Milestone Restaurant & Bar

It took a little while but Milestone you have lost a star in my book. It started with a return visit a few months back with the crab cake which I had so highly praised initially. It is now mostly fillers, a sad comedown from what it was. It continued with a serving of salmon that disappointed because it was a flat tail portion rather than the thicker filet that it should have been. And it ended with my most recent visit. The salmon was a filet all right but I felt it was a small portion. I would have guessed about 6 ounces. The dish was tasty overall but now the value of it enters in. The price has gone up quite a bit from when they opened which is only 6 months or so ago. At this price point, I expect more. So Milestone, you lose a star account value and for the crab cake which is the low quality variety you can find in your average restaurant across the Capital District.

Food 4 stars plus; environment and service 2-3 stars.

Driven - as many others I suspect - by recent TU review, we visited on a Tuesday evening.  The menu doesn't *look* especially inspired, the wait staff are lacking in friendliness and service level, and the room is marginal.

But the food turned out to be really GOOD.  Carefully and well-cooked without exception, subtly and imaginatively seasoned, well-constructed combinations.  Very impressed, which is hard to do.

Needs significant work on service staff, but the potential here is very high; we'll definitely go back.

I was looking forward to visiting Milestone knowing that Chef Michael of the former Indulge in Latham had recently openend this establishment.  The interior decor appeared much as it has in past incarnations, but the menu is excellent and features a number of the items that were specialties at Indulge.  The pork Osso Bucco was outstanding; others in the party (three total) also found their entrees - chicken and salmon--very well prepared.  Service was uneven, however.  Salads were delivered by someone who hadn't taken the original order and were incorrect.  After another try, two of three were what was ordered; the third we accepted rather than try again!  The lag time between completion of salads and serving of entrees was unusually long...I suspect more a problem in the kitchen rather than with the servers themselves.  This is a restaurant that has real promise and, as suggested in a recent Times Union newspaper review, with some expert guidance and fine-tuning, could easily be a 4-5 star establshment!  I'll definitely go back, as there are other dishes I want to sample, but I hope Michael starts to pay a bit more attention to the fine points that contribute to an exceptional restaurant experience.  The basics of an outstanding menu are there...but the "devil is always in the details!"