Brasserie 292 — Restaurant in City of Poughkeepsie

Went to this restaurant for a special occasion (taking my parents out for their anniversary) before catching a performance around the corner at Bardavon we'd given ourselves about 1 3/4 hours for dinner but arrived a few minutes late for our res. so it was more like 1 1/2 hrs. Still plenty of time, or it should have been. Was expecting a pleasant evening based on the reviews. We had asked for a nice table when we made the reservations, but were shown to a small, cramped table that the 4 of us squeezed around. The problems started when we ordered drinks my father got a glass of seltzer rather than the large bottle he had requested, and my fiance had to go directly to the bar himself to find out what had happened when his drink didn't come. Our water took a long time to bring us bread after we ordered, and when it came, there were 2 kinds of bread in the basket, 3 slices of each...we were a party of 4. To give us 4 slices of each bread would have been reasonable. Was the extra slice going to break them?? Our appetizers came at a reasonable speed: we had the fried oysters (tasty enough), a salad special with poached pairs, figs and blue cheese (again, tasty but nothing special), and a sunchoke soup that was so heavy with saffron that all I could taste was iodine! we finished our appetizers and a waiter quickly cleared our table (including the bread basket which still had slices of bread in it), and brought the silverware for our next course. And then we waited. And waited.. And waited. An hour after arriving, all we'd had to eat was our appetizers and one slice of bread each, and we had a show to get to. We asked our waiter where our food was and his response was "in the kitchen" and that our meals were late because "we have a full restaurant tonight". After we asked him the 4th time he finally said he'd get a manager. It was another 8 minutes before she came to the table, and when she did she refused to tell us when our food would be out other than "soon". When pressed about what the problem was she said "well we're full tonight, and you've been here only an hour and you did order appetizers, that's normal for a Saturday night". First of all, that is not normal for a Saturday night in most of the fine restaurants I've been to! Second of all, if the restaurant can't handle a full house, they need to increase their kitchen staff and wait staff, not blame hungry diners for wanting to be fed. Finally, when a table of diners is so upset as to require the manager comes over, that is NEVER the time to be dismissive and minimizing. At that point we were ready to walk out, and we certainly had no intention of ever going back. Finally, our food arrived: the mussels with fries were fine. But the other two entrees were not. My steak had been ordered extremely rare, and I had made a point the say "no char on the outside", yet I could distinctly taste the char and the fries were very salty and took up most of the plate. But worst was my fiance's cheeseburger. First it came out undercooked; ordered medium-well, it was more like medium-rare. When he sent it back, it came back again undercooked, but he was willing to accept it, except it had no cheese on it! By the time his burger arrived at the table we were standing up, putting our coats on and rushing to get to the theater. He took the burger in a to-go container and we left. Honestly, if we had had the problems with the timing and the staff had been gracious and apologetic about it, I'd be willing to go back and give them another try, although the food wasn't anywhere near as good as I was expecting. It was basic bistro fare and only 1/2 of what we had was done well. But to have our complaints responded to with crassness and dismissiveness made us absolutely clear we won't go here again, and we'll tell everyone who asks why. If you want french bistro, go up river to Arielle in Rhinebeck. If you want to eat in Poughkeepsie, try Artists Palate right across the...

When going out for a nice (and not inexpensive) dinner, just as important as the food is the atmosphere. In fact, the food can be 5 stars but the atmosphere can bring the entire experience to a negative outcome. That's the best way to sum up this restaurant. I'd love to tell you all about the food being good, which it mostly is, but my wife and I are actually sitting in the restaurant at this very moment, and the 4 people to our left in the banquette seating might as well join us for our meal. As the very nice woman sitting approximately 10 inches to my left just said, "I hope you don't mind me sitting in your lap". We arrived here for an early 5:45 dinner and there were multiple tables and booths open. However, the hostess sat us right next to the only other people sitting in banquette seating. We asked to sit at one of the many open tables or booths, and were told curtly by the hostess that they were all reserved and that they are expecting over 100 people. Almost 45 minutes later we are looking at open tables and waiting for those 100 other people. In order for the gentleman to our left to get up and use the restroom, both his party and my wife and I had to move our tables just so he could get up.

We live here in the Hudson Valley and go out to different restaurants every Friday night. Some are off the charts great (see The Amsterdam in Rhinebeck) and some might miss the mark a bit. However, to have what could be an otherwise enjoyable evening ruined because a restaurant owner is more concerned about trying to squeeze as many people as possible into a small space is in many ways worse than getting a below par meal. That is what takes place at this restaurant.

*5-9-2024 addendum after reading owners response a month after my review: apparently the owner did not read the review very carefully. The entire point was that the restaurant was never busy during the entire hour and a half that we were there. At 5:45 both us, and the group of four who were essentially sitting in our laps next to us were told that we couldn't sit at any of the many open booths or middle tables because "over 100 people" were expected. If that were even close to true, every one of those tables and booths would have needed to be fully occupied long before we left at around 7:20pm. It's wonderful that you make special accommodations for what you call your family. The problem was they never showed while we were spending time moving furniture so people next to us could simply get up to use a restroom. When you're located on Main Street Poughkeepsie between Academy and Market Street it would seem that you would want good word of mouth to spread beyond your family. In any event, also note that I did not mark your restaurant as a $100 per person establishment. If that appeared somehow it was an error, but the truth is, anyone reading these reviews on the internet probably knows how to review the menu online and see prices anyway. The point remains (which you didn't address) that there is absolutely no reason to force paying customers to sit on top of each other under any dining circumstance and turn what could be an enjoyable evenng into an uncomfortable sitcom scene. Thanks to the owner for the advice on where we should continue to dine. We will likely take your suggestion and pass it on to as many others as possible (given that we work professionally locally), while also continuing to explore the many other interesting dining locations throughout the mostly beautiful...

Let me start by saying this isn't the same restaurant as it was. If you are dining there for the first time in a while, ownership has changed. If you are looking to dine there for the first time, skip it. As a fellow chef, I'm annoyed that I have to write a poor review of a restaurant. As a person who cares about food and people, I feel the need to let it out. This restaurant is being carried from good reviews of its previous owners. Whomever cooked my food that night needs a day off or a new hobby. I love escargot and it is hard to screw it up, but when you DO NOT cook the garlic for the one minute it is then raw garlic - something a diner does not want to eat. Literally just saute it for a minute. I pushed it aside and told my couldn't-care-less server that I can't eat it. The fried tofu appetizer has zero salt in it. It lacked character and nuance. There's no breading or coating on the outside, so the "fried" aspect means it's just oily and wasn't crispy. Limp effort, and surely there was no "seasoned rice flour" on it as it stated on the menu. Also pushed to the side. We were the only table in the place that wasn't given bread, so we asked for it and used that as our appetizer. Also ordered was a bottle of sparkling water. We never saw the bottle and was given what was presumably soda water from the gun at the bar. If you do not present a bottle, whether it's wine or water, you don't know what you are consuming; which leads me to the gnocchi dish. I have never in my life eaten gnocchi as bad as this. It was literally inedible. It was as if the chef mixed gluten free flour with the leftovers of his pack of chewed bubble gum and mixed it in with an extremely heavy sauce of no real direction. I felt uneasy eating a couple pieces. Good thing I didn't order it and wouldn't have to eat that. It was sent back as well. My 3 overcooked scallops were on a bed of house cured pastrami hash. It was overly mushy. There was no green on the plate but a piece of wilted frisee and a half of a cherry tomato as a garnish which reminded me of when I was a child and chain restaurants would garnish their plates with a ploof of raw kale. Come on... The scallops themselves were so overcooked on one side that it was as if they were forgotten on the pan, and then still served to me. The other dish that was ordered was the best of the three entrees, however when you order duck breast mid rare and it comes out mid well, it's a disappointment.

The biggest joke is that after all of this, they made us pay for every bit of food we ordered, even though it was clearly not eaten and we told the server and the manager that we couldn't eat it for it was inedible.

This was honestly one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. It was embarrassing. To continue to call it Brasserie 292 isn't right, cause the boys who started that restaurant did a good job and presented excellent food. This was far from it. Avoid this place. The lack of effort is astonishing. The lack of care is apparent. Learn how to put the snails in the metal holes or don't bother serving that dish to the guest, or any dish for...