Re: “Hen of the Wood (Waterbury)”

Not bad..
I returned w/ high hopes after all of the good press sadly I was disappointed.I brought a friend touting the beautiful decor & chef but we left deflated.The decor was bland, remembering the MistGrill it was likeHen of the Woods forgot to add their own touch,walking down the stairs to the dining room youre greeted with a cut out in the wall & blank space a simple piece of art would help.The ambiance of the place comes from the building itself and the patio is a great addition.As the mealprogressed it went down hill.We started out with rabbit toast(succulent rillette on Red Hen toast with pickled veggies & mustard)&corn soup were the best dishes.The soup was perfect but could have benefited a little bit on the presentation,the yellowishbasil oil added great flavor but w/ the cream color of the soup¬hing else it looked lonely,a basil leaf would have helped.A salad of Greens & radishes w/ sheep's cheese,was simple but it delivered what it should have been.Entrees were severely disappointing.Lamb shoulder with house-made gnocchi was bland. The lamb was moist with nice lamb flavor but was reminiscent of pot roast, for the price it disappointed.The gnocchi were unseasoned, squishy potato puffs, which couldve been helped by a more bold sauce.The flavor of the sauce was there, but didnt linger in the mouth as long as one would hope.The goats milk dumplings w/corn, mushrooms & brown butter sauce. The dumplings like the gnocchi, lacked flavor &sauce. It made me long for the gnudi at the Spotted Pig in NYC :( The desserts were average, the buttermilk panna cotta was creamy with sour notes from the buttermilk, paired with berries and shortbread cookie it made for a nice end to the meal.Dessert 2 was chocolate profiteroles with hazelnut ice cream. The ice cream was good but the dough fell short too chewy and soggy. Overall the meal was okay, I can certainly say I have had better for the price. It made me wonder how it garnered such rave reviews, yes the food is local and simple but isn't a lot of the food in Vermont? Food: 4 Ambiance: 4 Service: 4