Sycamore Grill

I’ve come here 2x now for a work lunch and I’m a fan. The wait staff is attentive and service is pretty quick. I love their sliders and the crab sandwich. I love the outside portion of this place, it’s very cute and kind of hidden which is nice. I will need to come back here one day during the evening.

Why is that this place has great bar area? Been to many places has bar and serve alcohol but this is only place that makes me not to forget the ambiance and the good bartender. Had the turkey burger with the onion rings and the blue moon. That was quite good, I hope they wont disappoint me on my 2^nd visit.
I liked this here and yes, I am not a fan!

Sycamore is a casual place to meet for a drink (even better when it’s warm and you can use the patio). The food is average, however, they do make a nice Wedge Salad and the bar appetizers are pretty good.

This was right up there with the worst meal ever … where do I start … The wings were straight out of the microwave, the steam was still coming off of them. The rack of ribs tasted more like a straw than straw itself. The shrimp scampi was more like fettuccine alfredo … in the worst way. The side w/​the rack of ribs was supposed to come with steak fries, I’m not sure if the person making the food knew the definition of a steak fry. Both meals offered a potato & vegetable — we were denied either. Bread for the table was three pieces of ½ in dough. The Pomegrante Sangria was «okay» I’ve had better. We will not be going back. That was not a restaurant, that was a drunk single guy’s microwaved dinner.

Had an early dinner Saturday. We arrived just as happy hour was ending and were greeted by Faron who turned out to be our server. We sat at the only available table in the bar area, (we had no reservation). The bar and restaurant were crowded so we were happy to get a table.
Faron took our drink orders and set the table for the two of us. Drinks came timely. I got a Lagunitas draft my wife got a Cosmo, which she said was exactly as ordered.
The server proceeded to explain the menu and recommended a few dishes. I ended up going with his reco of the crispy skin Chilean sea bass, aka Patagonian tooth fish. My wife ordered chicken Amalfi.
Both dishes were excellent. We particularly enjoyed the deep fried onions that were served over top of both dishes. My fish was cooked perfectly and the potato pancake that it was served on was wonderful. My wife really enjoyed her chicken dish.
Service was superb and Faron came by to check on us from time to time. Faron was an excellent waiter.
We were impressed with the quality of our meals. This is definitely not pub grub. We will be back to check the place out again.
Ambience was good. A fun, somewhat noisy bar crowd. Ok with us.
Nancy & Mark.

The Food is awful at Sycamore grill. Service, slow. I guess for a central meeting place in Newtown for a drink it’s ok. But otherwise nothing to write positively.

I stopped at this restaurant for lunch because it was a few doors from one of my favorite yarn shops. I had a cup of lobster bisque soup, 1 crab cake sandwich, and a scoop of sherbet. My friend also a a cup of soup, a salad with chicken and a cupcake. The soup was very tasty although there was very little crab meat in it and the rest of my meal was good. What stunned me was the bill. For the two of us, the bill came to $ 71 before the tip! A couple of the items on the bill seemed higher than they appeared on the menu. All in all, the food was good but not $ 71 good! I think they are overpriced relative to the quality of the food.

Great food, especially the boneless wings. Really good and really underrated. Only disappointment is service is a bit slow and when I recently had the Ribeye sandwich, they changed the fries. Not sure if they’re temporary or just for the sandwich, but the old fries were better. Love this place overall!

Love the ambiance in the bar. Megan is a fantastic bartender who keeps everyone happy with quick service and a smile.
A new chef brought a distinctive style for upscale comfort food. The live music on Sunday afternoons is a welcome treat. A must when visiting Newtown.

New chef. Improvement. Wings spicy well crisped. Had great cheese cake and chocolate mousse dessert. It was really good.

To some up dinner at the Sycamore Grill, I’d say this was subpar food and subpar service. To be fair, I noticed only one waiter for the whole dining room, so ill cut him some slack and give him the BOD by saying he was overwhelmed and busy.
My friend and I shared the crab stuffed mushrooms for an app, and then I had the jalapeño burger for my entrée. I asked for a side salad instead of fries, but the waiter didn’t hear my request, and I ended up with french fries instead (I know, I know, as if I’m not going to eat them). I wasn’t impressed with any of it.

I’ve been here a couple of times and left unimpressed both times. The drinks are fine, the patio is really nice on a warm day. The waiter was friendly but I did not see or receive any effort to go up and beyond to create a satisfying experience. Also, menu options other than meat are very limited.
The first time we went, my husband ordered a burger and I had a salad. It was ok and felt overpriced for no extra sides and no bread or anything to start with.
The second time we went, we ordered from the specials menu. My husband got the chicken francaise, which was tender, but the vegetable side was overcooked. I ordered tilapia francaise. It took a while for our food to come out even though there were only a few people on the patio and one couple inside when we came in.
When our food came, I was puzzled that it looked so similar. I dug into my tilapia and realized that it was chicken! It took about 5 minutes to catch the waiter, at which point I explained that I had ordered fish. He looked at me strangely and said he didn’t recall fish to be on the menu! He left to talk to the chef, came back, and said «oh we don’t generally have fish on the menu — it’s a special just for today.» He took my dish away and I waited for at least 10 minutes for him to bring out the correct food. He briefly apologized for the mistake and left. By now, my husband had already eaten his food so he had to wait for me to finish.
When we finally waved down the waiter for our check, he didn’t make any move to apologize again. If the manager isn’t called at this point and my food isn’t free for the silly confusion, then you should at least offer a discount or free dessert or a drink! Very poor customer service. We will not be coming back.
If you want to go, go for drinks and to watch TV at the bar, not for the food.

I have gone several times and have been very happy with my meal. The homemade potato chips are awesome, however they have a rotation of seasonings, so if you don’t like the seasoning that day you are kind of out of luck. Suggestion. Always have a batch of plain for who don’t like the seasoning. Other than that, the soups are very tasty, the service staff is friendly, welcoming and always willing to please. Give the Sycamore Grill a try. You will be glad you did!

Love this place, especially when The Idlewoodsmen are playing!
Good food, GREAT music!

I’ve been wanting to try here for quite some time. We were just in the area this past Friday and caught happy hour and early dinner out on the back deck. They had live music which was nice but it was entirely too loud. We couldn’t talk to each other or our server without yelling. Despite that annoyance, the server was great as well as the other waitstaff. Bussers, food runners etc. Everyone was on point. Our server was conscious of our happy hour drink order and timing and he helped us get the most of our time there. (I hate when other places will just let you die there and run the clock out until happy hour is over) I enjoyed the crab stuffed mushroom app but was totally disappointed with the wrap I ordered. I believe it’s on the menu as a BLTA chicken wrap. Or I added avocado. I can’t remember. It was exactly what I was in the mood for. Until it arrived. 90% of the wrap was thick white iceberg lettuce. I think there was the equivalent of 1 small diced up chicken tender on the entire wrap. Bacon was also somewhat minimal. And the kicker — it was rolled horribly ! It was short and super thick but loose. I battled with it to hold it together and even risked it more by trying to remove some of the lettuce. It just fell apart all over the plate. I was STARVING! But I only kind of ate half of it because it was just too much of a nuisance. The location and service was great but a little improvement on food would be nice. Still a good place to hang out for drinks or food.

I only had one experience here and it wasn’t that pleasant. I came here after seeing SS Kitchen was getting ready to close (I’m not the type of person to walk into anywhere right before closing– I know the pain). Anyway, decided to come here. There was absolutely no one in the restaurant aside what appeared to be a few regulars. I looped around to find the hostess station. I had read previously that you do have to look or it, so I was prepared for that. I walked in the bar area and veered off to the left a bit to find it. Waited for a bit for the hostess to stop her conversation with the servers. It was whatever. When she came over, she appeared annoyed and kind of treated us like we were bothering her. She asked if we wanted to sit inside or outside, I said outside. It was a nice day out and the deck seemed like a cool spot. When we stepped out, she said, «Well, what table do you want?» I told her whatever was easiest and that I didn’t have a preference. She picked the only dirty table and sat us at it. Okay, well at least at that point we were done with her.
The server took a long time to get to our table, even longer to get our drinks. She was friendly, but practically non-​existent the whole time. When we finally ordered, we went for the clams casino appetizer, a crab cake sandwich, and a buffalo chicken sandwich. Those clams were THE worlds tiniest clams that I ever seen… I’m not exaggerating. My counterpart never had clams casino before, so I ordered them. What a rough first experience. They didn’t have much favor, but there really wasn’t much to spice up! In between appetizer and lunch, the bus boy (man) did all the cleaning and refills. He was very respectful and prompt. He also brought out our lunch. Real nice guy. Crab cake sandwich was so freaking mushy. The second I picked up the sandwich, everything kind of splooged out. The taste wasn’t horrible, but it was’t great. My expectations were WAY higher considering the price of a whopping $ 14.50. I had opted for a side salad instead the chips. They upcharged me for it, but it was a decent sized salad. I asked for my dressing on the side, but I received it dressed… and drowning in balsamic. I sampled the buffalo chicken sandwich, which wasn’t bad. The chips were the best thing about my experience, aside the beautiful view on the deck.
I then finally saw my server who reappeared to drop my check. Definitely overpriced for the experience and food. I feel like two stars is being generous, but hey.

First of all, I need to mention that the patio is quite lovely and the staff was very friendly. My waitress was enthusiastic and warm throughout the meal.
I almost never write bad reviews but the thing is that the food was that god awful. It really was. The meat on my sandwich was so slimy that I swear I could almost see my reflection in it. If I could, I would have seen myself frowning because I felt as though I had been ripped off from the moment that the plate landed on the table.
Based on the slimy meat alone, I think it is safe to say that I won’t ever be back.

There are no words for how terrible the food was. Went for lunch and was sorely disappointed.
The soda arrived flat and was definitely a generic ‘cola’ vs. a real coke.
The club sandwich arrived on bread, NOT toast. Confused as to how this came out of even the most amateur of kitchens as a ‘club’ and not a turkey sandwich. It was packed on three slices of bread ½ inch thick each with so much sad mealy tomato that I had to take it apart and reassemble to make even remotely edible, and even then the slimy turkey did it no favors. I got thru less than a quarter of the sandwich before giving up entirely and only because I was starving.
The deck is nice, but cannot be even remotely offset by the just plain gross food.
Server was nice but very very green and didn’t quite know how to properly wait on the table and felt very awkward at times asking her for basic things like napkins, silverware, and for water multiple times before actually receiving. Paying the check took a good 15 minutes with three other tables total present.
Methinks not.

Last 5 times I have been here it really hasn’t been good. I keep giving it the benefit of the doubt. It’s very disappointing because it used to be one of my favs. I don’t know if they changed cooks or what but I won’t be back for a while.

Sycamore Grill is good if you know what you want and don’t overstay the best parts of the experience.
Especially in nice weather, the Back Deck offers a pleasant outdoor setting in the shade of the historic Sycamore Trees. If you go for Happy Hour (4:30 — 6:30), and can find a seat on the deck, it is a very nice place to relax with a friendly conversation. At other times, you have to go Monday thru Wednesday to avoid larger crowds that come on those evenings to listen to live music. But, if tunes are what you like, you may enjoy that setting. Inside, the atmosphere is dark, cool and well appointed. The Happy Hour menu is also decent.
Otherwise, the better time to go is at lunch. The Burgers, Chicken Salad and Turkey Club Sandwiches are above average, and there are good Soups (Onion, New England Clam) and Salads (Wedge and Caesar) available at prices that while higher than many other places, are much more in line with a lunch budget than the dinners that seem pricey. I have had the Combination Lunch — Bowl of French Onion and a Salad. Tasty and filling. The Burger Tuesday is also a fair deal — Your favorite Burger and Beer for $ 10.
The downside is that you have to know when to go. If you prefer a more laid back moment, then you must be attentive to season, day and time. If crowd and expense are not issues, than go anytime you wish and have a good time.