Best Places for Dining, Shopping, and Sightseeing Near Mystic CT
Travel Guide by Glori Law
There are an incredible number of things to do year round in the Mystic area. We constantly update this guide based on our own experiences and with feedback from our guests, who now total over 120 rentals. We have gotten a good idea of what is worthwhile and what isn't. Our goal is to provide visitors with ideas and descriptions that will help to make their visit memorable. We don't get any favors, freebies, gifts etc. from any of the sites we mention.
To the left is the steamboat Sabino that is the oldest wooden, coal-fired steamboat in regular operation in the U.S. Built in 1908 in East Boothbay, Maine. It still has the original engine! It leaves from the Mystic Seaport and cruises up the Mystic river right in front of our house
Activities click to open the guide
Sea Well Seafood
Sea Well Seafood is a fish market located on the right, just before you come over the causeway to the island. The owners also own a fishing fleet so the fish you buy here are fresh. I once went in and was looking at flounder and was told that it was six hours old and that maybe I should buy the haddock that was only an hour old! You could be dining at night on fish that swam by the house that morning! Living in Pittsburgh we are talking week old fish, which we don't buy so this is heaven! Their oysters are excellent and often times come from right out in front and a little to left of our dock. You will see the boat out there in the morning and hear the Noank oysters hitting the boat as they are scooped up. They have great lobsters that you can bring home and cook, (lobster pot in cabinet over double ovens), or they will cook them for you for .50 cents extra per pound, which is sometimes a bargin for the mess you avoid. They have a lot of sushi grade fish if you want to make your own. Love their Fiore Island and Scottish salmon. At certain times of the year you can buy Stonington Red Shrimp, which is a must to try. They are local, very red, sweet shrimp indeginous to the Stonington waters. The Stonington or Bomster scallops are also fresh and wonderful and a legend in the region, see Stonington Seafood Harvesters. (Chuck showed me a trick for selecting scallops. Instead of asking for a pound or whatever of scallops, say you want twenty large scallops and figure out the poundage after that. That way when you cook the uniform size scallops they will all be done at the same time rather then over coking the smaller ones and under cooking the larger ones.) This our go to place, almost every day while in Mystic. There steamer clams are also excellent. They have the best and cheapest lobster roll in town. These are limited and sell out quickly each day. I probably made eight attempts to buy them the last time I was there before I scored some. Best to start trying at about ten or so in the morning. I have a friend that buys them and takes the lobster out of the roll to make lobster salad. They are very generously packed and a real deal.
