Update on dinner last night - showed to our table upon arrival, service excellent even though very busy, dinner tempura prawns were light perfect appetiser - my calamari good but portion too big - onto mains steak & fish off specials perfectly cooked finished by creme brulee shared - one of the best we've tasted. Perfect evening with wonderful piano to listen to.

I would like to warn against going to this place, especially with young children. We had yesterday a very serious incident with the owner of the place.

To be honest, I must say that we had a Sunday lunch at this place about one year ago and that we did not have any problem. Staff was friendly and, as far as I remember, the owner was not on the premises (or at least did not enter in contact with us). The food was average but tasty.

Our experience yesterday was awful. As we arrived, the owner indicated us a place to sit without even a word. I already had the feeling to be treated like an animal. We were a couple with our 2-year old son (we are originally from Europe but live in NYC). The owner was obviously nervous due to the number of young children around (4 tables including us).

I should also indicate that we go to restaurants at least once every weekend and that we regularly have comments from waiters / owners / other customers about how well behaved our son is. I should also explain that in Europe, children learn earlier to use a fork and a knife than Americans kids do. My son began using a fork when he was 1 year old and is beginning to learn to use a knife (under strict supervision, it goes without saying)

As my husband was looking at the menu, I was grabbing a spoon fallen on the floor and it seemed that during those 5/10 seconds, my son has grabbed my knife (a very simple one – not sharp at all – one with which you can just cut potatoes and should not even try it on meat….). When I raised my head from catching the spoon on the floor, the owner (Dolph Traymond – 88 years old) had caught my sons arm and was waving it violently. I agree that we should not have let a knife reachable for our son but what Mr Traymond was doing made it much worse as the knife was moving close to my son’s face. The expression on Mr Traymond’s face made me really afraid and I thought he was going to hit my son. And he was waving and waving my son arm without stooping. Those seconds seemed to me an eternity…

Mr Traymond began shouting at us saying that we were irresponsible parents, that we had no right to have children and that we should simply go out of his place. I indicated him that we were indeed leaving as his comportment was unacceptable and dangerous.

Moreover, you could read incredulity at my son’s face as nobody has ever harmed him. He could not understand what was happening… It took us two hours to calm him and this night he cried several times, something he usually never does.

This incident made us raise several questions and we thought and spoke about the incident the whole afternoon. I think that Mr Traymond was upset because one spoon had fallen on the floor and because there were too many children around. He then used the pretext of the knife but I sincerely think he was then just trying to justify his own comportment by blaming us. Having seen the expression on his face when he was holding my son’s arm, I really think it is a dangerous person that is used to corporal punishment and cannot control his instincts.

Since he is the owner of the place, it is most probable that he will stay managing the restaurant. I consequently would advise people with children against going to this place. The comportment of the owner is indeed unpredictable and it is dangerous to put our little ones is this situation.

Being the owner of the place does not give him the right to touch the children of his customers.

We booked a table, expecting the restaurant to be busy on a Sunday with Fall colours at their best.. Nonetheless we still had to wait in line 15 minutes with nobody enquiring whether we'd booked. Service was then on the slow side.
The selection on the menu looks terrific, as do the meals when they arrive. However the taste doesn't match the looks, my fish overcooked, and the rice undercooked. My wife had pasta with braised duck, the pasta overcooked and very oily (not olive oil either), and the duck still had the fat on it - a failure in one of the basics of cooking. Braised duck fat is quite disgusting in texture and taste!
For a restaurant which prides its wine cellar, we were amazed how poor the selection on the wine list was, and the waiter (a Mexican with rudimentary English) clearly knew close to nothing about wine.
The ambience in the dining area is terrific, the piano playing superb, though it was a little loud and intrusive for a romantic dinner.

I must warn other travelers about the Fife 'n Drum in Litchfield Hills, Connecticut (Kent). Please find a better place to spend your money. We were on a special trip to celebrate triumph over a life-threatening illness (still a little wobbly). We found the Fife 'n Drum in a web search of places to stay/eat in antiques-country Connecticut, we otherwise knew nothing about them, which was a terrible mistake for us to make (we've learned now). We have NEVER experienced such extremely poor service whether near to home or in wide-ranging travels. Their idea was a good one: base the restaurant around the patriarch of the family who is also a NY musician (retired) - refurbish a building on the lot to accommodate distance travelers -- hire a decent chef and charge an arm/leg for meals. Unfortunately, they fail on the most important part of the experience: service. We arrived right on time for our dinner reservations and were seated almost immediately but then forgotten! We never received our pre-dinner appetizers and it took over an hour for our meal to arrive (cold) -- the busboy actually attempted to clear our place settings before the entrées arrived!! We decided to skip dessert (even though we'd looked forward to it all day). During all of this, we couldn't catch the notice or help of a server! What a huge disappointment! We traveled a long way and spent a lot of money for an awful, awful experience. Don't risk your hard-earned dollars on this establishment. I wish we'd known about it before we traveled 2000 miles for this terrible experience.