Black Hall Grille

I was looking forward to dining at the Black Hall Grille based on the appealing menu on their website and the positive reviews they had received.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was short lived as we were presented with a menu consisting of two sheets of paper stapled together. None of the items that I had wanted to order were on it. In fact, there was no steak available at all. No Specials were offered even though it was a Saturday night. Being a picky eater, I had to settle for a burger and fries.
The food also took a long time to arrive and was mediocre in quality.
I’m sorry to say that this will be my last visit to this establishment since there was such a difference in impression from their website to the reality of the dining experience.

WATERED DOWN DRINKS. Order a beer. What a disappointing way to start a meal. There’s no hiding a light martini. Food was very average. The man across the little dining area was sending his food back. Should have taken my 17 year olds opinion more seriously. 3 stars just in case I was expecting too much.

If you are looking for a cold drink or a delicious meal this is the place. I have been coming here for years and the chef always is impressive with the 5 star meals. I would recommend this place to anybody! My favorite is the French onion soup! Awesome!

Entered through lounge front was blocked due to construction. 5 tables w people in dining room. Waited for table to be set before seating, informed they were short handed. Sat met waitress Sona ordered water and went to bathroom which had no light it was broken off. Back @ table drank my water and watched this young waitress cater to all 5 tables. Take orders, bus tables
Deliver food. Literally took 17 mins to get more water and never heard the specials lol
I Ordered the scallops and house salad, My Wife a vegetarian ordered artichoke appetizer for entrée she ordered mash potatoes asparagus & house salad. No lie waited 32 mins for artichoke app?!!
After asking numerous times for more water finally I got up and went to the bar to get it.
While waiting the 32 mins 8 obnoxious people entered through the front door ! Apparently so blind drunk didn’t see the sign blocking the stairs or moved it? After they were seated we heard the women helping the only waitress read the specials that night. Also while waiting they had there appetizers served to them long before we received ours? Mind u grilled artichokes and house salad ?! Needless to say we ran out of there and frankly wouldn’t go back for any reason!

Great food and friendly quick service, been here twice now and my wife a few more times. Always great. Caution! The monster burger is big enough for three!

Excellent dinner for two. Tender scallops and flank steak for our main course with a huge bowl of steamers to share as our appetizer. A nice room, a great chef and attentive service at a fair price. What more could you want?

Came here after a day of exploring along the south Connecticut coast with my husband. The main dining area was closed, since we were there around lunch time, so we were seated in the bar area. We were seated immediately, and even though it was a Sunday, the place was pretty much packed.
We were given menus, but it took us a really long time to order, even though there were sufficient waitresses for the number of people in the relatively small bar area. My husband ordered a John Daley, which was well made, and I opted for Not Your Father’s Root-​beer. We were told the specials, and ordered after sitting a good half hour or so.
My special was supposed to be a Chicken Walnut Cranberry Sandwich ($ 7), which was mostly mayo, and had no cranberries or walnuts to speak of. The filling was so slimy and mushy, it was absolutely impossible to eat. This was served alongside house-​made kettle chips, which were likewise oily, soggy and overcooked. My husband ordered the Turkey Club ($ 11), which was also overly-mayo’ed, soggy, and accompanied by the oily chips.
We were so disappointed in the food here, and also by the service. When the waitress came back to see that we had barely touched our food, we remarked that it was all oily, soggy, and predominately mayo, to which she shrugged and took the plates away. Price for product is way too high for other items on the menu, for no reason.
There was also a fellow diner at the bar who was playing music on the boombox overly loud, and nobody thought or cared to mitigate the sound, which was not appropriate for the crowd, nor the time. They say on their website «Quality and consistancy is the key, and we are dedicated to bringing you a better offering than you have come to expect,» but delivers none of it. Absolutely a mess, I will not be returning.

I was part of a larger party for a special occasion, and so the menu was semi-​fixed. The food was delicious! The calamari was light and tasty, the chicken entrée was crisp on the outside but very juicy on the inside, and I stole some of my husband’s cedar-​plank salmon that was cooked perfectly and had good flavor with some sort of butter thyme sauce. Everyone at the table only had positive things to say. Service was also excellent. Based on this experience, I would definitely return!

Came here for dinner with friends while at their beach house. They had never tried it and we liked the place so much we came back the next day for lunch. Service was great (Kelly was the bartender) and the owner (Barbara) was funny and clearly involved in her business. Menu was not your average fried seafood shack which is common near the beach and had great offerings. I had the steak flatbread and pan-​seared scallops which were both outstanding. Following day I had the sliders which were good. Friends all raved about their meals as well. We’ll be back.

Have been here many times and through its many iterations… This restaurant started out with an over-​abundance of fried food, but they have obviously worked hard to lighten up the menu. We are also VERY pleased not to have TVs in the dining room!!! Yay! Simple, quiet and civilized… We went again the other night and both of us had outstanding meals and service. The fish was as good or better than some we have had at fancier places (I had planked salmon, my mother had a monkfish special). Well priced, attentive/​friendly/​expedient service and truly delicious food! Thanks!

This is our 4 or 5^th time to the restaurant, even though it has never met expectations, as we try to support local business.
I called for New Years Eve Dinner reservation at last minute, they checked to see if there were any openings and took reservation for 5. Showed up 5 minutes before reservation time, there was one couple waiting for their dinner and one person leaving. We were promptly seated and our drink order was take. We are 3 adults and two children. After our drinks arrived we are told it was a limited menu, which is orally recited for us with no price. We ordered two ceaser salads which came with almost no dressing (we both had to touch salad to see if their was any dressing), which was average taste, and only a few croutons at $ 9.00 each! We ordered prime rib at $ 20 each which was served with «winter asparagus» cooked on the grill and potatoes. The prime rib temperature was cooked correctly, but was ¼ fat and had no seasoning or taste. The asparagus looked like over cooked floppy green beans, was cold, and we had 4 orders which no one ate. The potatoes had good flavor, but were cold and soggy. They were out of menu items at 6:45 pm, were told there were items we could not get which were then served to another dinner at our table who ordered off the menu. They did allow us to order a burger that was not on the menu which was ok and substitute dressing on a salad. This was the most disappointing dinner at $ 160. The waitress was terrific and no issues were her fault. Every time we have had dinner here the food has been at best average, mine always less so. We will not be returning.

Good spot. First time there and was happy with the food (ribs) and prices.
Will return.

Wonderful! The staff is always kind, and service is spot on. The presentation of the dinner orders are beautiful. They will prepare your dinner just how you want it done.

I live near this place, and was really hopeful that it would live up to is name and serve fresh grilled meats. Unfortunately, they started off as another fried seafood place with an emphasis on the Bar. Every time I am ready to write them off I hear they have a new chef, and the food is good now… still waiting. So why give them 3 stars? They have a great bar, and while they care less about regular food customers, they really keep the bar crowd happy. So if you want a drink and a peek at the location bar crowd, it definitely worth it. For anything else it’s all up to the next new chef…

Had 5 guests in from out of town tonight. We enjoyed terrific service from Melissa ans Michelle and we were all very much at home in no time. My guests RAVED about the shrimp cocktails — they could order the number of shrimp they wanted … some ordered 5, some ordered 2. The shrimp were very large, fresh and delicious.
We ordered a variety of main courses and salads. Everyone thought the food was perfect. We will be back!

Amazing, amazing food. We had the fried mozzarella, clam chowder, French onion soup, burger, pasta bolognese, and chicken piccata. All were fantastic. Service was also wonderful. I highly recommend. A new regular for us!

The food was pretty good. The experience was terrible. Don’t list the reatauraunt as family friendly of you are going to yell at a 2 year old for standing up and not sitting down despite being quiet. The manager was horrendous. She was rude to everyone who walked including 3 elderly people who complained and mentioned it was the second time she has done this to them. It was an embarrassment to the service industry the way the manager behaved. You couldn’t pay me enough to set foot in there again.

We recently moved to Old Lyme, right nearby The Grille so we had to give it a try. We will not go back. We eat out alot and prefer high quality places — we are not complainers and generally don’t return food. The Gril
le has a bad atmosphere and also an off putting smell. Aside from that the menu is «old school» which, if done well, could be okay. Except it is not done well, the «baked cod» i ordered was just inedible — fishy and also rubbery. I informed the waitress and she was clearly embarrassed to come back to report the owner offered no discount on our meal, or even a consolation like a free dessert.
Aside from the terrible fish, was an overpriced and not tasty chopped salad that I ordered as an appetizer — it came on a tiny plate and was more like shredded romaine and random stuff — not a composed chopped salad and overall, flavorless.
We witnessed other unhappy diners during our visit.
Go to Jessies in Old Lyme for much better food and service.

This place deserves MANY more positive reviews! We enjoyed the chowder, fried oysters, fish and chips, and prime rib. Service was outstanding!!!
We came here after a travel lax game (we traveled far), and was not disappointed! Would come back again in a heartbeat!

This restaurant opened in June 2011, and will definitely be a favorite place to go when summer is here. It’s the perfect spot for fish and chips or a burger when you’re headed to the beach. We visited for lunch a couple of weeks ago and were really impressed with how great everything was!
I had the clam chowder to start with, and I tend to be really critical about clam chowder (I grew up in Maine) and I thought that their chowder was one of the best that I’ve had in Connecticut. I would definitely order it again. I also ordered the fish and chips and I loved how flaky and perfectly fried the fish was. My boyfriend ordered a burger, which he loved and someone also ordered the scallop entrée (which they raved about).
I’m definitely interested in returning to check out the bar area in the back of the restaurant. It looked like a great spot to sit and watch a game and get to know the locals.
I would recommend to anyone in the area!