The Stone Tavern

Great atmosphere and food.

After a long day visiting Longwood Gardens, we wound up here for some dinner. When we arrived, we were told it would be around 15 minutes, no problem. We were seated with menus within 10, so it started off very promising.

We sat. And sat. And sat some more. Finally, after sitting for 15 minutes without so much as a "Welcome... be right with you" we asked at the host station. The gentleman was very apologetic and within a couple of minutes a very surly-looking server sashayed over and greeted us with a "what do you want?"

We ordered. Nothing complex, no special requests. She kinda scoffed and walked off.

Then we waited some more. After an additional 45 minutes, the one bowl of soup and the kids mac and cheese came out. Soup was so salty that my wife couldn't finish it. After another 20 minutes (and a halfhearted apology for the kitchen being backed up) the rest of the mains came out. Mine was good. Not great, but edible. The uneven seasonings levels continued as some reported way too much salt.

I have been in the restaurant business and I understand that things happen... the kitchen gets slammed, you run out of something. It happens. Most customers are willing to wait, but you need to keep them informed. Make an effort... don't just stand there and act like we don't exist.

In short, this place could be a great Irish pub, but there's a lot that needs to be addressed first. I'm not going to say we won't return, but next time we'll just wait for a table at PJ Whelihan's.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 1

Ugh. I hate to write this review bc we’ve been there as a family on so many occasions, often with friends and always loved it. Tonight was just “off.” We waited about 30 minutes for a table for 9 people, which we were OK with. But once seated, placed our order and waited nearly an hour and half for our order. When it came out, it just wasn’t the same quality we’ve been used to. It was apparent the food had been sitting for a bit. Our waitress was on the move and this wasn’t her fault. My guess is that the kitchen process has not caught up with the volume. Our kids were on the brink of melting down. What struck me was that the manager never visited once to check in, see how things were going. Then, of course, the bill came as usual — same prices charged for lesser service. I hope things improve. We’ll give it one more shot and then move on to something else. Its a shame bc The Stone has always been a staple in this are until recently. Happy to talk further with the manger if interested….

Atmosphere: 2

Service: 2

Literally stopped by for one drink. My husband ordered Texas ranch water with 1800 tequila and a Vodka cranberry for me.

The vodka cranberry looked pretty light so i worried that it might have a lot of vodka. Actually, it seemed to be a cranberry with water, not vodka. My husbands drink was the same.

Even better... these 2 water drinks came to $40 even.

Never again.

Service: 1

Food was awesome and bartender was great thanks again

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Smokehouse Chicken, Hot Roast Beef Sandwich

We've been patronizing the Stone Tavern for a number of years. We live about 30 minutes away, but it's always been a solid Irish pub and we have typically made the effort to go at least every few months.

We became aware in the last several months that this pub had changed ownership. Initially, we didn't notice any meaningful changes. The two gentlemen who were always working the bar were still there, and we noticed that a number of other wait staff were still there. Recently, we noticed that it looks like the entire wait staff has turned over. There could be any number of reasons, but given that the format of this place hasn't changed, it was puzzling to us. The last couple visits, I started to notice some changes. A 3% credit card fee was instituted, something that wasn't in place in the past. Menu prices (I think) also crept up a bit. I get it, I know cost of doing business is up, but for what this place is, it started getting expensive. Also noticed portion sizes coming down (3 pieces of fish instead of 4 in my wife's fish and chips, a portion of corned beef that I polished off, when I always used to have leftovers, etc.).

Last night was a poor experience. I'm not saying I'll never return, but I won't be rushing back. We went on Monday night, it's wing night after 7 (website and signs in bathroom say $10, it's normally $16). Place was VERY busy, but we were seated within about 15 minutes.

Food took forever. We ordered wings, burgers, chicken fingers, etc. Standard bar food. I think we sat around 7:10 and we weren't out until 9:00. The place continued to be very busy, and from what I could see, everyone's food was taking a long time. So I think that's why it continued to be so busy on a Monday night. Server was not attentive, she outright disappeared multiple times.

When the check came, the wings (2 orders) were rung at full price. I was sitting there holding the check, and a gentlemen who (may have) been a manager came over and asked if I had a question. Explained that we were charged full price. He says sure, I'll fix it. Check comes back, wings now say $12.50 (again, advertised at $10). I might not normally complain about $5 at a place I like. But it was such a bad experience that I wasn't going to let it go. Spoke to the same gentlemen, he seemed puzzled, and I said, it's on your website - he didn't argue, did take it off. But if you're going to advertise a special, staff should know about it.

I've noticed a number of other poor reviews as of late. New owners should take heed, at some point, people will spend their money elsewhere. There is still time to right the ship, but in terms of cost and service, we are not moving in the right direction here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 2

This season they are very busy so it is a little loud, but service and food continue to be great.

Dietary restrictions: Checked on foods to address my milk allergy.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Salad, Soup, French Onion Soup

Incredible wings, and if you haven't had Scotch Eggs before, they are next level good. And Ron is the best ever!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 3

Great atmosphere and wait staff!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I heard that Stone Tavern recently changed owners and it shows (and many “regulars” have said they noticed and not in a positive way). This spot is a staple for my family but the last two times we visited, we’ve noticed cuts are being made likely to save money, a few examples include:
- Salads now come with a lot of greens and no substance
- The chicken in the Chicken Caesar Salad and the Smokehouse Chicken Sandwich is different - tastes more processed, lower quality, weird seasoning on each
- They no longer give the cute kids cups and even the crayons are a cheaper version!

I’m not one to leave a poor review but I’m doing so in hopes that the new owner (and perhaps new chef) reverts back to the original for each meal. My family goes to Stone Tavern once a week but now that we’ve had two bad meals in a row, we will no longer be visiting which is so disappointing.

My family and I had dinner at Stone Tavern last week for the first time in a few months. It was a Thursday night dinner staple of ours until work schedules changed, but the schedules changed again and we were able to go back to ST which we were looking forward to very much. However, we noticed a number of changes, not for the better, had been made during our brief hiatus. Here are a list of the things we noticed were different this time around:

1. No longer any cute, fun kids’ size cups with crazy, colorful bendy straws that not only did my boys (ages 4 & 2) looked forward to, but these cups were perfect for their little hands and the bendy straws allowed us to shape and shorten the length of the straws so they can easily drink their water without spills. The new cups are regular size with a normal adult straw that are prone to spillage since the cups are too big and the straws aren’t flexible, so my kids tip the cup to an almost horizontal position in order to drink the water from the long plastic straw.
2. The kids crayons were a cheap, no-name brand which barely showed up when my kids used them; this is very frustrating for little kids.
3. I had the smokehouse chicken sandwich and was very disappointed in the changes made to a perfected sandwich. The chicken used to be a large, thin chicken breast and perfectly seasoned; not too spicy, but had great flavor. To emphasize, the best part was that it was a big piece of chicken and thin, which meant it was always tender, juicy, and moist. I personally can’t stand a chicken sandwich with a super thick piece of chicken, because it always gets dried out. Such is the case for the new version of chicken that I received. It was two pieces of thick chicken placed on top of each other to make an even thicker piece of piece chicken. The chicken was tough and dried out and quite clearly not as good quality as it was before. Additionally, the seasoning changed as well. It has been made spicier and just didn’t taste as flavorful.
4. Finally, we noticed the man that was ALWAYS at the hostess stand greeting patrons and helping the staff in anyway possible, was no longer there. I assume he was the owner. It’s sad to him gone as it was always nice to see how much he cared about the ins and outs of the restaurant.

It’s a shame when new ownership comes in and makes changes like the ones above probably thinking that the customers won’t notice or if they do notice, the new ownership doesn’t care. Well we do notice and we see that you’re making these changes to cut costs, but those costs cutting “strategies” come with a different price…the loss of regular customers. Sadly, I don’t think this will be a weekly visit of ours anymore because we no longer enjoy the food and the experience, especially for me as a parent, which was no longer as “family-friendly” as it used to be.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

New management is not ok with you swapping French fries for mashed potatoes... had to get it "approved". What's up??

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 2

Great spot, but curious what happened to the Hot wings, they used to be much much hotter.

Great food good atmosphere wonderful service ... Lovely old building. What's not to love? I tried Scotch eggs for the first time in my life and they were good.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We had lunch yesterday, a party of six family members, Emily was absolutely incredible!! She was so very attentive without hovering. Her attention to detail did not go unnoticed. Our roast beef, Italian chicken (special) sandwiches were amazing along with the burger and fish and chips.
Emily, YOU made an ordinary family lunch, exceptional!!! We'll be back!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5