 30 minutes. I ordered the ribs special and the my partner ordered the Nashville chicken sandwich. The chicken was pounded way too thin and was dry and tasteless. The “hot” sauce/oil on it did nothing and the fries that came with it looked like McDonald’s fries but not as good. The corn that came with the ribs was over cooked to the point the kernels were drying out and the mashed potatoes had a half of a whole potato piece in it. The ribs were a little over seasoned for my taste and their was not enough sauce on them. We had to flag down our waitress for more napkins. It took about 15 minutes from after we finished our food to see our waitresses and flag her down again so we could get the check and a to go box. At this point she asked if we wanted anything else to drink after only having our one round, empty glasses and being done with the meal. There was no point… Just the check please. It was not a good experience, the food and service was not worth the price and we will definitely not be returning. They...

We enjoyed a very tasty gigantic pretzel appetizer and two beers while waiting for a cubano sandwich and falafel. Unfortunately, our server apparently lost (or forgot) our order, so it never went to the kitchen.

We waited patiently for our food for over an hour before the server finally came to our table to tell us what happened. He did not even apologize then. He just took our order a second time and left the table. After waiting nearly 20 minutes more, we ran out of time. By then we had been at the restaurant more than one hour and thirty minutes and we still had not received our meal. We had to be somewhere, so we told the server we needed to leave and asked for the check. A few minutes later our food finally arrived, but we had no time left to consume it. A manager came by to speak to us and frankly he did not seem too concerned about what happened. He did offer to let us bring the food home. We did not go there with the intention of getting takeout and we had no interest in reheating the food at home. We declined.

We still tipped the server 20% on our check for the appetizer and beers we did get to enjoy, because it's the "customary" gratuity. Honestly, a gratuity was not deserved due to the poor service we received and the server's failure to apologize for his mistake immediately. He only apologized to us when we made it clear we wanted to leave because the food still had not arrived after the second time he took our order. Anybody can make a mistake and that is completely understandable. To have us wait over an hour before telling us what happened and not apologize straight away is really disrespectful. Worse, management was seemingly unfazed when informed of what happened. If I owned this business, I would be mortified to hear that this happened to a customer.

I hope this review proves helpful to other diners. We...

Review of The Blue Duck

Our first visit to The Blue Duck was such a memorable experience—we were genuinely impressed by the beautiful location, the welcoming atmosphere, and how friendly and attentive the staff were. The food was excellent, and it quickly became a spot we were excited to return to.

However, after several more visits, it feels like the spark we initially experienced has started to fade. On our most recent visit, there were a few issues that stood out.

To start, our fries were served cold, and the Blue Duck Burger was unfortunately overcooked. One of my friends ordered the bao buns and specifically asked for no cilantro. While we understand it can be hard to hear clearly in such a loud and overstimulating environment—between the trains, horns, and boats—we do wish the request had been confirmed or double-checked. The bao buns arrived with cilantro, but my friend didn’t want to cause a delay and politely declined having it remade since we were already halfway through our meal.

What added to the confusion was that about five minutes later, a different server brought out a new order of bao buns without any explanation. We appreciated the effort, but it highlighted a lack of communication between the staff and made the experience feel disjointed. If our original server had let us know the dish was being remade, we could’ve better planned around it.

Overall, the location remains a beautiful draw, but we hope the staff can bring back the enthusiasm and clear communication that once made this place so special. A little more consistency and care from the servers would go a long way in improving the overall...