Nouveau Monde — Restaurant in Newtown

I’ve been coming to this restaurant for over eight years. I’ve celebrated milestones here. I’ve brought friends, family, and out-of-town guests. And while the food has always been excellent, I’ve long tolerated the rushed, pretentious service because I believed the experience, overall, was worth it.

But after what happened on my birthday, I’m done.

We were a party of four, seated promptly at 5 for what was meant to be a joyful, meaningful night. The staff knew it was a birthday celebration. We ordered generously—cocktails, appetizers, entrées, desserts—spending over $500. And yet, well before we’d finished, the message became crystal clear: we were being pushed out.

Three of us were done eating and they cleared our plates before the fourth was even close to being done, and this was early on in the night. He was asked 3 more times if he was done eating, and I felt so uncomfortable for the way they were rushing him.

The same rushing happened with dessert, and soon after water glasses were removed without asking. I had about 2 sips left of wine and at 6:50, our waitress informed us—without apology—that we had ten minutes to vacate the table. No grace. No acknowledgment of the occasion. Just an abrupt, transactional push out the door.

The website says for a party of 4 there is a 2 hour time limit, so while I don't believe any restaurants should have any limits like this, we had not even hit their limit yet. We still had 10 minutes, and would have clearly finished in that time.We weren't in any way lingering, just finishing a last glass of wine.

After eight years of loyalty, I walked out of the restaurant feeling rushed, dismissed, and frankly—embarrassed. That’s not how you treat regulars. That’s not how you treat anyone, especially on a birthday.

There are countless restaurants in this area with great food. What separates the great ones is hospitality—something this place has clearly forgotten. We are done with this horrible rushed pretentious service and will not be back again.

Update after owner’s response:

Thanks for the reply. The issue was never the two-hour limit—it was how it was handled.

We were given a 10-minute warning before our time was even up, while still finishing dessert and wine—after we had already paid and tipped. That’s not good service. That’s rushing people out the door.

What’s worse is your response. Instead of acknowledging how off-putting that experience was, it doubled down with a pretentious explanation and a condescending suggestion to book a later reservation next time. That tone just confirms the exact problem: this place may know food, but it’s clearly forgotten...

Never knew this place existed until I saw it on the Newtown Restaurant Week site. The website had amazing pictures and I was convinced to try it out for date night yesterday. The three stars go towards the super warm and accommodating hostess, general manager (Barbara), and the server. All were excellent. We were seated upstairs and while it wasn't quite as loud as previous reviews mentioned, I did find it a bit too bright (way too many lighting fixtures for a small room). Also, the chairs were really uncomfortable and not becoming of an otherwise elevated atmosphere. The downstairs bar was amazing with its gentleman's club-inspired decor and colors. Loved the wine list and the suggested cab was delicious. Our appetizer of hushpuppies were done perfectly (crisp outside, good flavor, not too dense, and moist on the inside). Up until now, everything was great.

Then our entrees came and the evening went down from there. One of us ordered the BBQ beef short rib and not even a steak knife easily cut through it. Super dry and tough - not at all what a short rib should be. The server took it back with apologies and we ordered the fried chicken with corn and mashed potato. While my chicken was decent (super small portion, but that's fine), his came and it was burnt to an inch of its life. Also, the chicken was bathing in some kind of strange cream which added absolutely nothing to the flavor. In fact, it was distracting. At this point, it was time to just call it a night. The server offered a free dessert for the issues, but we just wanted to pay the check and head home. It looks like the limited entrees (usually a good sign of quality) need a lot of work per many of the previous reviews. Next time, I'd probably opt to sit downstairs and have some wine and apps before going elsewhere for dinner. I'm wondering if Restaurant Week was taking the kitchen staff away from higher standards. Not sure and hope it was a fluke because I loved the look...

My wife and I went to Noveau Monde for a date night on a Saturday night. We went for an early dinner at 5:45pm, so the restaurant was not crowded. We were impressed by the nice, clean, quiet, dimly lit setting. The hostess was very friendly and quickly lead us to our table for two with comfortable wing-back chairs.

Our waiter was friendly and helpful with his knowledge of the menu. He helped us narrow down which meals to choose... which was much appreciated as there are a lot of delicious sounding choices on the menu.

We started our meal with two shaved brussels sprouts salads. This was delicious... I was surprised by how the varied flavors and textures were combined to form this exceptional salad. We also tried the truffle devilled eggs appetizer... only because I can never resist devilled eggs. NM's version of devilled eggs was familiar but different in a good way.

For our main courses, I had the ricotta cavatelli while my wife had the day boat scallops. The cavatelli was superb... the flavors, the home-made sausage, the cheese, the sauce, the seasoning... I would have this again in a heartbeat.

My wife really enjoyed the scallops (I also enjoyed the bight that she shared with me). They were cooked perfectly (without a hint of sand) and the seasoning was perfect.

The price of our meal was as expected... a bit higher than average. However, this is a jewel of a restaurant that is well worth the price tag. The food is clearly the highlight of this experience, but the staff comes in at a close second place. They are professional and seem experienced at working at a high...