Where to Eat

There are so many options that this section could be a book. Most places here are good because they have to be, to survive the competition. You could eat out for a year and not exhaust Mystic, Groton, New London, Stonington and Westerly. We stay away from downtown Mystic in summer because of the waits. And in truth we mostly cook at home, with all the excellent ingredients available here and the best kitchen either of us has ever worked in · the view from our dining table cannot be beaten.

Breakfast, bakeries and coffee

• Carson's Store · Main Street, Noank, CT. An adorable general store and diner, and a village institution. It has had a turbulent couple of years and has just reopened again · now open into the evening Friday to Sunday, and serving ice cream. Closed Tuesdays.
• Kitchen Little · Quarry Road, Masons Island, Mystic, CT. At the marina, with outdoor seating overlooking our cove. Excellent and innovative, with a few Portuguese-inspired dishes among the seafood and the breakfasts. One of our favourites.
• Nana's Bakery & Pizza · Mystic, CT. Award-winning pastries and clam pizza, and the best cinnamon buns in existence. Takeaway or picnic tables. We go more than we should.
• Sift Bake Shop · Mystic, CT. Food Network award winner. Now four locations.
• Zest Fresh Pastry · at the Velvet Mill, Stonington, CT. Parisian bakery. They have since opened in Noank and Ledyard too.
• Lighthouse Bakery & Cafe · Mystic, CT. Great bread, open daily but mornings only.
• Somewhere In Time Cafe · Mystic, CT. Down-home, solid breakfast. Closed Wednesdays.
• Noah's · Stonington, CT. Great breakfast in a quaint old building. Reservations strongly suggested.
• Mystic Depot Roasters · Mystic, CT. Good breakfast and coffee at the train station.
• Macondo · Stonington, CT. Excellent coffee and beans to take away. Their pastries come from Zest and Merryl-Masa at the Velvet Mill, and the bagels are New York bagels baked in-house. Open early on weekdays, mornings only at weekends.
• Junk & Java · Beach Street, Westerly, RI. Delicious coffee and a fun place. Open seven days, early.
• Mystic Market · Mystic, CT. A little pricey, but very good prepared food, salads, cakes, cheese and coffee beans. There are now five branches; East and West Mystic are the two near us.

Casual and takeaway

• Ju Sushi · Mystic, CT. Phenomenal sushi, and our favourite takeaway anywhere. Get it and eat at the house.
• Beijing Dumpling · Beach Street, Westerly, RI. Really good pot stickers, which we pick up to go alongside Ju Sushi; excellent Chinese generally. Eat in or take away.
• Paul's Pasta Shop · Groton, CT. An old building on the Groton waterfront with fantastic, authentic Italian. You can pre-order trays to go · seafood lasagne, vegetarian lasagne and the rest. One of our favourites.
• Mystic Salad Company · Cottrell Street, Mystic, CT. Fantastic takeaway salads and oddball soups, and they now do rice bowls too. Another favourite.
• Sea Well Seafood · Masons Island Road, Mystic, CT. The seafood shack at the bridge as you come onto the island. They have their own fishing fleet, so the fish is as fresh as it gets: oysters, clams, lobster.
• Captain Daniel Packer Inne · Mystic, CT. Only worth eating in the basement, for the full colonial pub atmosphere · which makes it by far our favourite bar in town. Live music seven nights a week, and Thursday jazz night is exceptional. It sits in the basement of an old sea captain's house, is haunted by Ida and Daniel, and is one of the very few old buildings in Mystic never to have burned.
• Dog Watch · Stonington, CT. Two of them, both in Stonington despite what you may read: one does barbecue, the other is the waterfront one with local fish. Great outdoor dining at both.
• Ford's Lobster · Noank, CT. Gone viral for the lobster mac, the lobster bomb and the lobster grilled cheese. Fantastic setting, with seating where you can dangle your legs over the water. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Angie's Pizza · Mystic, CT. Far better pizza than Mystic Pizza, and you are not paying tourist prices for it. Mystic Pizza sells the film, not the food · buy the t-shirt, then come here.
• Engine Room · Mystic, CT. Fancy burgers and a proper evening bar scene.
• Jealous Monk · Mystic, CT. Bar, casual food, indoor and outdoor dining with fire pits.
• Chester's Barbecue · Groton, CT. Probably the best barbecue around.
• Johnny's Peking Tokyo · Mystic, CT. Artistic sushi and good Chinese.
• Pink Basil · Olde Mistick Village, Mystic, CT. Eclectic Asian menu and a sushi bar.
• Stonington Pizza Palace · Stonington, CT. Good pizza, plus Greek dishes and seafood.
• The Mariner · Mystic, CT. Really good food, nice atmosphere, open daily.

Clam shacks

All of these are seasonal · roughly spring through autumn · and shut over the winter.

• Costello's Clam Shack · Noank, CT. Great location right on the water, at the Noank Shipyard. This is where we go. Abbott's next door is the famous one, but we find it overrated for lobster and it is always mobbed.
• Fred's Shanty · New London, CT. Fred's and Captain Scott's are the real deal for seafood shacks · both on the river in New London and worth the drive if you want the authentic thing. Combine either with a trip to Harkness.
• Captain Scott's Lobster Dock · New London, CT.
• Sea View and Sea Swirl · Mystic, CT. Both fine rather than special, but they are right here if you do not want to drive for fried clams.

Upscale

• River Tavern · Chester, CT, thirty to forty minutes away. Reservations essential. A fantastic farm-to-table menu that changes constantly, and a beautiful, intimate room. If the sticky date pudding is on that day, order it. My favourite restaurant anywhere, and a stroll around the village of Chester is a must in its own right.
• Oyster Club · Mystic, CT. Farm to table, high end, excellent.
• Milagro · Water Street, Stonington Borough, CT. Amazing upscale Mexican, not by-the-numbers at all. Small, really charming, and the margaritas are unusual and very good. Note it is in Stonington, about ten minutes east, not in Mystic.
• Buon Appetito · North Stonington, CT, about ten minutes from Foxwoods. Excellent northern Italian and specialty pizzas. One of my favourite places to eat.
• The Shipwright's Daughter · Mystic, CT, inside the Whaler's Inn. Their chef won a James Beard award in 2024.
• Anthony J's Bistro · Mystic, CT. Really cute atmosphere, decent Italian, outdoor dining in the heart of town.
• S&P Oyster · Mystic, CT. Popular garden restaurant right at the drawbridge.

Wine, beer and spirits

• Dick's World of Wines · Westerly, RI.
• Grand Wine & Spirits · Mystic, CT.
• Cask'n Keg · Mystic, CT, in the same plaza as McQuade's.
• Cove Ledge · Water Street, Stonington Borough, CT.
• Beer'd Brewing Co · at the Velvet Mill, Stonington, CT. They have a second taproom in Groton now.
• Misfit Club · Water Street, Mystic, CT. This was Barley Head Brewery, sold in 2024; same basement location, and they still brew the Barley Head beers.

Cheese and groceries

• The Cheese Corner · Westerly, RI, next door to Dick's World of Wines. An excellent selection, local and international. Try the Vermont Jasper Hill cheeses; their spoonable Harbison is to die for. They carry Cato Corner too.
• Cato Corner Farm · Colchester, CT. Wonderful cheese, and a proper trip, but they also sell at the Stonington Farmers Market at the Velvet Mill on Saturdays, which is much closer.
• Big Y · Stonington Road, Mystic, CT. Really good selection and decent bread.
• McQuade's Marketplace · Mystic, CT. Good grocery, with a pharmacy.
• Mystic Market · Mystic, CT. Good, limited, and a little expensive.

Ice cream

• Buttonwood Farm · Griswold, CT. Absolutely worth the trip, and some of the best ice cream I have ever had, with genuinely innovative flavours. Bring a cooler and ice: it is about thirty-five minutes each way. Open March to October. At the end of July they run "Sunflowers for Wishes," a Make-A-Wish benefit where you can walk the sunflower fields and cut your own. Children love this place.
• Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream · Mystic, CT. Open year-round; a nice place for dessert after dinner and a stroll around downtown.
• Mystic Sweets & Ice Cream Shoppe · Mystic, CT.

Meat

• Westerly Packing · Westerly, RI. An Italian grocery and a serious meat market, making Old World soppressata by the thousand. Some of the best sub sandwiches you will ever eat, and an extensive catering menu. Really worth seeing.

More in our Mystic area guide.