REVIEW- Dock & Dine - Old Saybrook, Conn. (20 out of 25)

Dock and Dine at Saybrook Point in historic Old Saybrook has one of the finest locations of any northeastern restaurant. Sitting at the mouth of the Connecticut River Dock & Dine has been an "institution" from the times of my parents. Located across from the very popular Saybrook Pointe Inn & Spa and next to an almost ancient but popular mini-golf course and the historic Fort Saybrooke park Dock & Dine has been able to serve guests the staples of New England food (seafood and pub food) for ages from their 1950s style building at the mouth of the Connecticut River.

After not having eaten at Dock & Dine for nearly ten years I decided one eve to stop by for a quick bite and see how the old Dock & Dine was doing. It had appeared that on this January day that the restaurant had been a bit "spiffed up" which offered a sigh of relief compared to many others (sorry Unks, Aqua in Clinton) where captain's chairs and paneling of the 70s ruled the day.

The restaurant on a Saturday eve was quite busy considering this was off season and I opted to sit in the bar area to get the feel for what was happening in the area. I was immediately seated with a great view of nearby Old Lyme and Griswold Point just across the river. The bar area, large and roomy was about 55% full and with customers from families to single retired persons from the area all sitting down for a drink and some food or should I say "grub and grogg" .

My waitress a friendly woman in her 40s attended to me and knowing what I wanted to sample I ordered the Lobster Salad and some raw bar treats (oysters) as well as a Samuel Adams beer and diet coke. My raw bar appetizer came in a few minutes and was relatively fresh and tasty. The beer and diet coke were ice cold as well and enjoyable. My lobster salad sandwich arrived and looked good. Being a fan of the warm "lobster roll" moving onto a sandwich was a big move for me. If it aint broke... don't fix it. The roll came heaping with lobster salad and was garnished with lettuce and a tomato and cole slaw was on the side along with a pickel.

The lobster salad was "ok" or should I say "ehhh!" and that because of not only my love for the lobster roll but because the mix with celery actually gave celery the lead in taste. The salad had some decent size strands of lobster and it was not overpowered with mayo. The bread was an out of the plastic bag from a large food distributor variety and was slightly well... "old". The cole slaw was good and fresh but then again the lobster salad was the main reason (course) I was here and not the "slaw". Anyway... I was full from the lobster salad and raw bar, the Sam Adams and Diet Coke topped it off. Service was friendly and tenative and the price "about" 25.00 dollars was ok for so much food. The vast majority of the other patrons ordered some "fried platters" while others stuck to salads and the like.

In the end I left with an "ok" feeling but kind of disappointed that the bread was so old and the lobster salad had so much celery. Anyway... with a few pushes of effort and detail to the small things the Dock & Dine can continue to offer a decent meal at a decent price to the masses for another generation to come.



RATINGS KEY:
SCALE:1-Low/Check out other places, 3 "ok" to 5-Highly Recommended

Price: (1)up to 15.00 person, (2) 15.01 - 25.00 person, (3) 25.01-35.00 person, (4)- 35.01-50.00 person
(5) Over 50.00 person

Price: Includes Main Course, tax & tip. (drinks, appetizers, deserts not included).

Dining

                                                                

Food (quality & presentation)	3
Variety	3
Service	5
Beverage Selection	5
Atmosphere	4
Price (not factored in score)	2

Summary

All in all an nice location to dine at.


Link: