The Tributary Restaurant — Restaurant in Winchester

Dec 24 - Perfect French martini and a generous house salad started off this birthday dinner for four. The star dish was the rack of lamb, fortunately mine. The lemon veal was ordered a 2nd time and enjoyed once again. Chicken Berkshire was original but had too many peaches. The filet mignon was well done and not rare as ordered but we didn't want to send it back. The chocolate cake hit the spot, candle included.

Dec 23 - Another birthday dinner with grilled forest chicken pasta, stuffed sole, salmon and lemon veal. Limoncello and carrot cake for dessert.

Spring 2023 - Nice late lunch in the bar recently. Stuffed mushrooms, turkey benedict and steak sandwiches with two martinis.

Dec 22 - Excellent birthday dinner. 3 Prime Ribs, 2 MR/1 end cut; crumb top sole; warm rum & N/A cider, Bombay Sapphire martini & Dogfish Pumpkin Draft; apps: mussels, fried clam strips, stuffed mushroom salads. Desserts: chocolate mousse cake with birthday candle & carrot cake. Still the best Christmas decorations and fine service.

Oct 22 - We ordered two veal dishes for dinner. The Lemon Veal is sautéed medallions with lemon, butter, capers, and fresh green beans on rice. Veal Medallions are sautéed with shiitake mushrooms, plum tomatoes and white wine served with a roasted potato sweet red pepper hash. Both were very flavorful and tender. The house salads are always full of fresh vegetables plus shredded cheese and croutons.

Feb 22 - The Trib is consistent. It's why they're still in business and one of my favorite things about this restaurant. I've eaten here many more times than my reviews show and there's never anything negative to report. We enjoyed steamed mussels with garlic bread made just the way it should be, an order of baked stuff shrimp and a special with sole topped with shrimp. Their salads continue to be bountiful, the baked rolls fresh and service is always friendly. Prime Rib Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

This Mother's Day, 5/10/20, The Tributary gave us a wonderful take-out meal. Two prime rib dinners, one oriental salmon and one crumbtop sole.

Four salads with many ingredients came with the dinners, (multiple dressing choices - their blue cheese is exceptional and house Italian the right blend) Two bags of varied rolls and breads with butter packets were also included.

We chose to give The Tributary our business because they are really conscientious people, an institution in this part of CT and the food is always reliably good. They in turn, recognizing us as valued customers, gave us two complimentary desserts! A slice of key lime pie, which was one of the best I've ever had, (and I bake a great one myself) and lemon meringue, also delicious. Very thoughtful of them.

To summarize, the two prime rib orders were cooked as ordered, medium rare and medium well. Both came with au jus on the side. The accompanying potatoes were mashed not whipped. As someone who never serves carrots with steak, it somehow really worked here.

There are few restaurants today that offer popovers with dinner. Impressive on its own for this reason, they are as they should be, light, tall and the correct density. These come with the prime rib meal.

The oriental salmon was tender and sweet. The green bean side was not undercooked nor limp. The rice pilaf was rice pilaf. Baked crumbtop sole with crabmeat stuffing was satisfying with real crabmeat and Hollandaise sauce. Green beans and rice were sides.

I'm posting the photos from this meal along with a couple of others I found in my photo archives of other fine menu choices, the hot opened Turkey Benedict sandwich, a salad with roast chicken strips and two coffee drinks.

Fine reliable restaurant which has served the area for decades, whether it's lunch or dinner. Full menu which consists of everything you would expect to see. Plentiful salad bar with many add-on choices and polite service. There is a separate bar room from the dining room. Closed on Mondays. At Christmas time, they go all out with decorations if you're in the mood...

Do you like tremendous disappointment? Boy are you in for a treat. My friends and I stumbled into this place, a spur of the moment culinary adventure, with empty stomachs and full expectations. We could not have been more foolishly wrong. I should have known something was wrong when I walked in and instantly felt like I was eating at an old relative's home who hadn't purchased dining furniture since 1979. The temperature of this dungeon was that of a butcher's fridge, and I had to grab a hoodie before I can sit and begin to fathom how I may enjoy a meal in then place. The menu was as sparse as it was overpriced. I have more fingers and toes than this catalog had entres. Upon a thorough inspection of the choices, I begrudgingly went with the Lemon Veal. "How could you mess up veal?" I thought. Well it seems the chef was VERY prepared to show me. When our meals eventually arrived, I prayed the baby vomit on a swanson TV dinner looking meal wasn't mine. It was. The presentation was abysmal. 5 stalks of asparagus, a pile of Uncle Ben's instant rice, and a 3 pieces of veal smothered in lemon and capers. "Nothing that looks this bad can possibly be good." Finally, I was correct. I hesitantly sliced into my first bite of veal, and it was every bit as disgusting as biting into a whole lemon. Much like my old high school principal, it was sour, bitter, and salty. Unfortunately, I was very hungry, and have a "Never send back food" policy, because I have seen the movie "Waiting." I painfully forced this bitter catastrophe into my stomach like a samurai warrior performing the ancient ritual of seppuku, yet I believe I writhed in pain a little bit more. This whole travesty ended up costing me an hour of my time, 25 of my dollars, and a LOT of my trust in the food industry. I award this monstrous failure "2 stars." It would have been 1, but the salad bar included in the entree had a FULL bowl of bacon, which, even in my state of immeasurable dissatisfaction, is worth a star on it's own. I would, without a doubt, recommend this place. To my worst enemy. And I pray he'd have the same experience I did. May "The Tributary" in Winsted, Connecticut be a shining example of everything that a restaurant shouldn't do. If I can give the owners one suggestion: Start over entirely. I don't mean reinvent your restaurant. I mean change your names, and appearance and move far away from here, to another country if possible, never again to serve a human being, or an animal for that...

I've been going to the Tributary for about a decade, maybe once or twice a year. I love the salad bar and their prime rib. Me and my wife had a craving for some great prime rib last night. Without a reservation we got a small table for two right next to a party of 8. We ordered our prime rib and a couple drinks. The drinks were poorly made and had to send one back due to being too strong (never thought I would complain about that!) but it was pretty much straight vodka. Ordered our prime rib medium and medium well. We get our salad bar and some soup. I order my second drink. We are so close to the party of 8 next to us we are pretty much included with their conversations. They order the prime rib also based on our recommendations. Our food comes and the server spills the AuJus sauce on my sweater and lap because the plate is completely full of sauce. I keep my cool and then I notice my steak is rare and my wives is totally well done, there is no pink and hard to cut. There is also no AuJus sauce at all on her plate! The server turns around and walks away. Our jaws drop! We cannot believe what we just witnessed. We call the server back and refuse the overcooked steak. He comes back a few minutes later and offers a rib eye because the prime rib is out. Now my wife is getting a little upset and she looses her appitite and doesn't want a meal at all and wants to leave. We ask for the check and the server offers us dessert! HA, I still never got my second drink and my wife didn't eat!! No manager came over to make things right. What a horrible experience, we...