The Rudder

We loved the ambience, and our waitress was fabulous, as were all of the staff.. Bread and dessert ( bread pudding)were yummy , but we both had the spaghetti Bolognese, and found it mushy and tasteless. We were so disappointed. Greek salad was nothing special.I had never been to a Barbara Lynch restaurant, and had hoped to be wowed, but was not.

Many things to like. Staff lovely, atmosphere really appealing to us. Drinks and appetizers were timely and delicious. However I ordered the brioche pizza as a main course and it was weirdly flat and so uninteresting I couldn't eat it. My husband's pork was good (not great) but his plate was cold, so the meat cooled off really fast. Desserts were nice and mine was comped because I didn't like the pizza, which I really appreciated. We will definitely try again!

We've been to several of Barbara Lynch's restaurants, included Menton in Boston, which was the greatest meal of our lives. The Rudder is an institution in Gloucester. With the Chef taking it over and putting her stamp on it, while still keeping to the local tradition, we were curious as to how it would be. Knowing our experience with the Chef's restaurant we shouldn't have been surprised but, still kind of were. We started with French Onion Soup and the New England Clam Chowder....read full review