This is the place to go for special occasions or if you just want to get great food and don't mind spending a little more.    [19 May 2001 18:02:28]

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Recommended Dishes: filet mignon

     ­Anonymous   

Needs improvement
While we both generally enjoyed the meal, there were some things you would not expect at this dining level.
1. The advertised "Tomato Salad" orderered in August contained a pale whole tomato, you would expect a ripe native tomato.
2. The rib eye ordered medium, came rare, and then after being taken by our server took about 10 minutes to be returned (nicely) done back to our table.
3. Our ordered coffee came with a dessert menu, however the server never came back to take our dessert order. At these prices, their service needs improvement.    [04 Sep 2002 19:22:46]

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     ­Anonymous   

Hit and Miss
Apricot's Restaurant is the quintessential American eatery for those who desire overrated, but good food and can afford to pay outrageous prices. Personally, I will attend a sponsored dinner at a restaurant before eating there alone on a date. This review focuses on my experience at the dinner meeting. Usually, I don't write reviews on them. However, the actions of the rude and arrogant waitstaff were so eggregious that it warrants a comment.

The salad had an overdone balsamic vinagarette that tasted like there was nothing else to the dressing except a hint of black ground pepper.

The steak was not cooked to order for three of the people sitting at the table and was sent back by one guest. The side dishes were served in small portions relative to the size of the main fare. The desserts were overly rich or dried out depending on the selection.

Thw waitstaff was extremely rude and obnoxious. My date had stepped out to return a page. Her dinner arrived and as the wait staff took the cover off, I politely asked him to leave it on for the girl so her food would not be colder than it already was. He brushed me off saying we'll get back to you. When I got up to approach him, I was told "to get the hell out of his way."

The service and food does not reflect the reputation this restaurant is supposed to have in the area. As for the waitstaff downstairs, it is quite disconcerting to see people waiting on customers in shorts when they are ordering a high priced meal. The difference between attire and price and asthetics of the restaurant also leaves something to be desired.    [12 Sep 2002 20:27:06]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Cup of Coffee or Glass of Water (seriously)

     ­Anonymous   

Fabulous!
Apricots lives up to its reputation as a joy for "foodies" everywhere, and could easily compete with top restaurants anywhere.

These days one would be hard pressed to find a fine eatery where a steak is of such good quality that a rare or medium rare is not a problem!

The ambiance, too, lives up to its reputation as a "grande dame" of the elite Farmington set.    [14 May 2003 10:01:28]

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Recommended Dishes: NY Strip

     ­Anonymous   

Missing Apricots
My husband and I use to eat at Apricots once a week, usually a Friday or Saturday night, in the downstairs area. Food and service were always excellent. We miss it.    [07 Jun 2003 12:35:34]

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     ­Former Farmington Resident   ILMBeaches at aol dot com

Simply Beautiful
Great food, great service, great view! What a perfect place for a quiet, romantic lunch!    [25 Jul 2003 14:28:12]

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Recommended Dishes: Fried Calamari with the wasabi sauce...yum!

     ­Anonymous   

Well, if you enjoy bland food...
Justifiably or otherwise, I pride myself on having a good eye for restaurants. I was visiting Farmington on business and thought I'd try a local restaurant. I ended up passing this charming-looking place with a full parking lot. I stopped by, and the staff was very friendly; the menu looked interesting, and I was sold on the fact that they had two innovative-seeming menus, one of which was an inexpensive "pub" menu.

I knew something was wrong when my fried calamari with wasabi sauce arrived. The sauce was okay - nothing really exciting, despite the fact that it was an interesting idea. But the calamari itself was tasteless. This means it's not fresh enough - a bad sign. Even my local diner can do a reputable calamari.

The bread and butter - which arrived *after* my appetizer - were equally bland. I can understand no-salt butter in a health-food restaurant, but Apricot's is no health-food joint. Evidently, they actually believe that their flavorless bread and butter will provide enjoyment.

I was apprehensive, and quite literally, I almost left after the first bite of my turkey-bacon wrap. Apprently, the chef's idea of a tasty wrap was to have a very smokey bacon, overpowering a very dry chunk of palate-invisible turkey. Look, folks, wraps are pretty easy. Put some fresh meat and some salad dressing in a tortila, and you've got a decent wrap. So what's the excuse for this uninteresting and slightly unpleasant blend of flavors?

My lemon tart dessert seemed to be the only part of the meal with much to taste. (I was seriously wondering, from the apparent enjoyment of people around me, if my New York City-area tastebuds were simply missing some subtle New England flavor.) It was sharp, lemony, and substantial in taste, if rather small in portion size. Unfortunately, the rest of my meal makes me suspect they simply buy their desserts elsewhere. I can't imagine much in the way of taste sensation coming out of Apricot's kitchen.

My service wasn't poor, just apparently over-busy. Really over-busy. Polite, friendly, and rushing way too much to make me feel comfortable replying honestly to "How is everything?" (Or, for that matter, to catch my repeated glances as I tried to get the check... or to avoid spilling my coffee a bit while pouring it.)

I'll be back in Farmington. I won't be back to Apricot's.    [18 May 2004 20:49:21]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: A good steak at some other restaurant

     ­Jeff Mach   jeffmach at runningwatermusic dot com

A Big Disappointment
I am an assistant to an executive officer of a local manufacturer who was given the task to coordinate our annual departmental Christmas luncheon. I picked Apricot's because it has always been a favorite of mine, but this year's celebration was a total disappointment! The food left much to be desired and the service was incredibly poor. Apricot's knew well in advance that there would be 12 people in our party, yet there was only one waiter on hand to serve our group while at the same time trying to handle other diners. Most of us ate our meals "dry" since no one came around to fill the water glasses during the entire 2 hour meal. At a restaurant with Apricot's reputation, one need not ask to have a water glass filled. When the desserts finally arrived after what seemed like an endless wait, the warm chocolate cake with ice cream tasted more like hot chocolate gooey fudge without having any cake like texture. Needless to say, I’ll think twice before choosing Apricot’s for our next festive occasion which most likely will be Professional Assistant’s Day.    [22 Dec 2004 12:45:13]

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     ­Anonymous   

nice relaxing dinner
We arrived at 6:45 and left at 9:45, just the two of us. I don't like to be rushed when I go to a nice place for dinner and this was the spot. There is nothing worse than starting on your appetizer and here comes your dinner followed closely by the check, luckily this did not happen. Dinner was great and the service was good as well. Dinner might have cost us a little more than we wanted to spend, but isn't that what a nice night out is supposed to be. If this night out was any indication of how this restaurant is on a regular basis I will go whenever I get the chance.    [22 May 2005 09:30:47]

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     ­Anonymous   

An okay time
My now-husband had me make reservations at Apricots the night he proposed to me. The restaurant was not busy and we were seated at a tiny table with a view of the river. My husband ordered the filet mignon and was very pleased. I forget what I ordered (not a very good sign) but I do remember not being very impressed at all. The wait staff was nice and very helpful with the wine choice, although we felt very alone during the evening (great when we were talking, not so great when we had questions)
Overall I would say it was just "Okay," especially after having our hopes up for a great evening after all we have heard about it.    [25 Jul 2005 14:29:51]

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     ­Anonymous