Whistling Swan Sturbridge Review

This restaurant is located in Sturbridge and has that feeling of 'elegant colonial New England'. They do have a cheaper restaurant ("the Ugly Duckling") associated with them, but the Whistling Swan side is made for the rich antique hunters and the proud 'my ancestors came over on the Mayflower' visitors that want a great dining experience.

In the past year, I went there with my dad and found the wine selection to be great and the menu to be full of delicious items. The restaurant itself is old-elegant, meaning it's not very comfortable and makes you worry if you've used the right fork or not. I went back again with my mom and found the same thing - that the wines are overpriced and the waitstaff is a bit unhelpful.

OK try #3 in the same 12 month period. I went with my sister and mom for Mother's Day. They had a set menu that had only 5-6 items on it, with 4-5 appetizers and 4 desserts. My mom and sister showed up at 6:30 (the time of the reservation) and even though the reservation was for downstairs, they were shown upstairs. No server talked to them for a full 20 minutes while they sat there. I got there at 6:50 and took them back downstairs again, where the waitress was much more attentive.

Unfortunately, the best appetizer, dessert and 2 of the dishes were already out of stock. OK, so I had the shrimp bisque and tuna, and my 2 guests had other dishes. The appetizers and wine showed up promptly. The bisque was mild but good. Next came the salads, which were OK. On we moved to the main dish. The tuna was simple but tasty, although it came with mashed potatoes and peas. I'm low carb and I suppose I should have asked, but as that's what everybody else got too, there wasn't much option to substitute out.

By the time we got to dessert, our waters weren't being refilled and now half of the desserts were gone. We asked for 2 german cream cakes and a strawberry shortcake. We instead got a german cream cake and a german chocolate cake plus the shortcake. Ah well, we ate them anyway. The total for dinner was about $160 including the inexpensive wine we drank. This was actually quite reasonable - and since the menu was the same up in the Ugly Duckling (although as mentioned the service was far worse) I imagine it was a good price due to that.

Now to the bad part, though. When I got home I immediately began to have severe stomach pains despite taking gas-x and tums every hour on the hour all night, until I was violently ill at around 6am. I then felt somewhat better but not fully. I'd forgotten my jacket there (we were pretty much the last to leave so I wasn't very worried about calling in earlier). They took my number and said they'd look for it, and I mentioned the illness. They said I must have been allergic to something in the food. I eat seafood ALL the time, the salad was normal and the peas and mashed potatoes were rather uninspiring. So I really doubt that I developed a sudden allergy to say, capers, which I eat by the jar-ful. They did track down the jacket a few days later, so that was good!

In any case, I do have to say the waitress this time was at least helpful in the beginning although she vanished later on. But in general, there are several other restaurants in the area that I'd choose in terms of a good meal for the money.

Menu: Changes, sometimes great high end food, sometimes bland high end food
Wine List: Great selection but overpriced
Dress: Nice - skirts, dresses, dress pants
Staff: When present, they are friendly and helpful, willing to do extras to please

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