I hate writing reviews like the one I'm about too...but the owners need to be aware of the service and food they are serving to the public.
Went into the restaurant as a party of 15. Large parties are difficult to serve, but any good restaurant should be able to accomplish the task! The Delhi Diner had no problem with servicing 12 people for lunch. The Andes Hotel just couldn't accomplish it!
Where to start!
Upon being seated, all of our party immediately noticed the lack of air ventilation let alone AC! It was a warm day and temp outside neared 90 and inside the restaurant was about the same! For people who are in their 60's, it is difficult to enjoy a meal under these conditions. It was noted the adjacent bar was Air Conditioned. Why on Earth would you not Air Condition the dining area?????? Â
The service was extremely slow. I noted the time we arrived and when we left. It was almost 2 3/4 hours. Nobody ordered after dinner coffee nor desserts... nor were we asked! At that point of time everyone just wanted out of the place!
As for the food.....another big disappointment! The food is overpriced for what you get and the quality is not up to par. Nobody liked their steaks. Over or under cooked and the quality of the beef is NOT prime grade beef. What I ordered was the STEAK AU POIVRE medium. What I got was about a 8 oz piece of steak that was cooked well done, lacked flavor, and not what I'm used to ordering a steak at a restaurant for $24.
Another member of the party order the Ribs. They came out 'dry' and the waitress was asked to bring out some BBQ sauce. What was brought out was a small metal cup of BBQ sauce that was just taken out of the refrigerator! Now why would anyone wish to put cold BBQ sauce on Ribs? To add insult to injury a $.50 charge was added for the extra BBQ sauce! The previous week I was eating at a BBQ joint in Texas where customers can walk up to a large barrel and pour out as much BBQ sauce as they want for no additional charge!
It's a combination of many complaints that made this dining experience one of the worst I've experienced in quite sometime! A huge disappointment!
Early Friday night dinner in the bar area for four.
Upon entering, the entire restaurant smelled of smoke which, for me, is ultra gross and unhealthy.
Our waitress was curt and basically threw the ordered food on our table. The soups were missing utensils and our 4 onion soups were cool by the time she returned with spoons. Everyone but me enjoyed the soup. I found it overly seasoned with something I obviously dislike.
The main dish I ordered was horrific. A chicken quesadilla which was deep fried and I mean DEEP FRIED. It was filled with something hot and red but the amount of chicken was minimal at best. This is usually my favorite dish but NOT HERE.
Prices were high for the area. Without drinks and dessert, the bill came to $83.16.
I gave it 2 stars but 5 pepcids.
Hmmm where do I start. Â After a 4 hour drive, getting lost about 8 times, and realising I'm addicited to my cell phone when coverage ceased, I found myself in the forest. Â Deep, deep in the deserted forest. Â I wasn't sure why my friends decided to purchase a home out here, so I made the trek from my buzzling abode in Manhattan to visit their extremely quiet home in the Catskills.
And quiet it was....
I even witnessed the first signs of snow, and eagerly awaited a black bear to climb the porch for cover.
We ended up braving the cold and went to The Andes Hotel for dinner. Â It was nice to see that the bitter cold wasn't going to stop the town kids from trick or treating.
Once inside it was toasty warm. Â The place was lit by candelight which brought on a cozy feeling.
They had a number of different soup options to warm the belly and the corn chowder tickled my fancy. Â It was delicious.
The roasted prime rib was a little dry, although I did ask for well done, so I can't really complain there. Â The mashed potatoes and roasted pumpkin though, were extremely tasty.
And the creme brulee for dessert was so good that it made me want to order another 50 of them.
It's extremely rare to find a decent restaurant in a one street town, especially a restaurant which looks like a pub, but to my surprise this one filled the belly nicely.
The service was what you'd expect in a small country town - friendly, and a little off beat. Â
And all the locals called Bob entering the place, after a hard days work tending to the cows, with their cask of wine in hand probably waiting to eat one of them. Â No, not a friendly off beat worker, (just coz it's the country & their name is Bob, it doesn't mean they're cannibals), but one of their pet cows named Bertha.
My Bertha, although dry, was tasty. Â I would have preferred her to not have worried so much about her weight, as a little more fat on those thighs of hers would have been ideal.
This is a great little hotel upstate. Â The 4 star rating I'm giving here isn't necessarily for the accommodations, but it's for the overall experience - the rooms, the restaurant, the courtesy, the location & the unheard LOW price for a room ($75/night for a single)! Â It's pretty cool that you have to go to the bar to check-in, that sort of sets you up for the laid back time you'll be having during your time in the country. Â The rooms are comfortable & clean, though they feel very lived in (if that makes sense)... one time we found what looked like a dirt stain on the comforter of a just-made bed. Â By then we were too peaced out from our pleasant weekend away to care that much but yeah, it happened (the room was better cleaned the next day, go figure). Â There's air conditioning & cable TV, no WiFi in the rooms though they mention access in the main building on their website. Â The restaurant is wonderful - sophisticated dishes w/ ingredients so FRESH & local you can taste the delicious difference! Â A bit pricey but not surprising given the type of menu. Â As stated on their site & menu, their wine list celebrates America, so plenty of their domestic offerings are from New York state, which is groovy. Â Haven't tried the pub fare here yet. Â It is so relaxing to eat on the porch here, or hang out in one of the rocking chairs, lazily gazing out at the street. Â Lots of cool places are within walking distance - Hogan's General Store, Slow Down Cafe, Woody's Country Kitchen, numerous antique & gift stores worth meandering through... Â During our last stay, we unfortunately were unable to attend their weekly summer Cans & Clams event (clams, beer & live music) at the summershack out the back but it looked like fun. Â So while the actual hotel (really a motel) room quality is like a 2 or 3 star, I rate a whole stay here higher than that! Â PS Tiny thing but we totally dig the cool clear green soap they provide in the rooms.
Review Source:I was here a couple of months ago-- just for lunch, we didn't stay in the hotel. I had the fish and chips and my husband had the pulled pork. Both were totally solid, especially the pulled pork. The waitress was friendly and helpful, and the place itself was very clean and cute. Obviously a lot of care has gone into the Andes, and it shows.
Review Source:Hey there all,
I just wanted to update the post...
I still stand by my review of Andes Hotel and wanted to add this tidbit I got from the owner of this establishment. Now most people know with Yelp being bigger and bigger, owners are becoming more and more transparent and thus some are not liking what they are reading and hearing. In my experience, all of the negativity is sort of a wake up call that they need to attend to their business more.
That being said, here's what the owner sent me:
I wanted to respond to your review of The Andes Hotel with a suggestion. I am the Chef and Owner of The Hotel. My wife and I work very hard at what we do, trying to attract a clientele ranging wide from blue collar stone cutters to affluent second home owners and proffesionals. We have tried to create an atmosphere that is attractive to both mentalities and budgets and much of what we do reflects the casual style we display,. That being said, we do not take short cuts in the preperation of outr food, we dont use processed or frozen foods, and all of our fresh products are just that , fresh. Everything, from the fries on our burgers to the blue cheese with the wings is made on premise. If you did not like the food you were served, you are entitled to your opinion, this is the land of the free, however, i really dont appreciate it when people make statements that are simply untrue for the sake of "artistic License". Labeling my food "straight out of the freezer and insinuating that my food is "off" because "a friend was ill a few hours afterward" is incredibly insulting., and absolutely untrue. MY suggestion is this, the next time you decide to critique an establishment that you have visited have enough courtesy to think about your criticism and whether or not its accurate or appropriate.
Here's what I wrote in response:
Hi there,
I actually feel my review was fair and to the point, this is what Yelp is for. To give the average consumer the option of seeing, from the customers eyes, what the establishment has to offer.
*snip*
MY suggestion is this, the next time you decide to critique an establishment that you have visited have enough courtesy to think about your criticism and whether or not its accurate or appropriate.
---
This isn't about courtesy, this is about my experience. So two things are happening here.
First, you are telling me and trying to control what my experience has been. That you can't do, why? Because you are not me and you did not have my experience. The service was awful, the food not very good and the atmosphere was bland. This was MY experience. If you were the customer, and had a different experience then you could write your own post about the Andes Hotel. This is how yelp works. Of course there are plenty of owner reviews, but you can always tell because the totally contradict what others have written.
Secondly, this is Yelp and it's about social networking. If your establishment was great or good, I would have said so. I have no reason to slam your business, I want everyone, especially independent owners to succeed. But if you are not that good, why should others not know about it? It's a new world, and business is different. Trust me- if you see something in a review you don't like about the business, find out how to do it better. Don't come after the messenger, you will always fail.
*snip*
If you did not like the food you were served, you are entitled to your opinion, this is the land of the free, however, i really dont appreciate it when people make statements that are simply untrue for the sake of "artistic License".
--
If I am entitled to my opinion, why are you trying to censor it? Nothing about my review was "artistic license", but my experience was what it was.
Look, you can come after everyone who writes about your establishment and slam them, trying to control and contrive their statements or you can change. The world is faster, smarter and quicker than even 3 years ago. You can't keep doing business the same way and not expect the same results.
Thanks.
Very Good Beer Menu, although the Rochefort 8 I had Mon was chilled for too long. Â I have had burger type things, steak and eggs, and more elaborate fish, as well as chicken, entrees for meals. Â I have enjoyed most of that stuff..... Â Â Good mix of locals and non locals. Â They have music too. Â I has to spend a night in the hotel last Sat night becuase of snowy roads and that was alright. Â Too bad the bar had closed by then though.....
A bonus is the bar room offers (free) hosue popcron. Â I always like when places do that, though theirs here seems a little stale.
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