South End

Fried artichokes, oysters, mexican corn ($ 10! Yikes!!!) and raviolis r not to be missed. Brisket, octopus and steak were bleh. Service is great, manager went above and beyond for us. Meatball app came cold which was disappointing for $ 14! I would reccomend this place for a mice date nite.

Our first time here and we were very happy with the food and service. Albeit, over priced, the food and service were very good. My wife has the halibut, my daughter the hanger steak and I the pasta Bolognese. All were good. The Octopus appetizer was good as well. The kicker was the warm cookie sundae which was excellent!

This place stinks. I tried for the first time tonight and will not be coming back! The self service kiosk at Wendys is better than the staff here. 3 people in my party complained about their meals and not one meal discounted. We waited over 30 min’s at times for our waiter to show up at the table. Not worth the money.

I’ve been to South End a handful of times and it’s always been a good food experience with great drinks. Tonight we took another couple here and it was terrible. The food was awful. The duck, while probably the best dish on the table, was decent at best; very ordinary. One pasta dish was over salted to the point where it burned the tongue; The other pasta dish was so over cooked the pasta was complete mush. I was so embarrassed we had suggested this restaurant to our friends. The service was terrible and we were often left for 30 minutes at a time without anyone checking on us or offering to refill our drinks. For $ 100 a person this was the most disappointing meal I’ve had in a long time and we will not be returning.

I wanted to like South End, I really did. But the smaller than average portions combined with the higher than average prices makes it hard. It seems to be a trendy ‘hot spot,’ but I’d rather go to gates or locali where it is less pretentious. The mixed drinks were super over-​priced. The artichokes were tasty, but left us hungry. Won’t hurry back.

Nice spot — upscale bar and restaurant. Staff is friendly and courteous.

Came here for brunch on a Sunday and loved it! Waffles were light and fluffy. Eggs were delicious. Lots to choose from on the menu. Nice ambience, wait staff was friendly and attentive. Overall a great brunch experience

Ate there with another couple on a busy Saturday night, but the service and staff were up to the crowd. Food was excellent — I had the tuna poke and the pork chop scarpariello and my wife had the mushroom toast and diver scallops. The venison was also excellent and well prepared. We all liked the ambience and mood and will surely be back.

Food & service both excellent !!

One of the worst meals I’ve ever had. What South End charges for the 1. Quality of the food and 2. Ineptitude of the kitchen staff is borderline criminal. It should be illegal for a restaurant like this to operate when they are in my opinion falsely representing the the quality of food and serving customers mediocrity on a plate.
$ 14 for small meatball appetizer with 6 – 8 meatballs, 2 of the meatballs were cold. It was awful and the ones that were cooked weren’t anything special.
$ 39 for a New York Strip that was easily THE WORST STEAK I’ve ever had in my life. Over cooked, dry, tough, disgusting and ordered medium it was well done. I would have sent it back but at that point I just wanted to leave the booth that is located directly behind the servers station (great interior design on that one people love over hearing staff discussions over their shoulders during a meal).
I took the unfinished steak to go, not sure why, wouldn’t feed it to my dog and I’m pretty sure the dog wouldn’t eat it.
Usually the rustic restaurant trend results in a very cool interior with a lot of interesting semi healthy dishes that taste great. Epic and complete failure here.

Still my pick for top dining spot in New Canaan.
Don’t miss the fried baby artichokes, or any of the fresh pastas. Always a great meal with well placed service.
We’ve done take out a number of times and everything has been packed up nicely and tastes just as good at home.

The food is very good and I’d probably give food, service and atmosphere a 4 but I need to really hit them on 6 dollars for a carafe of filtered tap water that I find out about when the bill comes.
Felt like a hose job for sure.
I’d probably be OK with it if I was told or it was a couple bucks a carafe.
What’s next… charging for salt and pepper or a cloth napkin?

This is our new go-​to date spot in CT.
We dined on Saturday night and they definitely had the A team on as the service was excellent. Our server Christine was absolutely wonderful and in general the flow of the meal was perfect.
We started with a unique, seasonal take on burrata that involved butternut squash and maple syrup. Very tasty and different — almost like French Toast with marscapone.
My wife had house-​made pasta with seasonal veggies, which was simple and delicious. I went with lobster risotto, which was very rich, and the right portion size. The lobster was poached perfectly and not tough at all.
For dessert, we went with the pumpkin crème brûlée and the baked chocolate cookie with vanilla ice cream. Both were insanely good.
In general, this place has a welcoming vibe, really great seasonal dishes and good drinks. It’s everything we look for in a restaurant.

NICK! MICHELLE! you have amazing food. You should replace your manager. Absent. And translates to aloof/​Indifferent staff. Kinda rude in that you can so clearly «read» their disdain and boredom. Food was a crazy long 80+ minutes from entrée order. Ok, it happens. And you brought champagne to apologize– when no complaint was made. Nice!
But here’s what we never heard after our bar server shift ended and new began: How was your food? You know, the stuff you ordered a couple of hours ago? Do you need another drink? Was the order correct? Do you need some more water? Would you like dessert? Coffee? Instead, we were just entirely abandoned. At two hour+ mark I flagged busman for a check and we got out of there. Manager could not have cared any less.
Delightful food. Miserable service experience.
Hey Michelle– people will obviously pay your quite high prices in new Canaan. You’re packing us in now due to great menu and good food. But what will get around our small town quickly is the report of rude or indifferent service. You have acquired this condition. It is fully treatable. Good luck. Just like you, I won’t be checking back to see how things work out.

— Perfect Restaurant for Supermodels —
I’ll begin by saying I really don’t know how to rate South End Restaurant. There are a lot of things to love, but for me, one major shortcoming.
The atmosphere is very nice. Beautifully appointed tables with white linen, sparkling glasses, and spotless silverware. The room is spacious with barn wood accenting the walls, a cool hanging light fixture with a mix of the currently fashionable Edison bulbs. A very nicely designed bar, although with a typical and unimaginative selection of spirits. A very well trained wait staff provided flawless service. And delicious food. I would readily say the the quality of the food matches the best restaurants anywhere.
The biggest problem I had was the size of the portions, I’ll get to that in a moment.
The restaurant is expensive, appetizers are in the area of $ 12 plus or minus depending on what you order. And main dishes are mostly $ 30-​$ 40. You can order half sizes of some dishes, which is what my wife and daughter did. They had the half size of Cavatelli, $ 15. The Cavatelli was excellent, perfectly cooked pasta with just the right amount of italian sausage, broccoli rabe, and pecorino cheese to achieve a deliciously flavorful balance of well melded ingredients.
I had the Chatham Cod. Also very delicious. It was described as having green beans, benton’s bacon, in a New England clam chowder sauce. I did not notice any green beans at first. Then I saw little teeny tiny pieces strategically placed around the Cod. I’d say it was one green bean cut up into 8 — 10 pieces. I’m all for artistically presented food, and that can be a wonderful bonus. But the portion (full size, $ 34, photo submitted) was smaller than my family’s half-​size portions. I would confidently say my «dinner» sized portion was no larger than what the vast majority of people would consider the size of an appetizer. For reference, I am not a large person, with a huge appetite. I’m 55, six feet tall, 180 lbs.
I would happily pay the $ 120 (1 drink, 1 app., 2 half-​size pastas, 1 «dinner» portion fish, tax, and tip) for that exceptional quality of food and service as long as I don’t leave the restaurant still hungry. I am, of course, eating a meal — I would like to be satisfied. I shouldn’t need to stop on the way home for something else to eat.
The reason that the vast majority of restaurants give you, in my opinion, too much food (yes I said too much food, hear me out) — is because the restaurants’ cost for the raw food ingredients is typically only 20% of the total overhead for the restaurant. Therefore in an attempt to show the customer a good value, most provide a large quantity of food because it doesn’t cost them very much more to do so. I am not saying that I want a large quantity of food, only that this is a strategy that most restaurants use because their cost of food is relatively small compared to rent, salaries, etc. Therefore I don’t think South End would go bankrupt giving it’s patrons a sensibly sized portion.
So bottom line, if you’re a supermodel (wealthy and in the habit of consuming 300 calorie meals) South End is for you. If you’re not, I’d recommend not turning away the second basket of bread they offer you.
Food — 5 stars, service — 5 stars, atmosphere — 4 stars, value — 1 star.

I went on a date Saturday night with my husband. When I called to get a reservation they said nothing was available until 8:45 but if we walked in they could probably seat us in 20 – 30 minutes. Since they have a nice sized bar it wasn’t an issue for us to wait. We arrived at 7:15 and were seated immediately.
The service was just okay. The waiter was a man of few words and the place was LOUD so hearing the server was difficult.
We started with the fried Artichokes and Risotto balls. Both were excellent. For dinner my husband got the steak which he thought was delicious and I got the chicken paillard. Both dishes came with salad that had a dressing that was entirely too salty and ruined the meal for me since the greens were on top of the chicken and my husband did not eat.
The atmosphere was really cool and trendy and they have out door seating which will be huge as the weather warms up. Will we go back? Probably not when there are so many other wonderful restaurants in Fairfield county to try. If I lived near by I’d give it another shot or go for drinks since the bar was active.

Revisited South End for a Sunday brunch. Food was still amazing as the first time. I ordered South End burger. Oh my goodness … super awesome. It came with benton’s bacon, american cheese, SE burger sauce, and hand-​cut fries. Meat was so moist and juicy. Plenty of bacon on top. Fries were deliciously fresh. Two sauces came on the side; one seemed to a homemade ketchup (tasty) and the other was lemon-​mayonnaise. Dip those hot fries in there and you would forget about how hard you work out at the gym. And then after you finished, you can feel guilty afterward, but no regret!

Wow, this is it man. Fairfield’s Best. Drop the mic and walk off stage. It’s that good.
1. An amazing beer and wine list.
2. Full Bar, oh and PBR!
3. Menu is small and not overwhelming, oh and it’s delish.
4. Service was spot on.
5. Bathrooms so clean and perfectly designed.
6. Parking is perfect.
7. Location, is perfect.
Everything about this place was thoroughly thought out. Right down to the paper hanging in the bar area to the service area/​hub.
POKE
We ordered the Poke (People, please pronounce this right. It’s «Po Kay» not Poke. like I’m going to Poke you tonight Sally. Pok’eh.) Sorry, but my Hawaiian ancestors are cringing every time someone says Poke. This dish was perfection and I’m kicking myself I didn’t snap a shot for you folks. Next time though, because I’m definitely, definitely going back. The subtle sesame oil and it’s sesame powder was exquisitely balanced with a soft soy sauce and perhaps of ginger. I did not care for the sesame powder, but hey, I’m not knocking this dish one bit.
FISH TACOS
Next we tried the Fish Tacos and all I can say is the pico de gallo that accompanies this dish is fan-​freaking-​tastic. Can I say freaking on Unilocal?I hope so. This dish comes with a mild salsa, the pico and shaved cabbage to add. For the fish on this day they used a skate wing, think sting ray. At first I was taken back but then I was like alrighty, let’s try it and it was so darn good.
BURGER
I had the burger sans the bacon. I’m not a fan of bacon on my burger. I think it overwhelms the flavor of the meat and heck, call me silly but I want to taste the meat, not the bacon. This burger comes with a lemon aoili like and what I think was a chipotle mayo. One is on the top bun and the other on the bottom bun. I had to have them put them on the side just in case. And being from California I had to throw some avo on there for good measure. Avo on everything for crying out loud!
The bun for this burger is its death certificate though. Seriously, get rid of this thing. Or serve a press with it so we can squeeze that sucker down. Call me old fashion but I will push for a homemade brioche every time. The burg comes with fries.
STEAK FRITTES
Grilled Hanger Steak Frittes. Presentation was off and the slices were bad. It wasn’t cooked to spec but it was good nonetheless. Served with an au poivre butter, hand cut fries, house ketchup, garlic aioli. It was ok but I would bet to say the wife will order something else next time. Not a fan.
AMBIENCE
Overall this place is perfection. A lot of planning went into this place and you can tell. Oh, did I tell you they were playing MUSE? Okay… that just made it the number one restaurant in my book! Who plays Muse in their place? SE does that’s who. Love, love, love, this place. There’s also a hidden den behind a sliding barn door that would make for a great private dinner for a group. A bit tight in there but really nice. With accented wine bottles throughout. Tables appear made of old oak wood or the likes of. Drop dead comfortable satee in the bar where we sat was perfect for people watching at the bar.
I can not wait to go back to this place with a group or even with the wife again. It was an amazing first time in New Canaan and I look forward to dining again at SE!

It was another fantastic night at South End. Chef Nick Martschenko keeps creating dishes with incredible flavors and it gets harder each time deciding which dish to order, they are dea so great.
On my latest visit I ordered the «Fried Semi-​Boneless Quail» for and appetizer and the «Maccheroncini with Braised Rabbit» for my entrée. The table also shared an order of «Risotto Balls» with the appetizers.
The quail was dipped in a Brooklyn ale batter, fried, and served atop shaved Brussels sprout slaw, toasted pine nuts, with a mustard dressing. It was served in four section and was delicious. The slaw delivered a slightly different flavor profile from a traditional cabbage slaw and the pine nuts added earthy tones.
The risotto balls were perfectly cooked and served with pork & garlic gravy, pecorino cheese, cherry peppers, fresh lemon. The combination was delightful. The pork was rich and deep in flavor, the cherry peppers added a touch of spiciness and the lemon brightened the entire dish.
I am a big fan of rabbit and Chef Nick’s version with pasta is outstanding. The slowly braised rabbit was tender moist and flavorful. It was accompanied by Picholine olives, cracked black pepper, and shaved pecorino cheese in a simple tomato sauce. The pairing of the salty olives and the mild rabbit was a great combination to a delicious dish.
Overall South End is a go-​to restaurant in both New Canaan and Fairfield County.

I may have a slight bias when it comes to south end since it replaced Pine Social, one of my favorite places to go in New Canaan. That being said, South End has a cool vibe with industrial style chandeliers and tiled ceiling. Our wine was good, though the sommelier admit to us he know nothing about the vineyard (choose your own wine), and our waiter was attentive.
With the fear of sounding cheap, I just felt that South End wasn’t worth the money. $ 36 for 4 scallops seemed unreasonable, as well as the very little rabbit that came with the rabbit and pasta dish.
It’s a nice place to talk, since it didn’t get so loud, but I’d be prepared to pay too much for too little here!