Aspen Restaurant and Bar

Great food. Excellent preparation. Some tables are a bit close, bistro-​style, but there are also a few quiet corners in case romance is in the air. I could eat the entire menu in one seating, everything sounded so good. And ask for Stephaughn. He rocks! He had a thorough knowledge of the wine list (you have to know your stuff to pair a wine with both mussels-​in-​cream-​sauce and a grilled hanger steak). He also knew when to swing by to see if we needed anything, and when to leave us alone. The runners are sharp too, both in terms of not having to ask, «So…who has the wedge salad?» but also in being polite in not clearing plates until everyone was finished. Been for late lunch and for dinner. Home run both times. Definitely return.

The food was good, as to be expected for any restaurant with a location on main street.
With that being said, the dynamics of the restaurant are completely off. As you enter, you make the choice between clothes shopping or eating. They put clear emphasis on the retail store in the «lobby» over Aspen. As you walk in to be seated, you can see into the kitchen which, could be nice, but I saw a very dirty and laxadaylsial environment. Now, I haven’t even been seated yet. As the customer continues in they are immediately looking at all of the patrons at the bar. This is clearly not a New Haven night club, and you do not need to advertise the bar in a setting such as this.
I sit down
Whoever thought having the dining room full of hardwood walls and 15 foot ceilings was appealing, needs a lesson in acoustics. That person must really enjoy the sound quality out of the free headphones you get on the American Airlines flights. I have never ate in such an unnecessarily loud environment.
The girl with the dark hair and facial piercings threw our food at us in a manner that was nothing besides embarrassing on her regard.
For the money, I would not recommend the experience here.

I’m not sure why Aspen receives such a bad aggregate rating. I went for lunch and ordered the scallops main entrée. The scallops were cooked perfectly. The bar and atmosphere is quite inviting, and I would love to return for some cocktails and appetizers next time I am in the area. All things considered, one of the best fine dining options in Old Saybrook.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon I drove down from my Grandmother’s house to the little town of Old Saybrook and discovered this lovely little spot. I rarely eat out at restaurants in the small towns off the I-​95, so I don’t have much to compare «The Aspen» to, but I was pleasantly surprised!
After consuming only carbs for the past few days, I opted for something lighter, the Salmon on a bed of Quinoa. Yum. Salmon is always a risky order because I feel like the quality can vary from meh to excellent. I have to say, Aspen’s was fantastic! My friend ordered the fish and chips which were equally as great. Even though i didn’t eat many, I thought the fries were SOLID and would welcome the addition to any future order…
The service was attentive, friendly and well managed. I’m a fan.

Excellent food, great service, and wonderful atmosphere. We can’t wait to come back again!

Aspen Restaurant — Old Saybrook, CT — 7÷12÷2015
We’ve been here many times and although the service is always fairly consistent, I am finding the menu to be somewhat limited.
This time it was for lunch. I had an amazing Cauliflower and Curry Soup to start and a Grilled Romaine Salad. About ½ the size of any we’ve ever had anywhere and when mentioned, they volunteered to bring the other half. Flavor was great just small portioned…
Their Bread and House whipped Butter combo is probably one of the best in the area.
Next up the Fish & Chips, lightly battered and fried to perfection. They don’t serve Cole Slaw or any other vegetable with this dish so take that into account if so accustomed. The Tartar Sauce was delicious but you’ll probably do well to request a second right up front as they are also rather small.
I much prefer the evening menu but as I said their selection is quite limited compared to many of the other restaurants we frequent regardless of when you come.
All in all we enjoy coming here and will definitely be back. Although we highly recommend the restaurant, you just can’t come a lot or you will run out of dishes to have.

Almost two years later we made the mistake of thinking maybe things at Aspen had improved. Wrong! My wife had the veal stew that was tasteless and the vegetables were raw. She had about two bites. My pork shoulder was fatty and over cooked. My veggies were the only good food we had.
Our server, the bar tender was clueless with no personality. We had accumulated a $ 35 reward that was not honored as we were not here for
Eight months and their system would not confirm it. Skip the reward system.
Not worth the aggravation.

We tried Aspen for the first time and I was very impressed with the atmosphere, service, and reasonable price. The food was very good, but not the absolute best I’ve ever tasted. Maybe an 8 out of ten. But factor in everything else, and this will be one of our go-​to places. I love the small plates that you can mix and match. We shared mussels and then I had edamame dumplings and my husband had lobster ravioli.

Aspen is one of my favorite restaurants in Connecticut. The environment is beautiful with gorgeous lighting from the vast windows. The ingredient are super fresh always. The bread and whipped butter with pink salt is amazing. I could eat it as my entrée. The lobster dishes are decadent. The truffle fries are essential with every meal. Do yourself a favor and order the cheesecake. Overall a wonderful consistent restaurant

Been here many times with my family and always have a wonderful time! Great food, great drinks and great service– highly recommended!

Okay so I’ve never had dinner here yet but I will very soon. My girlfriend and I just stopped by the other night and had dessert and cappuccino. I had this amazing chocolate/​peanut bread pudding, unbelievable! I seriously wanted to order a 2^nd but obviously you can’t do that because I was very full. The service was amazing. The ambiance was great. We got sat right in front of the fireplace too. Our server was great, his name was Stephon (sp?). Definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a nice place to enjoy some great food. Will be back soon for dinner.

Not sure how I’ve missed this place all these years but wow I’m impressed & will come back again. Surprised by how much seafood is in the noodle bowl, Highly recommend. The fish & chips are crisp & fully inside. But the grill romaine salad is the best. Make the stop of in Old Say Brook prices really aren’t terribly high.

We have enjoyed lunch on three separate occasions and could not be more pleased by our experience. Love their pre meal bread with salted whipped butter and have had excellent service and food. They do need to do a much better job with desserts. We’ve stopped ordering anything after our entrée. A little pricey but worth it.

It would be a mistake not to order the calimari, but it is medium spicy.

3.5 stars. Our service was really good and I liked the food… albeit small portions and expensive. Beautifulll restaurant; ideal for a cozy romantic date, or in my case, dinner with a girlfriend from school.
I ordered salmon. It was perfectly cooked, but maybe only 3 or 4 oz. Wished I ordered the more impressive looking burger. My friend chose the lobster parpadelle… which I thought looked amazing, but she described it as «heavy.» We also shared a market salad, which they were kind enough to split for us in the kitchen. It was fresh and delish. At one point, a hostess noticed my empty wine glass and asked if I’d like another drink… but told no one when I accepted so of course it did not arrive.
I’d probably come back with my sweetie pie for dinner or to sit at the bar and enjoy the atmosphere.

Great atmosphere for a nice night out. The food was good, not great, but good. It is a little spendy, but I would expect that in a place like this.

Excellent! The service was great and the food was outstanding. I had the scallops and the dish blew my mind, it was so good. My fiancé had the duck. I didn’t know duck could taste so good! Everything we had was amazing. Kudos to the chef!

Rainy Saturday, fireplace not on, deadly slow service, lunch lasted hours for very average food.
They have pretty restaurant
Need management who cares. The whole place is run by waiters.
Not impressed !! Again

Love love love the food, atmosphere, and service. Everything you could want in a dining experience. A unique restaurant to the area, definitely a great place to try for a nice lunch or dinner.

I’ve returned to Aspen in Old Saybrook 3 times with a bunch of girlfriends, and here’s why: yummy small plates to share, not-​your-​standard wines by the glass (Sonoma Cutrer, anyone?) and even a killer Cosmo. Here’s what we eat: grilled flat bread with shrimp and fig purée, yellowfin tuna seared rare on wonton crisps, and ditalini pasta with asparagus and basil pistou. But here’s the real reason to go to Aspen: our waiter, Kevin. When we passed on dessert and suggested that maybe Aspen could extend the small plate idea to its dessert selection (we only wanted a teeny bite of chocolate after all) this is what we got with our bill. If that’s not over the top service, I don’t know what is.