Old York Cellars — Attraction in East Amwell Township

Updated review: My dad really wanted to go so I took my sister and him on 7/20 with a 5:15 PM cabana reservation. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze. We got 2 $49 paired food & wine meals splitting between the 3 of us since my dad is elderly, my sister doesn’t eat much and I have to drive this time. The $30 paired menu was not available because they “ran out since they only make so many a day” (it seems to be the same food on the $49 paired menu so idk) What went well: the delicious lamp chops, the amazing Serrano croquettes, the charcuterie samplers, the almond cakes What did not go well: we did not get commemorative glasses like we did at the bach. Got very little wine, I would say barely 1/4 of the plastic cups, which I would have been fine with had I not known that the last time we each got almost a full plastic cup w each course. My sister and dad each had a sip and it was gone, which defeated the pairing part IMHO. I had a tiny taste, so can’t comment on wine. The waitress. Oh, where do I start? This young lady still has a way to go if she’s going to continue waitressing. I feel bad because she seems so young and this doesn’t seem to be something she’s interested in doing at all, but there were some really basic things. Such as: she said the $30 tasting was available and then came back and said it wasn’t even though she checked on her iPad (which was why we ended up with 2 $49 sets instead of 3 $30 sets - this might not be her fault though), said the salmon was available and then came back and said it wasn’t even though she checked on her iPad (again this could also not be her fault). She did not bring out a poached pear and an almond cake and just brought out 2 almond cakes (when I asked if they ran out of the poached pear or something, she kinda fumbled a little and didn’t really answer the question, again, if they actually did run out, i.e. she didn’t get our order wrong, this may not be her fault, but she could have let us know beforehand and this is the 3rd time and I started to feel embarrassed for bringing my dad and sister here). She offered no visible reaction or apology when we showed her our newly unwrapped silverware is dirty, brought out the wrong wine (sweet instead of dry), didn’t explain the wines & did not automatically bring out extra silverware and plates for sharing (but I can live w that). I’m sure she has good intentions … … but I’m writing here to let you know that if you go to OYC, you might have an experience like we did. So brace yourself and lower your expectations (also, remember to not order the steaks) I don’t want to lower my ratings because like I said, I think the young lady is just inexperienced and probably doesn’t care to learn more right at this moment. The weather was perfect, and the food was excellent. Also, this is my 3rd time here, I did not review my first visit but it was a lovely experience with a wonderful waitress and everything was available and correct. Not sure about returning BTW It was a Thursday so it’s actually not crowded at all (last time I went it was decently packed) and they close at 7 per the waitress not 8 like google says, so don’t rely on Google

Original review on 7/2 below Here yesterday for a bach. We booked the cabana and the comedy show. We ordered a bottle of DMC white blend and the Spanish artisan board for the table and each had a $49 wine pairing. We brought in extra snacks and beverages. What went well: checking in, weather, comfortable seating, gazpacho soup, meatballs, wines, comedy show was hilarious, the show host came and said hello after the show which made me feel super special, they do pick on you a little but it’s all in good fun What did not go well: one inexperienced but nice sever, one rude bus girl who gave us attitude for the smallest question and misheard what we asked, steaks tough as leather (one of us did not eat at all, you should go with salmon, it was good), seating for comedy show (fills up quick so make your way over right around 7 if you want anything decent and staff was no help in directing us...

If this review were solely about the winery, this is easily four stars and close to five. I think it's a really good winery on multiple levels, and this to me is the best one in the Hunterdon area right now. My top-tier chums and I came here yesterday for the Hunterdon Wine Express, so a significant portion of our experience was devoted to a very specific event and a collaboration with the Black River & Western Railroad - it's just not as good as the winery itself and in my opinion not worth the money.

We each paid a little over $100 for this event, which involved a ride on a ye olde train starting in Flemington and travelling to the Ringoes, where you then had to disembark onto shuttle buses that took you to Old York for a sit-down wine tasting/pairing and lunch, and then a return drive/drive back to Flemington. The biggest issue with the travel portion is that the schedule is VERY casual, to the point where we ended up getting onto the shuttle buses at Ringoes and literally just sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for people using the restroom. It's very open-ended, so you end up losing significant chunks of time that YOU paid for that could have easily been spent at the winery drinking, exploring and/or relaxing. The train itself has a bathroom, and the winery certainly has plenty. They should just get everyone off the train and immediately into the shuttles.

The ground of Old York are gorgeous, and I say that having not seen the sun at all during our visit. I came here a few years ago when it WAS sunny out, and it's a fantastic optic. You're free to roam amongst the grapes, or you can chill out in the Adirondack chairs looking over the Sourland Mountains. For this experience, they brought us into the Vineyard Tent, which was pretty spacious and had a cool Airstream bar. They had reserved tables for the Wine Express people, which we were directed to shortly upon disembarking from the shuttles.

We weren't crazy about the tasting/pairing portion, and it's entirely possible that we're not the target audience for this - we've been to a solid number of wineries at this point, and I think we're just more into doing our own thing/making our own schedule. But in my opinion, it's too regimented and lengthy, especially given that you're already provided with a list of the pairings and accompanying tasting notes. It felt a little redundant to have someone at the mic just reiterating/elaborating on the tasting notes, especially because they inexplicably had a second person at the mic (same guy who accompanied us on the train; very friendly fellow for what it's worth) who then...also just talked about the tasting notes. None of us understood why the second person was up there too, but it honestly didn't add anything to the experience and probably extended the tasting by an extra five or 10 minutes, which wasn't necessary. The wine and accompanying charcuterie were really good though. I loved the Albarino and the Cab Sauvignon - smooth and spicy, respectively. Would absolutely come back to sip those bad boys.

The biggest issue to me though is that they have the pre-ordered lunch IMMEDIATELY after the tasting. None of us came close to finishing our lunch because we'd...literally just had a bunch of charcuterie a few minutes earlier. They should have a big break in there between the tasting and the lunch to give the participants time to digest. It's a shame too because the food was really good. I got the paella which I thought was excellent. The service as well was spotty. It wasn't clear who was assigned to our table and it seemed like staffers were just randomly chipping in, which led to miscommunication, overall disorganization and long wait times - as an example, it took us over 10 minutes to receive two glasses of wine. At a winery.

Skip the train and just come here directly. The same food/wine options are available regardless, and you don't have to worry about when to get on and off a shuttle bus. Take your time and enjoy the positives of the winery, which unfortunately are negated somewhat from the...

I've never written a negative review before, but I have no choice in this instance. I am a critical care nurse from NYC and I very rarely get a chance to get together with my co-workers because of how hectic our schedules are. We finally found a day for the 17 of us to have an autumn getaway in NJ last Saturday, Nov 3, 2018.

The day started very well with a Holy Mass, a fantastic brunch at RATS, and a breathtaking stroll at the Grounds for Sculpture. The day was set up for a perfect finish at OLD YORK CELLARS. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

I don't even know where to begin with this list of gross incompetence. We made reservations on October 19th (my colleague's credit card was billed for it), but upon arrival, we were shocked to be denied the reservation. We had to wait for over 30 minutes and they couldn't even give us a reason for the lack of accommodations.

We were there on time--3:00pm--the time that they scheduled for us to be there. We tried talking to the manager, Jason (at least, he claimed he was one of the managers), but he was completely oblivious as to why this whole predicament was happening and was equally unhelpful.

This getaway that we had planned for weeks and were looking forward to ended up turning into a nightmare. Every single one of us was fuming! They didn't even offer us a bottle of wine, let alone a glass, in an attempt to pacify our displeasure for making us wait. I imagine any manager who cared about his or her clients would have done that at the very least, especially since the issue was their fault, and not ours.

After fumbling for excuses, they eventually claimed that the groups before us were late. But why are we the ones to suffer for that? We have very busy schedules--if that was truly the case, why are we being punished for the faults of others? We had a reservation for 3pm, and we were forced to wait with no clear explanation. This is unacceptable.

If a group is late, their session should be cut short rather than causing a chain reaction to delay the following groups. Regardless, bad scheduling is not an excuse for bad service!

Our colleagues (3 of them) were trying to show the rest of us the beauty of NJ. Needless, to say, this autumn getaway was a complete let down and a total disappointment because of the wine tasting experience that never came to be. There is a definite need for customer...