CW’s Chops and Catch

Hey now! I’ve eaten at Mr. Wry’s other restaurants many times but this was my first trip to Chops and Catch and I’ve got to say it is fantastic. We were meeting another couple for a 6pm dinner on a Tuesday. We didn’t know if a reservation was needed so we locked one in (it wasn’t needed on a Tuesday). We started with a Happy Hour drink at the bar and the bartender was lively, fun and engaging. One comment about the Happy Hour offerings, I never understand why some restaurants limit the HH deals to «the bar area» but this is what Chops does. Martinis are $ 2 off, Margaritas are $ 5 and some domestic beers were a couple of bucks off. It would’ve been sweet for my Lagunitas IPA to be discounted but it really didn’t matter in the end.
Let me get on with it and tell you about the food. The menu has quite a bit to offer for everyone. I felt that the prices were pretty spot on for what you get. Example: The Surf and Turf burger that combines a burger with lobster for some absolute awesomeness at $ 19 (and it comes with a salad and a side). Two of our party of four ordered this item and they absolutely loved it. I had something that I’d been eyeing on the menu, the everything crusted salmon which came with the «world famous» goat cheese scalloped potatoes, crispy spinach and roasted Brussel sprouts. I can’t think of a fresh adjective to describe my whole meal but to say it was perfect and exceeded my expectations. The salmon was moist, the scalloped potatoes were out of this world and for the second time in my life I enjoyed Brussel sprouts. The crispy spinach was new for me and also outstanding. Our fourth diner asked our attentive waiter Chris to decide for him on his meal and he raved about the Dr. Pepper Short ribs and that’s what was ordered and it was loved (the plate was close to being licked). We had a really nice and easy rapport with our waiter who delighted us with some comped drinks and 2 free desserts (crème brulee and a killer slice of chocolate cake/​mousse cake)…I’m not sure what it was but it was good.
There are so many other things on the menu that I want to try and the experience was so nice I will surely return for another fine meal in the future.

I checked in on Unilocal when I was there last night, and it said I have checked in 10 (yes TEN) times! I figured that meant it’s time I MUST do a review. I’ve been hesitant to write this review, because I’ve had some really awesome experiences and meals here, but there is no consistency and things I really loved about it are no more (THE ROLLS for one).
I tried a prime rib special from the nightly special menu one night early on, because they ran out of salmon, and it was really good! I’ve had the salmon more times than I can count, the glazed salmon that is, not to be confused with the everything encrusted salmon. While the glazed salmon is consistently delicious, the portion of seaweed salad has shrunk from an actual portion to a dollop that appears to be for color on the plate, not as an actual part of your meal (you can see the evidence in that in my multiple salmon pics).
I skipped before dinner comes out — let’s rewind… I do love the house salad with house-​made dressing that comes with dinner. I USED TO love the bread and accompanying maple butter. They were like garlic knots, they were delicious, perfect, the best thing to complement the amazing maple butter. For some unknown reason (I can only guess it’s a cost saving measure) they’ve gotten rid of these delectable garlic knots and replaced them with regular old rolls with sesame seeds. It’s almost a tragedy. The garlic knots and the maple butter were the absolute perfect combo, while I know they were both good, I hardly even enjoy the maple butter now that it comes with these flavorless rolls. They don’t complement one another, and it was a terrible mistake IMO. There are only a few places where the bread is one of the drawing attractions to accompany the meal, and this WAS one of them, but no longer!
Now, let’s talk about that one time I did order the everything encrusted salmon. I was going to stomach it because I ordered it, and I don’t believe in sending something back because I made a stupid decision when ordering, but I told the waitress that I should have stuck with the regular salmon but that I’d suffer through it and she took it away from me and said absolutely not! That was awesome! The everything salmon was dry and had an overpowering flavor of rye/​pumpernickel bread, which I hate, so in addition to the onion and poppy and sesame seeds I was expecting, there was that other flavor that I really can hardly tolerate, what is that caraway seeds in rye? I just hated it, but if you’re a fan of pumpernickel or rye bread and prefer your salmon well done, then perhaps this wouldn’t be a bad option for you (I did actually see another review from someone who had been here many times and said the everything encrusted salmon was the worst dish on the menu, and I believe it).
When I went yesterday, it was the first time I noticed broccoli on the menu as a side. Most main dishes come with a salad and a side. The sides are huge but most are extremely heavy. It’s hard to behave here when the green beans have a cheesy garlic sauce and the brussel sprouts have bacon in them. Do they taste good? Yes! Are they totally turning a healthy vegetable into something with hundreds of calories that not everyone appreciates? YES!
Happy hour… what can I say. I LOVE martinis, I’d like to drink nothing but martinis at restaurants that serve liquor, but $ 2 off an $ 11 martini is a happy hour price? Not in my book. So, I go for the $ 5 margaritas during the 4−7pm happy hour. Yesterday I ordered deviled eggs from the happy hour menu, and they were bad. My friend had them several times so I thought it was a safe bet, but this was either a bad batch or another bad decision when changing the menu and getting rid of the most perfect rolls. My friend ordered some when she arrived and sent them back, saying they were not like she remembered them. They are halves of eggs… maybe someone should try one each night before serving them to customers to make sure they taste as they should.
Service is spotty, it’s never exactly awful, no one has ever spilled anything on me or screwed up my bill, but sometimes they aren’t attentive and you run out of water (even if sitting at the bar).
I don’t think I’ll be back. It was a good run as every single time I’ve gone was with a groupon, but I strongly suggest they give up the groupons and make all prices more reasonable so there aren’t a ton of us that will ONLY go there with a groupon. Once the prices are reasonable they should get back the good rolls and go back to a normal portion of seaweed salad with the salmon. Oh, the seaweed salad also tasted off last night, not sure what’s going on but it wasn’t as good as the other 5 – 6 times I’ve had it. Another change in a recipe? A new cook? Don’t know what’s going on, but it’s not heading in the right direction. Without a groupon I’d say it’s over-​priced and not worth the money. There are half priced bottles of wine on Tuesday though, including some from CT, in case that’s your thing.

Poor service waited 10 mins to be seated, no one at the front desk and no one bothered, we just left the place. Not going back.

We visited here on a groupon — the restaurant itself seems very clean and out server was very friendly! i ordered the steak and it was cooked and seasoned well ! The side dishes were very good and overall it was a good meal. The only issue that we had was that my boyfriend ordered his steak medium rare and it came out very very rare so I had to be sent back but other than that great! We would recommend !

I absolutely love chops and catch! Looks can be deceiving, it is located in what looks like a strip mall, but inside is beautiful!
I have been an active customer here since I was in high school. I actually had my graduation party/​dinner here in 2013 and it was lovely. They have great food and a great happy hour! I went there on a saturday night with my parents for happy hour– we ordered EVERYTHING on the happy hour menu and then some… My boyfriend got the ribs, I got the salmon, which was the BEST salmon I have ever had hands down. My parents both got steaks and they were also very good. We sat at the bar for the happy hour deals and received great service from the bartender. However, my boyfriend ordered a bloody mary and it didnt even look/​taste like one. We had to send the drink back… So note to self do not order a bloody mary there… We got dessert after our meals. I got the flourless chocolate cake — pretty good, what I expected. We also got the «turtle» dessert. There was vanilla ice cream, caramel, chocolate and whipped cream– very good! Our bill was a little over $ 230 … A bit pricey.
Overall — highly suggest coming to this place for dinner and drinks if you are around manchester!

Disappointed compared to usual. First my feet are sticking to the floor when I walk :(. Bartender was nice tonight but left dirty dishes on the bar when it was not busy /​they weren’t mine but it is the principle. Mixed up the order (kitchen or bartender we’ll never know) so they rushed and salmon came out uncooked. Recovered by offering a complimentary cocktail :). Will try again but not what we were used to.

We decided to stop by on Sat night to grab a bottle of wine and a few apps. We came in and sat at the bar, not to crowded but dinning room was busy.
We have been here a bunch of times and always had A plus food but the service was sometimes lacking.
This experience turned out to being much better. Great food and service.
Our bar server Joe (I think) was great!
We ended up ordering a bottle of wine and 4 apps .
The first 2 apps were the rib eye skewers and the roasted garlic bread. The rub eye skewers were almost fork tender served with a sriracha aioli. Very good. We also got the roasted garlic bread and an extra side of the blue cheese fondue for dipping at the suggestion of our bar server. It was perfectly paired with wine. It reminded us of Michael Jordan’s steak house blue cheese garlic bread. We will definitely get it again.
Later we ordered some creamed spinach and the sizzling extra thick cut bacon.
The spinach was creamy and cheesy, kind of like a spinach and artichoke dip. It’s my wife’s favorite thing there.
The thick cut bacon was awesome. It was coated with a maple glaze. So tender like a piece of pork belly. We ended up bringing home a piece for the kids to try. It was amazing.
Overall a really good visit and we will be back soon.

This place came highly recommended by a couple my boyfriend and I know, so we were excited when we saw a groupon for it! I decided to pay the extra money so we could use the groupon on Friday/​Saturday.
We were in the area on Sunday last week and we decided to call and see if they would let us use the groupon on Sunday. The response was no, which automatically put a sour taste in our mouth because we paid extra for this groupon — so if we wanted to take the hit and use it on Sunday we should have been able to.
When we arrived everything was great. The bread/​butter and salads were awesome. I was very excited to try the Dr. Pepper short rib which was $ 26. My boyfriend got the lobster Mac and cheese, which was delicious. When I got the Dr. pepper short ribs — they were DRY and over cooked and the sauce was VERY salty. I immediately stopped eating my meal and we asked the waitress if the meal was supposed to be this way. She said no, and then asked if I wanted to order something else. I said yes and ordered another meal (steak) of equal value $ 26. I asked for it to go because it was already late and my boyfriend was almost done with his meal. When I got the meal — the ONLY thing I received was the steak — no sides at all. If I would have known they weren’t going to make me a complete meal– I would have kept my sides from the previous order. This has never happen to me before because honestly I’ve never really had to send a meal back before. I would expect every restaurant to remake an entire meal if you’re paying $ 26, but not at this place. Overall, poor experience. I can’t believe this happened.

I purchased the $ 30 for $ 50 worth of food Groupon and will definitely be getting it again. I had the nicest waitress both times, even thought the wait time was a lot more than expected. It takes a while between being seated and having your order taken, and then more time between placing the order and receiving your salad. With that said, the food was amazing. It’s a small restaurant with a great vibe and I will be going again. They make the seafood dishes seem like something new and special. Look out for the Groupon around the 1^st of the month.

Will not be returning. Food was ok but we were turned off with atmosphere and cleanliness. We where a little confused when we first walked in and the place looked empty. We where asked to take a seat so we did. We watched others walk in and go to the bar, were many tables were «Reserved». The waitress apologized for the dirty menu’s. We decided to split a bunch of items. Clams Casino was nothing like a clams casino I have ever had, and wouldn’t recommend. The Cob Salad wedge was good with the highlight being the deviled eggs. For a main course we split the tuna which was nothing that jumped out. We both agreed it was trying to be something it was not.

Awesome food. Awful service. Sat for 15 mins before even asked if we had a waiter, waited another 10mins to get a $ 11 cocktail then waited another 30 mins for a salad course.
Great place if you have a few hours to burn on dinner
Not even mentioning they were out of the steak i ordered (rib eye, both cuts) and they said it would be a 5 to 10 min wait when we got here!
Never seen so many staff sprinting back and forth between the kitchen and dining room with nothing in their hands.

We attended a party here recently and the food was excellent, a nice variety and the staff was courteous and attentive. We will definitely return!

How does this place get three and a half stars? I would give it zero if I could. So here’s what happened. We drive up and not impressed with the exterior but I don’t judge a book by the cover. We walk in and there is a group of lounge chairs which we surmise is for people that wait for take out… weird. So we head to the bar and grab a couple of seats. The bartender hands us one menu to share? The menu is dirty with food. The small happy hour menu is dirty as well. We order drinks and I go to use the men’s room. The single toilet men’s room has a fan with a heater in it. It feels like I’m in a sauna. The faucet handle is broke /​loose. So I come back to the bar. My glass of wine just served is sitting there. The glass is not clean, has lipstick on it. We finish our drinks, pay and leave. I have no desire to go to the next step and order a meal chancing food poisoning. My wife and I decide to head to Carrabas where we have a fantastic meal yet again. I’m starting to dislike this app because the reviews on here are worthless. Always much better then reality. And I am not super critical. Avoid this place at all costs.
PS The menu selections were odd. Nothing that jumped out at me or caught my interest. If this place is so great why do they need Groupons to generate business?

We had a group of six for New Year’s Eve, 2015. We had been once before and the food had been good, but the service was not up to snuff. So, we thought we would try again.
Our waitress was very attentive when we first arrived, but that soon faded. We ordered a couple bottles of wine and a couple single glasses. She was able to give us some good info and suggestions on the wine. I was disappointed that with the limited wine list, they were out of one of the Jonathan Edwards wines (local). Not sure how that happens on one of the busiest nights of the year.
We ordered an appetizer (oysters, pretty good), some clam chowder (not that good) and our salads (pretty good). We waited quite along time for the rolls, we were told they were just coming out of the oven, which is possible. The apps, soups and salads came out promptly.
We then waited roughly an hour for our entrees to be delivered to our table, some of which were not quite hot. It took me asking three different staff people if our meal was ever coming out and then miraculously appeared. We did not see our waitress for over 30 minutes during this time frame. If you know it is going to be a busy night, have more staff on hand. The remainder of the wait staff seemed to be more interested in setting up a bunch of tables for the group of 30 coming in later. Thanks for the attentiveness.
When the food finally appeared, it was fine, neither spectacular nor horrible, probably a little over priced for the quality, but not by much. Our waitress then started clearing empty plates while others in the group were still eating. I really dislike this practice, but not being in the service industry, I don’t know if this is standard.
Based on the time it took to get our entrees, what were we thinking by ordering deserts? But that’s exactly what we did. You would think that with the horrible service on the entrees, they would go out of their way to get the deserts to us promptly. Not so fast. One of our party went to the restrooms and saw our deserts sitting out on the counter and considered bringing them back to our table, but chose not too. It tool about 15 minutes to get ice cream served.
On top of that, the women’s room had a problem with the toilet and had to be closed. I substituted broccoli for my salad. I knew that there was a substitution fee of $ 2 but I assumed that meant that the broccoli would cost $ 2. I was wrong. The substitution fee apparently was to remove the salad from the order and then the $ 6 was for the broccoli. I guess it would have been less expensive to get the salad as well. I was too tired to argue about this as I assume it was a mistake so we just adjusted the tip accordingly.
Thank goodness for good friends as the experience was quite disappointing.

I’ve been to CW’s a couple of times now and I feel like I have a solid footing on how I feel about this place. I’ve tried a number of things on their menu:
Yukon Gold Potato Pierogies (very yummy with the kielbasa)
Lobster bisque (heavy, creamy, but very tasty and *usually* has good chucks of lobster in it)
Lobster ravioli (best dish. Lots of lobster. Very yummy)
Cobb salad wedge (SUPER good, second best dish, also the only «light» thing I’ve ever tasted)
Everything Crusted Salmon (the worst. Salmon way overcooked and tiny portion of salmon. The side was tasty but it was a heavy heavy dish overall.)
Surf and turf burger (ok, made as ordered, but nothing spectacular)
Sweet potato gratin (best side dish ever)
Garlic parmesan green beans (way too cheesy for me. Made a healthy vegetable extremely unrefreshing)
Maple and Bacon Brussel Sprouts (see above. Heavy. Still tasty, but very heavy).
In sum, although much of the food is tasty (except or the salmon — inedible) it is all very heavy and seems to be creamy or cheesy or syrupy or some other cop-​out for complex and delicious flavors. I wish they would have some lighter sides to balance out these heavy flavors.
Also consistent is CW’s wait staff. It has never been exemplary or very good. It has never been terrible either, but mediocre is probably the most accurate.
I would like it to be that go-​to place for special events but it still has some ways to go with improvement.

Joe was fantastic. He honestly made the whole experience worth while. The food (lobster salad roll) was good, the music (an upbeat alternative station) was good, the beer (yeungling which I cannot get in Las Vegas) was good, but Joe (the bartender) was what really made this a 5 star review.

Came here on the Groupon and the food was pretty good. My girlfriend and I filled up on the bread, which meant we left with a bag full of leftovers. The bread came with maple butter and that was quite the pleasant surprise. The bread had sesame seeds, caraway seeds, and poppy seeds baked on top of it and was really warm. With the maple butter it was delicious!
For the app, we got the bourbon thick cut bacon. Our waitress said it was more like pork belly since it was so thick but it still looked like bacon to me. I did enjoy it, but probably wouldn’t get it again for the price. Then again, I’m not the biggest bacon fan.
We got salads with our mains and so we choose one of each that came free, the Caesar and the house. The house came with a vinaigrette that I really liked. The Caesar had this fishy taste to it so unless you like a fishy Caesar salad, go for the house.
By that time, we were already full, but we were still excited for our mains and sides. She got a grilled chicken on a pretzel roll and it was a pretty monstrous sandwich for the price. I didn’t try it, but she said that she liked it for the simplicity of it. I got the rib eye which I felt was a bit unseasoned, but for the price I paid for it, I didn’t mind just adding my own salt to it. The sear wasn’t as great as I hoped either and since I was already full at this point, I had no qualms packing it up to sear myself. :p
Our sides filled up the table too. We got sweet potato fries with the cranberry cream. I thought the cranberry cream was good, but not really necessary. The fries were just the right texture that I liked, a thin crispy outer layer with soft inner… fluffiness. The pesto pasta was disappointing, lacking the amount of pesto I was expecting. Our final side was the maple bacon brussel sprouts. It was less maple than I was hoping for, but it came out with the right crispiness I was expecting. Definitely recommend getting it.
With our plates barely touched, our waitress came over to us and was nice enough to get us a bunch of Tupperware so that we didn’t have to combine stuff in the same box. So much so that we packed the extra bread and maple butter too… -.- so yeah, we didn’t learn our lesson.
Aside from the food, our waitress Dominique was really attentive, the décor was meh, and the price was great. I’m pretty cheap, so I probably wouldn’t go without a Groupon, but for a steak place, it wasn’t too bad. So if the Groupon comes up again (and with a Groupon coupon code too :)), then it’ll be another 2 meals covered!

I had high hopes for this place as I love CW’s other restaurants. Somehow, my visit was a little «off» my other experiences with his other restaurants. The service was pretty lousy. There were long waits and inattentive service. It also took about 20 mins to seat our party of three, and we had diner reservations. My meal was good, but not amazing. I ordered a rum drink which was mixed very well. The deviled eggs I ordered were plentiful. However, they had too much filling and tasted generic. I think the filling could use work. Next i ordered a steak with a poached egg on top. The egg was cooked very well. Poached eggs are hard to make well. The steak was good, but not amazing. The sides that came with it were lackluster. Maybe I just got the wrong thing. Three stars for an ok meal.

Chops ‘n’ Catch is one of three restaurants owned by Manchester native Corey Wry, and it’s great to see that kind of success come out of my hometown.
This is the most high-​end of all three restaurants. It’s a little pricey, but the food is great and locally sourced whenever possible. They often have Groupon deals, so I’d recommend snagging one of those.
I love their bread and maple syrup butter. If they don’t bring it out to you right away, just ask for it. The butter is addictive.
A lot of their drinks feature Onyx Moonshine (originally based out of Manchester, again keeping it local), and they do have happy hour specials (drinks and small plates, at the bar only). They have a mishmash of really unique, fun menu items, like the sweet potato gratin or the pierogies with mustard and kielbasa. Everything seems to have some kind of twist that can make you almost skeptical at first, but once you get the dish you realize it’s a great combination.
I got the Everything Encrusted Salmon last time I went, and it was unfortunately the last piece (my friend also wanted to order salmon). That’s not the first time that’s happened to me there. I can usually find something else I want to try, but it is obviously a bummer when you have your mind made up and that happens.
The salmon was great– served with chive crème fraîche and a lobster, brussel sprout, potato, and bacon sauté. My friend was luckily very happy with her prime rib special and creamed spinach. They pay homage to a lot of Manchester businesses– I mentioned the Onyx, they also get ice cream products from Royal Ice Cream and have a dish on the menu that’s the same recipe as it was at the former restaurant in that location, Nulli’s.
If you’re looking for dessert, their crème brûlée is really good. I haven’t tried much else, because I did have a favorite that is no longer on the menu. It was a warm peanut butter chocolate chip brownie served with a vanilla milkshake for dipping (made with Royal ice cream, of course). I REALLY hope to see that back on the menu someday.
This place can get busy in the evenings, so I’d recommend reservations. They do have live music at times (I’ve never been there when they have, but I know they’ve featured a few jazz nights). They also have prix fixe menu nights that you have to sign up for in advance– I’m definitely planning on trying one this year. A little pricey, but they seem worth the experience.
They have a bar area that also had some booths, and another room with booths and tables. The parking lot is very small for this restaurant’s popularity, so be aware. There aren’t really any other parking options (such as street parking), so you either have to wait for space to free up or if it’s winter and the Dairy Queen parking lot isn’t full, you should be able to get a space there.
Overall, this is definitely a Manchester restaurant worth trying for its innovative options– local, creative, and delicious!

My first dining experience here and I must admit I was impressed. I chose to sit at the bar which was half filled with locals, everyone seem to be enjoying the ambiance the cocktails and the food. The parking lot seemed to be fairly full but the restaurant didn’t seem to be overly crowded and there was no waiting on this Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. I was immediately greeted by Patrick who was tending the bar as he set up my place setting and provided me with a nice clean plastic covered menu and took my drink order, he was very professional, friendly and seemed to be very efficient.
Ketel One Martini up, a little dirty with stuffed olives served up ice cold, filled to the rim and blended perfectly, this was a well crafted alcoholic masterpiece. If the hotel would of been a few miles closer I would have enjoyed several but one was a perfect start to the evening.
Caesar Salad was fresh and ice cold with the perfect ratio of dressing to nicely cut romain sprinkled with a few small croutons and nice portion of sliced Italian hard cheese.
Fresh hot out of the oven poppy seed cover knotted rolls served with the most heavenly maple butter I was tempted to enjoy the entire basket but chose to enjoy a single roll so I could enjoy the main attraction.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts not terrible but certainly not the greatest they were over done and void of any moisture these could of been so much more I would pass on these.
20 oz Bone-​In Ribeye grilled perfectly medium rare, tender, juicy, full of flavor (check out the photo) it was even better than it looks if that’s possible. This steak was what you would expect at the any high end Steak House. I’ve eaten a lot of rib-​eyes this one is memorable and single handedly gets me back here.
Two Thumbs Up!