The Galley Grille - Westport, MA

It’s that time of year again – when we attend the annual Freetown fundraising event (Comedy Show) at White's of Westport.  The event begins at 7:00 p.m. so we did not have a lot of time to have dinner beforehand.  We were trying to find somewhere different to eat so we drove down Route 6 in Dartmouth, heading toward Westport.  There were a few Chinese Restaurants along the way, we drove past Trio’s, but it appeared to be very crowded, and before you knew it, we were already at White's.  We knew there was a public restaurant located there and since we were strapped for time, we decided we would give it a try.  The restaurant is The Galley Grille. 

There were a few parties ahead of us but we were told the wait would only be about 20 minutes.  Since it would take us longer than that to find an alternate location, we decided we would wait.  It was 6:00 when we arrived at The Galley Grille and, if all went well, we would still be able to make the beginning of the comedy show.

The hostess appeared to be very disorganized and seemed to be challenged with trying to get everyone seated in an appropriate amount of time. There were a few parties that had reservations, which seemed to confuse the hostess even more.  Considering the chaos, we were seated within about 15 minutes.

Side Salad

While we were waiting for a table we had already glanced over the menu so we could order our meals as soon as we were seated.  When the waitress arrived we ordered our drinks and meals right away. For drinks, I ordered a Malibu Rum & Diet Coke ($7.00) and my husband ordered a Sam’s Seasonal (bottle) for $5.00. For meals, I ordered Bourbon-Glazed Beef Tips, grilled and loaded with sautéed peppers and onions for $14.99 and my husband ordered a Buffalo Chicken Salad, with mixed field greens, topped with hot or mild buffalo chicken, red onions, crumbled blue cheese dressing and croutons for $9.99.  In addition to my meal, I ordered a side salad for $2.99.

The décor at The Galley Grille is very old and dated, with an overabundance of nautical decorations. The dated look made the restaurant appear to be a bit dingy as well.  Based on my impression at the door as well as my impression of the interior, I was not expecting much from my meal.

Bourbon-Glazed Beef Tips

Upon receiving my meal, my first impressions were accurate.  The food was not very impressive. I took a few bites of my beef tips but could not finish eating them.  The bourbon glaze was much too sweet and somewhat reminded me of a Chinese sweet sauce. This was completely not what I expected based on the description.   There was some “basic” rice pilaf on my plate, which is what I chose as my side dish, and a heaping portion of baby carrots (which I wouldn’t eat and would have asked to omit had I known the vegetable was carrots).  Overall, I was very disappointed in my meal.



Buffalo Chicken Salad

Moving on to my husband’s salad, there was nothing special about it. There were several pieces of breaded chicken glazed with buffalo sauce sitting atop a rather basic mixed green salad with some crumbled blue cheese added to it. Two sides of blue cheese dressing completed the presentation.  Although the description mentioned croutons, those were not included.

My husband had a few bites of my beef tips and did not dislike them as much as I did. At least they would not be a complete waste. He finished the tips and ate a few of my carrots.  I opted to have a second dinner roll dipped in oil to fill me up.

Considering our waitress was not very attentive, we managed to eat our meals, pay our bill ($41.93 including tax), and make it to the Comedy show just in time for it to begin.  After this bad experience I will not be visiting The Galley Grille again.