Elizabeth's Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Rocky Hill

I typically don’t write reviews, but I feel compelled to after my recent experience here. I made a reservation for a family celebration for 11 people about 6-8 week prior to the event. The person I had spoken to, Isaac (I believe was the manager - was very accommodating. The weekend we had our reservation booked happened to be a busy weekend for graduations, confirmations, etc.

I had called the morning of the event & spoke to Isaac again to confirm our reservation. At this time, he was extremely apologetic & had informed me that the owner had moved our party to the bar area, and reassured me that it was not a decision he would have made as the manager, however he had no say in the matter. Our table was moved because “larger” parties were accommodated, even though they had booked after us. I asked him if he could have the owner call me back. About an hour or so later, the owner, John, called me back. I politely shared my concerns & frustration. I informed him that we booked several weeks in advance & we had older relatives in our party that wouldn’t be able to hear or see well in the loud, dark bar area, and we preferred to be in the main dining room. If we had known, we would have chosen a different venue at that time. He didn’t want to hear my concerns, and just spoke over me. He continued to justify his decision and why the bar area was sufficient. He told us we didn’t have to eat there & we could choose a different restaurant (keep in mind this was 3 hours before our reservation on a busy weekend). My husband also spoke to him, and when he calmly stated that he didn’t appreciate John talking over him and not allowing him to speak, he hung up on my husband.

When we arrived, the atmosphere & space we were put in was worse than I could have imagined. It was so small, family members were at the end/corner of the table with no space to eat. If someone had to use the restroom, the entire table had to get up to let them through the enclosed area. Furthermore, there were extra stored tables & overturned stacked chairs surrounding us. It was deplorable.

Our table service was great, and the staff (manager, waiter, bartender) were extremely apologetic & understanding, informing us “this is the way the owner deals with customers”. When our dinner was over, we asked twice if we could speak to the owner. After about 15 minutes, John came out with a defensive attitude (no apologies, no acknowledgment of the situation). My husband again expressed our disappointment in the situation & poor customer service on the owner’s part, and he told my husband he’d “take care of him outside” if he wanted. We were appalled & disgusted at his incompetence, rudeness, ignorance & complete lack of professionalism. I have never been treated like this by an owner of an establishment before. We will NEVER be back again. As far as the food, the French Onion soup was very good - the rest is mediocre. Good luck Elizabeth’s…you’re...

Through the past years, Elizabeth's in Rocky Hill has been one of our favorite restaurants. We have eaten many lunches and dinners there, and even an "after the funeral" luncheon. The service and food has always been very good. Recently however, both the service and food seems to be slipping. A few weeks ago, my wife called to make reservations well in advance for 8 family members to gather for lunch, several coming from out of state. Upon arrival, we found several private party's in progress, and no where to be seated, except for breaking up our group at several tables in the bar area, which was also mobbed. We declined this arrangement. A worker explained that the hostess taking our reservation earlier in the week neglected to take our phone number, and they couldn't call us to report that they had overbooked. The person also used the excuse for the reservation takers error as "she's new". We left very upset and disappointed, receiving just a "Were sorry" We went again on Friday night to celebrate my wife's brothers retirement. Upon arrival, the hostess had a hard time figuring out our reservation. Seems like it was just recorded in the book with the requested time, and my wife's first name. Her brothers arrived, and the four of us were soon seated. I should note that the restaurant was not busy at all, perhaps three other parties in various stages of eating dinner. Our waitress was promot in arriving with menus and asking about drinks. We soon ordered appetizers and our respective meals. The apps arrived timely, as did the salads coming with our meals. Then, our dinner came to a screeching halt. The entire wait staff abruptly vanished. We sat patiently, chatting and waiting, and waiting and waiting. No one came to our table to explain the reason for the delay, or apologize. Eventually, our server raced out of the kitchen, followed by another person with three meals. Mine was missing. The server told me that my meal order did not get placed, but it was being made now. So, while my wife and her brothers are their meals, I waited another ten minutes for mine to arrive The three other meals were the rack of lamb special, shrimp scampi ( very little garlic but lots of lemon) and jumbalia. I ordered the sausage and broccoli rabe, which should have been the easiest of the four meals to execute. And it had next to NO broccoli rabe in the dish. The other 3 meals were acceptable, but not the delicious quality we have come to expect at Elizabeth's. Once again, we left with a few "Sorrys" from our server, but very disappointed with our meals and service. We hope that this is not a downward trend in what was a...

Came here on a busy Saturday night, and sat at the bar since dining room too busy. The bar area was fine, could be updated but comfortable and clean decor. Food was outstanding!! YUM!! Our bartender Loretta was fantastic. And then it all began...

It was a freak accident but somehow my friends credit card slipped into their lock box near the register when being rung up and staff was unable to get it out. We figured at the very least she should be comped her $30 portion bc now she has to go home and cancel her credit card which is a total inconvenience. We witnessed them asking their manager who then yelled in front of his staff, which we could hear at the far end of the bar. This manager JOHN told the bartender that SHE, the employee, would have to pay my friends portion and he would not comp the meal. It took ten minutes for him to finally be persuaded to come talk to us- he came out in his baseball cap and T-shirt, claimed to be both the MANAGER and OWNER, and was condescending, rude and DISGUSTING!!! he asked for my friends address so that "if he ever finds the card he can mail it to her." Absolutely, not. That is not safe. My friend, rightfully so, called him out for making his bartender have to cover the $30 and being a jerk to his staff. We said we will never come back to which he put his hands up which implied he did not even care. *Of course we got cash together and paid for my friends portion bc the bartender was nothing but kind and sweet and now this ACCIDENT caused such a scene.

Later that night my friend called and asked to speak to the owner, which John claimed to be- said "he no longer needs to talk to her about this" and HUNG UP THE PHONE.

*WE WILL NEVER COME BACK HERE!! *

No one seemed effected by his terrible disgusting behavior which shows he is constantly a jerk to his employees. And clearly to his customers. Never even once apologized for the inconvenience that my friend now has to cancel her only credit card and all the stress that comes with that.

His customer service skills are abysmal- unprofessional, uncaring. This was a horrible end of our otherwise...