Jimmies of Savin Rock - West Haven

In 2022, I gave this location a 1-star rating and it was well deserved (at that time) but here I am today in 2024 and all I can do is stand up and applaud my experience and food!! First up would be my waitress Renee, who delivered outstanding Customer Service for our entire meal. Kept my drinks flowing and the food delivery time was on point. Starting with my mozzarella sticks, which came out in a very thick pair of two. Probably the biggest I have seen thus far and when it came to the Mozz Stretch Test, they passed with flying colors. My Cheese pull lasted the full length star spangle banner song and then a Baptist Church sermon. I was quite surprised. Flavored batter always matter and the marinara sauce had a taste of homemade lovin'!! It worked well for an app. Next would be my chicken noodle soup. Plenty of veggies here, not a lot of chicken but enough to matter and the broth was nicely salted for a warm hearty bite of delight. Ladies and Gents, this brings us to our fried sole!! A light sweetness, not a fishy taste but more a fresh bite and it was lightly fried, definitely not over cooked at all. Tender and understanding to my needs at that moment. The tarter sauce was the green machine of joy that added enough additional flavor of zest and tang to set my overall bite off the right way with the sole. We end our food journey at the hot fudge sundae, rich and creamy with a nice milk chocolate sweetness of the warm and gooey fudge. A tasting to behold in a big glass that would tame the average sweet tooth with glee. Floors a bit dated but this restaurant in general could stand for an update. Decent ambiance for the vibe here and my ONLY complaint would be the buy one get one on the soda vs just being free refills, along with the little black floaty in my second glass but I digress, this was still a good experience all in all.

It saddens me to have to write this review, but I do not want others to experience what I did if it can be avoided. Clearly, the Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in restaurants having to change their procedures to adhere to safety standards as per the state of CT. However, it is UNACCEPTABLE for a customer to be berated and disrespected in any way by any employee of the restaurant, let alone the Manager and a descendant of the original owner. Yesterday, I called the restaurant from the parking lot to place my order literally 20 times, and no one picked up, so we left. I was determined to go to a restaurant that I USED TO love before driving back to NY today, so I called right 11:30 AM when they opened. I placed my order 11:36 AM, and informed Lisa that I would make my way over to the restaurant, as I was staying at a hotel in Milford (10 minutes away). I quickly checked out of the hotel, and arrived 12 PM 15 minutes after she called to say that the order was ready. As I walked in to pick up my order, I was immediately scolded for taking 30 minutes to pick up my food. As the timeline shows, her comment was inaccurate. With a puzzled look, I commented that the order could not have been ready for 30 minutes. She dismissed me, and said that I could look at the receipt, which was time stamped, and tossed it at me. She continued to scold me, saying that she can 't hold food because it backs up her kitchen. This also puzzled me, as my bag was the only one on the counter. As a black woman in this white establishment with Fox News playing on the TV, I knew that it was important to be mindful of my tone. I took a deep breath, gave Lisa my card for $90 worth of food, and signed the receipt. During this time I got a call from my mother, who is a frequent customer. She asked me to describe the person who was being rude. She knew the woman 's name immediately, so I turned to the woman and asked, Is your name Lisa? She turned to me with a scowl and said, We don 't give out names here. She then turned her back to me and picked up the phone as it rang, not saying thank you, be safe, or anything remotely kind or humane. I picked up my bag of food and left. If you are a person of color, think twice before spending your money here. I witnessed Lisa treat Caucasian people differently than how I was treated. From what I have heard from others who I have shared this incident with, apparently Lisa 's behavior is not new. I grew up in West Haven, and my family and I have been going to this restaurant for decades from dine in, to take out, to birthday celebrations, to catered large events in their banquet room. Today was the my last visit.

First, I do want to say the folks that work there were all very, very nice, so I don 't want to include them in this review that I 'm about to drop on here. My mother in law claims they have great food (first warning I ignored), so we gave it a shot. I 'll get right to it: this place is absolutely disgusting. As soon as you pull up to it, you 're greeted right away with a several decades old, dingy, falling apart, hideous building. That 's should serve as a warning. Walk inside and you 've been transported back in time to the 70 's except that it looks like it hasn 't been updated since. The clientele look about the same. We were seated in a corner booth overlooking the beach, which is the only nice feature. After a couple of minutes, we realized we were getting splashed with water. We look up, above one of the windows, to see a VERY old leak that ownership clearly decided not to fix a long time ago (ceiling tiles were stained and falling apart). Ice/snow was melting on the roof and making its way inside. We were quickly moved and ordered. Some of us got side salads and that 's when I started to feel nauseous. It was a basic salad served in old, wooden bowls that should have been tossed a long time ago. I can 't put my finger on it, but I couldn 't take more than a couple of bites. Someone got onion rings, which were practically tasteless. Since they didn 't have lobster salad rolls, which was what I was looking forward to, I ordered one of the specials that day: lobster ravioli. How could it be bad, right? Well, you haven 't been to Jimmie 's then. First, the ravioli was undercooked and leathery in texture. I cut one up into 3 pieces and ate them along with the sauce. I couldn 't tell you what kind of sauce it was because it was SO salty that it was inedible. I couldn 't eat anymore. I was just so grossed out. My nephew tried a piece and just made a face and put the fork down. The other people with me thought their food was ok. Needless to say, I will never go there again. If I had the time and money, I 'd buy the place and bulldoze it right away before putting something nice and deserving of being in such a great location. This place is lonnnnnnnnnnnnng past it 's heyday and looks like it 's holding on by a hair. It 's time, folks. Shut it down.

Jimmy's has been around for as long as I've lived in Ct. I used to go with my kids when they were small, and we'd walk along the beach afterwards. I recently had the urge to dine at Jimmy's again. We sat in a booth that looked out to the beach. Serving sizes were good and food was tasty. We enjoyed a casual, leisurely meal on a quiet afternoon. I feel this is one of those places you return to again and again over the years to enjoy a memorable experience relishing fresh seafood.

I had the shrimp; it came with a baked potato and a salad. The portions were generous. Service was great and the view is wonderful.