Engine Room — Restaurant in Stonington

i want to preface this by saying that my boyfriend and i came to mystic for a cheap-ish vacation over the summer. we weren’t expecting lavish experiences at all, just a place to get good food for a reasonable price, especially given all the yelp and trip advisor reviews saying this place was amazing.

main summary: the food here wasn’t really fitting its price point and we had to be there over 2 hours due to slow service.

starting with the service, our server was a bit awkward. she was probably new (she didn’t know the menu), so we’re not annoyed about it, but it just wasn’t as smooth to order our food as it could’ve been. also, our wine took 20 mins to come, and our food took over 40, and that’s after we ordered. we had to wait a good amount just to get our water and put in our orders. the capacity for the place is like 80 including staff, so it wasn’t packed at all. we were kind of in a corner though so maybe she just couldn’t see us so we were easy to forget. the food was soooo mid. we got maple spicy something wings and they really just tasted like some hot sauce, no flavor to point out. and the chicken was a little over cooked. good amount of wings tho- you get 6 big ones. they didn’t have the initial thing i ordered and the waitress had to come back and tell me 5 minutes after my boyfriend had already ordered, and his food (the brisket special) came out cold so it must’ve been ready before she put my new order in and she didn’t tell them to wait to start his till they got my new ticket. i ordered the miso sweet soy cod with jasmine rice and cucumber salad. this one’s probably on me since i don’t love white fish, but i only had one bite because it was tasteless. barely any sauce and i honestly just wasn’t a fan of whatever was on top of the fish. my boyfriend liked the brisket enough besides it being cold and hard, and he thought the sides were fine (zucchini, potato salad, cornbread/toast). the atmosphere of this place is good, maybe a little loud (no big deal for us), but a beautiful venue overall. if you’re on vacay here and you’re deciding between places to go too, just know engine room is good for vibes but not if you want quality food (for the price) and service.

i thought i was done but one more thing. there was a wine my boyfriend and i never tried so we ordered it as our food came, and we didn’t get it until 20 mins after when we had already finished eating. just doesn’t make sense.

but we had a great time, hard not to have a great time...

I desperately wanted to like this place because of the rustic atmosphere and theme, but ultimately there wasn't enough charm to make up for it's flaws.

The seating here is dreadful. The place was completely packed, and the tables were so close together I bumped into the people behind us on several occasions. The stools themselves were round, flat and had no back support. They were especially hard and terribly uncomfortable. By the end of our stay, I was in so much pain I had to stand for the last twenty minutes. I wouldn't recommend anyone with back, leg or tailbone issues to eat at this establishment.

Because it was so busy, it was impossible to hear one another. Everything echoed and bounced off the walls of this old building. We mostly sat in silence since it was difficult to talk over the very loud party of eight behind us. Even the server couldn't hear us, leaning way into our personal space just to hear our orders. Speaking of the server, she checked on us very infrequently, and I cannot say it was because of how busy it was since I could see her standing around chatting with her coworkers regularly. The place seemed poorly managed, all the staff tripping over each other in the confined space.

There is so much more to say, I am not sure where to begin. For starters, they don't actually have glasses but jars instead which are awkward to drink out of. No one gets ice with their water, they just bring you a couple "chilled" bottles to pour yourself.

They serve drinks with paper straws, not plastic and they started to feel very mushy after sitting in the liquid for a while. I personally don't enjoy eating straws with my milkshake. The milkshake its self was good and the hush-puppies were also delicious. My wife raved about the cornbread as well. It's the only reason I am giving this place 2 stars and not one.

My burger was under-cooked and my bun slightly overdone, a little too crunchy. I left without eating more than a bite of it, since something seemed wrong. I did try and eat it later this evening, only to get dreadfully sick after. I regret not trusting my stomach's first opinion.

Overall it seems this place is more concerned with being trendy and thematic than it is with the comfort of their customers, I would not go back, even for the...

So my friends and I picked this place on a whim for our girl's trip weekend because we checked out the menu online and saw they had a good variety of food. The vibe of the place is really cool. The decor is appealing and the staff overall were very welcoming. My only complaint would be the parking because the lot is small, but we got lucky to grab a spot before the restaurant got too busy.

My friends ordered drinks, which were probably the best part of the meal. One got the Cold Snap cocktail and that drink was very flavorful and sweet. Highly recommend. The other got one of the milkshakes spiked (Chocolate Brownie Milkshake without the mint and added rum) and that was also very delicious. We ordered the poutine for an appetizer and that was very delicious 🤤 the cheese curds were soft and tasted great with gravy.

For our entrees, we got the pulled pork sandwich, the bolognese, and the half rotisserie chicken. The pulled pork sandwich was okay, but the person who ordered it took off most of the toppings that came with it. She also ordered a side of Mac and cheese, but it was a little bland. The bolognese was okay, but the person who ordered it felt the noodles could have cooked longer. The best meal out of the three of us was probably the rotisserie chicken. When they say half, they really cut that chicken in HALF 🤣 I got it with the garlic aioli sauce and added the sides of fries and macaroni salad. Personally, the fries were best as poutine, but if you ask for the ranch on the side, it made them so much better. The macaroni salad was okay. However, the half rotisserie chicken was delicious. The chicken was moist and juicy and it was a lot for what you get. The garlic aioli was good, but once again the underdog was that smokey ranch. So I made sure to grab some with my leftovers.

The overall service was good. Our server was very accommodating, especially since we were seated in a half booth that was a tough spot because the sun was shining in even with the shade down. It was a bit busy so sometimes it did take a while for her to bring us anything we asked for, but other than that she was great.

I would say if you are coming to have drinks and a light snack, that is the best way to approach...