Margarette N.
Yelp
I somehow made it to my senior year of college across the river, and hadn't been to Norwich Inn. I came here tonight with my family, and while I appreciated the ambiance, one of the dishes came out inedible and had to be sent back and the service left a tad to be desired.
SETTING: Norwich Inn is in the heart of downtown Norwich, just across the Connecticut River from New Hampshire. The town and Inn could be described with similar adjectives: quaint, charming, the kind of place grandmothers would enjoy. In the dining room of the Inn, there was enough energy and noise to make it seem not too sleepy, but strays not an inch from a traditional New England feel.
SERVICE: We had to wait quite a while for our server to greet us and take our drink orders. Long enough, that we were ready to order our apps and mains as well. We noticed some other tables with bread baskets, so we asked for one as well (rather than it just being brought out to us). When one of our plates had to be sent back due to it being thoroughly charred, my mother asked for some suggestions on what would be quick to prepare. It still took a while for that second entree to be brought out (you'd think they would push it to the front of the queue and get it out really quick...). The waiter did end up comping the two beers for the trouble.
FOOD: This is where it gets interesting. To start, we ordered the Strawberry & Fennel salad. The menu says "tossed in a strawberry & balsamic vinaigrette," however the dressing wasn't so much tossed as it was drizzled, and it was rather thick for a vinaigrette. For my main I ordered the veggie burger, which was good but unmemorable--and almost certainly came frozen by its perfect circular shape. The sweet potato fries were pretty good though. My dad got the swordfish, which he seemed satisfied with. The real blunder came with the pork ribs my mom ordered. When they came out they were totally blackened; probably half of the meat had been replaced with carcinogens. We showed it to the waiter, who took it back immediately. My mom asked if there was another cut available that wasn't so burnt, but the waiter came back to report that the whole batch was like that--they had been serving charred pork ribs to every guest that ordered them all night! Yikes!