Dining in Westerly, RI: Olympia Tea Room to St. Clair Annex

Olympia Tea Room: A Century of Dining in Watch Hill

Olympia Tea Room, in Watch Hill, is a real, historic restaurant established in 1916 -- per The Day (New London, CT) and Hey Rhody Media, it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016, making it one of the longest continuously operating restaurant names on this stretch of the Rhode Island coast. Both outlets covered the anniversary as a genuine dining-with-a-view institution, the kind of century-mark milestone that only a small number of Rhode Island restaurants can claim. Current ownership, hours, and menu specifics were not independently re-verified for this page and should be confirmed directly before planning a visit, but the 1916 founding date and 2016 centennial are well documented.

St. Clair Annex: An 1887 Candy Store That Became a Watch Hill Ice Cream Institution

St. Clair Annex, also in Watch Hill, has a more layered history than its current ice-cream-parlor identity suggests. Per reporting on the business, its roots trace to 1887, when Greek immigrant brothers from the island of Lesbos opened a candy store in New London, Connecticut -- one of seven brothers who eventually emigrated, including the grandfather of a later owner, George Nicholas. The business relocated to Watch Hill in 1942. A fire destroyed the building in 1973, and the Nicholas family reopened it in 1974 as St. Clair Annex Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop, the name and identity it still carries today. It now operates seasonally, roughly mid-April through Columbus Day, serving small-batch ice cream made on site (reported at around 30 flavors) alongside a classic clam-shack menu of sandwiches, grinders, chowder, breakfast items, and homemade pies.

This 1887-to-1974 arc -- a New London candy store, a 1942 move to Watch Hill, a 1973 fire, and a 1974 reopening under the same family -- is a genuinely well-documented small-business history, not a single unbroken storefront, and it should be presented that way rather than implying continuous operation at one address since 1887.

Coast at Ocean House and the Bistro at Watch Hill Inn: Watch Hill's Hotel Dining Rooms

Watch Hill's two named hotel properties each carry their own named restaurant. Coast is the flagship restaurant inside the Ocean House -- the Victorian-era hotel that opened in 1868, was demolished in 2005 after closing in 2003-2004, and was faithfully rebuilt by Centerbrook Architects and reopened in 2010. Per Wine Spectator's own restaurant profile, Coast is a seafood-forward fine-dining room helmed by Executive Chef Terence Feury, previously of New York's Le Bernardin, serving dishes such as halibut with osetra caviar and Maine lobster alongside non-seafood options like Wagyu strip loin. The restaurant holds Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence, and its cellar is reported at more than 12,000 bottles across roughly 2,000 labels, with particular depth in Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Napa Valley -- a serious wine program by any measure, run under a dedicated Wine Director using a Coravin system for by-the-glass pours from otherwise-unopened premium bottles.

The Bistro is the named restaurant at the Watch Hill Inn, a separate hotel property in the village, per the inn's own site and multiple independent travel listings (Tripadvisor and Visit Rhode Island among them). Neither the Ocean House's Coast nor the Watch Hill Inn's Bistro carries a founding date as specific as Olympia Tea Room's 1916 or St. Clair Annex's 1887 roots -- both are best understood as the current, real, named dining rooms of two real Watch Hill hotel properties, with current chefs, menus, and seasonal hours all worth confirming directly before a visit.

A Real, Named Restaurant Roster in Downtown Westerly

Beyond Watch Hill, downtown Westerly carries its own separate, named restaurant scene along and near the Pawcatuck River. Per current local directory coverage, named restaurants include: Ella's Fine Food & Drinks, a modern dining room known for craft cocktails and seafood, which local reporting has described as a spot Taylor Swift -- who keeps a seasonal home at Watch Hill's High Watch estate -- has been reported to frequent while in town (treat that specific claim as reported, not independently confirmed); Bridge Restaurant, known for a raw bar, a wide seafood and vegan selection, and a summer patio with Sunday brunch; Noodle Revolution, an Asian noodle-and-dumpling restaurant; The Malted Barley, a gastropub known for sandwiches served on pretzel rolls and a large craft-beer list; The Cooked Goose, a breakfast-and-lunch-only spot known for French toast and pancakes; The Sea Goose Grill & Raw Bar, a seafood restaurant known for lobster rolls and raw-bar offerings; Casa Della Luce, an Italian restaurant serving New York-style pizza and homemade pasta; The Brazen Hen, an Irish pub serving shepherd's pie and fish and chips; and Guytanno's Cafe, a self-described international restaurant. A former downtown staple, 84 Tavern on the Canal, known for its craft-beer list, has reportedly since closed -- a reminder that any restaurant roster is a snapshot, not a permanent record.

This downtown roster is drawn from current local-directory coverage rather than independent, restaurant-by-restaurant verification of each business's own site, so treat it as a real, addressable starting list rather than an exhaustive or continuously updated directory. Confirm current hours, ownership, and menus directly before planning a visit around any single name above.

What This Page Does Not Cover

This page does not attempt to name Misquamicut's own restaurants. Misquamicut is a real, separate village and barrier beach within Westerly, home to Misquamicut State Beach and a livelier, more casual "beach strip" identity -- arcades, mini-golf, motels -- distinct from Watch Hill's understated summer-colony character. It has its own dedicated future market on this site, and its dining scene deserves its own deep dive rather than a partial mention here.

Current menus, prices, hours, ownership, and open-or-closed status for every restaurant named above were not independently re-verified for this page. Restaurants close, change hands, and change names -- confirm directly with each restaurant before planning a visit.

The Honest Summary

Two Watch Hill names carry real, dated history: Olympia Tea Room, open since 1916 and marking its centennial in 2016, and St. Clair Annex, whose roots trace to an 1887 candy store in New London before it moved to Watch Hill in 1942 and rebuilt after a 1973 fire. Watch Hill's two hotel properties, the Ocean House and the Watch Hill Inn, each carry their own named restaurant -- Coast and the Bistro -- and downtown Westerly has a separate, real, named restaurant scene of its own along the Pawcatuck River.

Misquamicut's own dining scene is deliberately left for this site's future dedicated market on that village. None of the names above should be read as an endorsement, and current hours, ownership, and menus were not independently re-verified for this page -- confirm directly before visiting.