Company of the Cauldron

Exquisite food, amazing service, A MUST for special occasions. Set menu, they are flexible with food allergies/​vegetarian options if you notify them ahead of time. Took my daughter here for her birthday, she loved it!

2 seatings — set menu — historical place — wine & beer only — if a larger party, request the chef’s table.
This spot has an interesting concept. Two seatings and a set menu. They release the menu for the week that Sunday/​Monday with Monday being lobster night. I do suggest making reservations well in advance as the place is small! The three course meal is about $ 70-​$ 74/​pp. Service is on point (a special high five to Steve!).
Our menu for the night we attended:
Pasta with little neck clams.
Steak. My dad and I opted for a fish dish since he can’t eat red meat and I honestly don’t love steak in any form. They don’t encourage this, but imagining they made the exception since we were a party of 8.
Carrot Cake.
The pasta with clams was perfection. A perfect starter portion size, perfectly cooked pasta with 3 clams in the the shell. Everyone raved about the steak and I loved my piece of fish. The only slight dissatisfaction I heard of was that people didn’t love the carrot cake. I honestly don’t love carrot cake anyway, so I’m here nor there on it.
A fine meal located in dark, very Nantucket-​y type place that’s the perfect setting for a romantic night out. One of the older Nantucket establishments still around.
Yes, the menu’s a crapshoot. If you’re picky you may run into some issues, but everything seems to be so well done here, so not too many problems.
A definite must while on Nantucket.

It’s difficult for me to give one of my favorite restaurants a three star rating, but unfortunately, it’s well deserved. Service and ambience is never lacking and always consistent, but unfortunately, the meal itself left us disappointed for a variety of reasons. The appetizer with clams was sandy — both dishes. Clearly they were not cleaned to perfection and eating anything with sand is a giant no-​no. The beef, although presented beautifully and deserving a photo in a magazine missed big-​time. It was chewy, tough, almost gamey. You were forced to eat in small bites to be able to chew it. Desert is really where the star’s come through — it was spot on. Never had I had more creamy ice-​cream in my life (nor, do I think I will) paired with a raspberry sauce — it was off the charts. Wish the other two courses were the same.

We make an annual Monday night Lobster Four Way visit to our favorite Island restaurant. Never disappointed.

A wonderful place to go for a special occasion. There’s a different menu every night, so plan in advance when to go. It’s always nice to go to a restaurant where the employees seem genuinely happy to work there, and this is one. One of my favorite restaurants anywhere.

Lobster night was fantastic! Love this place! A bit spendy but worth it. Intimate setting but surprisingly not load inside. Great service and delish!

Great food — if you can get a seat. Love everything they do. Great service, food, wine list, & overall experience. Wonderful meal for a night in town.

We just got home from a trip to Nantucket and we couldn’t wait to write about our dining experience at Company of the Cauldron! What an excellent meal! The restaurant is intimate we had the pleasure of dining on the same great menu, which changes daily. We dined on a Tuesday and were fortunate enough to sample the pan seared shrimp over chive potato gnocchi with a summer succotash and crisp bacon. This was the first dish and the star of the show. It was the perfect start to a great meal. We sat near the harpist and she played beautifully and set a great mood for the evening. We were highly impressed by the creativity of the menu and would recommend this restaurant for anyone going to the island in search of a memorable night out!

My wife and I celebrated our 35^th wedding anniversary with a wonderful meal from appetizer to desert. The food was delicious, the service was outstanding. and the dining experience was the best we had on Nantucket Island.
Would we recommend and return to Company of the Cauldron: ABSOLUTELY!

Absolutely phenomenal from start to finish. Yes, the restaurant is small, but that’s part of its charm! It preserves the intimate feel and quick service of the restaurant. Plus, there’s no food FOMO to be had when everyone’s eating the same things :)
Go on Lobster Monday — lobster done four ways. We had bisque, a lobster-​crab cake, and a grilled tail and steamed claw with two sauces. I was practically licking my plate — and the brioche doughnut for dessert had my eyes rolling back in my head. Great wine list and the chef stands outside at the end of the night to wish diners well. All in all, a fantastic, romantic spot off the beaten path to celebrate something special — or just enjoy some amazing food on the rock.

Never had a bad meal here. While the menu is set, they are very accommodating and were able to tweak my meal to be gluten free. Wine list is ok, could certainly use some better bottles and a new place to store the wines — a bit warm from being across from the kitchen. The service is OK, but the food makes up for it. Mondays are always lobster night — sounds great, although I have yet to be able to get a reservation for it. Worth a try any night and menus are available for the week on-​line.

Beware, this is a no-​choice restaurant. When making reservations, we were not told that there was no choice on any item served, and that the main course would be steak which no-​one in my family eats. When we notified the waiter of this, the chef-​owner came to our table and openly berated us in front of all other guests. We have never been publicly humiliating like that in 20 years of fine dining experiences. Given the enormous price charged for the prix fix menu, this type of service arrogance is unacceptable and is the reason for the one star rating.
On the food side, the restaurant did accommodate the non-​steak eaters by substituting shrimp and the quality of all courses served was outstanding.

Went to «Lobster Monday» last night. Very expensive ($ 90/​pp), but I found it to be worth the price. The Lobster Bisque was the highlight for me. Not too heavy, with complex, rich flavors. Many restaurants try to achieve this style of bisque, but most miss the mark. This did not. Lobster Night does involve a lot of food (half a four-​pound lobster is the main course), so arrive hungry. The restaurant itself is very small, maybe 40 guests max, so book early. Cozy, with charm to spare. Excellent, friendly service. A great Nantucket experience.

So with a Zagat 27 rating and the reviews here I was expecting a lot more. This was a serious emperor’s new clothes experience — this place is a buffet. An over $ 100 per head buffet.
The kitchen only plates pre-​prepared food, the fillet steak had been sitting in its own juices for far too long, the lobster and leek crêpe was soggy.
If you are ever tempted to this avoid, there are better places that actually cook food like Oran mor and Straight Wharf for this kind of money.

This place is really close to being a top island restaurant, but there are a couple of flaws that should be worked out at this price level. They always have a really interesting menu that will appeal to a lot of people without being run-​of-​the-​mill. The service is fantastic and a great atmosphere. Check out the weekly menu and pick one that works for you. Must have reservations.
The best thing: Fantastic service. After every course is served the server explains exactly what you’re eating and answers any questions. The last time I was there I hadn’t remembered they only serve wines by the bottle. I don’t drink much and only wanted a glass of the wine, but my request was misunderstood so that a whole bottle was opened for me. The server said not to worry and just charged me for a glass. That’s the mark of a really good restaurant.
The worst thing: They cram a LOT of tables into a tiny space. If one person is sitting with their back to the wall, their table mates have to get up and move the table if they want to get out to use the restroom (which is crummy, go before you leave the house). There are just a few inches of space between the tables that you can’t squeeze through and nil privacy. The tables themselves are also really small — after plates, glasses and silverware everything is covered.
What I ate the last time: Started out with a homemade pasta served with grilled shrimp, sweet corn, and a salsa verde. It blew me away and I’ll probably spend the next two months trying to recreate it at home. The main was a sous vide strip steak. I’d never had this trendy preparation before, but it came out only warm. I’m not sure if that was intentional, but I would prefer something piping hot. Still it was delicious and came with a sauce that made me want to lick the plate. The sides were kind of a throw-​away. I think it was spinach and mashed potatoes with fennel. Not memorable and i expected a bit more. The dessert was toasted carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream and a rum raisin sauce. After eating this, I wonder why everyone isn’t making cream cheese ice cream. It was the perfect sweet and slightly sour note for the dessert. I just wish there had been twice as much rum raisin sauce.

I was expecting more from this place. They served risotto with scallop, pea and ham but they chose to ignore my wife’s request for vegetarian. The waiter apologized but did not have a substitute (she called 2 weeks ahead of time to let them know she was a vegetarian). The fluke entrée was prepared fantastic but the leeks and onion covered haricot vert were overwhelming. The wait staff was also quick to remove any plate from the table. I had to remind one of the staff that our wine bottle was not empty as he took away my glass — he apologized and poured the rest of my wine. The desert was good but nothing special.
Overall, the experience was too formulaic. I appreciate the rotating menu but it takes away from the overall experience when you are rushed through dinner (they had the 8:45pm seating coming up, you know). I would feel like giving this place another chance if they just took their time serving the food and being more attentive to their customers.

My wife and I went to Company of the Cauldron this past weekend. While the food is very good, and the chateaubriand was probably the most tender steak I have ever had, it wasn’t a life changing experience. The restaurant itself is small, cozy and kind of rustic, and was comfortable to eat in. Given the size of the restaurant you can see the chefs at work on their main table in the back, which was kind of neat. It seemed to take a while to bring out each course, I’m guessing because they were trying to coordinate the serve to all the patrons. The presentation of the main course was actually somewhat sloppy, which is something you would tend to expect in a pricey restaurant but not something I’m that hung up on.
Given that I wasn’t wowed over, and considering the price, I probably wouldn’t return.

Less than 10mins after my friend picked us up from the ferry and she was already telling me of her friend who, in her words, was ‘like a top chef’. I suppose that’s to be expected when one posts food photos and restaurant reviews. So after my friend raved about Matt’s cooking we had to check out the Cauldron.
The Friday menu sounded better than Saturday’s but they were already booked for Friday and our itinerary conflicted with the seating schedule so we decided on going Saturday instead.
The meal started with grilled prawns and compressed watermelon (yes, compressed. Don’t ask me how) and a salad of microgreens, feta, and key lime vinaigrette. The contrast of flavors and texture worked very well. For the entrée we had a classic beef Wellington with mushrooms, port wine sauce, and roasted potatoes and green beans. It was very well executed but it’s also a classic dish and my palate tends to prefer more ‘exotic’ flavors so I actually liked the first course better. For dessert, it was lemon cheesecake with dulce de leche and cookie crumble. Not just any cheesecake though, it was made using the sous vide method instead of baking it. I was in love! The texture reminded me of the no-​bake cheesecake I make and my friend described it as ‘hovering’. It didn’t float, it hovered. It was amazing and I was very happy!
The restaurant atmosphere veered towards the formal but the service is friendly and not stiff. The meal itself is rather pricey but for a special occasion it’s totally worth it. Over all the food was excellent. But I would like to see them serve more exciting fare, but then again, given their clientele that might not be the best way to go. So, I give the food 4 stars but combined with the service and all other aspects of our dining experience they get 5 stars from me.

We had our two-​year anniversary dinner here. It’s tailor made for such a romantic evening, as it is set in a charming old home with a harpist and dim lighting. A nice balance, being refined without stuffy.
As for the food, here everyone eats the exact same three-​course meal, which changes daily, and generally is priced around $ 60. I generally like limited menus, but it would have been nice if there was a choice of two things, so that each couple could share. Anyways, the first course, a crab cake served in a «deconstructed corn chowder» was delicious — incredibly fresh corn, and quite unique. However I was a little disappointed with the main course of Atlantic halibut in a key lime preparation — I found the lime sauce overpowering and not a complement to fish or any of the meal really. The dessert course was a delicious chocolate ganache.
All in all, a very good meal that I would recommend to any couple looking for a nice meal in Nantucket. It came to $ 200 or so with a nice bottle of white.

Simply amazing. I read about Company of the Cauldron on Unilocal before our Nantucket trip and checked the website hourly to see if they updated the menu for our week. Once we picked a day and made our reservation, we counted down the days!
The thing with Cauldron is that everyone gets the same prix fixed menu. They have an extensive wine list that we took advantage of as well.
The food was impeccable. From the bread to dessert, everything was so delicious and fresh. The chef prepares the dishes so beautifully, too! My favorite part of the meal was dessert; carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream. Everyone got 2 – 3 bite sized loaf with a scoop of ice cream that tasted like cream cheese. How inventive!
NOTE TO PATRONS: They have a weird reservation policy. You have to call them the day of \by noon in order to keep your reservation. If you don’t, they’ll give your table to someone else. I completely forgot to do this, fortunately, they call you twice to follow up before really giving your table away. So yes, it’s strange, but you know what? Deal with it. The food is that good.