Library Restaurant

I had dinner on 7/3 here with my lovely gal. I had made 6 pm reservations and showed up early, non issue. Pleasant atmosphere. Our waitress (Katie??) was out of this world, she was extremel attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. She helped us out with parking concerns and was all over any menu question we had. She was on point, food delivered quickly, wasnt hanging out on top of us, but made sure we werent waiting on anything. The staff truely makes or breaks a restaurant.\r Now the food...our apps were the cajun shrimp (way better then ruths chris' version) and the steak carpaccio were great and served quickly.\r She ordered the ny sirloin center cut. it was cooked to perfection. The hollandaise was obviously made in house. It tasted so richly of fresh butter and REALLY fresh egg. The steak was her dinner, my midnight snack of a sandwich an another sandwich the following day. Tender as a dream.\r I had the bone in ribeye, gorgeous. again with the hollandaise.\r The scalloped potatos, as recommended by the waitress were great, and the asaparagus was not overcooked and slimey as is so common.\r \r Overall, loved it. Not sure of the experiences of others but I would recommend this to anyone who was going to be in porstmouth. more

Just wanted to share the feedback about our visit yesterday. It was our wedding anniversary so we wanted to have some lazy lobsters. Thou the food was great we had this woman (I think she was a hostess) who kept coming over to our 2 year old and asked her to whisper. Our daughter wasn't walking around, screaming, having melt down or anything like that. She was just excited and talked in her regular voice and we were told it wasn't allowed in establishment like that. Our visit and anniversary dinner was a total disappointment. We were told that there are business people there (who by the way were louder then us). I think that was totally inappropriate, rude and disgusting. We should of just walked out right away just like 5 people sited next to us did they had smaller baby and this woman said if she can hear baby from the front then baby is being laud. But we made it through. I will make sure all our family and friends know how was our experience. Certainly made our anniversary dinner unforgettable. more

We were seated right away, since we had reservations. The ambiance is beautiful, whether you are dining alone or with a group.\r \r The food is to DIE for:\r \r Very creative presentation\r The crab cakes are all lump crab meat with no shells or breading\r Despite the fact that the steak was USDA, it was so tender I could cut it with my fork\r The dessert was so astonishing, I had to take a picture and send it to a friend who is on a diet\r \r The wine list is wonderful. They don't carry things you find at the liquor store or market, and even the least expensive wine is tasty.\r \r The service was beyond wonderful.\r \r I highly recommend this place! more

I visited recently on a Friday night around 6:30 with a friend from work- we decided to sit in the bar area and order dinner there. We both had a cosmo- delicious- and then ordered dinner- She ordered a crabcake appetizer- and I had shrimp cocktail, both very good. For dinner my friend got the baked stuffed haddock, and I ordered an 8OZ filet with a side of asparagus. I ordered the filet cooked medium, and it arrived well done- after flagging down the wait staff and letting them know it was overcooked (when all you get for $25 dollars is a steak in the middle of a big plate, you expect for it to be cooked correctly). This is where the service becomes disappointing- over cooked steaks happen, but it took at LEAST 20 minutes to get the new one- and the waiter seemed ""put-off"". By the time it came out, my friend was done with her meal and the asparagus I had ordered was cold. They did give me a free glass of wine which was nice, but again, I was made to feel as though I was being ""difficult"" when I made mention of the the fact that it was my first visit and was a little disapointing. I would visit again, but perhaps sit in the dining room as the food was good once it arrived, and perhaps the service there would be better. I would however encourage the management to consider implementing some customer service training. At those prices, the lack of gracious attentiveness and attention to detail is not what I would hope for. Pros: Good Food and Atmosphere Cons: Bad Service in the Bar (first visit so maybe this was unusual) and too pricey for poor service more

I recently attended a wedding reception at the Library restaurant. It was a very close friend of mine, and I was a bridesmaid. My advice to anyone is NEVER even consider having your reception here. \r \r The restaurant manager was rude and unprofessional. Additionally, there was not proper staffing, and the staff was not trained to accomodate a wedding reception. To begin with, the staff did not pour champagne in time for any of the toasts. As the bride and groom were receiving heartfelt wishes from the best man and maid of honor, I looked around the room to see every glass empty and the waitstaff not even paying attention. The restaurant manager was not considerate of the bride and did not let her enjoy her own reception. She constantly bothered the bride with issues such as ""i think someone made a mess in the bathroom, and what are you going to do about it..."" There was a wedding planner in attendance who could have been alerted to these things, but the manager felt she needed to bother the bride instead. At one point she even interrupted dinner at the head table with one of her insignificant complaints. And, as the final straw the manager decided it was her duty to stop serving alcoholic beverages to all of the bridesmaids and their dates - we were not even close to being intoxicated, and we were walking home to a hotel only 2 blocks away, not driving! When asked why she decided to refuse service to us, her response to me was a dirty look and ""whatever!"" Very immature and unprofessional. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy and hope this review saves another bridal party from a ruined evening. Take my advice - stay away from this place! As for the owners of the Library, you should seriously reconsider replacing your mangement if you expect to stay profitable in the future. more

I expected more.. our reservations were delayed by an HOUR, the waitress, rude and slow, the food - mediocre. The value? A waste. Portsmouth has a host of other restaurants to choose from. The plus side? The bar. It's warm and inviting and waitstaff is attentive. Pros: atmosphere, bar Cons: value, waitstaff, limited menu more

The bar is the best part of this place. The restaurant is good but not great. They do have a small party room off the bar which is good for parties of 25 or less. Great place to go after hours and have a late night drink. Pros: Bar Cons: Parking more