The Traveler Restaurant — Restaurant in Union

I was really looking forward to going to this place. My mother has been going here over the years and really enjoys it. It was my first time. The atmosphere is nice. The wait staff was friendly. All 3 of us in the party had all ordered various sandwiches with fries. We waited a pretty long time for our order but I don't think we waited any longer than anybody else. When the food finally came it was lukewarm and the fries were stale and hard. I mean they were so hard we couldn't even bite into most of them. I'm sure that had to be a fluke because nobody would come back for that. The waitress apologized. I think my daughter who was the youngest managed to eat half of her fries somehow but my mother and I didn't touch them. Unfortunately we were not even offered a rebate of any kind. I didn't ask but I was hoping they would suggest something. Especially after waiting so long for our meal. I wouldn't blame anyone person in particular I don't know why it took so long maybe they were short on cooks. Waitress was very apologetic and very sweet. There were also 2 dogs in the restaurant. I did read in other reviews that dogs were allowed in the restaurant and I know how people feel about their dogs I went even though I knew they were allowed but when I got there and actually saw them it really turned me off. And I love dogs I'm a previous dog owner. I didn't even hang around to find out about the free book that supposedly you're able to get with your meal. We just wanted to get out of there but it took forever to get the bill also so we actually got up and started getting ready to leave before they realized we needed to go even after not eating half our meal. It was just a weird visit. I wouldn't say that I wouldn't go again. Maybe I will but I'm not...

Our waitress, McKenzie, was wonderful. She was knowledgeable about all of the items on the menu and talked up the food when we asked about certain items. It really shows when an employee actually eats the food that they serve. We've had waitresses say, "Oh, I don't eat here," or, "I've never tried that."

My husband got the fish tacos and I got the fish basket. I asked McKenzie specifically about the fries because I didn't want them to be cheap, fast food fries, since the menu described them as "crispy". Her words were positive and encouraging, so I got them. I wasn't disappointed! They were just the right proportion of crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and were a generous portion as well. I had considered the fish tacos myself, but didn't want to get the same thing as my husband. We ended up splitting our food, so I got to try the fish tacos. I couldn't believe how GOOD they were! Wow! Best fish tacos I've had! Yum! The fried haddock (I think it was haddock, I can't remember) came in two large pieces, was hot, tender and delicious!

Afterward, McKenzie asked if we would like dessert, and since we no longer had the menus, I asked her to tell us what they had. She rang off a lengthy list of dessert items from memory, mentioning one which was good to share, the apple blueberry cobbler. It was very good, but my husband and I both agreed that it could have had more "cobbler" in it, that crispy, crunchy mixture that we have come to expect in a cobbler. Still, we enjoyed it.

We are very pleased with the service here and enjoyed sitting outside to eat. I think more restaurants should consider having outdoor seating whether or not there is a pandemic that causes...

Who knew this is all about Food & Books?!? Yes, there's that unique place called the Traveler's Restaurant, located in this small town in New England.

While you enjoy the food, you can browse through shelves of books and then take up to three books at a time for FREE (sorry, upstairs only!). Down there, there's the Book Cellar, which allows customers to browse through another load of shelves worth of books (fee allowed on each & every book bought from downstairs).

Want a bit of history?!?

Certainly, this restaurant has been around since the early 1970's. This eventually became a popular must-stop destination for travelers in the late 80's once they started selling all kinds of books. The original owner of the restaurant had no room for anymore books in his house. He decided that he would give away as many books he wanted to the hands of travelers at his restaurant. Since then, over several hundreds of thousands of books have been sold here.

This restaurant is so iconic it had been featured in Connecticut Magazine, Yankee Magazine, among others. It was recently featured on the Today show on NBC.

If you're a traveler looking to venture somewhere between NYC & Boston, it's your opportunity to visit this one-of-the-kind restaurant with a library inside.

Bonus: their food was very good (The Godfather burger & asparagus fries). The restaurant here was tremendously good, and in terms of interior, atmospheric. We've been here numerous times over the last couple of years. We really enjoy their food every time. Will...