Tavern at GrayBarns — Restaurant in Norwalk

An outstanding meal in a beautiful "modern-barn" restaurant with excellent service. One of the best meals I've had in a long time. The slight char on the Spanish Octopus on a warm lentil base with a delicious dressing, or the generously sized branzino, meaty and fulfilling, with a slight salt crust and a baked onion cake with creamed spinach - sublime. Dessert's olive oil cake with enormous and tasty raspberries looked beautiful and was just as good. The sourdough bread's strong sour taste, accompanied by soft butter sprinkled with coarse salt was so satisfying.

So why 4 stars and not 5? Because in a restaurant like GrayBarns, there were some missteps that should not happen. 1 - The online reservations allow only early or late seatings, so I called, left a detailed message for a reasonable time, and did not hear back (why force me to call and then not return my call?). I then had to send an email asking about my voicemail message, and then finally received an email to confirm the reservation (about 30 hours to make that happen and too much effort). 2 - The online menu is close to what the actual menu was for the evening. When deciding to dine in such a restaurant, some of us plan ahead what to order, only to have the planning become useless, because what was originally chosen is not on that day's menu. 3 - The scallop dish had 3 scallops. I don't recall the price, but it was on the upper end, and then to see 3, albeit delicious, scallops, makes you wonder about the value of that dish. 4 - And then the 3% optional surcharge "kitchen appreciation share to balance the industry-wide discrepancy between front and back of house compensation." I recognize that that is an issue, but now you are making me pay extra, having me consider opting out of the 3%, and making me feel bad about it. I did not opt out, because it's just a few dollars, and that's the whole point. It comes out to be about $1 more per dish. Why not just add $1 to each dish, and let guests know that each dish has $1 that goes to the kitchen team to balance out the inequity? Simple, easy, no need for mental or ethical gymnastics and you'll come across as more straightforward. This last thing really bugged me (and I'm sure others spent way too much time considering that approach). Remember we are coming to your restaurant for respite and to leave our worries behind. Don't add more "worry" to the experience.

Don't get me wrong, GrayBarns is a jewel of a restaurant and the food is fantastic, with equally gracious and caring service. Just iron out how you are perceived and your reservation process, and it becomes the 5 star, best restaurant in...

This place has gone downhill quite a bit. I went with my boyfriend. My grilled lamb ribs appetizer was completely burnt to a crisp with little to no meat on it. They seemed to be some kind of mini lamb ribs as I have had this in the past where they were larger lamb ribs and they were exceptional and not burnt. I had some kind of shrimp pasta dish which was delicious. I ordered the snap pea drink which used to come with an actual snap pea on a stick in the drink which was a beautiful garnish in the past. Evidently this time they were too cheap to put the snap pea in the drink. It is little details like this, that made me like this place, but now I guess they are cutting corners to save money. Why would you cut corners? When people go out they want to feel like they are being spoiled. Another pet peeve of mine is when you have different waiters and waitresses coming to the same table. When a couple walks into a restaurant, the waitor or waitress for the whole evening should walk up to their table and greet them and tell the couple their name. There should not be 2-3 different people walking up to the table constantly interrupting the people. They should have one person for the entire evening. And also there was an out of control screaming baby at the table next to us. I know Gray Barns cannot control this, but why don't couples get a babysitter when they go out to dinner, so that other couples can actually enjoy their dinners without it feeling like a horror movie. I always want to listen to loud shrieking babies from hell when I am trying to eat my dinner, don't you? Honestly, I think restaurants shoud have a no babies policy. Maybe even a no children policy. Or possibly sit all of the families with babies/children in one room that is closed off, that way those who are trying to have a romantic evening with a spouse do not have to be subjected to loud, crying babies thus destroying...

Ratatouille comes to Norwalk. There are few restaurants that get a 4 star review that feature a mouse, a missed order and undercooked fish, but this is one of them. Apart from the aforementioned this place could have been a 6 star review (I know there’s no such thing with Google) but it just wasn’t right. So let’s start at the beginning…. Great atmosphere, superb layout and a cool chill pallet of colors. The waiter was super attentive, engaging and a really nice guy. The pre dinner drinks were fab, especially the spicy margarita, and it was spicy. Appetizers were delicious, tuna Tartar, shrimp cocktail and the spicy rigatoni. Yum. Then things got interesting….from the corner of my eye I see something moving out in the patio dining area…yup a juicy mouse. Now I get it, it’s a farmhouse atmosphere, but if I were the owners I would invest in a couple of feral cats. Speaking from experience that are superb deterrents, and nicer to look at than a mouse. Then came the missed order, 3 short ribs and one scallops, one of the short ribs was supposed to be Arctic Char. The waiter immediately spotted the issue and ordered the Char, and kindly left the extra short rib for us to nibble on. However, and I blame the kitchen on this, the Char came out quickly with a nice crusty exterior, but it was undercooked. They tried to fix the problem, but did it too hastily. So desert was a shared cheesecake, which was fab, and the we left. I actually think I’ll be back, regardless of the issues. It’s a cool spot, with really great staff and...