Hudson Malone — Restaurant in Westport

It pains me to write this review for my birthday dinner on Saturday, 12/23. There were 11 of us, and I must say, it was the polar opposite of our AMAZING experience for my birthday a year prior when we couldn't stop raving about this place, the service, or the food. We made the reservation more than a month prior, and it was pretty annoying that they confirmed it both via text and phone call FOUR times (yes, we did confirm and answer each time). We arrived on time and my heart sank when we were taken to the dark room off of the main dining room that feels like more like eating on a patio in the winter. It was either freezing or we were broiling. The ambiance is super lacking out there I'm sad to say. The service was extremely chaotic all throughout our experience. Sitting by the door to this exterior room, staff would kind burst through all of a sudden, dropping things off and then running away. At one point, the busser had just given us refills on water and turned back around less than 60 seconds later and removed them! We had two servers (a man and a woman) who argued within ear shot of us a few times, and while professional with us, didn't seem very enthusiastic about their roles that evening. A few of us got the much-hyped halibut special that night (with a lemon risotto), & it had absolutely zero flavor unfortunately. I'm really not that picky, but it was so unappetizing. The apps we all shared were great, as were the cocktails. But, yes, entrees this go around were lacking. More than the food, the rushed, chaotic service and the lack of ambiance really made my birthday dinner an unmemorable one. Someone from the restaurant did call my husband the next day to check on our experience (which is great), but he was not honest in his feedback like I...

In a nutshell: overpriced and under seasoned. This place has a great atmosphere overall, but for the prices I'd expect a lot more as far as food taste goes, everything we had was just overall bland. Things got off to a weird start with some odd comments made by hostess when it slipped our minds that the other party joining us was bringing a small child. She awkwardly and repeatedly reminded us that we forget about our friend's kid, right up until she brought our friends to the table. My $33, 14 hour ragu had decent texture but very little flavor, the potato leek soup was prepared without cream - which interested us, but turned out to be lacking in flavor as well. Service was decent up until a point where our waiter, Fabio, informed us that after 6pm, he would no longer be able to be attentive to our table due to the incoming dinner rush. We all thought this was odd, and while the place did become busier, it certainly was not at a capacity that warranted not seeing our waiter for 20 mins or so. When I signaled for the check, our waiter doubled down on the fact that he was too busy to pay attention to the table with an "I told you so" (?) type comment as he handed over the bill. As far as drinks go, I ordered a Negroni and for $14, it probably consisted of 3 total ounces of liquid. I really wanted to like this place, but for the prices and service - you can certainly find better in the area. This place thrives off of the wealthier people in the area who think a price tag equals taste - it doesn't. I see the owner, Doug, tends to respond to reviews with his phone number, but there's no reason to chat about this review - it's all fact! Spend your...

Sat as a table for two with my wife for late Sunday brunch service. The atmosphere has an upscale cabin feel complete with gas burning fireplace. All walls are covered in: 1. photos of historical figures from Babe Ruth to Abe Lincoln; 2. faux-vintage reprints of ads from the 50s; and 3. images of fish and game. Tough to nail down a theme - NYC meets rustic-chic cabin? Anyway...

We were seated promptly despite arriving a little early to our reservation. Service was polite and speedy. We ordered the fried artichoke small plate as an appetizer as well as the steak sandwich and the Latkes Delmonico. Overall I found the food to be generally good but a little underseasoned. Our table didn't have salt and pepper on it (quick scan confirmed the same for others but I also didn't ask). Portions were exactly what I would expect - enough to be satisfied but not what I would call generous.

The table next to us ordered the $20 bacon clothesline gimmick (4 strips of bacon are suspended from a small clothesline and the server uses a butane torch tableside to sear it). I'm a fan of pageantry like this when it is warranted and I just found this display ridiculous, especially for the price. But that's me and I don't have to order it!

The highlight of the meal was the dessert - we thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate mousse and found one portion to be enough for the two of us to split. We didn't order cocktails although we probably would next time.

Overall a solid experience that didn't blow me away nor did it disappoint. Next time, I'd be interested in exploring the seafood or...