Cal's Wood Fired Grill and Bar — Restaurant in West Springfield

So disappointed. I live in ct me and my mother came here a year ago and loved it so much we decided to drive all the way back to enjoy a good dinner. First thing that went wrong was our waitress had no emotion no smile straight face looked upset almost. So I figured maybe she was having a bad day. Next we ordered from the pre fixed menu choice. Bad idea I don’t know if they purposely don’t put effort into the food and also skimp on the portions because they know your getting a discount but I probably would have been better off just getting a burger. Me and my mother ordered fried calamari and stuffed mushrooms. The calamari was so soggy with grease I can ring it out like a towel. The plate had a puddle of oil on the plate they weren’t crispy what so ever they were mushy and soggy. The mushrooms would have been good but they tasted like someone cooked them for 30 seconds the shredded pieces of cheese were still in tact and not melted and the wine that they use to cook it in tasted like alcohol which means it wasn’t cooked off like it was supposed to be. Basically like eating a wine soaked mushroom, not very good! So then we get our soup and salad. The Salad and bread rolls were honestly the best part of our meals unfortunately. The clam chowder tasted like it came from a can. It has red bell pepper pieces which I have never seen in clam chowder. It was so thick and gloopy like paste. So then we get our dinners. 🤦‍♀️ Omg I was so excited to get my dinner it sounded amazing chicken breast with mushroom ravioli asparagus spears over a sherry cream sauce! So when I get my dinner it literally was 2 pieces of like 2 finger widths wide chicken cutlets that look boiled. They were so bland no skin breading not even grilled just boiled tasteless nuggets of 2 chicken pieces. The “asparagus spears” were as thin as a string and a long as my pinky. That were so over cooked they were limp as can be no tenderness what so ever. The sauce was good that was it. The raviolis weren’t bad but they were definitely frozen and cooked. My mother’s dinner was chicken Frances that was made like chicken piccata. It had capers! Which is fine if u wanted chicken picatta. The chicken tasted as if they dumped a gallon of lemon juice on it. That is made it too sour for her to even eat. The pile of veggies was just thrown on the dish and was a mushy. It was like everything we had no texture. My children’s meals looks better than anything crispy fries and chicken tenders. We were so hungry we were eating their fries and chicken lol. We didn’t want to complain but we should have I really thought the waitress would see how we barley touched our meal and maybe could have said would u want me to get u something else but she said nothing she was as bland as our food litterally! We got apple studle for dessert that again tasted raw and mush. Lol so all in all I give it a 1 star just because the bread salad and kids meal was decent! We will not be returning. They definitely got a new cook because this was not the same experience we had our first time here obviously if we were willing to drive from ct to come...

Every other year we go to Cal's for Christmas dinner and everything is fine. This year, however, my fiancee was not pleased with her experience.

We made our reservations about 5 months in advance, and it was for 9 people. When we arrived, the place was packed beyond reason. This being the case, they said they were about 30 minutes behind. We were actually seated less than 10 minutes past our reservation time.

My fiancee's experience began going negative once we were seated. It took a while to have someone come to our table, and even then it was only because she stopped a waitress and complained that we had not been helped yet.

It then took a little bit to get our initial drink orders, and then had to wait again to place our appetizers orders. Our appetizers took a little while to come to the table, and then we ordered our meals. Again, my fiancee was not happy, because they told us they could not split the check.

Her son's appetizer did not come with everyone else's. In fact, everyone was done with theirs when my fiancee asked her son about his. He said he ordered, but nothing came. I had to stop the waitress and ask about it. It then came within minutes.

The meals showed up not too long after the appetizers had been eaten. It was basically 50/50 on the quality of the meals. Some thought theirs was good. Some did not care for parts of their meal. Myself personally, I enjoyed my appetizer and my meal. However, I did not like the flavor of the bite I tried of my fiancee's appetizer. She did not like most of her meal. She said her stuffed shrimp was good, but did not care for anything else on her plate. That was basically how it went for the others in our group.

All in all, I was fine with everything, but her experience had so much that was negative that she does not want to go to Cal's next time.

It was luck of The draw this Christmas, but we will not be going back to Cal's for Christmas...

Stayed in West Springfield for the weekend. Arrived on Friday afternoon and did a quick Google search for the best lunch near me. This place was highly recommended. It was pretty close to our hotel and so we went. While the outside is aged and a bit faded, the interior is on point. There’s a sweet pizza oven right inside the front door, a very nice bar and beautiful dining room. The staff was friendly and professional. Service was excellent.

Not one to usually order Italian food other than pizza when dining out, I took a chance on the fried calamari and rigatoni à la vodka. Our waitress brought us warm ciabatta rolls with butter while we waited for our appetizer. The bread was fresh and delicious. Our order of calamari was plentiful and cooked perfectly. The coating was light and crisp and the squid was tender. They served both marinara and remoulade sauce on the side. There was no fishy taste, and no taste of days old oil. My pasta dish was amazing. It was a large portion for lunch and included sliced Italian sausage and chunks of perfectly cooked tender chicken breast. They are known for their selection of fresh oysters, and a table near us, ordered them and raved about the taste and variety.

We liked this place so much. We went back for dinner and were delighted to discover that they serve a prix fixe menu for dinner on Sundays and Mondays for $27 per person.

They offer a variety of entrées at that price and also offer up-pricing for their pork chop and a few of their steaks.

I had fried mozzarella, Caesar salad, chicken Parmesan with linguine, and a slice of raspberry cheesecake for dessert. Everything was delicious and cooked to perfection.

This had to be one of the finest prix fixe meals in any price category. If you’re in the area, or even nearby in Holyoke or Chicopee, do yourself a favor and have a meal or two or...