AJ's Bistro — Restaurant in Stonington

If I could rate this dining experience less than 1 star I would...

We decided to eat at Anthony J’s on a busy Saturday night in Mystic. After waiting an hour and a half, we were notified that our table was ready. Upon arriving to restaurant, we were told that they called the wrong person and our table was actually not ready. That’s fine people make mistakes.

Another 45 minutes later we were unapologetically escorted to our table. We quickly ordered drinks and a few appetizers. 5 minutes later our drinks arrived and 30 minutes later we were asked to order our entrees. What seemed like an eternity later, the appetizers arrived. Okay great people make mistakes I get it...

A while later we were, not surprisingly, wondering where our entrees were. It’s now almost 9pm, we were initially notified of our open table at 7pm. Our server shocked us when she came out to tell us the kitchen was behind. These things happen, I get it. Entrees were finally delivered, food was eaten, and we were ready to politely decline dessert and leave this experience in the past without complaint...

Upon receiving the bill, we were informed that gratuity was already included because we were a party of 6. I get it, a big party and the establishment wants to make sure their servers don’t get shafted on the tip... so you add in a 20% automatic gratuity on an already horrific experience?

My future mother-in-law, who was covering the bill, asked our server politely if she thought this was fair. Our server then says “okay I’ll take the automatic gratuity off and you can tip what you want”. Now, not only are we waiting longer for a new bill without the automatic gratuity, we are left with the decision of whether to punish the server for an all around poor experience. I have worked in the service industry, I’m not a huge fan of punishing a server for a slow dining experience. We ended up tipping almost 20% anyway and getting out of there as fast as we could. Believe it or not, we probably won’t be going back and we will be telling all of our Mystic friends about...

We called before we went; we were told that our planned 8:00 PM arrival time wouldn’t be a problem on a Friday evening. We showed up at 8:00 and there were plenty of tables open. The hostess regrettably told us it’d be 30 minutes. (They’re under staffed; this should have been sufficient warning to go elsewhere). Sure enough in 30 minutes we were seated and placed our order. 50 minutes later our food showed up, charcoal flamed halibut and charcoal flamed chicken parm. Neither were appetizing and both tasted burned. The tomato sauce on the chicken parm was truly out of a cheap jar and lacked any flavor. (It reminded me of Chef Boyardee canned sauce from my childhood - not a good memory). The chicken wasn’t properly dredged in egg, breaded and pan fried. Just a hunk of raw chicken breast burned in a pan thrown on top of overcooked box rigatoni. Honestly, I’ve had better food at the Mystic diner. This was an epic fail. Bread was only available at an additional cost. We sent both back, called it a night and paid for our two drinks. By the time we were able to pay our bill and leave, it was 930 pm. Still hungry and with no other available options given the time, we reverted to McDonalds - a far cry from our vision of the evening. We will never return. The food here...

Anthony J’s Bistro could be the best kept secret in Mystic. Whoops, I probably shouldn’t have said that. It’s not a very big restaurant but it has great charm. Its atmosphere is quiet and intimate with great food and a great staff. Our waiter was Joe and he attended to our every need, from taking pictures (of wine bottle labels no less) to supporting our pace of dining, which was leisurely. We started with the world famous garlic bread which was devoured instantly. We ordered one garden salad which we split three ways and we were completely satisfied. The men had the crispy duck over a bed of risotto (we passed on the baby spinach, but I’m sure it would have been excellent for those spinach eaters). It also comes with raspberry sauce which we asked to be on the side to ensure maximum crispy for the duck. The duck was perfectly cooked and did not disappoint. The other entree was the chicken puttanesca which included a southern Italian sauce that is a briny collaboration of anchovies, olives, and capers within a chunky tomato base. A perfect blend of flavors with no fishy taste at all. I recommend Anthony J’s if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the downtown Mystic restaurants for a more secluded setting with great food and...