The Good Elephant Bon Voi

Outstanding. Fifth time here tonight and just gets better and better. Cosy, romantic, sophisticated, unique. Superb service from Peter. Delicious, unique cocktails. I am gluten free by necessity and have never had an issue here, as almost all menu items are gf. Fluke special tonight was sublime. Peekytoe crab & scallion rice cake appetizer, duck entrée are consistently outstanding. Possibly my favorite restaurant in CT.

What a hidden gem of a restaurant! A «must» experience. Romantic, exotic — a short walk up the staircase and you are in another world. Great menu. I love the peeky toe crab starter & duck entrée. The fusion of French and Vietnamese cooking is revelatory. Outstanding service. Wonderful to know I can bring my gluten free friends & relatives someplace completely safe for them.

Seriously, really good food. The appetizer special was probably one of the best things I’ve eaten in months. I loved the chicken phở. They have menu items for all price points. Pierre (Peter) was our waiter and as always, amazing service. Cute but cramped space upstairs. Go for the food and service. You won’t regret it.

a cozy ten-​table one-​waiter garret restaurant in Chester, up a narrow stair, with outdoor dining in the summer. My wife and I — and seemingly everyone else — leisured for longer than the usual dinner. Maybe it was the very reasonable bottle prices and the inviting wine choices. We ordered a modest, tasty cremant and shared two appetizers, a crispy scallion and peekytoe crab rice cake with ginger lemongrass aoli and pickled cucumbers, and a warm salad of baby bok choy with spicy fried squid and soy hoisin vinaigrette. The salad, of all things, was the standout dish of night, and set the tone — clean dense subtle approachable flavors, an unusual respect and attention to vegetables, lively textural contrasts. The rice cake provided the perfect foil… starchy, not-​quite unctuous… more pilaf than crab cake. I might have been a little disappointed if I had ordered just one or the other… the portions were generous, and perhaps slightly monotonous on their own, but they were perfectly constructed for sharing. For entrees, we had five spice lacquered duck confit with a broth of candied orange, lemongrass, rice noodles and mint and Vietnamese BBQ Spare Ribs with pickled vegetable salad, gingered sweet potatoes and star anise. The pickled salad cut nicely across pleasing, slightly fatty — not greasy — modestly sweet and generously portioned ribs and confit. The duck confit was especially well-​cooked, but here I would have appreciated crisper skin on the duck, a bit of char on the ribs… a little more attention to texture. All that said, the entrees aimed to please, not challenge, and they did. Lastly, there was no sharing dessert, two parfaits of chocolate and Vietnamese coffee ice cream with salted peanut caramel sauce and a pot of coffee. Along with the warm salad, the parfaits were the highlight of the night… clean, bright, light flavors and textures combining chocolate, coffee, nuts and caramel… all of the opportunity, but none of the missteps, this was the exact opposite of death by chocolate. Perfect. Thoughtful. The coffee was so so. Our waiter was personable, professional, attentive, never intrusive… he brought out the food and poured the wine with the exact right pace. One of the owners, Linda, was in the back and came by and we chatted for a few minutes.
The idea here is French-​Vietnamese, but this was not the usual fusion cooking… if the food was French, it was in its style and attention to the vegetables, full rich spiced flavors without either spiciness or herbal punch. The food here is unpretentious seduction without bludgeoning or shouting. One of the best bets for food near about the coastline between New Haven and Providence.

The little town of Chester and this restaurant is a great combination for spending time walking through the cool little stores and then having a fabulous meal. Very unique and quite tasty dishes finished our birthday afternoon on a rainy day midweek. Chester is a gem with many diamonds within it!

One of the best meals I have ever eaten! As an ardent fan of The Good Elephant’s sister restaurant, Restaurant L&E, I truly thought there was nothing better. I could not have been more wrong. The Good Elephant was a mind blowing experience from the first bite of the appetizer to the last mouthful of the Roasted Coconut Ice Cream Milk Shake. The three appetizers we samples were just the beginning of a fabulous meal which left me wanting more. Peter and staff are the most welcoming and attentive making you feel like family. I can’t wait to return to try more!

Unfortunately, this place has either been overwhelmed since its rave NYT review and can’t keep up now that business has picked up, or the NYT suddenly doesn’t know what it’s talking about. The little downtown of Chester offers the perfect atmosphere for a place like this, where ambience is really lovely: a small space hidden up a steep set of stairs with just a few tables and eclectic décor, a beautiful little outdoor patio, and the cutest of water closets. But beyond that, the appetizer special — dumplings — were really the only highlight of the meal. Delicious. Nothing else after that really measured up to expectations. It took a good 15 – 20 minutes before we had ordered drinks. And I don’t have the pickiest or most discerning of palates, but the food (beyond the dumplings) was really just OK. I was anticipating more/​bolder flavor or more oomph to everything. Service was friendly and unobtrusive, though almost to the point of being nonexistent. It just seemed there was a lack of ready staff to deal with the full dining room. I wanted to love it here, but maybe my hopes were just too high.

We’ve been here twice in a month and hope to be returning tomorrow. Funky vibe, good drinks, great service and excellent food.
The standout is the ribs. Beautiful texture and uniquely spiced. The sweet potato chips are a terrific addition and not just an afterthought. Fish dishes are fresh and tasty. Weve had the rice cake, shrimp cocktail, spring roll phở and chicken wing appetizers. All are excellent, with the spring roll coming out ahead. The only minor disappointment was the wings were more sticky than crispy. Oh well, they were great anyway.
Portions are not huge, but satisfying.
Cool drink menu and if you don’t like what you see on the menu they’ll concoct something to your liking.
We returned, eating here for the third time. Not disappointed, maybe even better than the previous visits. Appetizer of pork and shrimp dumplings was just phenomenal. A bit of fire and and a pickled vegetable salad worked really well together. The main course special of soft shell crabs was just indescribably delicious.
They serve three desserts: coconut mikkshake, pineapple ginger sorbet and pot d’crème. I’ve had all three and am hard pressed to pick a favorite. Each one is delicious in a very uniquely delicious way.