Grand Central Cafe — Restaurant in Wallingford

Our family of four (two kids, 11 and 4) came in to catch some of the Celtics game. We were immediately interrogated by a young server who “politely” informed us that they don’t serve food. That’s fine, we said. She walked away for a moment, then came back to say, “The manager just called and said that she can’t have kids running around.”

Yes, that’s right. In the roughly thirty seconds the server walked away, the manager happened to call, and on a whim say that she can’t have kids running around.

This was all done with a polite face and a polite tone, which reeks of disingenuousness to me.

Mind you, my bilingual family was not speaking English when we walked in. So maybe this is all about something else. A sports bar, in the dead middle of Wallingford is so thrown off by kids entering? “This isn’t really a kids place.” I guess we were supposed to know the nuances of the local scene.

Fine for locals without kids who do not speak other languages, I suppose. But even they should wonder whether any friendliness from the staff is genuine.

We went to Corner Cafe just up the road and were...

Absolutely disrespectful bartender. If I could give less than 1 star I would. Bartender absolutely hates children. She called manager right away and came to us to said that they don't have food. But we weren't looking for food, just stopped for 1 beer before to head home. So she said that place isn't for kids (sport bar, not a strip club!) It wasn't crowded, all tables were free, people sat at the bar. We basically just walked in with 2 children 11 and 4 yo, who were calm and just saw the place has popcorn station, so they were interested in getting some. Didn't bother anyone, weren't noisy, actually people smiled. We couldn't even had a chance to sit down. Terrible service, will never come back. Absolutely disrespectful and judging by appearance. So shallow. So...

A quaint little sports bar. Nothing extravagant, it gets the job done. Where it really excels is in service of fans of the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Memorabilia lines most of the walls inside, giving guests a mini museum of some very cool items. On gamedays, you can find a group of local fans gathering to enjoy (or despair over) their favorite team in the aqua & orange. The food was good (even though I went before November when their kitchen officially opens so I'll have to revisit for sure) and well worth the cost. Bottom line, if you don't have a hardline favorite NFL team, don't mind watching other teams, or love the Dolphins, this is a stellar place to take...