Saybrook Fish House — Restaurant in Rocky Hill

Tonight, my family came here for my late grandfather's birthday, who had passed away in September 2024. My grandmother had been here before many times with him, and loved it. Which is why she chose for us to come here tonight. Hands down was one of my worst experiences in dining I've ever had. From the moment we were sat by our server, Marianne I believe, you could tell she didn't want to be bothered by us. Mind you it was pretty empty in there. We asked for a group picture and she sighed and stormed off to get the front desk employee to take our picture.. She forgot my soda, and scoffed when I reminded her. She rudely cut my grandmother off midsentence when she was asking about the menu. And overall just incredibly rude and unpleasant to deal with. When my grandmother tried interacting with our server and telling her what we were celebrating and she appeared visibly annoyed. Then our food came. My grandmother didn't like her meal as it was mushy, very overcooked. So she waved the server down and apologized and asked if she could try something different as she didn't like her meal. Marianne then turned her head and muttered, "of course you don't." With a sharp tone. I blurted out "Excuse you! That was very rude." And she tried to explain that she thought it looked bad when bringing it out and not how it sounded. But I think it was more clear she didn't expect me to hear her. If you thought it looked bad why would you have served it? Why would you mutter under your breath? I was so upset I went and asked for a manager, after awhile of waiting, the young woman out front informed me that the manager was cooking and couldn't come out to talk to me and if she could help. I informed her of what happened, but I got the feeling the manager wasn't informed as her attitude did NOT improve. We begrudgingly left a tip as I felt she didn't earn it. I did leave Marianne a note telling her to please remember kindness becauseyou never know what someoneis dealing with. I hope she learns from this and remembers kindness...

Decent experience: if you have a few minutes, please read.

The geographical location is great. The wait staff is friendly and personable. The decor and ambiance are nice. The food on average is decent. I say average because there are certain things they do GREAT, and others I wish I hadn't bothered to try.

I chose this restaurant for my birthday dinner and was a little dissapoited. It was obvious that the "warm fresh" bread basket was just microwaved previously baked bread. It was ok and I wouldn't have cared at allllll, but they made such a big deal about it that I was expecting something way better that I ended up getting. Also, stay away from the 'specials'. In theory, a stuffed mushroom with crab, artichoke, tomatoes, spinach and hollandaise sounds amazing but the execution was wayyyyy off. It seemed like they didn't have enough time to develop the recipe. It was very bitter and the flavors didn't match. It was pretty bad. Lastly, the crab cakes were awful. They were full of crab meat but the seasoning was so overwhelming and off-putting that my palate couldn't identify anything other than the heavy "flavor" of thyme. I ate two bites in total.

The reason I gave 3 stars? The calamari (my favorite food) was AMAZING. Perfect batter and the textutre was spot on. Just great. I also had a bite of the fried flounder as well and it was very good.

Overall, I'd go back with my knowledge from the first experience in my pocket. Stick to the classics: fried things like calamari, fish and chips, fried shrimp/clams/scallops, etc. Anything else might get you something other than what you're hoping...

This is one of this places that have been around for as long as I can remember. While i have been here before, i won't tell you how long it's been since my last visit. I guess this is a very popular place? It seems to stay busy. I started this meal with one of my favorites, when I can, New England Clam Chowder. (Looks like I forgot to take a pic of apps! )This is not one of my favorite places to get it from. While I do like a thick chowder, this was thicken too much for me. I also didn't find it to be to flavorful. While this may not be the worse I've had, it doesn't spark excitement when thinking of it. I went with the grouper for my meal. I try to get things you don't just find everyday everywhere and that was my choice this day. While there panko coated grouper came with an orange cilantro sauce I felt it fell flat. The flavor just wasn't there to me. The grouper itself was good. The meat was just as it should be. The swordfish, which is pictured here as well, was very good. While I may have only had one piece, it did make me wonder if I chose wisely...? And you can't go wrong with garlic mash! Dessert was from a nearby bakery. My tiramisu was good in a lot of way I was not thrilled with the cake in the middle. Not that it was bad, I think I just prefer a more traditional tiramisu? The caramel cheese cake was good from what i'm told. Nothing special that makes it stand out from others. As I said in the beginning, it has been some time since I've been here and I have a feeling it may be just as much time till I visit...