Granite Bistro

Bartenders are friendly, and booze is booze. Can’t say I was in love with the steak salad or the sliders or the green salad… ate 3 meals here during my stay and. you know… didn’t HATE them but also didn’t love them. I want to give 2.333 333 stars, but I’ll round up to 3 because the 3 bartenders I chatted with during my stay were really nice.

the cemetery down the road has more life than this joint… you feel like you’re in some old, dead place, cuz you are

I thought about it.. . and I’ve gotta go with two.

I’ll sum up our experience simply: Terrible. Gross. Cold.
Terrible service. Terrible. Drinks were empty; our server (whose name rhymes with «Micole») ignored us. Our appetizers took more than 40 minutes to arrive, and during this time our water glasses remained empty. From across the «room,» our server looked at me, saw my empty glass, met my eyes, and walked away.
I say «room» because we weren’t seated in anything consistent with the definition of a «room.»
We were seated, served, and ate food in a main hallway of the Radisson hotel. People walked back and forth constantly, coughing, sneezing, hauling luggage, and, twice, a large yellow maintenance ladder. I didn’t need to hear that one of my fellow guests at the Radisson had torn ligaments and bone spurs, as I ate my already unappetizing meal. Why we had to endure such a distracting, unhygienic meal is beyond me; we made a reservation (you know, that thing where they let you sit in their eatery and eat their food?)! There was plenty of seating in the two actual dining areas! The hostess sat us in the hallway behind a maroon velvet rope and called it the «VIP» section; she explained that there was a space heater in the REAL part of the restaurant, but that no space heater was necessary in the «VIP» section/​hallway. Utter bollocks. That was so untrue.
My spouse and I used two Groupons for a two-​night stay at the Radisson Castle Nashua, and our Groupons came with a dinner for two each night of that stay. The actual value and costs of our dinners were misleading. There is no possible configuration of one appetizer, two entrees, and two desserts that could possibly come to $ 73.12, the stated value of each dinner. This over-​reaching was, however, the least of our problems.
We ordered the sliders appetizer, when our order was finally taken. The bacon on the sliders was hard and stone cold. Burger patties were lukewarm. The nicest thing I can say about this plate was that it came with three lovely individual food service bottles of condiments.
The hallway, much like the food, was freezing cold. At least half of the staff was dressed in coats and hats indoors, it was that cold. I had plenty of time to take notes, since the service encounters were few and far between: «Don’t let the velvet rope and the castle façade fool you. I’m eating cold food in a freezing hotel lobby. Caveat emptor Grouponicus. At least there’s a violin and orchestra CD playing on the lobby speakers. Mozart? It’s been ten minutes since anyone even came outside to put eyes on us. Does Basil Fawlty own this hotel?!»
We almost left. But we budgeted for two less dinners, so we were stuck.
Eventually, we were served our entrees: flatiron steak, and cod wrapped in prosciutto. The cod was meh. We needed a steak knife to cut it because it was so impossible to cut into without disintegration otherwise. Underneath the cod was an inedible bed of Israeli couscous and tomato, flecked with undercooked, overintense diced onion. Our steak was very undercooked; the accompanying potatoes were fine, but the vegetables were cool and greasy — mostly onions, and 6 green beans. Not worth their stated menu price of $ 18 per meal.
As we choked down our food, we had a floor show! The service station, and loud server/​staff/​management gossip talk, was right by our «VIP table.» I don’t need to hear how this one’s stomach is off today, and how that one had three pieces of chicken and two bites of pesto that hadn’t sat well in her stomach, and how this other one went to Halls Country Kitchen with her dad «and I got up at 6 to let my dog out and take my dad to radiation and then I made penguins out of olives and Alouette cream cheese and Megan I don’t have sleeves, and nobody can see my tattoo if I wear my sweater and have my hair down and this one left at 9 and bitched at me and you shouldn’t be able to leave now and it’s our job to keep the peace and make sure everyone is happy.» Hm, it’s your job to keep the peace and make sure everyone is happy… Ironic, no?
They should’ve kept that conversation in the kitchen, away from the customers. They probably should’ve also kept their whining away from the customers; three staff members were loudly complaining about not selling anything that whole night because everyone in the Granite Bistro was eating there with coupons. Then they were saying how understaffed they are. Capped off with a loud discussion about NYE.
Next, our server dropped a knife in my lap when collecting my plate. She got food and a scratch on my hand, and stuff on my pants. The knife remained on the ground of the hotel hallway for nearly half an hour. Classy.
No strawberries on the strawberry caramel cheesecake. Chocolate cake was runny and boozy.
Food and service better on Sunday. Still no strawberries on the strawberry cheesecake. The ONLY reason why I considered giving them 2 stars instead of the minimum of one is because our server on Sunday was such a joy to work with.
Didn’t average out.

Located at the Nashua Radisson Castle Hotel, Granite Bistro was pretty much what I expected. I’ve had business lunches at the little lounge area, but I’ve never had anything other than a salad. Our company used to have its holiday gatherings here, too, and the food was just okay. Same thing for dinner. Just ok. Not like they prepare the food elsewhere and ship it in.
The reservation for 8 people was for 6:30, and we were seated on time. The place was really noisy, but that can be partially attributed to the fact that there were a few events at the hotel that night.
Before we left home, I checked out the online menu, which had dinner offerings ranging from salads and signature sandwiches ($ 13) to filet mignon ($ 36). The actual (unimaginative) menu only had one kind of meat (flat steak) and a fried fish and salmon, as well as a chicken dish, and the highest-​priced item was perhaps $ 20. Portions were small, so I guess they had to lower the price (i.e., lower prices than what were online) to make up for that.
Some people ordered a tiny bowl of tomato soup, a quesadilla (wasn’t served the way I usually see it), or salad as an appetizer, and my husband had bruschetta. No one raved. Isn’t bruschetta supposed to be crispy and not spongy or soft? Yeah. I thought so. I didn’t order anything, as nothing was «appetizing» to me.
Entrées: I only tasted the flat steak and the salmon (my order), and both were ok… nothing spectacular. The mashed potatoes were adequate, but the five green beans came slathered in butter, even tho Mr K and I specially said to steam ours. We had to hunt down the waitress a few times (for a fork and water), and at one point, my husband got up to retrieve the water pitcher so he could fill all our empty glasses; we were tired of waiting.
We are grateful that the host paid for our meal (was a surprise BD party dinner for our good friend) and we had a nice time. I just don’t think we’d eat dinner here again.