TAIGA RESTAURANT — Restaurant in City of Hudson

My advice to the owners is to close now and figure out how to run a restaurant. It is clear all the prior reviews are friends of the owner. This is not a place that any one should have a meal at - - not until they know how to cook food or run a restaurant.

Where do I start. First, the menu. We came in on Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend. However, they only had a price fixed Thanksgiving menu. Really.... Nothing like leftovers. And the menu was clearly leftovers.

Then there was the price. They charged $110 per person. Pretty much the highest price restaurant in Hudson and a disgrace since they were still charging Thanksgiving prices two days later - - for their leftovers. There was nothing about the meal, service or restaurant that warranted half that price.

And the service. The meal was completely disjointed. Plates coming out as much as 15 minutes apart. And the same dishes. The same cold appetizer came out 15 minutes apart for guests at the table. The dinners also came out at different times. The server - - and there was only one for the whole restaurant - - was clearly overwhelmed and had never waited at a restaurant - - and clearly not at a restaurant charging New York City prices. Forget getting food out, or water glasses filled, or wondering why dishes were left untouched.

So now we come to the food. Completely inconsistent. The carrots appetizer was really great. But the portion was huge. The eggplant appetizer had cooked eggplant with cold, store bought, rock hard tomatoes on top. Completely ruined the dish. Did the chef ("Vlad?") wonder why the dish came back with a heap of cold store bought tomatoes. And the turkey dish, with stone cold turkey. Not sliced turkey well presented; no, it was cold white turkey chunks strewn across the plate, like what happens at Thanksgiving when there is no more sliced turkey left and the only thing left is the stray small chunks. It had to be sent back since it was cold and inedible. The venison stew was all potatoes and no venison. Really just a tiny crock pot of potatoes and mushrooms. Given the size of the carrots appetizer (huge) we wondered what they were thinking of to plate a miniature main dish without the venison. Lastly, the fish was very good, just swimming in sauce.

Clearly the restaurant does not understand serving fresh food. Midway through out meal we saw and employee run out and come back five minutes later with food bags - - except that the only store open in Hudson at that time is the bodega down the street - - there has not been fresh food in that store since 1998.

Then dessert - - which Vlad has obviously had his friends post about on Google. Really? The lemon cheesecake was so bitter it was inedible. They must have added lemon rinds and the pie itself seemed curdled. One guest comments: "I can't get this horrible taste out of my mouth". The honey cake lacked all taste whatsoever. It looked like so much work went into it, and the size of the portion was huge (comical when compared to the size of the venison terrine), it just had no taste. Did the chef try to taste this food before it was served. Clearly not.

There is more. The decor is strange at best. I would describe it was "modern grandma".

Again, I urge the owners to close and think through how to run a restaurant and what to charge us in Hudson. Serving a "meal" so mediocre, with such bad timing and service, and charging so much money requires you to rethink things. I saw all the positive reviews, but it seems clear that they are "Vlad's" friends, and not real customers. You will notice there is a consistency in those fake reviews. Clearly they are not referencing the restaurant I went to this evening. Avoid it...

A shockingly awful dining experience. Cancel your reservation now (actually, they cancelled our reservation as soon as we left to keep us from reviewing on the booking platform…)The prices were jaw dropping - even for our trio of foodies used to NYC dining . $39 burger with blackberries - really ? One server, unable to keep up, dead dried flowers collecting dust everywhere , odd mannequins draped in pajamas serve as decor -we sat near a party of ten, half of whom were young children being ignored by the grown ups as the sat playing their laptop video games at full volume - so loud the video games could be heard over the live music - which was good- but much too loud for the small space. Two of us got our first course , the third in our party got his app at about the same time the mains arrived . The signature salmon dumplings were raw inside, cold and gummy outside - and here’s where things went from bad to worse. The server insisted there was nothing wrong with the dish and refused to take it back . Wow. A glass of wine might have helped but the place is alcohol free (and no BYO). The glass of alcohol free “wine” aka grape juice was sour and the bottle of sparkling water had a cap that was impossible to pry off . Ok, well, they never offered dessert - so the check arrived pronto - and included the full charge for the $33 plate of raw dumplings followed by an appearance from the chef - who refused to remove the charge and, with an attitude one can only call obnoxious , argued with us that the dish was prepared exactly as intended- letting us know there was nothing he would do about our poor experience . We could only laugh upon seeing our open table reservation magically disappear from our dining profile minutes after we departed - (this was done to keep us from leaving a review.) Hudson has many great restaurants. This is not one of them . (Update ) Owner response mentions this place has no bad reviews . Here is...

We took a scenic drive on a Sunday and we decided to get a meal in Hudson and discovered this gem through a random Google search. So very happy that we discovered this marvelous place! The atmosphere is beautiful yet very approachable, almost like visiting your grandmother. My husband even commented that the tablecloth looked like something my mother had.(which was in fact my grandmother’s) This does not mean that it is a fussy, dusty vibe. Quite the opposite! Warm and welcoming. The food is also on a level of nostalgia that I can’t explain but it’s still so much more inspired and unique. The presentation is so lovely but not to the point that you don’t want to eat every morsel! Beautiful food often intimidates me because I’m no “foodie”, but this is pretty and appealing! We had an amazing pate appetizer and then the Slavic breakfast. My husband had beef dumplings with mushrooms and cream sauce. We were told by the attentive and lovely Mati that the menu rotates monthly so the divine food we had today may not be available when we go back. All the more reason to appreciate what’s on your plate today, but more reasons to go back again. The cocktails were delicious and featured unique ingredients. I love anything with currants and was delighted to find them throughout our food, including the black currant margarita! AMAZING! Everyone on the team was so kind and attentive and we felt so well taken care of. And while we may be middle aged, this is a restaurant for all ages! So much to enjoy and such delicious dishes! We will...