Aspen Restaurant — Restaurant in Old Saybrook

Over the years I have been to restaurants where the staff is just great, but the food was "ok", and I have also been to the opposite, Great food horrible service - But don't you just love when both come together, Great Staff and Fantastic Food... well welcome to the ASPEN Restaurant in Old Saybrook.

Without a doubt one of the finest dining experiences - food and staff - I have had in 40 years of travel, of course the best part is I only travel 7 minutes to get there. I have had Lunch and Dinner; I have sat inside and out, and each time the results are amazingly the same – consistent, creative, seasonal flavors, subtle ingredients, fresh, and delicious.

Let me start by saying every drink, app, soup, salad, sandwich, main and dessert was perfect so know I will spend more time on my "go-to-meal" but please know everything is great. So, my go to meal? The New England Clam Chowder is so good it is the only chowder I have had that I couldn’t care less if there were clams in it – it’s that good. Next - just read this combination and dream with me - the ROASTED BUTTERNUT SALAD arugula, roasted butternut squash, dried blueberries, gorgonzola, caramelized onions, apple cider vinaigrette, forgetaboutit! The main, no hesitation VEAL OSSO BUCCO, my goodness it is fall off the bone melt in your mouth yumminess that is on a whole 'nother level! Desert is tougher - to choose between the Chocolate Raspberry Bomb and Sticky Toffee Pudding with cinnamon gelato is impossible so you will just have to come back again and again. A pleasant surprise and perfect when you want something lighter is the STONINGTON SCALLOPS with lobster and bacon fried rice - the flavor profile changes ever so slightly with each bite – especially with savory sweet soy sauce; now listen this is not a lobster dish as in loaded with lobster - like every dish at Aspen the fresh and inventive ingredients are perfectly balanced.

So lastly, with all the great food I must ask every restaurant that serves iced "tea from a gun" or bottle STOP - Aspen is always busy but they enough time to offer real brewed iced tea. And yes - Joe is the man ask for him and tell him...

Ive been at some expensive places before, but this place makes the price of other prices seem like nothing. This place is HIGHLY EXPENSIVE. I ordered the yellowfin pan seard tuna and my friend got the hanger steak which should've been medium well. I was with a total of 8 people. First off, after ordering it took an hour to get my food which is a really long time. Once we finally got the food, we were in shock of how insanely small the food was. After paying 30 dollars for a steak and 30 dollars for tuna, I was expecting it to be big, But i was WRONG. I ate my food and so did everybody else. After eating this steak, I was still very hungry and so was my friend that ordered what they call " Sushi grade tuna" which I could assure was extremely tough and stringy. Another person in our party also got steak that was as hard as a rock. I dropped it on the table and it sounded like a rock hitting the table. I actually thought at first that they gave me a piece of rock instead of my steak. All of these portions being extremely tiny too. They gave us 1 basket with 3 pieces of bread for a party of 8 people. This was crazy. On top of all of this, It was extremely hot in the restaurant. It was at least 80 degrees and I was starting to burn up. I checked on my phone what the humidity was and it said there was 80% humidity. If it got any more humidor, it would've started to rain in there. After all of this and all of us getting deserts that were also highly priced and were small, the total bill was 380 dollars not including tax which is crazy for 8 people that had small portions and that were still very hungry. After leaving this place, we went to burger king across the street to eat. After spending 380 dollars, I dont think we should've had to go to burger king to eat. All in all this place had small portions, was extremely pricey, very hot,...

This is a place to take a date for the ambience . It is very romantic and has a nice two sided fire place burning. When we went we left the kids at home and went on one of our Anniversary. The next table was a family with very unruly children and I get it bc I have 3 kids. But we wanted to have a nice quiet evening. The waiter instantly resat us in the corner so we could have a peaceful dinner. The food is always amazing but sometimes when you have food allergies it is difficult for the kitchen to always get it right. I had a pork chop with seasoning when asked for it plain. But they remade it again to my liking and apologize for the inconvenience. This place isn't perfect but always a redo place. Love going for special occasions. The next time we went we had problems getting the manual wheelchair at the table they gave us and suggested a certain table that we have eaten at before. Although they were very accommodating it messed up their seating arrangement and they had to rearrange tables etc..but we were very appreciative for the accommodations. Not everyone was thrilled but very thankful to our waitress for thinking about us and wanting us to enjoy ourselves. A lesson learned.. Know what table fits you if you are in a wheelchair so next time you can ask for it. Saves stress on both ends. Over the year I have loved this place not only for the ambiance but just the service and accomodations. My boyfriend had made an appointment at another restaurant for my birthday but it was a bust. He knows how much I love Aspen and called to see by chance on a Saturday if they have a reservation. The girl who answered made it work and I felt like a million bucks on my birthday. Great service. Great Food. Just...