The Elbow Room

This place is amazing. Went there on a Friday evening and sat on the rooftop. The food was amazing and the drink selection was phenomenal. I was able to get a Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2 months after it was released. I am still astounded by that. I know I’ll definitely be back.

I’ve lived here seven years, and I have to say in recent months I’ve seen a huge improvement in Elbow Room and have really enjoyed my experience. The owner is so nice and dog friendly. I’ve also felt that there has been an improvement in the quality of the food, service, and drinks. Also, we sat upstarts and had a drink after work this week, and noticed the ambiance is much nicer — they painted and it was more comfortable. Finally, I really appreciate the nice selection of gluten free options. I like the turkey sandwich on the GF bun. It is nice to have an option in West Hartford that isn’t as fancy and you can just go and relax.

Second time and food was horrible both times. First time completely burnt salmon and second time grease soaked fish tacos. Truly terrible food!

I went here for dinner with friends. We had a friendly, attentive server, but we didn’t love the food. First we were given complimentary biscuits, but I thought they were a bit dry and not very flavorful. We got nachos as an appetizer. They were decent (tri-​colored chips, a few different cheeses, some jalopenos, and we got chicken on top) but the plate was definitely too big for the three of us, especially since we were eating dinner too. It would be great if we were just getting drinks. Our food came out soon after the nachos were delivered, so we didn’t really get time to enjoy the appetizer. For dinner we got the mac and cheese, pulled pork mac and cheese, and the avocado burger. Both of us thought that the mac and cheese wasn’t the best we’d ever had. It’s a huge portion, which I appreciate as the price for the pulled pork m&c is $ 18,95, but I don’t think I’d come back for the food. Maybe apps and drinks, but that’s about it.

I went their to experience the roof top.
The smells pretty bad especially while you are walking up the stairs.
I was their with my colleagues for a drink.
Ordered their baked potato starter with wad very sour. I would not go back unless their is some significant change in the place.

I hosted a baby shower for my sister here and the place was just amazing! From the start communicating with the owner was very easy and he was quick to respond. The day of the party went very smooth. All of the staff were so sweet! They even helped to bring decorations and presents from the car. They made sure we had water/​drinks while setting up. Our server, Kristy I think?, was amazing and on top of everything. Our food took the perfect amount of time and was ready right when we finished the first game (perfect timing!!). Everyone was more than happy with their meals and the mimosas — which our server made sure were always ready for us. No one wants to wait for drinks…
They have a basement room that can be used for parties — we had about 20 people. It isn’t the fanciest, but it was free and they let us decorate!
I go here for lunch all the time too and don’t really get all of the horrible reviews. It get that Blue Back has to offer, but it’s not as bad as people make it out to be on here and, hello— where else has a ROOFTOP in WH!!!

We came here for brunch with our pup and were immediately seated on the patio. Pup got VIP service with a bowl of water and our food was super yummers. I got a Cobb salad which I modified with no issue and a tasssty Bloody Mary (house made mix). Don’t trust the below average reviews, give this place a shot!

Last week I decided to give the Elbow Room a third try after two horrible experiences with the service. Needless to say, after two years the restaurant has significantly gotten worse. While the food was decent, the service was absolute garbage. After a painful 45 minutes on the roof having to fight for the waiters attention, we moved downstairs to an empty dining room, thinking to ourselves this must be faster. It was not. It took the waiter almost 30 minutes to first come and ask for our drink order and then to bring them to us. By that time we were fed up and asked for the check. Do not go to the Elbow Room. You will receive better service at a place that doesn’t even have servers.

Side Bar Tap Room Elbow Space macaroni idk how many names you can give one restaurant. Came in on a pleasant weathered spring Friday afternoon because I wanted to eat lunch outside, and i knew the place had roof seating. The setting and vibes and décor of this place are super chill and swanky nothing too pretentious yet also not too shabby. The roof top was a mess when we got up there messy tables out of order bathroom no one to guide us to a table. A very lovely and kind waitress came to us after a few minutes got us some nice Guinness drafts. We to use the bathroom downstairs was a solo unisex, door didnt lock, toilet tank had a large crack in it. Food was cool, I’m vegan and was able to make it work. Mad chill place seems like management/​ownership could be better. Loved the friendly vibes of the staff.

I don’t even know where to begin. Seriously. We had never been here and decided to chance it because we love finding new places. I ordered a glass of prosecco. I should’ve known I was in trouble when she brought it in a wine glass. The hubs orders lobster Mac and cheese. I ordered crab nachos. My nachos were ok. Very mediocre after I doctored them up a bit. His Mac and cheese was vomit inducing. NO exaggeration. First, it was VERY bland. We added as much salt and pepper to try to Doctor it up before we asked our waitress if she could take it to the back so they could do something to it. It had NO seasoning or taste. She was very polite in adhering to our request. Brings it back. They added cheddar to it. That made it a bit more tolerable. But we noticed all if the lobster was GONE. We aren’t crazy and we aren’t douche bags but it was definitely like they just sent out regular Mac and cheese. So we ask out waitress about it. She assures us it’s the same, but offers to bring a side of lobster for him to just add to it. Again, she’s still super kind. She brings a small bowl of lobster mush. It almost looked puréed. And it smelled like chum. It immediately triggered my gag reflex. I almost lost the one quesadilla I managed to get down. He took a bite reluctantly and immediately spit it out. The smell was overpowering and I don’t even want to imagine the taste. I smelled the bowl and I can’t even describe how foul it was. Maybe the chef was angry with us but the puréed lobster he sent us was NOT consumable. After that, we had it. We immediately decided to scrap it. We gave up. It was terrible. The hubs went to tell the waitress. I had to get up from the table and stood by the hostess stand. A waiter walked by to deliver drinks to another table and I could smell the foulness as he walked by. Can’t say I would eat here. Ever. Again. Terrible. Should’ve paid more attention to the already existing reviews.

Don’t waste your time or money here, unless you’re having a beer on the rooftop. The service was awful– waitress was not professional and incredibly slow. The «cocktail» I had was not drinkable. I could only endure two sips and gave up. Also, I ordered eggs over easy that were cooked all the way through. Our brunch food was greasy and unseasoned. What happened to this place?

I’m so surprised to hear about the bad service/​food at the Elbow Room, because I have been there multiple times and have always had a lovely experience. Each server I’ve had has been incredibly attentive and polite, and those biscuits are to die for. I have dreams about those biscuits.
I get something different every time I go and I’ve never been disappointed. I took my parents, grandparents, and aunt there on separate occasions and they all loved it as well. I honestly have no complaints about this place. I’m sad to see that my review isn’t the majority opinion.

I’ll start with the good.
We had a party of about 20 people on a Friday night. We had ONE server for the whole table, and while she was great, nice and wonderfully attentive, it felt odd that we weren’t assigned two or three servers. So the good was: we had a really good server and the ambiance was nice.
Now the bad (i.e. the food). I had the spinach artichoke dip and an eggplant panini. The spinach artichoke dip was *obviously* not made with fresh ingredients. It was a little watery and starchy… probably made from a powdered mix (if that’s even a thing). The pita chips that came with it were extremely thick and were somewhat soft-​crunchy, which made them super annoying to chew on. Lastly, the panini came with a sad, wilted salad that looked like it’d been left out in a hot kitchen for too long (it was a little warm by the time I got it) and the eggplant in the sandwich was rubbery.
Overall, the value was not good. The panini was the size of a regular sandwich for $ 10.95 and the dip was only about one cup with about ten triangle-​shaped pita chips (also $ 10.95).

Come here for a drink on the rooftop bar. It’s really lovely up there on a nice evening. But don’t come hungry, because the food ain’t so good! The only reason we are giving two stars is because of the rooftop.
We ordered the crab cake which was mostly filler and I wouldn’t have eaten if I hadn’t been so hungry. We also ordered the grouper tacos appetizer and we only got one medium sized taco, which was dripping with oil. Literally, the taco wouldn’t stop dripping oil. I don’t know where all the oil was coming from but it got all over the place. We were surprised that we only got one taco for a $ 10 appetizer. It tasted much better than the crab cake though. We also got the mac & cheese which we had read was the best in the area. The mac & cheese was fine, def not the best in any area, but we really didn’t need a whole bowl of the stuff. It would have been nicer if we could have gotten an appetizer portion of the mac & cheese.
After the three dishes, we figured that maybe we ordered wrong and should’ve ordered more bar food. So we got the wings, but even the wings were so-​so. They were fatty and not crispy at all.
Also, my husband got the Elbow Room martini and I kinda blame him for ordering it because it was vodka and whiskey, and that sounds pretty gross to me, but he insisted it was their signature drink and so he tried it. But it basically just tasted like watered down whiskey and no one likes that.
Our waitress was really sweet though and the service was prompt.

This place is just OK. I’ve been here a few times and was underwhelmed each time. The only thing that’s good about this restaurant is the roof top seating. But trying to get a seat there is almost impossible. The last time I went I took my boyfriend there for dinner for a Fathers Day dinner. I called ahead to put my name in and was asked where I would like to sit. I told them outside and they asked if I would like the roof and I told them yes. I got there (on time) and was told there was no roof top seating available. Then what was the point of giving me that as an option? I was very disappointed. Instead, we sat outside in the front of the restaurant. The tables were extremely close together and we could clearly hear other peoples conversations. Service was very slow. Drinks are overpriced. Food is just alright.

I ordered tuna burger got turkey burger. I am vegeterian, but I do eat fish once in a while. This burger did not taste like fish/​tuna I asked my friend to try she agreed. On top of all of this the waitress gave us a tab for three extra meals. No sorry no nothing.

Unbelievable. Seated at 6:00 pm, with a group of 5. Drink order painfully slow. Four were served meals, mine did not arrive for another 45 min. (7:19 pm WTF). Never again. Great location & deserves professional business management.

My friend and I came here during lunch hours and the place was bare and dark. We asked them if we could have seating on the roof but they said they closed the roof for the season (this was around early Fall).
Our server was clearly new because one of the managers was with her the entire time and directing her on what to do. I just thought it was a bit unprofessional to do it in front of us. I don’t think they would have done that if the place was busier.
I got the Damn Good! Clams– manila clams w/​sweet sausage, pancetta, corn, scallions, and tomatoes steamed w/​Narragansett Ipa. Damn good or «Damn. What in the world am I eating??» Upside was this dish was large so I got my 12.95’s worth but this dish was spicy and expecting the clams to be shell-​less, they kept the clams in the shell opened and presented it like that. I did not finish it.
We got complimentary biscuits and I found an eyelash splinter like foreign object inside of it and I swear it did not fall off from my eye either!
I gave this place an extra star because of their decadent TollHouse Cookie Pie. Served w/​caramel, hot fudge, and vanilla ice cream! Best dessert ever that I would come back here just for this and ONLY FOR THIS. «Excuse me server but can we just skip the entrée and go straight to the dessert?! Thanks!»
Funny that they’re called The «ELBOW» Room because the booth I sat in had no elbow space for me and the wall divider on top of me did not make it any better!

I went there twice.
The service was fine and the restaurant was clean.
The food was below average.

Our lunchtime experience at The Elbow Room was disappointing. Although we were seated quickly our table had huge coffee spills and had not been bussed. Two separate staff members assured us they would clean everything up, but we ended up eating our entire meal around the remnants of the previous occupants.
The beer we ordered was warm and flat. We would have said something, but no one checked up on us while we were waiting a fairly long time for our food and while we still had a dirty table. When our burgers finally arrived it tasted like the kind of dry, burnt burger you would get at a backyard barbecue. However, since we never saw our waitress again, we could not complain or get a new meal.
We gave up all hope entirely when a man allowed his disgusting dog to run around the rooftop unleashed. It was unsanitary, unwelcome, and the staff did nothing about it.
In all the service was slow to nonexistent, the food was downright bad, and it was overpriced ($ 39 for two burgers that were made incorrectly and two flat beers). We will definitely not be returning.