The Wilder — Restaurant in Portsmouth

Let me start by saying I’ve been a die hard fan of The Wilder for the last 3-4 years and even claimed it as my favorite restaurant at one point. Unfortunately, the last couple of experiences have fallen short of the experience they previously delivered.

Firstly, I attempted to make a reservation online weeks in advance but the Saturday night I needed was unavailable. This was unusual, so I placed a call to the restaurant which went to an automated voicemail that instructed me to leave a message with my reservation request and someone would get back to me. I did that, but never heard anything back. Tried calling a couple more times over the span of a week or so thinking that perhaps I had caught them during a busy rush when no one could answer the phone, but that proved not to be the case as I never did speak to an actual person. Perhaps my next action was my own fatal flaw, as I reached out via social media to inquire about a reservation. I mentioned the online reservation system issue and assured them that if they were closed for some reason or simply maxed their reservations for that night, it was no problem, I just wanted to know so I could plan accordingly as I had some friends coming from out of town and we would be coming from over an hour away. The person manning the account, to my surprise, messaged back pretty instantaneously and said that there was a semi-private function happening that night but that they could squeeze us in. Great! Gave my name, party number, and time for the reservation and was told it was no problem at all. On arrival for our reservation, however, the restaurant had no record of this and my poor friends (who I dropped off to check in while I found parking) were made to feel as though they were lying about having a reservation and ultimately received some attitude before being begrudgingly sat by the bar and told that we would need to leave before their next reservation due for that table… which wasn’t until 2+ hours later, so I failed to understand why this was such a stressor. Nevertheless, when I sat down and my friends told me what happened, I went to speak to the host to show this social media exchange and reassure them that I was told I had a reservation, apologized for the apparent miscommunication, and thanked them for seating us. He then directed me to speak to a woman who identified herself as the general manager and, on showing her the same exchange, expressed frustration that the restaurant owner is the one who runs their social media and that he had given us bad information without checking the books himself or bothering to put the reservation in or even letting anyone else know to do so. Mistakes happen sometimes, I get it, and ultimately we were still sat, albeit a bit rudely.

Next, our drinks were sickeningly sweet and we would have sworn they contained no alcohol. Our food wasn’t much better. The poutine that we normally scarf down and debate ordering a second dish was just okay. Lots of potatoes, not a lot of short rib, cheese curds, or gravy. We tried an array of other shareables as well and a few entrees (e.g. queso, falafel tots, brussel sprouts, oysters, mussels, and monkfish) and most everything was mediocre at best. The mussels tasted bad and we didn’t eat them. We already felt like a “problem” re: the reservation issue and where everything was pretty subpar, we cut our losses and paid the tab and remarked that we probably wouldn’t come back.

One positive, our server (cannot recall their name but they wore a light blue button down shirt with mushrooms on it) was the highlight of this most recent visit. Pleasant, attentive, and conscientious - really just on the ball despite how chaotic everything else was. Absolutely no complaints there. Other servers in recent visits have failed to check in for long periods of time (well after drinks/water have run dry), so this was really appreciated.

I’d really like to see this feedback taken constructively and for The Wilder to make a comeback from this...

My wife and I again chose a restaurant we had never been to, so Saturday night we dined at....The Wilder on Fleet St in Portsmouth.

Upon entering and walking upstairs, we were struck by how nice it was with exposed brick, a large bar and plenty of seating. We had made reservations for 6:00. It was a good thing. The place was packed. We were brought to our table and realized how load it was. The place was hopping. Our waitress, Molly T was quick to greet us. After looking over the cocktail menu, my wife chose a dry martini with olives and I chose one of their house creations, The Jackalope(pic 2). This drink consists of fig and cacao nib infused bourbon, peated scotch, lemon, ginger, honey, garam masala, black pepper and ginger beer. The drink was bold, unique and I loved it!!!

After delivering our drinks to the table, Molly asked if we would like to order an appetizer. I told her we would have the Burratta. At the same time she took our dinner choices. My wife ordered the Statler Chicken Breast and I ordered the Linguine Vongole. It wasn't long before Molly brought us the Burratta(pic 3). The dish consisted of fresh mozzarella stuffed with toasted pistachios, sweety drop peppers, a balsamic reduction and Lil's sesame baguette crostinis. It was the perfect size and very light. It was a great way to start things off. Upon finishing, Molly was right there to take away the dishes.

Being given time for things to settle, Molly asked me if we would like another drink. My wife declined and I asked her if she would select a dry white for me. Our entrees were presented shortly thereafter. The Statler Chicken Breast my wife ordered(pic 4) was made with herb mashed potatoes, balsamic braised cippolini onions, charred endive and pan jus. My Linguine Vongole(pic 5) was loaded with Brunswick, ME little neck clams, both in and out of the shell, handspun pasta, lemon guanciale, tons of herbs, garlic and just enough crushed red pepper to add a little heat to the dish. My chardonnay was then delivered as we began to eat.

My wife was completely surprised by how flavorful her meal was. The chicken was tender, juicy and loaded with flavor. The potatoes were perfectly mashed, not too runny, not too thick, but with excellent consistency. She raved about the cippolini onions and insisted I try it. She was right. Delicious in every way. The pan jus brought everything together in one incredible dish. My wife told me she would come back just to have this dish again.

I have had many variations of Linguine Vongole over the years and they have all been very good. This dish on the other hand, was the very finest, most flavorful version I have ever had. The Wilder has brought this dish to a new level. It exploded like a party in my mouth. It wasn't until I had my second bite that I noticed the slight heat of the dish. It perfectly complimented the rest of the flavors of the garlic, lemon and other herbs. The little neck clams were fresh and delicious. The ONLY disappointment I had was when it was gone. I will never forget this dish!!!

After finishing our meals, Molly asked if we were interested in dessert. I told her yes, it was one of the reasons we came after seeing posts from the new Pastry Chef. My wife ordered the Neopolitan(pic 6) and I ordered the Lemon Tart(pic 7). Both desserts were heavenly, light and a perfect way to end the meal. All in all, we enjoyed the hell out of our entire experience. I can assure you we are destined to make a...

Be warned if you have a large party they will not accommodate you.

Some friends and I wanted to surprise a person for their birthday. We told the birthday guy that we where having a team dinner with just a few us at the Wilder, but the actual plan was to have a large group surprise him there for his birthday. One person in our group called the Wilder to make a reservation the day before we were planning on going and said the Wilder employee said they couldn't accommodate such a large group of people. The person calling asked if we could do 3 smaller groups instead and was also shot down by the person working for Wilder. Eventually the employee hung up on the friend who was trying to see if we could make anything work.

The next day, one person from our group went to restaurant to wait for the rest of the party to show up, as that was where we told everyone to meet. She was asked if she was a part of the birthday group, she told the hostess, yes but she just wanted to wait at the bar for the rest of our group before we would leave. While she waited she was glared at by the Hostess.

When the time came for our group to meet, we went into the Wilder to greet our friend who was waiting at the bar. Before we could reach our friend at the bar, the Hostess, a shorter woman with dark black hair, rushed over to the friend sitting at the bar, and cut us off from her. The Hostess proceeded to ask if she was the person who called about the birthday group yesterday, in a hostile tone of voice. When our friend confirmed, the Hostess got way, way too close to our friend, and pointed in her face while calling her a liar, saying "So you're the one who lied to me, you're a liar, you're a liar!"

This scene ironically cut us off from greeting our friend and being able to leave as soon as possible as was our group's plan. After calling our friend liar several times, the Hostess then rushed behind the bar to the bartenders and nastily told the bartenders "Don't serve them anything!" while pointing at our group and being loud enough that everyone could clearly hear her.

While we were far from impressed, we quickly said our hellos, and surprise happy birthdays, before leaving. We then went to find a bar that was happy to make money off a surprise birthday group.

I guess the moral of this is to not be polite and call ahead to give the Wilder a heads up that you and your group will going there.

Also apparently giving them business of 30 people who wanted to buy their drinks is apparently rude to the staff here and is rudely discouraged.

Edited 11/21 - Rewritten for clarity as I wrote the first review while drunk at a bar who was happy to have a large group at their bar and buying...