Service was nice but slow, view was nice, filet was overcooked, scallops were chewy and tough. Overall disappointing.

FIVE WORDS: BUFFET BRUNCH WITH A VIEW! Seriously, this must be the best kept secret in New Haven, because it should've been crowded and wasn't, which is OK in my book, more for me, but it absolutely should be THE go to Brunch place in the Elm City. They have an omelet station...and cheese BLINTZES! Whether you're an omnivore or vegetarian, they have something for everyone. read more

Excellent breakfast buffet if you are heading to Yale or otherwise in New Haven. The views are also great from the 19th floor. Buffet is not the largest I have ever hada la the Wynn in Vegas; however, the breakfast is good and the omelet station gets the job done. read more

John Davenport's - 3 egg omelete with cheddar cheese, ham, onions, peppers along with Apple wood bacon, sausage links, potatoes, and blackberries. - New American Near Me - New Haven, Connecticut

If it's a Thursday night, DROP whatever you're doing, go to John Davenport's and order the Thursday special: A 40oz rib eye steak to share for $40 that comes with salads and dessert. My husband and I are very very picky steak eaters (we've had steaks in fancy expensive restaurants in Chicago, NYC, and Las Vegas) and this is in the Top 5 of the best steaks we've ever had! We also received excellent service thanks to Robin who made our night and also seated us in a table with the most beautiful view of Yale and New Haven. Highly highly recommend! read more

They had a regular menu, and then they had a paper menu inside of it, that was dare I say 'French,' however, not really sure what the purpose was. The type of food for the place is considered American. The two main dishes we ordered off the menu were (Duck with fruit chutney, and Chicken with fruit chutney. Also, some of the items on the regular menu were also on the French menu. The service was not great. I felt like the waitress was trying to be overly nice, and kept saying 'I don't want to rush you', but she clearly kind of was rushing us. It was a Monday night with half price bottles of wine which was a nice perk. However, the manager had to get the bottle from the back, and it took about 10 minutes or more to bring to our table. The food was expensive for what it was and the presentation was okay. I ordered a side of the basil mashed potatoes. They were very good. The ambiance was lacking a little bite. . The tables were nicely set up with great views. I would certainly come back here again even though it was not the best place I have been to, it is pretty good for New Haven read more

It's too bad that the best part of this place is the amazing view of New Haven. It was a Saturday night, and not all of the tables were taken, but the staff seemed as if they had never experienced a crowded restaurant before. We had a server and a hostess who rather than split up their share of tables, just took turns apologizing and asking the same questions without accomplishing anything. Everything looked and sounded good on the menu, but the execution was slightly better than a run-of-the-mill hotel restaurant. 1/2 hour for the first drink. After the entrees came, wanted to order a second drink, and made it a beer so not to back up the bartender. Still came after we had finished our mains. This being said, the view is incredible, and a great place to watch the sunset over downtown. But if you choose to do it, I recommend sitting a the bar for a beer and saving your food dollar for one of the many better choices in New Haven. read more

On the 19th floor of the Omni makes this restaurant convenient. Because I was on the run to a business meeting, I wanted to stop and grab something to go. The hostess seemed confused and did not know how to process my order, and had to flag down a server. I waited way too long for a simple yogurt parfait and cappuccino. It looked like there was a self-service breakfast buffet, so perhaps the staff is not trained to take a breakfast order. The value of the yogurt parfait was terrible... a small cup for $9.00. Thank goodness it tasted good. read more

John Davenport's - The smallest $9.00 yogurt parfait. - New American Near Me - New Haven, Connecticut

I write reviews for two reasons out-of-this-world experiences and horrible/won't go back experiences.....This clearly from the one-star was not a good one. I went this past weekend for my mother's birthday (one of the bigger ones) and being the eldest/most local of the son's, my dad and myself wanted to give her a very special day/night; ending with a great dinner. (that highly fell short) We had made reservations for this past weekend for my parents, a handful of relatives and myself. I got there punctually for our dinner reservations to be greeted by the hostess which was nice to give me a menu to lookover while I waited a few minutes for the others to park their cars. (Note: always use the valet service Friday-Saturday; parking can take a considerable amount of time otherwise) Soon after the rest of my family showed up and we were seated. Aedan (think I spelt it correctly) helped by getting all of us water and asked him a few times throughout the evening for things, that he was very quick to get. Robin was our main waitress, and she was great throughout the night; especially with the disarray that was about to commence. So the party of seven (sadly one couldn't come finally) of us were there at 6:30pm and got water/drinks/rolls in the first 20 minutes. Robin seem to be only one of one of two main waiting staff (with 1-3 helping dining staff/ not counting the bar staff) because of this she appeared to be swamped by the number of tables that she was serving. **That night was also the night that Yale vs. Harvard game was and that was one of the main excuses that I heard continuously on why things weren't going smoothly. *So now that you have the mood set; after the first 30 minutes everything started to fall apart* Robin came back to take our appetizer order about 25 minutes into us getting there and it came out 30 minutes after that. (Being at the restaurant now for a total of about one hour) When the appetizers did come out, we all immediately put our main entrée orders in.... We than ate the two appetizers we got (calamari with aioli sauce and a grilled flatbread) I will say the calamari was not bad, but the flatbread was pretty dry and a miniscule amount of tomato sauce and almost non-existent amount of ricotta cheese. We than waited more than HOUR for our meals (came right before 8:30pm) not an hour from when we got there but an hour from when we got appetizers. **Got there at (I can time stamp all the activities of the night because of the slow escalation of frustrating text messages I was sending my partner throughout that evening) After receiving our food ( several people at the table ordered the ribeye steak with chard corn and what was stated to be mash potatoes with horseradish infused.) The individuals at the table (including myself) who ordered the ribeye, tried the food and all of our mash was cold but also have barely had any flavor of horseradish. My mom and my uncle couldn't even taste it but this was a hint of horseradish I could pick up. So as soon as I got my food I was sending it back, along with the other two orders. Robin empathetically apologized numerous times before this for the wait for our meals and now again was having to apologize for this she could change. She had the chef make mash for the table, which came out in small cast iron pans. This mash potato had no flavor of horseradish what so ever. I emphasize about this horseradish because that was the main/ pretty much only reason my mom got that dish in the first place and this was my mom's night and she was not having a good dinner.... so she than tried her steak, as well as I did. They were cooked to the right temperatures (rare/medium rare) but the steak as a whole just was tough and not worth it. I have had a better steak at Texas Roadhouse/Long Horn and get it for cheaper and leaves my taste-buds wanting more....this steak just left me frustrated and wanting to order something different. ***ON TOP OF IT ALL.... there was a piece of cooking twine left on the plate that was almost eaten. {Picture below} Robin our waitress could clearly see I was highly upset by this point and had her manager (think his name was Dan) come over. He apologized too and said he was extremely sorry and would take the plate off the bill. That was a nice gesture, but I am not looking for a handout. The money my father and I spelt that night for a special engagement for my mother turned into pretty much a complete sad joke of a place and the night wasn't even over yet and I still have more to write about. The wrap up: (only get so many characters) Chef made a horseradish sauce but pretty much we were done with eating when it came out. Dessert was good overall but half the tables coffee didn't come till we asked again for it. I do want to thank Robin our waitress for doing the best she could Thank Aedan for helping out when he could and Chris (dining staff) for singing "Happy Birthday" to my mom when dessert came out. I will not be going back read more

John Davenport's - Cooking twine found on plate - New American Near Me - New Haven, Connecticut

See all

First time visiting John Davenports and they did a great job. Booked a reservation online for my girlfriends birthday. They to my surprise gave us complimentary champagne, put flower pedals on the table and a rose. It was more then nice of them. The food was good. I ate the Caesar salad, and New York strip which were both satisfying . We also ordered a side of lobster mac and cheese which was the best part of the meal. The view over new haven was excellent. Great way to eat over looking everything. The service was also great. read more

John Davenport's - View from dinner at John Davenports - New American Near Me - New Haven, Connecticut

Service is good. Can be very slow but everyone is very nice. Food is not very good. First week I had Calamari and the Chicken. Chicken was so dry and hard I could barely chew it. They didn't charge me for my calamari after I asked them to let the kitchen know so they could fix it for other patrons but still had to pay for the chicken I didn't eat. This week I ordered the Pork tenderloin and the small lobster roll. Lobster roll was very good except it was missing butter. . Pork tenderloin again was so dry I couldn't chew it. If you serve dry meat please serve it with a gravy or something to make it seem less dry. Food is mediocre at best but is a nice view and again employees were accommodating and nice. read more

Had the funniest experience here. I ordered a cabernet. After many attempts to find a wine that was "in stock" it turned out they were out of all red wine. I ended up 20 minutes later with a small glass of tequila, no mix for margarita. There apparently was a missing key to a liquor closet. The loud banging in the kitchen and lack of service made us cancel our apps and when we went to pay our overpriced $32 (for two beverages) no one in the whole restaurant could break a fifty dollar bill. Very odd restaurant??? read more

I actually don't think I ate or drank anything at this bar, but the view is incredible since it's on the top floor of the Omni. When I was here last summer there was a great thunderstorm that looked even more awesome while on the top floor. Since it's a hotel, the food and drinks are a bit on the expensive side but the ambiance is nice! read more

- Beautiful Views, Great Staff - I have dined here twice, once with a client, the other time with out-of-town friends on Christmas Day. This place sits atop The Omni Hotel. Getting from the parking lot to Davenport's is easy. The views of New Haven are just beautiful! Both times I found the food to be very, very good. I had a sandwich my first time here, and the Christmas Buffet the 2nd. An elaborate work of art! Coffee and other drinks were first-rate. Even the china and silverware are what you'd expect in a top-of-the-line eatery like Davenport's. Perhaps what impressed me most was the staff. They were very professional, very friendly, very accommodating, without being pretentious. I hate pretentious. - Phil read more

All I have to say is LOBSTER ROLLLLL !!!!!! If you want to experience a New England Lobster roll please come here ! Honestly the best lobster Roll I've ever had. They also have an amazing view of new haven I recommend everyone taking a look ! read more

If I could rate this place 2.5 stars, I would. My bf and I went here on a Saturday morning around 8 AM and it was less than half full, but we still had to wait for a table. The waitress went to a dirty table and took all of the dirty dishes off but didn't wipe down the table and then proceeded to ask us to sit down - I knew it was going to be an off experience when this happened. Ambience is a little disappointing - I thought the restaurant was the whole top floor but it is only one side of the building. The tables are positioned such that one person has a view but the other person's back is to the view, so you just see the interior. The restaurant is a little shabby and carpet stains abound. Bf ordered the hot chocolate, which you are supposed to be able to choose 2 different toppings for (marshmallows, graham crackers, etc), but the waitress didn't ask him and he was too shy to flag her down again. My latte was pretty good and came with a cute sugar stick. We both ordered the lobster benedict which is $19 and a side of bacon. The lobster benedict was quite small - I didn't know english muffins came in such a small size! There wasn't enough Hollandaise and it was generally meh. The bacon was a good portion (about 6 pieces) but it wasn't crispy. We had been pretty excited to try this place because of the view and had expected the service to be really good, but the service was almost bad. The kicker was that we had been hoping to have a leisurely breakfast but the waitress brought us our check when we were only halfway through our meals, telling us "to take our time." We felt rushed and again - the place wasn't even half full! Definitely not coming back. read more

Came here for a belated Valentine's Day dinner. The decor was really nice, and the general vibe with the dimmed lights and miniature candles were welcoming. In general, the food was way too pricey. We had a Restaurant.com coupon which helped, but I cannot imagine coming here without it. The food itself was a tad on the bland side, which means a lot considering I have a very sensitive palette to begin with! I got the crab croquettes, which were nice and fluffy, but my boyfriend commented that both sauces tasted like mayonnaise, despite their colorfulness. My main course was the chicken with fingerling potatoes and wild mushrooms. I thought the chicken was very much under-seasoned, although the chicken skin (and the two or three barely visible wild mushrooms) were rather delicious. For dessert, I ordered the chocolate molten cake. For whatever reason, the cake was extremely dense so that after two bites, it was hard to swallow any more. Service was good in general, although our waters were never re-filled after we got our main course. The diners next to us did get their waters, but our glasses remained empty. read more

GLUTEN FREE REVIEW: Mother's Day Sunday Buffet Brunch. My young daughter is celiac so we are very careful, but we were made comfortable and confident through the entire experience, from making reservations for a party of eight (where they asked about food concerns) to the last bites of dessert. Buffets are always tough for gluten but the chef walked us through the entire thing and there were tons of options for my daughter, far beyond just fruits and cereals. The dessert room (they had a whole *room* for it) even had a GF table. Manager checked in on us frequently. Food was great, service was attentive and friendly, and we'll be back! read more

I can only write based on Happy Hour - but it was great. The drink deals are fabulous for wine and beer. I did try the wings and mussels - both were excellent. Definitely the best view in New Haven and a secret gem! read more

This is truly a review about their service more than anything because it was fantastic. It was our wedding anniversary so we dressed up for lunch & finally made it to the truly nice view. We both ordered steaks & my husband's came out overcooked (he wanted rare). They immediately took it back & gave him a whole new plate. Both the server & manager apologized several times & took it off the bill. And to top it off, we got a free dessert of chocolate covered strawberries so needlessly to say that service made for a memorable experience on an already lovely day. But! What about the food? Forgettable. Nothing was really that good except the dessert. If that mistake didn't happen I wouldn't be rating this place so highly & most likely wouldn't be coming back read more

My boyfriend took me here for my 21st birthday and I have to say, the service and view from the top of the hotel was amazing. We both started off with an artisanal cheese board as our appetizer, filet with lobster mac and cheese for our entrees, and finished off with creme brûlée for dessert. I asked for medium rare, and my boyfriend asked for medium, but both our steaks came out pretty well done. Our waiter was accommodating and gave us our first round of drinks on the house. Overall, it was a good experience! read more

Went here for NYEs. Spent $200 on dinner for a mediocre meal. There server beside me spilled water on a guest. My server was indifferent when I had a issue with the meat. The food lacked refinement, and flavor combination clashed. The scallops were the highlight of the night. Overall, disappointed for the price. Eric, our other server, was the highlight for an otherwise mediocre evening. read more

John Davenport's - New American Near Me - New Haven, Connecticut

Me and my wife had a gift certificate to the restaurant for about 2 years and we finally decided to use it. The restaurant ambience is very nice and you have a great view of new haven. We got two apps that were ok. I had the shrimp cocktail and wife has lobster bisque. Both were decent but nothing special. For our meals my wife got the panini and I had the filet. Her sandwich was dry and didn't have a lot of flavor. My steak was over cooked and very dry. It was so over cooked they felt bad and offered us a free desert. With our meals we split a side of lobster mac and cheese that was excellent. I also think everything is way over priced. Luckily we had gift certificate but if I had to pay full price for that meal I would be pissed. One good thing is they validate parking. We will not be going back. I don't know how this place has so many positive reviews. read more

Great spot! Located in the Omni hotel that i was staying at so we are both lunch and dinner here. Had the lobster bisque which was great, big chunks of lobster- and also had the pasta which was home made with delicious pesto!! The only reason i gave 4 stars instead of 5 is that we had to keep asking for refills when our glasses were empty and they forgot to bring us bread when we asked for it twice. Other than that our server was very kind and our food was delicious! read more

A great way to end a night - or begin one. Top of the Omni New Haven hotel - and the views are great. Cozy places to sit at the bar, or in a more private setting in a big cushy chair. They made us an incredible chocolate lava cake dessert, and the we asked for something different to drink - and what they delivered was simply amazing... read more

This review is for Sunday Brunch. Food was good. Not great, but good. They seemed to have a problem refilling the food stations (lots of empty trays), they ran out of plates twice, we had to seek out our server for something as simple as orange juice, coffee and milk. All this and it wasn't even too busy (many empty tables). The amount of food was mediocre - standard scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, omelets, potatoes and quiche. There was a bread, fruit, salad and dessert table. Average variety, but cost was $16 a person, which is a little on the high side in my opinion - especially given we had to pay $20 per vehicle to park (which is NOT validated, as a previous review claimed). The view is amazing though - I will say that. You can see Yale, LI Sound and Long Island across the sound. I might go back but there are far better dining/brunch options in New Haven. Might be nice for a happy hour drink. read more

Had a fun time tonight at John Davenport's!! The drinks and wine were amazing and the dinners were delicious! Monica was top notch... friendly and catered to our needs. If your looking for an ordinary night out in New Haven, don't come here! But if your looking for a first class dinner with drinks, apps, wine and delicious food, come to the 19th floor!!! You will not be disappointed read more

Great views from an upper floor of the Omni Hotel. The food and drinks--like the service--were good but not great. There was nothing horrible about either of the above but nothing superlative either. Steaks were cooked as requested but the meat didn't seem to be of very good quality. Again--not nasty stuff rotting in the grocery store but also not a nice cut from a high-end butcher. Everything about this place is just average to a touch above average. We chose this restaurant because we were guests at the hotel, it was raining outside, and we didn't want to venture out and get wet. I suspect there may be other good restaurants in the vicinity but this place is a decent fall back and a convenient choice for those staying at the Omni. read more

This is one of the worst meals I've had in a while. It was almost delightfully bad, but not quite. Disinterested service and colossally uninspired food add up to a "hell no" from me. A kale salad with pistachios and cranberries that succeeded in having only 1/3 of the leaves dressed AND completely rancid pistachios on it. First, this is a salad that is being served at every bad chain restaurant in the country. PLEASE, whoever is in the kitchen (corporate or otherwise) have the modicum of decency to think beyond fast-food. Seriously, this could be on a McDonald's menu and nobody would be surprised. And if you are going to serve it, do us the favor of at least doing it as well as, well, any other place that serves it. A special of hanger steak ordered rare but served MR...and one of the ugliest plates I've seen in a really long time--and a dish that easily could have been from the 1970s--if not 1960s. A goose-crap slick of creamed spinach cooked long enough to have turned a delightful brown and overladen with cream on which was fanned the sad cut of meat (that had little flavor to indicate anything but a mediocre source for the ingredient) and on either end a blob of--I think--some kind of oat (I spaced on what it was when it was described and then literally couldn't recognize it once I tasted it) risotto cooked way too long and that apparently that had been sitting on the plate for a while because it had begun to skin over. The whole plate was shades of brown and grey and looked like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for thirty minutes--which given that it took them close to 40 minutes to bring it, probably isn't a stretch. The other dish, a filet (which I would never order because it is my least favorite cut of beef) with fries succeeded in being even blander than filet normally is with limp and cold fries. For $32 you have to at least get fries right. They didn't and that is insulting at any price but certainly at this one. The fact that we were the only people in the dining room on what should have been a busy night pretty much told the story...We were only there because we were too exhausted to go out. But to anybody thinking of actually dining here, just go across the street. You have any of a number of better options than this miserable (and expensive) excuse for an eatery. The person running this place should be ashamed. This is corporate crap at its very worst. read more

Great spot for a drink, with amazing New England views, but it is very expensive. 2 drinks each, ended up costing us the single most expensive stop on our trip. $50 + tip. Choose wisely. It looks like they have a decent happy hour during the week, so take advantage of that, on a clear day if you can. Attentive and knowledgeable staff read more

I thought this restaurant was really great!! I was expecting just another 'hotel restaurant' but this place is far from it. We dined on a Monday night and were pleased to know that all their wines by the bottle were 50% off. A pleasant surprise! The first thing that caught my eye was the great view they have. You are 19 floors up and have a bird's eye view of the Yale campus and Connecticut hills in the distance. Not quite the same as the view from the 95th floor of the Hancock building back in Chicago but still has a wonderful setting. For apps we tried the special that day - Mini Beef Wellingtons - bite size and beautifully presented as well as the seared rare Ahi tuna with ginger Yuzu sauce. A great combination of "old world" and contemporary Asian. Being in New England, we had to try the Lobster Mac-n-Cheese and it truly was excellent! Mild cheese flavors that never overpowered the abundant lobster meat. The chocolate lava cake was rich and tasty - the perfect end to a great meal. Pricing was very reasonable, especially with the great wine deal. Service was very friendly and professional. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are in New Haven. read more

Visited this establishment for a friend's birthday. Reservation was made for 8pm. We were not seated until close to 9pm. Took an hour to bring out entrees. Starters came out after entrees. Food was just okay. Nothing special. No one checked in on us to see if we needed anything after the food came out. No dessert menus were offered. From start to finish, our party was there for 4 hours -- 8pm - 12am, waiting for staff to issue checks and process payments. It really should not have taken so long since we were the only remaining guests at that point in the evening. Staff was extremely rude. Snatching silverware off of our table, and giving attitude when asked for updates about anything. After I was finally able to leave the place, I returned back to my car which I parked on the lower level of the hotel. Neither of their parking ticket readers worked for me, and when I pressed for assistance, I was faced with yet another attitude. Long story short, she ended with a nasty "I wish you would have said you had parking validation I would have been opened this up". Are you kidding? Never again. read more

Amazing brunch during family weekend! It was a huge buffet with so many options. The view from the restaurant overlooks the Yale campus so every though it was raining it was nice read more

With a large group for Thanksgiving dinner ($52/pp plus tip and tax). Was impressed by the array of food--from traditional Thanksgiving fare(turkey!) to breakfast food (eggs Benedict), to seafood (crab legs, raw oysters, large cocktail shrimp). They did run out of oysters by the middle of 5pm seating (so I suggest earlier seating). Service was nice whenever we asked for something, though we were never offered juices or sofas that were part of the buffet. Dessert was great with freshly made ice cream and donuts! I will say I would go back again and it was worth the $. Everyone raves about the views but seriously- it's New Haven! Come on! There is no view. read more

We stayed at another hotel in New Haven but wanted a really great breakfast, so we went here. Wow. What an amazing view of the whole city and the food was delicious. Great service as well. One of the best breakfasts of our entire trip. Will definitely be back. read more

Its an inconvenience when you have to debate about accepting the restaurant.com mobile certificate number. Dont affiliate yourself with a company that promotes and uses an app if you wont accept the app. It just leads to an unpleasant experience. read more

One of my favorite restaurants in new haven. Located at the top of the omni hotel, the view is spectacular. I visited for dinner on a Tuesday night and it was fairly slow so we were seated right away. The waitress was lovely very warm and laid back. I had a filet.. Like buttah. Used a restaurant.com gift certificate which helped with the bill. The waitress welcomed it without fuss; she told us it's been great for attracting new diners. Parking is convenient down in the hotel garage. Overall, excellent food at a premium price. read more

I took my family to Father's Day brunch here recently and it was a wonderful experience. The food choices were better than ever expected and the atmosphere looking out over New Haven was spectacular. If you go to the top of the Omni hotel for brunch you will not be disappointed. read more

Ate her one morning alone while my bf was interviewing nearby. First of all, this whole hotel, including this restaurant is FREEZING. I don't know if it is from the window draft or what, but I hate when restaurant's don't use heat in the dead of winter- so cheap and uncomfortable. The food was also overpriced and not good at all. Wait staff was very, very nice though. read more

Unreal. Graduation weekend. They knew it would be crowded. They had a special menu. It was the worst meal I have ever had. 2 1/2 hours for dinners come out and they were all cold. All sent back. The food and beverage manager was a joke. It was literally The worst meal I've had in decades. Utterly. Awful. read more

The view is beautiful and I would totally go back for drinks and snacks. I was also a huge fan of the waitress here. The service is wonderful. The French fries are crispy and wonderful. The white sangria was the specialty drink and it was delicious but not very potent. I ordered the short rib sandwich and it was disappointing, not very flavorful and the apple on it had cooked so was missing the crispness I was expecting. But overall the experience is great. read more