Clarke Cooke House — Restaurant in Newport

Does not live up to the hype. This restaurant may have been good but now it is unprofessional and unimpressive. I do not make a habit of writing bad reviews as I don’t like to say negative things but it felt necessary after such a disappointing experience. We dined for dinner in the upstairs dining room. We arrived 10 minutes early for our 6pm reservation. The dining room was not open yet so we got a cocktail at the upper lounge. We wanted to be sure we were on time because the confirmation for our reservation noted that we only had our table from 6 PM to 7:30 PM, clearly there was an end-time for the “upscale” dining experience. Once they opened the dining room we checked in at the host stand. The staff member acknowledged our reservation and said just a minute. He then proceeded to seat for other parties as we stood awkwardly between the host stand and the bus station, we were not given any indication as to where we should wait, we noticed a group of about eight people standing in an empty area of the dining room looking as awkward as we felt and went over to stand with them. Many more guest arrived up the stairs to the host stand and were promptly seated. slowly some of us in the impromptu staging area we’re taken to our seats, my friend and I being the last. Not arriving at our table until 6:15. We also noticed the music was not turned on for about another 15 minutes. It definitely appeared they were not prepared for the evening. The wine was overpriced. We paid $155 for a bottle of wine that retails for around $30. The restaurant mark-up is expected but this was excessive. And we noticed they were charging four dollars more for a glass of wine in that dining room then they were charging for that same glass in the lounge just eight steps below. When our entrées arrived my filet was so tough I had to saw at it with the knife. It was grainy and soggy so I chose to send the dish back. Our server walked by our table multiple times while my fork and knife were set on the plate and I was not eating. Instead of checking on his own he sent another staff member to our table to ask. When I expressed concern that it may have been previously frozen, he took the food away. He returned a few minutes later, asking if I would like a new dish prepared, I declined. I was hesitant to order anything else because my friends dish was also terrible, she ordered a seafood dish. The lobster was so overcooked, it was rubbery. After that multiple staff members came over to tell me that they had checked with the chef and I was wrong, the meat had not been frozen. It was very clear they we’re more concerned with their reputation than guest experience. If it was not frozen then it was just the worst cut of filet I’ve ever been served. At the end of the meal, before dropping the check, the server touched my shoulder and, in a condescending way, said don’t worry I’ve removed the item from the your check, of course. It’s worth mentioning there are only male servers in this particular dining room and the women’s room is on the very top floor of the restaurant up multiple flights of stairs and filthy. The men’s room is much more accessible. Overall we found the establishment pretentious and dated, prioritizing guests they perceived to be wealthy, namely the older white men. The food, boring and poorly prepared and the service...

As a disclaimer, we've spent 10x less and 10x more on dinner and had better experiences on each end of the spectrum, with our expectations going in. We booked the fine dining experience and tried to compare it to similar dinners, most of which were overall better experiences. This dinner was for my wife's birthday who has a severe lactose intolerance that we usually refer to as an allergy outside of fine dining.

The good:

Our sommelier. He immediately asked what we planned to eat. When we mentioned lobster, he pointed out two preferred options of reasonable price range, one of higher, and a few of lower. We went with the first which paired beautifully with shellfish.

Also each item - on its own - was cool and seasoned well. More on that below.

The bad:

The service. Our servers didn't seem very experienced in this area of dining. When ordering oysters, they asked if we wanted a dozen. We were a little confused why there was a question so we said yes (they were delicious). We later came to find the price on the menu was for a half dozen, which is why he asked. We didn't care about the price, but were more annoyed that we were upsold. He also placed the oysters, describing them as the brine being just perfect with no other description whatsoever. This was also a red flag.

My meal. I ordered the jumbo scallops with babaganoush and grapefruit. After being told the chef was overly passionate (hence the lack of modifications) I expected this abnormal pairing to be exquisite. I'll keep it short by saying each piece was cooked well but did not go well together.

The ugly:

My wife's meal. We had a dairy allergy on the reservation, as well as the birthday celebration. Every other restaurant we've been to with $3+ has recognized the allergy statement when we at down. Instead we tried to mention it, were told the chef wouldn't alter the items, and then after addressing another table came back to suggest the other lobster item on the menu...with dairy. It was clear the chef wasn't even consulted. We originally put in for no dairy. After considering clarified butter is supposed to have low lactose, my wife decided to inform the kitchen she'd take the butter to make it easier. The food still came out with a puff pastry & potato side (loaded with dairy. We've had 4+ courses modified without question so this was exceptionally disappointing.

The cocktails. My old fashioned was watery with lots of thin ice, muddled with orange and maraschino cherry (closer to a Manhattan?). My wife's dirty martini was the opposite, being overly strong and not balanced.

The crowd. This is not the restaurants fault, and likely why they implemented a jacket requirement for men. We overbeard tables requesting spicy margaritas and for wine by the glass to be refilled before they were finished. This type of crowd is probably why the chef lost their patience.

Lastly, the birthday wasn't even acknowledged. She can't have the free cake anyways but it's nice to at least offer.

Overall if this were not advertised or priced as fine dining, it would have been just fine (3*). However, we had higher expectations so I have...

I wish I could have reviewed the actual food and drinks. It looks like a lovely place, all dressed up for Bastille Day (July 14th) on a brilliant, warm New England summer afternoon.

Alas, I could not get that far, past the doorman - er, 'host".

My family and I were checking out lunch spots around the harbor, and I ended up down this street and chanced upon this place. It looked inviting, so I went up to the line in front of the hosts's desk. There was a host, an older gentleman, accompanied by a bored looking twenty-something woman, who was presumably the hostess. By way of a note for later context, both were Caucasian. In full disclosure to the gentle reader, I am a 55 year old Indian male, a technology leader and Artificial Intelligence scientist by profession, with a PhD in theoretical physics.

Well then back to the story. There was exactly one person in the line in front of me (and none behind), a regular Joe kind of guy. After a few minutes of discussion between them, the host took down his particulars, and the guy was on his way. Which left me.

And I mean "left". I literally stood there on the sidewalk, about two feet in front of the host and hostess, clearly and obviously waiting my turn to speak to him for five to six minutes, all by myself, waiting for either of the hosts to acknowledge my presence.

I can only surmise that he/they thought I wasn't the type to drop a couple hundred buck at lunch, or wouldn't fit in with the clientele, because about six minutes later, I was still standing in the exact same spot waiting wordlessly for the host to look up from his tablet, finish a phone call, or otherwise engaging in any possible activity that would send me the clear and unambiguous message that he did not want to deal with me.

At least, that is the only logical explanation I can think of, because neither of them seemed visually challenged. So anyway, at this point, I muttered a polite "thank you" and left.

Moral of the story, Management: You are represented by those who work for you. In this Trumpian era, I am not shocked by this behavior, but for sure I not only took my own 200 bucks (a nice lunch for my family) elsewhere, but I fear it will cost you the loss of potential business not just from others who look like me, but from the vast majority of decent Americans who are appalled by stories of such casual, everyday racism.

PS to Management: I'm not sure the answer looks any better for you if you take away any intentional racism and blame it on...