Jackson's Old Chatham House — Restaurant in Town of Chatham

My family and I live just over the boarder in the Berkshires where there are plenty of wonderful restaurants and yet we have decided on this to be our “special occasion” restaurant for the past few years. We’ve always loved the food, service and atmosphere. Tonight, however, we left a little unsettled. Our server was absolutely wonderful! The food was pretty good all around, (I ordered salmon med-rare and it came out well done and dry but the flavor was good.)

Here’s our biggest problem, when we received our bills, they were a shock to say the least. Now this isn’t about the price, this is all about principle. Our meals were completely different prices than what were listed on the menu. By $3 each. About 6 months ago, we visited and the same thing happened with all of the deserts. Our waitress told us that the manager said “it’s too expensive to print new menus and we should understand that.” Well this is 6 months later and it still seems to be a problem. That’s also a pretty terrible excuse to use when every time we’re there it’s busy. Also, there is a small paragraph at the bottom of the check that explains something about paying cash vs credit. If you pay cash, you save %3.99 of your bill. Now, I thought that meant that the check would be %3.99 lower than the total written on there if cash was used as the method of payment. NOPE. We had separate checks and my sister put her credit card down, paid, and when the receipts were returned, she had been charged over $8 more than what he check said! They don’t even show you what your total is going to be on your credit card, you only see what the cash “discounted” price is. I’ve been working in restaurants in the Berkshires for 20 years, some of the finest at that and this is by far the sneakiest, sleeziest way I’ve ever seen a restaurant operate. JUST BE UPFRONT ABOUT YOUR PRICES! I hope this is a good heads up to anyone reading this about a horrible...

We wanted to go to the café across the street but it was packed and we noticed this place was empty (first red flag) we ordered drinks that took 10min for a beer and old fashioned. Then we get our appetizers, which the potato skins were so good I took a picture of em. Our server Elizabeth (who seemed annoyed with us from the start) took our entree order when she dropped off our apps. We ordered 2 pasta dishes. Starving we ate our apps and another 45min go by with no food. I looked at the picture I took of the potatoes taken at 7:07pm it was 8:10pm when I got up to see what was taking so long for our food. A 5 top that ordered AFTER us had gotten their food and FINISHED their plates before we got ours. Our server? Just kept passing by, not saying a word to us. Few min after I got up to ask where the food was the manager brings it over and I ordered vodka sauce, she brings me noodles with like 5 pieces of diced tomatoes... she sees my face and offers to bring more sauce (still no server we actually dont see her for the rest of our dining experience) well the sauce was absolutely inedible, looked good but the main ingredient was definitely vodka. I love vodka sauce and im not sure the cooks know you're supposed to cook off the vodka, but with each noodle it tasted like I was taking a warm shot. I was so hungry I tried a couple more bites but felt heart burn coming.They offered to take 50% off our entrees when it should've been completely taken off as I just couldnt eat it. Left hungry and disappointed. If we had better service may want to give it another try but probably won't...

First time visiting we arrived early in what to me seemed like a small town and the place was packed! Lines and full restaurants are always a good sign if you've never been. Although it has a casual feel, the food is more upscale, I ordered a special entree a seafood risotto, which was cooked perfectly all the items scallops, huge pieces of lobster, shrimp we spot on. If you have read any of my reviews in the past you will know I spent some time in fine dining and upscale casual dining as a server. So it may sometimes come across as being hyper-critical. So service wise the staff seemed younger and some were noticeably newer to the food service industry, possibly coupled with a very busy dining room and maybe down a server or two as i notice some level of manager assisting, the manager however, may have been newer or disregarded a few basic items, i had stacked plates for obvious pickup but ignored a few times. Nothing was bad or horrendous, just needed some polishing. I will definitely be attending when i am nearby this area,

They have a live pianist who is exceptional and extremely friendly, I apologize for forgetting his name. Plays an array of music and wil take requests. Not sure if he is only there during the weekend or most nights.

Highly recommend if in the area to check out, have a wide array available...