Mattabesett Canoe Club

Still rating 1 star. Despite what «Danny C» stated in the reply. What he doesn’t know is that we were right next to the patio at the park at 2:30 that Saturday and it was not even close to packed. In fact, We were chatting with the couple beside us that we could not believe how slow it was and neither of us heard music from the time we arrived at noon until we left at 5:00. Its really too bad.

Sucks! Don’t even go here. Prejudice and judgemental. Overpriced. Go to McDonald’s at least you get a happy meal not a rude experience. Stay far away, you can spend your money elsewhere.
Thanks, but no thanks. People apparently don’t come here for the food. Blaming a customer because of a bad review is not customer service is all about and not how you build a reputation. Word of mouth is a lot stronger than you think. That’s probably why no one cares to review this place. Just saying…

I’ve been to this venue a number of times over the years for events, dining, and nightlife. The most recent visit to The Mattabassett Canoe Club. Situated along side the scenic Connecticut River, not the Mattabassett River (½ mile upstream), one would wonder why it isn’t more popular. Despite various promotional events and regular customers it seems to be struggling to maintain a foot hold during the dining and nightlife renaissance up on Main Street in Middletown.
I found the dining service scattered and inconsistent even for a simple afternoon order of 2 flat breads and 2 bar beverages. The food was good, the drinks slowly delivered, and the check arrived agonizing slow. I tried to pay the tab with cash, which seemed to blow the server mind trying to make the change.
I do hope they can step up their game before it’s too late and it’s up for a new name and management, again.

This place is a dump. Over priced terrible food. The drinks are weak and poor craft beer selection. Bathrooms are a mess. Stay far away from this place.
Lol this owners response is pretty funny. Get your facts straight I gave dennys 4 stars. Maybe the owner cant count? Who cares about how much money u dumped in to this place? U sound like a third grader. I’ve been on Unilocal for years and never heard an owner brag about how much money he spent. What a loser. Money doesn’t buy you everything or at least not a good Unilocal rating at 2 stars. This owner attacking Unilocal and everyone that gives his place a bad review really makes people want to go there lol. Good luck buddy.

Would love to see what John Taffer from Bar Rescue could do for this place… Start with the sign outside that is falling down. You would figure that is the first thing the owners would fix, so many people see that sign on Route 9, yet it is an eyesore. That alone should tell you what to expect on the inside. Bathroom are filthy… Décor of the building was outdated and down right dull. Food was fair at best, beer selection especially craft beer was inadequete. Food was overpriced. What the heck are the owners thinking of? Such a great location yet it seems the owners are content with the way things are… Hoping in the future that the plan to redevelop the Middletown riverfront means more and better restaurants that will finally put Canoe Club out of its misery…

I visited this restaurant for the first time and was very pleased. This site has hosted many different restaurants over the years with medochre food at best. The service last night was excellent with friendly and efficient wait staff. I ordered the french onion soup which was delicious with lots of ooie gooie cheese on top. The broth was perfectly prepared and not overly salty. I ordered a bacon burger which was wonderful, large and well presented with non greasy french fries and a tasty cole slaw. I will definitely return to taste other selections.

I visited this place over the summer. It was interesting to see the changes from the Harbor Park to this place. Some things are good others are bad. Upstairs still no AC. Sit outside only. The food has good items and taste. There were a few items that tasted bland or overcooked. Service was okay. Every time I went there there were new service faces. Usually when you go to a restaurant there is common servers that you see. Not here! Lastly the view still rocks.

i had wanted to try this place for years after seeing it driving up to CCSU as a freshman. BUT I cannot express how terrible this place was. The drink bowls that cost $ 22 have no alcohol in them — I drank one myself and felt absolutely no buzz and tasted only grenadine. while we were waiting to put in our order, we kept seeing waiters return to the kitchen with full plates in their hands — should’ve expected what was going to happen. I ordered a flatbread pizza and the pizza that came out was raw dough with marinara sauce on it. i could literally fold the «pizza» over itself and manipulate it. silly putty was firmer than my «pizza». I gave it back to the waiter who apologized but didn’t offer anything else. I felt bad for the wait staff because they were getting the brunt of customer complaints when the kitchen staff were really the ones who weren’t doing their job. there were so many bugs because they keep the trash around the corner from the patio. the patio was completely rundown. this places only saving grace is the sunset view of the water and the bridge. otherwise, it’s not worth a second of your time.

Great appetizer, fig, pear, brie cheese and balsamic on a flat bread was just awesome. Had a cheeseburger that was also great. Good spot for lunch or dinner.

I had a terrible experience the first time I went here a few months ago. It took our waiter 30 minutes to get to us before he took our order. Another 15 minutes to get drinks.
After our food arrived we didn’t have silverware and wanted water so we requested those things. We waited 20 minutes before I got up and went to the bartender to ask. It was the worst service I had ever received and the food was not good (has seafood paella, and burgers).
So despite that incident I am sitting here today where it took 15 minutes to be acknowledged at an empty bar with careless staff. We ordered two drinks and went to sit in the sun. The waitress offered to put in an order when we ran out. She didn’t come back until about a half hour after our drinks were empty. Then we asked her for a regular mojito and a margarita and they gave us a Bloody Mary and a triple berry mojito. We asked to have it changed .
The drinks were very good, then we ordered a second round and my mojito tasted like spirte and vodka. I was just so frustrated and fed up I drank it. I won’t be coming back after. I wish the staff was more attentive and the bartenders were better because it’s a beautiful place.

I’ve always seen this place as I drive through Middletown, but always figured it was an upscale, on the river restaurant. Place was packed so I figured it would be good, I was going with several other people. The drink selection is okay, lots of cocktails, not much beer. I was warned that the food was terrible, especially the seafood, so I went with something safe, Caesar Salad with grilled chicken. The chicken was $ 5 extra, definitely didn’t get $ 5 worth and the croutons weren’t completely stale, but they weren’t exactly fresh either. Everyone else at the table said their food was nothing to write home about either, and expensive too.
Now I understand that they’ve been flooded a lot, but still, their bathrooms were brutal. It looks nice at first glance, but everything is crooked, it looks like nothing was done professionally, and dirtier than it should’ve been. My girlfriend said the women’s room had duct tape on the stalls… nice.
The saving grace of this place is the friendly waitstaff. Overall I will not be recommending this place to anyone, unless you wants drinks on the river and only drinks.

I only go for salsa night. Lessons and dancing on your own after ten. I have not eaten there. Drinks and barstaff were fast and friendly. Lots of nice ambiance for a summer night.

Nice view of the Connecticut river. Seating outside or inside. Nothing special about the food that didn’t seem that fresh or tasty. $ 8 for a Caesar salad and $ 8 for a bowl of soup that tasted like it came out of a can Service was not exceptional but it was good.

This is a nice place with great views of the river! I had the shrimp cocktail, very fresh, could use more cocktail sauce though. For lunch I had a lobster roll, AMAZING! Lotsa lobstah as they say in MA!
Service was very good! Melanie our waitress was on top of it!

We had our 2014 company holiday party here and it was an amazingly fun and well put together event. We had so many crazy demands and it couldn’t have gone smoother. They moved all of their furniture around for us, changed their entire drink menu in a half hour for our holiday drink specials, and accommodated our giant projector screen. Their DJ got our entire staff up and dancing, and entertained all of our song requests. We still can’t believe that they let us go so long over our paid time just because of all the fun we were having! We couldn’t have asked for a better venue or a more gracious host! We will definitely be coming back again and again!

How can they not carry many of the most popular domestic beers? Been here a few times since they changed the name, and not much has improved. Food isn’t the attraction. 2 stars for the awesome waterfront seating in the summer. If they hired a chef and made themselves a serious restaurant, this place could be classy!

Review from 8÷10÷2012
Too bad… This place has so much potential with it’s location.
The place was way too hot, some A/​C would be nice.
The staff was miserable and the place is expensive.
Only my wife and I and 2 dart players but service was terrible
Industrial fans drowning music
Warm beer
Hot hot hot

This review is for the ambiance and the events only, I will update when I actually eat there properly.
A colleague and I (we both work at Wesleyan University) had a great time at Mattabesett Canoe Club last night. We ordered a bottle of good Malbec (very reasonably priced) and enjoyed the spectacular view on the patio. Heaters were out so it wasn’t too cold to stay outside.
The evening was labeled «Italian night», and a local dj, Franco, played some Italian hits from the 60s and 70s and then switched to some American hits from the same period. It was enjoyable, and the music got the crowd dancing on the patio.
As part of the event, there was also a small complimentary buffet, which was a nice touch.
In general, the vibe was very nice. The location is gorgeous (with a great view of the Arrigoni bridge), peaceful, and quiet; the servers are nice; the owner, who introduced himself to everybody and stopped to chat with us a bit, was incredibly friendly; and the people who came out seemed to have fun.
Also, the place is walking distance from downtown Middletown and from Wesleyan University, and has ample parking.
If the food also proves to be good, this will become one of my favorite spots in Middletown. Oh, and they have a nice salsa night on Saturdays and the floors look pretty good for that kind of venue!).
Highly commended!

Came here for dinner in June wtih one of my out of state besties. We walked up to the host stand and the hostess asked how many, we reply 2 and she immediately brings us to the lower level back patio, which was pretty busy. We look at the menu and it’s not as extensive as it was online. Our server arrives and she explains that we were seated in the bar menu area. Ok. FAIL on Hostess for not asking if we were there for dinner. We go back to the host stand and tell her we want dinner, she grabs 2 menus and hightails it upstairs w/​o saying a word. Are we supposed to follow her? We assumed so. This girl is the worst hostess ever. seriously. She’s about 40 feet ahead of us, she stops to speak to a server and continues, without looking back once. We felt like we were stalking her, not being seating by her. Anyway that was the worst of it. from then on it was smooth sailing.
We were on the upperdeck patio view was peaceful and pretty. The bar patrons downstairs had no effect on us upstairs, which was nice. My friend had wine and I had iced tea so no experience with the supposedly horrible cocktails?
For food. Calamari… was fantastic! I had the Scallops with Cirton Risotto, also amazing, so I dont know what everyone is eating that was so god awful, but mine was excellent! My frien had the Lobster Mac and Cheese and that was also freaking amazing. It was not ridiculously thick with cheese so it felt like a lighter fare than it was. Our server was very attentive and friendly so no complaints there either.
I dont know if everyone is eating on the barside or what but other than the hostess we had a great experience and I would recommend and/​or return.

Reading all the negative reviews, I came here expecting nothing except great music from a friend who was DJing and an unbeatable view.
Either they’ve improved or the vegetarian fare is world’s better than what the rest of y’all are eating.
The service was a bit casual… not paint-​drying slow, but there could’ve been more hustle. There certainly were enough waiters on shift to go around. Nobody greeted us upon arrival, so we took the initiative to just go ahead and seat ourselves on the patio. Once we got a waiter’s attention, the service was solid until her shifted ended and someone else took over. We were in no rush, but there was some active flagging down to get a waiter’s attention when it was finally time to pay up.
The plastic cups did not detract too much from the Sangria. My partner had some bourbon-​based cocktail. We were aiming for something refreshing and did actually drive to get someplace for a change, so the fact that these were not the stiffest of drinks was fine, though the pricing for them was steep.
Like I said, the food was the biggest and best surprise. I ordered a portabella sandwich. This was not the standard sad «we’re putting something on the menu for vegetarians because we basically have to, but we’re going to punish them with weakass food for their ethical choices» sandwich. The mushroom was thick, cooked all the way through but not mealy. It was dressed up with goat cheese and roasted red peppers. This would have been juicy enough. The lettuce and tomato added texture. The fries were crunchy and salty. My partner ordered the «fruit & veggie fusion,» a salad with a fair amount of pears and mandarin orange slices. The portion was what I’d consider to be meal-​sized. Neither of us left hungry or disappointed.
This was the only time we have been here, so I’m really hoping that the food was not a fluke.