Review: Dinner and a Show at Goodspeed and Gelston House

From time to time, I will post reviews of some of the restaurants in the area. Although I try to cook at home most evenings, it is nice to take a break and head to one of the local eateries that our little town is famous for.

I am not a restaurant critic and you may not get all the information here that you will see in most reviews, but I will share with you my honest opinions.

Last Friday night we went out to celebrate our anniversary. I purchased a dinner package for the Goodspeed Opera House, a gem of a musical theatre on the Connecticut River in East Haddam.  The play was a musical called "My One and Only," music by George and Ira Gershwin. It is a tap-dancing extravaganza and most entertaining.

Dinner was at the Gelston House, a beautiful Victorian building built in 1853 and  located next to the theatre.  It has a large dining room with windows that run the entire length of one wall and offer a breathtaking view of the theatre and the Connecticut River. There is a cozy bar located opposite the dining room. The building houses several guest and special function rooms.

I wanted to like this place and perhaps on a second visit I will, but this experience was mediocre at best.  The dinner theatre package was inexpensive ; $69.00 per person.  Perhaps this should have tipped me off, but do not misunderstand me. The place is clean, the restaurant is gorgeous, and the quality of the food was good if not very tasty.

Let's start with the food.Your choices are from a prix fixe menu. There is a beef, chicken, fish and vegetarian (pasta) option. I choose the fish and my wife chose the beef. There is a good fairly priced wine selection and a full bar.

Dinner starts with a bread basket with oil for dipping and  your choice of a salad or the soup of the day. The salads were fine.  The soup was tomato and we are not fans. For an entree I had tilapia served in a lemon butter caper sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly, however the sauce left much to be desired. The lemon was non-existent and there was one caper on my plate. The fish was served with rice and mixed vegetables expertly julienned.  Perhaps they should have spent that time perfecting the sauce.

M wife had the prime rib. She likes her beef well cooked and it was. There is not much else I can say. I tasted the beef and it was okay.

The service was not very good, our main course was delayed and when my wife inquired about how long it was taking we were told it was very busy, be patient and everyone had theatre tickets and there was nothing she could do about it. When my wife pointed out that people who arrived after us had already been served the server said she was mistaken (she was not).  We finally had our dinner and ordered dessert. I ordered vanilla ice cream. I was told they had ran out (we were seated for dinner at 6 p.m. How can you run out of vanilla ice cream?) My wife ordered chocolate ice cream. She was given chocolate mousse.

The dining room is loud and you struggle to have a conversation. I do not recommend purchasing the dinner package. Do go to see the show, but have dinner elsewhere. If you wish to try the Gelston House (we will go back) do it on a non- theatre night. You may have a better experience.

I will post another review of the Gelston House later in the year.

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