I just had the best meal of my entire year at Peekamoose. Hands down, best meal out in 2013.
First of all, we came here last year twice: once to try it out and once for our rehearsal dinner before the wedding. Both times, it was awesome.
This time, we went for our 1 year anniversary. Started off with the squash soup and beet tartare. The soup was perfect, I love autumn squash soup. The beet tartare was divine. It was so incredibly decadent with truffle oil and so perfectly roasted and chopped. Out of this world.
For dinner, I had the trout and my wife had the steak. The trout was perfectly cooked, generously portioned the veggies were perfect, the sauce added exactly the sweetness it needed. The steak was complete and total nirvana. Woodsmoke, expertly cooked, the truffle oil in the sauce just put it over the edge into orgasmic territory.
Pair that with a thoughtful and comprehensive wine list, and we had the best dinner of our entire year. Thank you, Peekamoose!
This is hands down the best restaurant in the Catskills and it's kid friendly!!
It was so good that we came back for another meal! We had:
Gnocchi with pesto and tomato puree - great
Burger - terrific
Kinko Goat Fazzoletti - yum
Corn Ice cream - unique and delicious!!
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The staff is super friendly. They e-mailed me a kid's menu and told me about the wonderful "indoor treehouse." Â They were even kind enough to offer me baby wipes for my daughter when we ran out.
The food was amazing - Manhattan quality. We had:
The onion tart with goat cheese - delicious
Salad with peaches and pistachios - yum
Kids Hummus - very tasty
Braised Short-Ribs - delicious
Scallops - amazing and tender
Mac n Cheese (kids) - yum
Flourless chocolate cake - decadent
Homemade vanilla ice cream - delicious
The coffee was also delicious.
Peekamoose went above and beyond by meeting my (super high) standard of fine dining - sugar cubes instead of packets - see photo. In my opinion, always a sign of a better establishment.
This place was so good that we are going to try to make it back for another meal this week!
Out of the many experiences through all of the fine dining restaurants I have been to in New York City, and Northern California, my dining experience at The Peekamoose Restaurant has been among my favorite. The food is pure quality, the drinks are fantastic, and the service of the staff was extremely polite and hospitable. The ambiance inside the Peekamoose reflects the beautiful environment in which the restaurant is located, in the heart of the Catskill mountains in upstate New York. I highly recommend this restaurant for anyone that wants to be impressed with a great dining experience, or even having some goods drinks at their bar. My experiences at this restaurant have been consistently top of the line, and I will continue to come back for more.
Thank you
I'm torn on this review. The food is good... really good, especially for upstate NY (my favorite place in the world). However, the service was  poor enough that I won't be going back.
We started with a 20-30 minute wait for a table outside. No biggie, let's head to the bar. Hmmm... no bartender until 5+ minutes later. Bartender's now here, but seems genuinely disinterested in questions we have (2 beers were tapped out we just wanted to know what was put in their place). Place our order, receive drinks, go to close tab so we can tip the bartender separate from the server later, but bartender has disappeared again! Got a random staff member passing by to close out our tab.
We get our seats outside. This is where it gets REALLY bad. Extremely slow service, waitress forgot our drink orders several times, brought one drink out and had to be reminded to bring the second one out as well, waitress offered to bring check with dessert but 20 minutes after bringing dessert we still had no check, etc. We flagged down the manager to help find our waitress so we could pay and leave, talked for a minute, and she seemed pretty nice (didn't get into details but she thanked us for "seeing the glass half full").
I didn't leave a tip on an over $100 bill. Wow. That was the first time in my life I've EVER not left a tip. Even bad service usually gets 10% out of me. I think that says it all.
Sat on the deck with a view of the Catskill mountains. Ordered a BIG Peekamoose martini that had caper berries instead of olives. A wonderful and tangy alternative.
Ever heard of "compressed watermelon"? If not, try to find it, it was superb. I won't describe it here since you can easily "Google" it.
My dinner companion ordered the roast pork loin with caraway sauerkraut and sweet potato puree, while I gave into my carnivorous alter ego and and had the BIG, THICK sirloin done black and blue. That's charred on the outside, red on the inside to you vegans.
Friendly service on a beautiful deck with a view. I doesn't get any better than this. Am I right?
The only disappointment was the "no pets" policy even on the deck which deterred us from going back the next evening with our caged pet parrot.
This is quite the hidden treasure of a restaurant. Nice dark atmosphere, great art built into the architecture. The restaurant is great but it's all happening in their tap room. First we will talk about the restaurant.
There are three areas that make up the dining room, an outside deck, a larger sized main dining area and a room just off the dining room for big groups (8-10 people). The menu is medium sized with many great offerings. Peekamoose is vegetarian/vegan friendly and the wait staff (at least in my experience) were very knowledgeable about not only the food but where it comes from and very proud to share.
The food is great. Every meal I ever had was in the bar. Their bar menu is great if you ever see espresso rubbed ribs get then (never had a better rib) some of the appetizers are a bit on the expensive side but the quality and attention.
Get the homemade ice-cream you will not ever have better.
The food here is amazing. I've been wanting to come here since my last visit to the Catskills, and we had a Saturday night reservation in the main room. The food did not disappoint. We had the mussels, fisherman's soup, and chicken livers as appetizers, which were all insanely good. The bread they brought out was AMAZING. Our main entrees were the scallops and the rainbow trout. All the dishes were great and I hope to return soon.
Only one star off because service isn't really up to the level of the food. The waitress was friendly but there's no hostess at this restaurant. We waited about five minutes before a waitress noticed three parties out front waiting to be seated. Details are lacking -- water is unfilled a lot, decaf coffee tasted like sanka -- but the servers are friendly. It just seems like they need more staff, but I'd still return just for the food.
Rustic, funky, surprising, delicious. The best upstate dining I've found yet, with a family friendly vibe, excellent drinks, and exceptional waitstaff. Clearly the owners have done time in NYC restaurants, but adapted the model for country travelers, in the best possible way. Loved it.
Review Source:What a wonderful find! Would have eaten here every night had it not been closed 2 of the 3 nights we were up here. A great wine, beer, & cocktail list to start your evening. Delicious food - everything was so fresh and perfectly cooked. Ended the evening with some of their homemade ice creams! Absolutely the best food in the area!
Review Source:Ate here twice in one weekend; my friend and I loved it that much. Â We came apres ski at 630ish or so and got seats right away. Â Geat, cozy cabin vibe that I was looking for during a ski weekend. Â The food surpassed my expectations and I can be a city snob. Â Drinks were fantastic too. Â
I wouldn't say it's comparable to the better meals in Manhattan but for the area, definitely 5 stars.
Extraordinary.
This place got so many rave reviews as THE place to visit in the Catskills so I quickly booked my boyfriend and I a table as we were taking a romantic weekend upstate. We came here on a Monday night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
First we got 2 Pim's cups at the bar. I originally got their "thyme" drink and it is incredibly sweet so I went for the refreshing Pim's. Once we were seated we discovered that upstate tap water is the most foul thing ever. Get bottled. Spare yourself and your taste buds.
Appetizer. Butternut squash soup was beautifully pureed, nice and light, though the kitchen got a bit aggressive with the creme fraiche in the center. Smaller dollop please!
Entrees. I got the arctic char, which was on beautifully buttered leeks. What a wonderful combination. Cooked to perfection. My boyfriend got the short ribs and they are simply decadent. Oh just delightful.
BUT. The best part was dessert. By far. We got the pumpkin pudding, which is more of a pumpkin version of the bread pudding. It was this spongy gooey soft mush of PURE BLISS. Oh. I don't bake but if I would happily change that fact if I could recreate this.
Great service, lovely atmosphere, and what a magnificent setting for a restaurant. Bravo!
The restaurant was nearly empty, but we (me and my 27 year old daughter), were seated right next to a coupe with two kids who were allowed to run around the restaurant. Â One child fell, hit her head, and they gave the couple complimentary dessert wine. Â At one point, the little girl stood so close to me that her hair was in my food. Â The wait staff saw what was going on, but did nothing. Â When I complained, they offered to move us one table over in an empty restaurant. Â I have four children, so i am not anti-kid. Â They should have paid us for suffering through that meal.
As for the food, it is overrated and expensive. Â I hear that the bar area is better, but we won't be back. Â Rocco's down the street has a great atmosphere and better food/value.
Unlike pizza joints and diners in the area, the rustic tasty Peekamoose restaurant was absolutely delicious.
Butternut squash soup with creme fraiche and cardamon
onion tart caramelized with goat cheese is delicious
hanger steak was very tasty and juicy. It was even unusually tasty, all beef steak should taste like this.
gnocchi's were delicious.
portions not too big, not toom small.
apple tarte tatin with home made ice cream was tasty but it was not a real tarte tatin, more an apple pie.
staff is very friendly. Bon fire outside with marshmallow provided. I will definitely come back, with more people.
(saw the cheeseburger which looked really good...)
We were so looking forward to eating here, as our friend upstate mildly raved about it. Â And judging from some of the pedigree names associated with Peekamoose (like Le Bernadin, see their about page) I was getting excited, too. This was our one meal out together.
All of us were basically bewildered by our experience here and our local friend was more than embarrassed.
First, our server was starting to go into great detail about the creation of their goat sausage. Whoa, boy! Too much detail. We actually came here with an appetite. He also was talking very fast and quietly in a big room that made it hard to hear. He also wasn't picking up on our cue that we already knew what we wanted. Don't need to hear about goat sacrifice.
No worries. We all know what we want. Let the games begin.
The pinot noir we ordered arrived with small white wine glasses (they looked like dessert/ice wine glasses!). At least the server filled them high, but a glimpse at the table next to us (different server) had the right size glasses for their red. Strange. What server doesn't know the right sized glass to bring with the wine?
We had to ask for bread (which was a little crumbly/mealy, not so great) and water a record THREE TIMES (it is a record for me). And when someone finally arrived with water, she then asked us if we, the others, wanted water, too. Why ask? Look at our glasses! If they aren't filled, you can safely assume we drank the water and you can safely assume we will want more water.
I mean, really? Did they just hire brand new staff? Staff that had never worked at a restaurant before?
While the salad came out fine, there was a long lag before we ever saw our sirloins, and those were not prepared to our specification, so we had to shuffle them around, and someone had to eat one that was too rare for her.
But wait! Where are our steak knives? For that really long wait time between salad and steak, no one thought it a good idea to provide us steak knives before our entree arrived. So we sat there for several minutes, after an already long wait, water and bread deprived, before we flagged someone to provide knives. Insult to injury.
The food was just so so (props for the salad). But I cannot overemphasize how important a good wait staff is and how woefully lacking this one was. No knives? Wrong glasses? Begging for water and bread? It was near Halloween and I think maybe we went to a haunted house instead of a restaurant, because it was definitely more trick than treat. No dessert. No coffee. Just hightailing it out of there. I doubt I'll go back (of course, if I do and the experience is better, I'll post here). For now, if we want a great dining experience with excellent staff we'll head back to The Bear.
If any of you has ever stayed in upstate NY for several days you know its hard to find a good place to eat. Â Luckily the hotel I was staying at recommended Peekamoose to us. Â From Roxbury the drive is about 25 minutes, considered the area, 25 min is close. Â Its all worth the drive for the food.
I had the specialty hamburger that was cooked to perfection. Â Toppings were suffice and the french fries were cooked perfectly. Â The house bread is homemade garlic bread with their home made butter both very delicious.
Service was on point and we never felt uncomfortable asking the waiter for anything.
Atmosphere is homey cabin style with a very nice bar, outdoor seating area with a fire pit.
I would highly recommend Peekamoose to anyone looking for a place to eat when staying upstate.
My husband, step-son & I were up in the Catskills to visit my other step-son at camp. Â I found Peekamoose after doing research of nearby restaurants online. Â The Innkeeper at our B&B recommended it as well and said it was the best place around. Â Well she was right!
We had the most amazing meal & my 7 year old step-son enjoyed it as well. Â When the owner stopped by our table, she asked if we were in a rush, as everything was made to order. Â They could speed up the process if need be, but that was not necesary. Â We enjoyed the outdoor deck and the scrumptious, tasty, creative, amazing food. Â All 3 of us shared the mussels in a mustard cream broth as well as the compressed watermelon. We all wanted more of everything! Â My husband had the corn chowder that he said was so tasty and especially light for a chowder. Â He loved it. Â
He then had the short ribs, which he described as the best he ever had, while I had the pan seared striped bass, which was incredible. Â our 7 year old foodie had the goat cheese gnocci, which were also delicious. Â
As of now, we have no plans to go up to the Catskills until next summer, but I have a feeling we'll be back before that... JUST for a dinner at Peekamoose!
My husband and I were vacationing in Roxbury, NY and we decided to visit this restaurant since it was recommended by the owners of The Roxbury Motel. As one yelper wrote, the options are very limited in the area. This place was great!
We were given warm bread with sour cream and onion butter. I had to stop myself from eating more because we ordered a lot of food, but my husband did not.
We had the corn chowder and chilled soup. Wow! They were huge. The corn chowder was not cheap on the corn and it tasted fresh. The chilled soup felt like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.
We also had the goat cheese gnocchi that was scrumptious. Top two gnocchi that I have ever had-so fluffy. The compressed watermelon was refreshing and the lime was a nice tang with the sweetness of the watermelon.
My husband had the lobster and he was very pleased. I had a piece and it melted in my mouth. I had the free range chicken and it was the best chicken I have ever had in my whole life. I don't think I can ever eat chicken again without being disappointed.
Yes, we forced dessert. We had the blueberry crumb cake that was moist and had lots of blueberries. I loved the almond crumb. It was topped with ice cream made on the premises. The dessert was a great end to a great meal.
Thank goodness indeed, Amy W! A young CIA-trained and Gramercy Tavern-experienced chef, and his high-end front-of-house restaurant experienced  wife, decided to move up from NYC. They completely redid and took this restaurant -- which was always a favorite location, but had had a many years-long series of hapless owners "serving" some truly bad dishes -- to a very high level of country gourmet food and refined rustic ambiance. We don't really recommend any other area restaurant to visitors.  (see their website for photos and menu)
This is the very best food in this part of Catskills, in our opinion, including restaurants in Woodstock, Saugerties, Phoenicia, Kingston, Roxbury, Margaretville, Andes, etc. In almost 30 years of coming up here we have dined in (way too) many of them. It's named after Peekamoose Mountain, one of the Catskills' high peaks, and is located right on Rte 28, the scenic main road through a remote and very beautiful part of the northern Catskills, very close to public, state-run Belleayre Mountain Ski Center
The menu changes seasonally because the food is fresh from the farms, as local as possible and never frozen. They participate in the Slow Food and local food movements. Naturally, small local and organic producers get a high price for their meat and produce. Perhaps that explains some reviewer below wanting larger portions. But we are usually too full for the great desserts, or can only share one. When pannacotta is on the menu I always go for that, unless they have home made ice cream, or that over-the-top chocolate chocolate thing.
This is casual gourmet; there is no need to "dress up" for Peekamoose. (Unless YOU have a special reason to.) Children are welcome and families treated very well. We L-O-V-E the Tap Room and usually go there, just because we like the atmosphere and simpler choices. The dining room is also very comfortable, and casual, but we often just want a (great) burger or, better still, the short rib on brioche sandwich, wonderful onion rings and a cocktail on a Thursday or Friday night on our way up to our cabin.
In literally dozens of visits in all seasons over the years we've had many of the dishes, including specials, but never the gnocchi many reviewers raved about. Must try that. The onion tart, 12 ingredient chopped salad, roast chicken, steaks and rotating-by-availability fish entrees in the dining room -- including trout fresh from the Beaverkill hatchery -- are very dependable. Peekamoose' short ribs are the best I've ever had, anywhere. Sinfully rich and delicious. I always enjoy the sides too.
Some of the farmers that supply Peekamoose also have booths at the local Pakatakan Farmer's Market on Saturdays in the summer. So you can actually talk to people who grew and raised the food you enjoyed, and try your hand with the same ingredients at home.
The glorious elevated deck is one of the reasons this has always been a beloved location, even in past incarnations when the food was literally inedible. The current owners made it even better. (We wish it was worth it for them to offer brunch on regular basis. sigh) But it's pretty cheeky of a patron to demand that their pet be admitted to a restaurant or give them a bad review! (as one did below) Most health departments, and many insurance policies, DO NOT ALLOW a restaurant to permit pets. They should risk their permits? Cruise the large parking lot on any evening and you will see many cars, from beat up old Subarus to swanky Mercedes, with dogs patiently awaiting their owners and the doggy bag. Â
Most diners on Yelp are savvy enough to understand that on very busy weekends and some Friday nights, the dining and tap rooms in this somewhat remote vacation destination will be quite crowded and the wait staff and kitchen under some pressure. Especially if they have not bothered to make a (recommended) reservation for 7 or 8 PM Saturday night on a holiday, big Ski weekend or during the peak of the fall colors! On many other nights the same staff serves the same very high quality, fresh and local food, wine and drinks to many fewer patrons. How many 5 star-capable waiters and bartenders are available to work only 20 - 30 nights a year in the middle of nowhere, to take up the slack?
This is not a restaurant that slings frozen margaritas and heats up portion-controlled pre-fab frozen dishes! For the happiest experience on a holiday weekend, make a reservation and plan to relax in the lovely dining room, enjoy the courses and fine wine leisurely. Or, better still from my perspective, go on a quieter night and have a most pleasant slow, locally produced food, gourmet-in-the-mountains dining experience. On those nights you might even chat with the owners, or have a conversation in the bar with some long-time residents, and pick up intel about special places in the area and things to do off the beaten path.
It's in the middle of nowhere. It has a funky name. And unless you've read one of the [millions] of great articles about it or visit the Catskills often enough, you'd never even know it was there. But this place is one of the best restaurants I've been to outside the city and has an atmosphere that the city could never have.
The food is spot-on, local, seasonal and fresh. The service was personal, fun and professional all in one. And the atmosphere was really warm and eclectic with a fire-pit for toasting marshmallows, interesting taxidermy in the bar and quirky country chic interiors that rival most top-notch restaurants in any major metropolis.
Long story short, if you are going to the Catskills and eat anywhere else, just know that you are missing out.
The atmosphere of this restaurant was phenomenal and the decor was great. However, I feel led astray by the ratings and word of mouth. The food is far from amazing. It's decent. It's not bad. But it's not great either. I had the loin of pork, which I was told was cooked medium rare, but was closer to well done. The cranberry beans and apple cider reduction left much to be desired. My boyfriend had the short ribs which were severely lacking in the flavor department. The sauce was barely distinguishable from the meat taste-wise. Even the side of mashed potatoes we ordered were bland and watery.
The dessert was good. Again, not amazing, but much better than the food was. We had the honeycrisp apple tart and the pumpkin pudding. The tart's ice cream was amazing, but the tart itself left much to be desired. The pumpkin pudding was great all around.
The best part of the meal were the cocktails, which were creative and tasty.
We didn't eat anywhere else in the area, so I can't really say if this is the best in the area, but was not as good as most places I've been to.
Thank goodness for Peekamoose! Â As a local I have to say, the dining choices in the immediate area are, um, limited. So, we feel genuinely graced by the presence of the Peekamoose. They have unbelievalble food, prepared in the slow food tradition and made with as many local ingredients as possible, fantastic service, and a unique decor that is not only soothing but interesting enough to start some conversation. Â
They also have, wait for it, what I am possitive is the best BURGER ON THE PLANET in the bar. Â I don't know what on earth they season it with but it is a knockout, brioche bun, fantastic regional chees, and it has this wonderful onion relish that I would mainline if I could. The bar has its own menu, but you can also select from the dining room's menu. Another bar favorite are the onion rings.
Everything about the Peekamoose is thoughtful, but I think they're best decision was to build a magical kids playroom that is seperate from the dining rooms. It has an enchanting tree going up through the middle of it and toys that always seem to keep little ones and slightly older ones occuppied. Â You can dine while your kids play and then go get them when their food arrives. Â It's a lifesaver for us locals because just like great restaurants, babysitters are sparse around here.
If you're visiting our area, this is the place for dinner.
Look at their website. Â See if the style and price point of their cuisine interests you. Â If it does, no matter where you are in the Catskills, Peekamouse is worth the detour.
Three friends and I stubbled across Peekamouse on a recent long weekend in January. Â It was one of the highlights of our weekend. Â The room is gorgeous. Â The food is thoughtful and obviously skillfully prepared. Â The beverage program is a knockout. Â And the service was fantastic (even though it was our servers first night on the floor).
Marybeth (one of the owners) is the consumate restaurant professional; so warm and gracious.
I've worked in NYC restaurants for over a decade. Â I had very high expectations as I seldom get to escape the city... Â I left totally satisfied and wanting to rerturn the next day...
To some of the negative reviews below, will they always get everything perfect? Â Of course not. Â No one ever will. Â But I'm giving them 5 Stars because that is so clearly their goal...
Cheers! Â Can't wait to come back!
This restaurant was phenomenal. If you are staying at the Roxbury Motel or in the vicinity of Peekamoose, it is a must on your to-do list. Though this restaurant is about 45 minutes from the Roxbury Motel, my boyfriend and I had to come try it because of the rave reviews.
Their food did not disappoint. We ordered 2 appetizers: Tomato tarts and Gnocchi. Both were absolutely phenomenal. For the main course, I ordered shrimp with arugula and goat cheese and my boyfriend ordered filet mignon. We will definitely be returning. The waitstaff and hostess were friendly and attentive, and though we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time, we didn't feel as though we were a burden.
There is a really nice fireplace and interesting artwork on the walls. And don't miss the moose on the outdoor patio.
I have been a regular at Peekamoose since the tap room opened years ago. Â I've been the only diner there on a slow off-season night and I've been there on a super busy New Year's Eve - when they've lost power! I've never been disappointed in the food or the service; in fact, I've found both to be consistently excellent. The owners and servers alike will take the time to answer any questions you may have, from wine pairings to the source of the artwork on the walls.
When I read negative reviews about this place, I'm amazed at how little sense some reviewers have. This restaurant is a gold star in the middle of nowhere. Yet some people expect that the menu items should not only cost less, but that there should be this incredibly sophisticated reserve staff to call on during the limited busy seasons. Where are they supposed to get these people from in a town populated with fewer than 500 residents, not to mention no restaurants of this caliber for them to have gained such valuable experience within an hour's drive? So, yes, during peak season, you may have to wait a bit longer for your well done burger. Come hungry and with someone who's conversation you enjoy. Order an appetizer and ask Deanna to recommend a cocktail and sit back and SAVOR it while you wait.
And may I recommend starting with the gazpacho, the peach and pistachio salad, the gnocchi, or the onion (tomato in the summer) tart? My husband loves the pate, but I can't go in without ordering the gazpacho. It's not what you expect. It's not chunky. It's sweet. It's fresh. It's local. It's delicious. Â Then move on to the short ribs, which you can eat with a spoon. Or be healthy and get the vegetable plate, made with fresh, local fare - if you are lucky, maybe it will come with home-made cheese that night.
If the banana bread pudding with caramel and macadamia or the corn or pistachio brittle ice cream is on the menu that night and you skipped it, you made a huge HUGE mistake. I also love the flourless chocolate cake. Â Delicious.
Visiting Woodstock for two weeks + we brought oodles of food with us cause we're totally food obsessed + do most of our best eating in our own kitchen.
Thought the idea of Peekamoose was too tempting to resist + lord, am I glad we didn't resist. Our experience there was wave after wave of delight.
Loved the space - there are visual treats everywhere you look. Â I had Lillet in the bar to start. Yum.
We dined in the dining room. Which is HUGE! (Maybe a bit too big for the amount of staff? Maybe ...) We ordered kinda whack, sorta made up our own tasting menu (there wasn't one offered that particular night), but it allowed us to taste so many marvelous things.
We started with the trout entree, next had an appetizer of scallops - AMAZING - with sides of kale + quinoa, which was fantastic. I'd kill for that recipe. It tasted of herbs - Â maybe fennel?
Next we had the appetizer of gnocchi. Heaven. And then the chopped salad.
We drank a german pinot with the whole business and I can't really imagine how we could have been better pleased, except I wish we had been able to have dessert. Much temptation, but couldn't eat another thing. Next time, for certain!
The place really feels a labor of love, + I (we) are quite appreciative.
Wow, what a surprise! We were starved for food options in the Catskills and stumbled upon this place reviews unseen. Expecting little, we instead had one of the best nights of dining and drinking in our 3+ months in NY. The drink choices were great - quality local draft beers, and outrageously diverse and wellchosen wine options (these guys give Terroir a run for adventurousness both geographically and grapewise). Yet the food was better. I had a delicious cucumber and almond gazpacho, a sandwich of succulent house-concocted pastrami, and a luscious cinnamon flan. My wife was spouting joyous expletives with each mouthful of her rib sandwich.
There's so much to love about this place. The decor is perfect, the staff were enthusiastic and charming, the prices far lower that expected or justified... and they gave is marshmallows to toast in their firepit on the deck.
In top 2-3 places I've eaten in USA!!
From the moment we entered the restaurant we felt like old friends coming home. The service was absolutely stunning. A brief mention that it was our anniversary warranted congrats from the entire staff. It really made us feel welcomed but we were here for the food. Would it stand up to the hype?
Oh, yes. Without a doubt. We both start with the Boston Bib salad. Perfect blend of greens, honey crisp apples, candied pecans and cheese. We then moved to the chicken live appetizer.  Perfectly cooked liver with amazing flavor and texture. A must have for the real foodie. For the entrees, we ordered the skate and the braised pork bellies. The skate was flavorful and paired with the subtle addition of cauliflower. The braised pork bellies were laid over squash purée and lentils. The amalgamation of the flavors had me practically moaning at the table. As you can tell, I'm a sucker for pork. The menu changes daily but with the skill these dishes were prepared, I would try anything they can cook up. If they have the pumpkin pudding for dessert, don't miss out.
Thanks again to the Peekamoose for such an unforgettable anniversary dinner. Now stop reading the review and head down for a culinary adventure.
I really like the Tap Room, REALLY Like it, but the restaurant is probably less than meh. Â If I could rate the Tap Room seperately, I would give it a 4(5 considering its location - i.e. middle of no where), but the Restaraunt a 1. Â We have eaten there 4 times, the last 3 in the tap room. Â We had some friends up from the city and some in from Texas so we decided to do the Restaurant, b/c we thought it would be "nicer." It was not. Â The food was definitely meh and was almost an hour late even though we were not in the midst of a busy period. Â
I also almost moved to the bar when I asked if I could order the burger in the main dining room, b/c it was not on the menu. Â The waitress said probably not, but then thought to ask the manager, who said Definitely not, "they are trying to build up the bar business." Â I said, "are you serious? I am happy to pay a premium, it is really what I want to eat tonight." Â She said nope and moved on. Â So we ordered our food and then waited over an hour to get it. Â It was a HORRIBLE experience, but again the Tap room is so wonderful so that is why I give this review a 2, for the previous experiences at the Tap room, but this will definitely give us pause before ever trying to "dress-up for dinner in the catskills."
Not that it is related, but then one person in our party had a night of vomiting. Â Could they be related? Â Perhaps, but not definitive, just be advised.
Sunday night after a beautifully sunny day tubing down the Esopus River...
Welcoming bar, wood firepit outside, eclectic mix of natural decor and a swinging Eames chair and attentive, knowledgable staff.
Dinner for five - including appetizers of caramelized onion tart, 12 ingredient chopped salad, entrees of striped bass, sirloin steak, short rib and home made ice cream, blueberry panna cotta - all with local and / or organic ingredients plus a couple of ports and espressos and matched with a Chilean dry white and a 2006 St. Emilion for $270 total (+ tip).
...and no rush / push to leave despite being the last ones in the restaurant by about 20 minutes.
Only advice - book as it can be busy and it's in the middle of nowhere, so don't be the designated driver.
I very much want to like Peekamoose, because I have a lifelong history with the beautiful building the current owners inherited from the restaurants that came before them.
In the 70s and 80s, this was a restaurant called Rudi's, which was affiliated with a local ashram. Rudi's was legendary and wonderful, but sadly, the owner passed away young and the building sat empty for quite some time. Briefly in the 90s, it became the forgettable Jake Moon.
I've now been to Peekamoose three times, and though the decor is still beautiful and the service is adequate; it's the food that I have issue with.
The food is just OK, quite hit or miss, and in some cases, disappointing. On top of that Peekamoose charges prices that are above what one would normally expect in Manhattan for a comparable menu and ambiance. Hence, my low rating.
The short ribs are good, but at $29, I'll stick with the far better short ribs in Brooklyn for $24. The waitress highly touted the New Zealand mussels, but they were average. My companion's ravioli was bland. The shrimp lacked flavor.
After three lackluster dinners in the main restaurant, I'm going to try the tap room menu in the hopes that I'm not just left with nostalgia for the many good meals I've had in the previous restaurants that inhabited this building.
It's a beautiful space and the area needs a restaurant like what Peekamoose could be. I hope the kitchen can pick up its game.
Maybe I went on an off night? Â My companion and I came here on the recommendation of the owners of the B&B we were staying at. Â We were told it was the best in the area. Â So, why wouldn't we give it a try?
I really don't have specific complaints except to say that almost everything we had was pretty bland or boring. Â The starter focaccia was bland. Â The herb butter that came with it was bland, which we both found really odd. Â I mean, how does one make butter bland?
My appetizer of goat cheese and onion was tasty, but the puff pastry it was served on top of got very soggy from the onion juice, making it hard to cut into pieces.
I think my companion's steak was decent, but nothing spectacular from what he described. Â My shrimp orecchiette was cooked well enough, but the combination of what I suspect may have been shrimp that hadn't drained enough with a tomato cream sauce resulted in a watery concoction that didn't really take advantage of the orecchiette's shape. Â I was confused to say the least.
We also tried the local potato fries and some broccolini, which were both decent. Â The fries were a bit on the soggy side and didn't have much of a flavor. Â The broccolini was, well, broccolini.
To top it all off, our service was a bit slow and spotty.
I wanted to like this place, but just couldn't. Â I know I sound like a picky New Yorker, but I'm really not. Â However, I do think that if an establishment wants to present itself as a fancy place with fancy dinner prices, then they should deliver something, well, fancy.
Exceptional! Â I went to Peekamoose for my birthday dinner last night and had a spectacular dining experience! Â I booked my reservation with Marybeth (one of the owners) a few weeks ago and she was an absolute delight! Â
Our waiter was very knowledgeable and friendly and as very well acquainted with both the wine list and the menu (which is printed daily due to changing offerings!). Â
Right from the amuse bouche we knew that this was going to be a delicious meal (even though I'm not a fan of crab!) Â Our wine (a pinot grigio) was excellent. Â One gripe - I live in the area and have been to many local establishments but the tap water here was absolutely terrible - a fact that our waiter agreed upon and blamed it on the chlorine, etc the government puts in the water. Â While I don't agree with that statement, we were basically forced to buy a bottle of still water or go without.
Not being a "foodie" like most of my friends, it's rare that I'll comment on the grub at a restaurant - however after sampling everyone's dish - from an oven roasted free range chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes - to hanger steak frites or a local rainbow trout - everything was AMAZING. Â The meats were succulant and moist, the sides grilled/prepared to perfection and the portions were spot on! Â I was truly impressed... I can't believe I've been in the area for 8 years and didn't know this gem was 10 minutes away!
For dessert we had a peach concoction that was also out of this world ridiculously amazing. Â I really cannot stop saying great things about the food here!
The decor is very contemporary and chic - while the clientele ranges from local families to wandering passerbys, everyone is comfortable in the dining room - not stuffy or over-presented.
There is also a chef's dining room for larger, private parties, as well as an outdoor deck for those warm summer nights and a children's playroom. Â On top of this, there is also a taproom that serves a full menu as well - on our way out we popped our heads in and were loving the music - I will DEFINITELY be back to check it out!