Elm

Update:
Gave it another shot. No thanks! Very confusing environment. Night time bar scene with a children’s movie projected on the wall. Only thing good was the rolls and butter (wow they’re good!). Oysters were fishy, chicken was dry. Service was super nice this time :)

Great food. Great for a date or special occasion. We ate in front of the kitchen. Chef and staff chat with some while plying their trade.
Great food. Come. You won’t regret it.

I guess you get a star on here for just being a restaurant, but elm doesn’t even deserve that. Over priced garbage and I’m not sure if I’m talking mostly about the food, «craft» cocktails, or service. Probably the service. I understand people want to get home after a long day, but to be so blatantly obvious about the fact you want to leave would kill the best food experience, which this wasn’t, but the food probably deserves 2 stars, drinks 1 and a half. There are plenty of options these days, but this is a skip

Love the open front with the superfine screen — gives this place such a great vibe for Sunday brunch (along with the décor). Started out with the delicious orange mini muffins (I wish I got a dozen to take home) and cucumber martinis that were superb — not sweet, a bit tart and just perfect. I was underwhelmed by my fried chicken and waffle with the miso gravy — the waffle was meh, the gravy was a bit meh too but the chicken was juicy and delicious. Hubs had the burger and as a self-​proclaimed burger aficionado he gave the thumbs up, citing the delicious mixture of meat! Fries were definitely oversalted. Overall, I think I would return to check out the dinner menu.

The CT lobster Roll is off the hook! The whole place has a great vibe music big TV
very warm feeling!
The staff and service is excellent!

Such a huge disappointment. We made a reservation thinking that Elm would be a nice spot to celebrate a family birthday. We have been in the past for brunch which was just ok and were expecting more for dinner.
Our group of 4 was seated quickly and offered water and then the wait began. Finally a drink order was taken and after a very long wait we received a nice glass of red and silly pour of the very nice rose. We said nothing and ordered. The tuna tartar app was awful, the guac and chips greasy and the cheese tray consisted of a small piece of cheese and one large cracker broken in half. The meals were even worse. Ribs were tasty but served with nothing and the server did not suggest we add a side. Both chicken dishes were awful and void of flavor with a panzella sald that was basically hard croutons mixed with onions and not the smooth and delicious creation one would expect. Both chicken dishes were undercooked and barely touched and waiter did not bother to inquire. We decided against dessert.

The year is young and already two great burgers. Yesterday we saw The Revenant and grabbed a quick lunch after at elm. Ordered the burger and fries and both were outstanding. The meat was some of the best I have eaten and then the kohlrabi kicked.

I love this beautifully designed and trendy restaurant. Their specialty cocktails are delicious and their food is exquisitely prepared and simply delicious. They also offer dining al fresco in a sunny location. Just lovely! My favorite dish is the Lobster Salad. But also their souls are out of his world.

Really great food and service!!!

Had drinks & snacks at the bar with a colleague, first impressions were pretty good.
Wines by the glass are a bit pricey and quickly justified based on zip code. Also hosted 3 guests for dinner here with positive accolades. Food is done well & artfully prepared. Menu could be criticized for being a bit narrow but there’s also some value in executing at a high level.

My boyfriend and I stopped here while visiting from the city and we were very happy with our meal. We ordered a few of the smaller plates to share and were very happy with the Burrata, and guacamole which had awesome little puffed tortillas to go with it. My favorite though was the melon gazpacho with king crab. The flavors were spot on, and the lavender was the perfect amount– you got the flavor but it didn’t taste like soap.
Everything was plated very nicely and the atmosphere was relaxed yet elegant. I loved the large open windows at the front.

I’ve been here before and it has been good but tonight was exceptional. If you come here and don’t get the smoked short rib, shame on you. You should travel great distances to try this dish. Our waiter Max was awesome and had great recommendations for wine and sides. Definitely coming back again soon.

My dinner was delightful. Not a complaint to be hand, honestly.
The menu is innovative, and it’s clear that everything is carefully prepared. To start, we had the Shishito peppers and the Hen of the Woods mushroom appetizer. A terrific beginning. My friend ordered the burger, which was perfectly cooked and topped with raclette cheese. I ordered the gnocchi, which, instead of being dense and heavy and starchy (the traits that usually keep me from ordering that dish), they were light, with a crispy outer layer. The sweet and sour ramps added a great balance of flavor to the dish.
It was a great night out. Thanks, Elm!

Pleasant staff, reasonably efficient service except for a $ 40 error on our $ 137 bill.
Gnocchi was fabulous. Linguini with seafood was not good at all. The green sauce was watery and there were only 6 clams — where was the other seafood? Chocolate cake was good and the goat cheese ice cream was very rich. I’d go back but would be more skeptical.

This is a quaint spot with fine cooking in downtown New Cannaan, but it is nothing special.
The menu is ordinary, as is the food and the service.
Not bad, not great, but ordinary especially considering the prices.

I would give it 0 stars if Unilocal would let me.
Service was terrible and we didn’t even sit down to eat…
I had organized and planned a birthday dinner for my fiancé at the chef’s table with one of Elm’s Guests Services, Private Events, and Reservations manager Melissa Groves. Our reservation was for Sunday January 11^th 2015 at 7:00pm at the chef’s table. We exchanged emails regarding the occasion, menu, and any allergy’s we may have. I mentioned numerous times how special this birthday dinner was to us given it was the first birthday as an engaged couple. During these exchanges Melissa was great, even following up with me around 4:30pm the day of to wish us a lovely evening.
We arrive at 7pm to an empty restaurant and are told by the hostess that our reservation at the chef’s table has been given away to a group that came in earlier in the night. I mentioned that this was unacceptable and explained that I had made a reservation in advance with Melissa, in fact two and a half hours prior we had emailed! I was expecting them to apologize and make it right. A temp manager came in and again we where told our reservation was given away by a walk in earlier in the night. Their solution was we could have any seat in an empty restaurant! In fact the actual wording was «you can have any seat you’d like even by the window we don’t normally open those up.» what? Failing to see how this was remotely close to a reasonable solution we left.
Sitting in the car outside the restaurant I sent an email explaining what had happened. It took until the 15^th for someone to respond and there was still no solution.
Do not consider this restaurant. If they cannot get a reservation right I wouldn’t trust anything they serve you on a plate. Worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Excellent dinner. Every bite of everything we ordered was amazing. The Tagliatelli with jonah crab and sea urchin was one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had! Can’t wait to return.

I really enjoyed the look and feel of the place especially since I grew up in New Canaan in the 60’s and 70’s and there was nothing to do and nowhere to go and definitely no decent or even acceptable restaurants. Now of course, a million years later it’s a different scene with a plethora of choices albeit not all good. This place is fine for a decent lunch but really it’s the atmosphere that is so pleasant more than the food. So, for food, I would say its trying too hard and not quite making the mark and for ambiance it’s beautiful, slick and very cosmopolitan.
The presentation of literally everything including the way they served the ice tea was quite sophisticated with an Asian flair– sparse and clean. My kind of taste.
But the food doesn’t hit a home run and for the price I have to say it’s not a good value.
That said, I would most likely not need to pay a second visit.

1-​star solely for the ice-​queen at the hostess stand.
My gf and I were in town running some errands and walked by Elm — I had been wanting to try it, heard good things.
Walked in on a relatively slow-​looking Thursday evening (July 17 if the owner is curious), thinking we’d have a nice bottle of wine and a few appetizers at the bar, and take it from there.
Host-​zilla proceeded to shoot us a look like we weren’t welcome. No joke. It was cold. We’re two early-30’s, well-​dressed, accomplished, good-​looking (well my gf moreso than me, she’s super hot), self-​deprecating, funny, hip, easy-​going, likable people. What’s with the attitude, dude? The bar+restaurant looked about 40% full.
I asked her to see the wine list, thinking I’d give her a chance to redeem herself; maybe I misread her, ok, let’s get this on the right track. She handed me the menu, unable to hide her inexplicable contempt for us, and turned her back on me — too stuck-​up for a simple hello. I literally bit my lip, resisted the urge to tell her she had a bad fucking attitude, and set the menu down and walked out.
Who knows what was going through her mind, but that’s not how you operate the front of a restaurant. We eat all over the world in the best restaurants and never have been treated like this.
Maybe she was having a bad day? Whatever. She cost her establishment two serious customers and a decent chunk of money that day, and I won’t be back.
Good job.

So, Elm certainly looks the part of a great restaurant and has the pedigree from what I’ve read. After reading a gushing review in Connecticut magazine, I thought I’d throw my two cents (or stars) in.
Sometimes you should pay attention to the vibe that a place gives off, or in some cases the omens you see. When we walked up to the restaurant, we encountered what looked like the chef speaking with two couples who were leaving the restaurant. Apparently, they left without eating, so the chef guy was trying to get them to come back. They demurred — even after he offered to comp their meals! It wasn’t their scene, they said. He was persistent with his entreaties, they were persistent with their refusals. And so it went until he gave up.
We failed to heed the omen…
So the nice woman seated us in the very cool dining room and asked if there were any allergies or things they should be aware of (you know the drill). I said that I eat fish, but not meat. About ten minutes later, they bring over an amuse bouche with this and that… and bacon. So much for allergies and requests. At least I wouldn’t go into shock or anything if it were placed in front of me.
There were a few highlights to our dinner, but our overall experience was quite underwhelming. If you are in the area, skip this joint and head over to South End, so much better and the people were so, so much nicer.
[I should note that our visit was some months ago and it’s possible that they had a come-​to-​Jesus moment after some more sidewalk begging episodes. That could explain the drooling mag review.]