Hard Times Cafe

This place is delicious and such a great deal! It's a cute, family run restaurant with reasonable prices. I came here for dinner on a long weekend trip to the Adirondacks with my boyfriend and we're glad we stopped in. It's hard to find small, family-run operations these days, and we loved chatting with the owner about how her fall business was going.

I got a pasta dish called "voodoo" chicken that was on the specials list-- it consists pink cream sauce with onions and peppers, served with a full breast of fresh grilled chicken over a mound of well-cooked penne pasta. It came with a trip to the (no frills) salad bar. My boyfriend got the walnut-crusted trout and loved it. We both had a glass of wine because they basically give it away (if I can get wine for less than $4 a glass, I'm usually in trouble). The wine was nothing fancy, but it did the trick.

I'm not sure what to make of the previous reviewers-- maybe they came at a busy time or maybe they stumbled in to the Tavern next door without knowing, but in either case, this restaurant was definitely worth the visit for us!

I had an awesome lunch here on my way through the adirondacks-- I was heading back to my alma mater outside of Utica and got hungry a little before Old Forge. Stopped in for a soup and sandwich. The bread and soups are made fresh in the restaurant! The decor was cozy and comfortable. My fiance had the chili (also homemade) and I had a huge burger (cooked and seasoned just right). Overall, this place was just what we were looking for. Our bill was really reasonable with tax, tip, and two drinks, was well under $20. I will definitely stop by when I am in the area again!

This place was disgusting.  It smelled and was dirty.  My kids even thought the place was gross.  The food was terrible and so was the service.  We had a young European girl who was very nice but not well trained and was getting chewed out by her  "supervisor" and an irate customer.  We had gone for breakfast here a couple of years ago and it was really good.  I don't know what happened but beware!!!!  By the way, we left our waitress a very generous tip after the irate customer yelled at her and stormed out.