Jessica’s Garden Located in Marlborough Connecticut on the East Hampton town line is famous for their hot buttered lobster rolls and pink lobster shack since 2007. In 2023 Jessica’s completed renovation of a Full year round restaurant on the property and now offers an extensive menu featuring elevated roadside food and many options for Vegans and Gluten Free dining.
Donald Olson
We were looking for a lobster roll and ended up at Jessica’s Garden. What a cool little spot!! We sat near the pond at a picnic table. You go up to the window to order and they text you when it’s ready. We ordered two lobster rolls, they were delicious!! They do have a small indoor seating area if you go when the weather is not nice, we were lucky to have a beautiful day. Bonus was that we were able to bring our fur baby along!!
… moreThe Hungry Road
It’s a beautiful day in Connecticut and I’m in the mood for some outdoor dining, a lobster roll, but I don’t wanna fight through the crowds of Captain Scott’s Lobster Dock or drive an hour to the shore for any of those places out there. Only about a half-hour away from me is Jessica’s Garden. Here’s why my wife and I love coming here…
Atmosphere/Appearance: Kind of out in the sticks is this gem, but many benefits of that are that there’s private parking and plenty of it. Up the hill from where you park is where you go to order your food. You walk up to the counter to check out the menu or you can order from your phone. Hint, if you check-in on Yelp you may get a coupon to use online! Once you order you won’t really be notified so just go to the other window around the corner from where you ordered to pick up your food. There’s plenty of picnic table style seating and so much property to explore. There’s woods back to check out and this place is just so peaceful. It’s also… BYOB. That’s what’s most important. Lol, especially with a liquor store right up the street.
Service: There really isn’t any since you go order your own food then go pick it right back up.
Food: It’s a pretty simple menu here. The lobster roll is what you want. Yes, it can be pricy, but lobster just is. However, it’s amazing. The lobster is soft, tender, succulent and of course, buttery. You do have to assemble the roll yourself since everything here is sold as a to-go order. It kinda makes sense. I’ve also had some wings and onion rings here. They’re okay, nothing to write home about, but good enough for me to get each time I visit.
Value: Moderate. Easily affordable, nothing crazy and the fact that it’s B.Y.O.B. makes it WAY better! Lol.
In conclusion, Jessica’s Garden is my duck-off spot where I go if I wanna eat outdoors, am craving a lobster roll and I just wanna chill. Check this place out guys and continue to support these local businesses!
… moreLeeAnn Waye
Highly recommend this wonderful place. Delicious and fresh food. Hot buttered lobster roll was perfect and came in a generous portion. Chowder was yummy as well as the fried fish/fries. We also enjoyed great ice cream and friendly service. Prices are very fair, haven’t seen a lobster roll for less than $25 for awhile! Pretty gardens, places to relax and sit, an indoor area, and even plants for sale. For the photographers, there is a painted wall mural for great photo ops.
… moreDan Herrick
A roadside seafood/hot dogish fair, i got the hushpuppies, hot dog w/ chili sauce etc…, and lobster roll. Pretty normal quality. The lobster roll was cooked tender and covered in ample butter, the hot dog was served with it’s more onions than were necessary and the chili sauce was obviously Hummel canned chili sauce, not good. The hush puppies were good but small. No fried clams avaible until next Tuesday, not good. The pickle side was a good offering.
… moreSuzy Couture
What a great spot to stop at! Great summer menu with a nice selection! Also an amazing garden area with picnic tables and plenty of room for the kids to roam around. A very relaxed atmosphere
… morebrandon mcnulty
Let me start off by saying I’ve had thousands of lobster rolls. Not all get reviewed. I only review if they are the best or they are the worse. Almost any place can have a mid quality lobster roll but not many can be the best or the worst. If you want the best you have to try Jessica’s garden there fresh ingredients followed by their simplistic roll make it the best. In ct it happens a lot of the time where places get to fancy and make a good roll a bad roll, or they use lemon to cover up sub par frozen lobster. That is not the case what so ever at Jessica’s garden. They separate perfectly toasted butter roll from the perfect, fresh, delicious, quality lobster meat taking a bath in some fantastic butter. The fact they separate it. Well that’s to prevent sbs (soggy bun snot). This lobster roll will make you emotional for sure. If you wanted to you could bring a low tide scented candle, a beach towel, and a speaker playing waves crashing and seagulls flying and shouting. At that point close your eyes for your first bite and it will be like captain Brando himself in the seafood capital of the world Maine just was fishing 10 hours, drove his boat back to the bay, cooked the lobster himself and delivered you this delightful buttery roll himself straight from the boat that day after a long day at work. This is the roll of Connecticut and Jessica along with her garden should be proud. As for the service the guy was nice and had this 10/10 lobster roll in my hand in less than 5 min. Can’t beat that I will be back.
… moreChristopher LaRosa
Went for dinner last night with the family and had heard good things. My son had a lobster roll and I had the calamari platter which came with fries. The lobster roll was surprisingly small and seemed to be on a slice of bread. The taste was great but for the price it was less than hoped for. The calamari tasted great but there wasn’t much in comparison to the mountain of fries it was served on. I’ve been to other local restaurants who give you much more calamari for less money. So if you go, don’t go hungry, taste is great but portions are small. The grounds were the best part of the experience, well maintained, picnic tables everywhere which made for a nice outdoor dining experience
… moreKayla M
Although this is called the Lobster Shack, the other food itmes are delicious as well. (Including their delicious icecream!)
What really took my breath away was the beautiful landscape, pond, and fairy trail that my party and I had the pleasure of strolling down.
I highly recommend stopping here on a beautiful day.
(They do have a small indoor eating area for if the weather is not as ideal)
… moreLaura G.
Jessica’s Garden is just a beautiful spot to get lunch or ice cream! I haven’t had lunch here but I know they’re famous for their lobster rolls. I come for ice cream. I love sitting and looking out at the beautiful pond and walking through the fairy gardens. It’s just a peaceful and beautiful place. They have picnic tables and flowers surrounding the area. I highly recommend coming here. It’s even worth the drive if you’re not from the area. I’m lucky enough to live close by.
… moreBoudica
I ordered door dash for my lunch at work and I’m shocked that this restaurant allowed food this burnt to go out their door into a customers hands!! I received charcoal fries because of how horribly burnt they were and a tiny little bowl of soup that cost $8. Could not eat the fries they were inedible. The bisque tasted great for the 3 spoonfuls I got. I find it ridiculously expensive for such low quality or low quantity. Maybe you get higher quality food by eating in since I see so many great reviews for this place. I would personally be ashamed as a restaurant allowing this food to be delivered to a customer.
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