Patricia K.
Yelp
I hadn't dined at Ancient Mariner, literally, for more then 15 years. That long ago experience hadn't been terrific, mainly with slow service and the fact that the restaurant had an weird, unpleasant odor. But then, we do most of our dining at Ridgefield, and most people seem to love this pub.
Yesterday, since it was the first Friday in Lent, I had a desire for fish and chips. When we looked at the "best of" reviews, Ancient Mariner was near the top. So I thought, "why not? My last impression was over 15 years ago, and things change." So I called. The first time I was hung up on while ordering. I called again and ordered two main dishes: fish and chips, the fisherman's platter which is $25 just by itself, and clam chowder. My husband was driving up from Wilton, so when the woman answering the phone told me it would be 30 minutes, that was fine. I gave her the name on the order. 25 minutes later I received a call from the Mariner telling me that they had given my husband the wrong order. Instead of the fisherman's platter, there was a crab cake sandwich. She seemed to think that it would be fine if we just accepted this substitution, and pay $27 with tax for a crab cake. But there is a BIG price difference between the two. My husband drove back to the restaurant, and after waiting, finally drove home with dinner and an apology. The fish and chips were undercooked, the scallops on the platter were not even opaque.
I should add that we are not neophytes at restaurant reviewing, since for the 20 years that my husband wrote for The NY Times Westchester section, we routinely went with the Times Westchester restaurant reviewer, as her "designated eaters" who would order what she wanted to sample. I'm disappointed that our Mariner experience this time around wasn't successful or even passing grade. Will we go back? It's sad that, even after waiting and giving the place another try, it's still chaotic there. Even though this was a Friday night, they still should be able to handle the volume.