Housatonic House | Restaurant Bar — Restaurant in Seymour

I normally don't leave a negative review unless it's a really bad experience that sticks with me, and tonight was it. I hadn't been to this restaurant since it changed hands from Stone's Throw. My mother had just visited this place about a week prior and had a great time, so she made a reservation for me, my aunt, and herself. I guess that's where this starts. Whoever was taking the calls for reservations seemed unsure of how to do that. We asked if a 6:00 or 6:30 slot was available and the response was "Yeah." OK which is available? Second response "oh just come anytime around then". If I'm not mistaken that's not how reservation works, and getting a specific time is exactly why you call for one. I digress. We arrived at our 6:30 reservation time and were seated outside, beautiful weather, lovely view, great. The poor bus woman who was cleaning and setting every table came over and brought us appetizer plates and utensils. I honestly don't think we got a menu for about 15 minutes. Again, it was busy and short staffed as you could tell so we waited per usual. We were finally acknowledged by a gentleman who noticed we had not been helped so we put in an order for 2 glasses of wine, 1 water, and our 3 entrees. No apps, no frills. I timed it: 45 minutes elapsed before they brought us our beverages, and the 1 water still arrived 5 minutes after the wine - oh and "no wine glasses were left" so it was served in rocks glasses. Fine. Every other table was served wine in wine glasses or champagne flutes. Not to mention we were seated outside on a summer evening in 84 degrees and no one even brought us complimentary water, we had to ask for it.

My mother and my aunt both very much enjoyed their meals, they had the half-racks of ribs. I ordered a steak pappardelle pasta on the specials. The steak was overcooked and tough, the noodles were very firm, I barely ate them. They definitely needed a few more minutes to cook. No one checked on us for the next hour of our meal. By now we had been sitting for about an hour and a half, empty wine glasses, empty water glasses, not even a pause at the table. We watched other couples or parties sit down, get multiple rounds of food and drink, and even leave before we could get someone to check on us.

We were going to have dessert, so we asked one waitress passing by if she could just bring a menu. She agreed but said they were short staffed, dismissed our concerns, did not offer even water and told us it was too bad nothing she could do because the owner was out on his boat. Excuse me? What does that have to do with providing service? Wait 10 more minutes. No menu. I had to go inside and ask the bartender to tell someone we needed service. Eventually the same gentleman came back, apologized and offered to bring us dessert and comp it. Dessert came out eventually, it was good. Now we had to wait for a check... more waiting.

The entire experience: 3 people, 3 entrees, 2 glasses of wine, 3 waters, and dessert....3 hours and 20 minutes. That's insane, especially when you watch other people being treated much nicer and faster. We barely even said anything but it was like we were invisible. Make your own decisions and take these reviews with a grain of salt, but I caution you on going here on a busy Saturday evening. If you have to wait 10 minutes to park (another not so great feature, but what can you do), that means this place is packed, and based on our experience and the grumbling of other parties we witnessed as they walked out, you might want to change your plans. It'll be a while if I decide to go back, definitely not...

The Veal Osso Buco with a delicious risotto was the best I’ve ever had. The Gator Bites and Calamari are must have appetizers. Our next visit will be for the Chicken Scarpariello! The service, decor, views and attention to detail is outstanding. You will not be disappointed.

Update: 11/05/2022

Another trip to one of the nicest venues in the area. We had a window table as the sun was setting over the Housatonic River at the end of a beautiful day. Jordan was our server and she made us feel very welcome and took our drink, app and entree orders. Our drinks came quickly, appetizers soon followed and the entrees were brought out with perfect timing. The Gator Bites were once again fantastic. The Coconut Shrimp were cooked perfectly and the Bang Bang sauce was a nice compliment to the shrimp. I had the Chicken Scarpariello with cherry peppers and roasted potatoes. The chicken was very tender and the cherry peppers added the heat! Jordan told me it had quite the kick when I ordered it and it did. If you like hot peppers, you’ll love this. My wife had the Seafood Paella which was loaded with shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels and calamari on top of a delicious saffron rice. All of the seafood was very tender and expertly cooked. My daughter had one of the specials of the evening, Scallops with Mushroom Polenta that was also delicious. Mike, the owner, was making his rounds to every table to ask how everything was. My thanks to Mike, Jordan and all of the staff for making our visit...

I would have liked to put 2.5 stars for food but will err on the side of a higher score. We were excited to try this restaurant based on the reviews of great food. Sadly, we were disappointed. Based on recommendations, we tried the calamari. Sorry to say that these were not fresh, but prepackaged out of a bag and we got some of the paper in the dish to prove it. But we would have known anyway as they were rubbery and chewy. Left 1/2 of it on the plate. The marinara sauce was fine. My husband got the tuna with a VERY rare center, but he was ok with that as he likes tartar anyway. However, it was drowning in sauce which seemed to be the motto for the meal as my shrimp in a chipotle alfredo sauce were swimming. The shrimp were over cooked and the chipotle overwhelming. Chipotle seasoning should be a back note and should not take over the entire dish. It should complement the alfredo, not make it so that everything on the dish tastes like a pepper. Service was good with call backs, but only an apology about the paper in the calamari, so we didn't even bother to give feedback about our main course. All chefs should be tasting for consistency and flavor profile in their dishes as well as the owner. The atmosphere was lovely and we might go back for just a glass of wine and something safer like...