Blue Hill at Stone Barns

The food was very gourmet and pretty good and portions are small but I do not think I would go again.  It is a great one time experience and expect to stay for a very long time.  I think we were seated at around 7pm and we ended at close to 11 pm with the last course.  I was more exhausted than impressed.  It's a beautiful restaurant and has great ambiance but I do not think I would be motivated to go again.  It is a very nice setting for maybe a small wedding.  I will say the service is awesome.  They are very attentive and high end for sure.

Slice of heaven on earth for the true foodie.  Farm education, farm to table dining -  a field trip AND exquisite - EXQUISITE - dining!

We came here for our "Company Picnic" and we received a tour of the property, with a guide who explained some of the day to day errands of the farm, the cycle of the animals to maintain fresh soil (yup), and just learn about the farm.  We also were placed in the kitchen, broke into teams and had to make an appetizer using set ingredients.  That was fun - our team lost :  but for a moment in my life, I knew how it might feel like if I was to be on one of those cooking competition shows  :)

The lunch - exquisite!!  We had received three different types of wine throughout our meal - each amazing. The salad - bed of greens, asparagus with hazelnut sauce - with an amazing egg that they slow cooked in a container where it was heated with compost!  This egg was soft and perfectly runny on the inside; soft, melt in your mouth but still solid white with the most amazing crust outside - I don't know what they used to "bread" this egg, but it was out of this world.

A wonderful, beautiful experience.  This is where you get the story of the food, the story of the environment, appreciation of cooking techniques....your mind is engaged, your eyes are engaged and your belly. Agree that the cost might be a bit jarring to a vegetarian, so I totally lucked out that this was our companys treat!

$600 for finger food and veggies
We've been to Blue Hill many times through the years, even had the 12 course with wine flite for a splurg so when our daughter asked for her birthday dinner last night we said of course.  As we sat down, the couple next to us, they were from Australia, said "hope you like vegetables."  The server announced, no silverware for the first several courses, you eat with your hands.  And we did, beautifully presented small hors' deovres made from all kinds of vegetables.  I'm allergic to shellfish but the rest of our party wasn't.  The table next to us also in for the 8 course (I remember when it was 5) dinner had beautiful plates of cold shellfish--we got some sort of pasta--I remember when blue hill accomodated one person's food idiocynricies but not at the expense of the whole table--later in the meal the silverware arrived served cermonously with a 1 oz piece of chicken lost on a hugh plate with a few more veggies and then as a separate course, a massive piece of potato bread with 3 different kinds of fat--2 butters and lard then the grand finale, 3 pieces about 1 1/2 oz of grass feed beef slathered in sauce with more veggies--the cliched foam dessert with a few berries and some innocent choc squares were our two desserts followed with choc candies on a log.  When I asked the server why our meal differed from our neighbors (same price but they had lamb, shellfish plate and dessert variables) she said, oh, it's whatever the chef decides to send out.  All food is equal there whether its pasta or shellfish?  
The problem, Blue Hill has become a formula--beautiful setting, efficient service, and food by the numbers and portions by a calculator.  We went before and paid those exorbinent prices for the excitement of the promise of something creative and tantalizing and experimental--now it's been surpassed by many other farm to table creative restaurants throughout the Hudson Valley and NYC which don't substitute finger food for courses and treat a hunk of bread as some sort of forbidden delicacy.  I will never forget the 12 course vegetarian menu at the French Laundry.  It was remarkable.  Blue Hill's attempt to pad thebottom line  with vegetables and starches and pretty little things impalled on spikes and buried on quaint logs isn't a substitute.  And that poor deflated lettice that was dragged from table to table last night as the earnst young wait staff explained how it was cut up and served in one of the courses (we weren't served) was pathetic.