THE GOVERNESS bar & restaurant — Restaurant in City of Poughkeepsie

What a disappointing experience! DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY If you are interested in a waterfront event, be aware they are not fully disclosing conditions and that is exactly why they do not allow refunds. I bought tickets for the 4th of July event that says it includes a drink, appetizer, and meal without any exclusions mentioned or any mention of a prefix menu [both ticket description and prefix menu pictured]. With my gluten allergy.. had I known I would be limited to a menu of BATTERED, FRIED FOODS AND SANDWICHES, I would NOT have WASTED over $80 on a ticket. They also do not mention you may be SHARING A TABLE… We were seated at a table where they sat another couple, to both of our surprises. Had it been disclosed, I think both couples would have been much less upset and surprised. Even upon seating us, the least you could do is inform us rather than me catch a glimpse of your whiteboard with two parties at the table with no warning. So upsetting. My parents have raved about this place and I was so excited to try it out. I thought there had finally been a cute brunch place on the PK waterfront! Guess not. Our waitress, Ayesha (sorry if I misspelled!), was great, bringing a good vibe and kindness every time she came by the table. I felt terrible mentioning I couldn’t eat anything on the prefix menu I wasn’t aware of. We are not the type to ask to speak to management or complain ever, but we did ask to speak to someone. The manager opted to relay a message to our waitress and not speak to us directly…… They accommodated by expanding my options by two items, which is appreciated, but had this been disclosed, we wouldn’t have to put unnecessary stress on waitstaff or even be upset about our options. After all of this, when bringing over our drink, they brought my partner the wrong order. He ordered a mango mojito only to received a pineapple. His mojito was gross. He tried to order a beer using the QR code on the menu, but it was not working for either of us or the other couple seated at our table. How frustrating. Our appetizers were OK, I got 4 grilled shrimp [pictured] and he got a montreal smoked meat “empanada” (not) [pictured]. The couple at our table came at the very least an hour after we arrived and received their main course before us. They even said to the waiter, “where is their food?” and laughed. Our meals did not make up for the experience. My salmon [pictured] was genuinely the worst salmon dish I have ever had out at a restaurant ever. It was under cooked and I did not taste the supposed garlic, parsley, or lemon butter sauce as described on the menu. It looked/tasted like I only got pickled onion on the top. Additionally, I got a side of salad in which they do not ask you what dressing you prefer, they give you a garden salad with straight up red wine vinegar. Nasty. I also got the corn crème brûlée [pictured] on the side, which was disgusting. I felt like I was eating corn off the cob in human saliva. Nothing about it was creamy in any way. Absolutely disgusting. I could not stomach it at all. Overall, if you are charging over $80 for dinner tickets, it should be disclosed it will be a LIMITED MENU WORTH $55 AT BEST and you would be SHARING A TABLE. If it was stated it would be a prefix menu and we would be subject to sharing a table, my experience would have been less upsetting but nothing was disclosed AT ALL (trust me when I say I’m the type to read all the fine print before buying tickets.). I am the least picky person and I am never one to complain to waitstaff because 99% of the time, this isn’t on them and it’s not fair to put that stress on them. This was genuinely one of the worst experiences I have ever had at a restaurant. You can see from my other reviews, it is hard to disappoint me and I am not picky. I am so disappointed as I had heard it was good and I was very excited for this experience. It is the weekend of my boyfriend’s birthday and the day of 4th of July. We really wanted a nice dinner to enjoy but ended up just upset and very...

Maybe Not Ready Yet? – Last night I went to The Governess in Poughkeepsie. It opened just the past weekend. I went with five other guys, some architects and engineers from out of town. We arrived by boat. I called ahead for reservations. The service was horrendous. I am hoping it was due to just opening and getting staff trained. Upon sitting down, we got water quickly, they also provided a small card on a stand that displayed a QR code to view menus. The problem is that right at this spot at least last night the cell signal isn’t great. Some of the people at the table couldn’t open the menus quick enough, we passed phones around. They had wifi, but it was passworded and although we kept looking for someone to return that we could ask, no one came by again for quite some time. It took a long time before someone came to our table, we ordered beers, the waiter was not writing anything down and had to reiterate our orders (which you order by the number on the menu, not the name of the beer so we all had to reopen the menu on the phones, that info should be posted somewhere). Later while taking our food order the waiter also did not write anything down, several orders had substitution/deletion requests. We commented at the time to him how it makes us nervous he wasn’t writing this down. He commented “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing”… When the food starting coming out three plates arrived, they were put down and then 10 minutes later (we know as it happened to correlate to someone’s texting) the other plates arrived, one being wrong, not anything we ordered. The 6th plate had to be cooked at that point. The fact that all 6 meals did not hit the table at the same time was not good, and that one guy got his after all others were done was bad. The burgers were good, but truthfully, we all were too disgruntled by the service at that point to focus on the food. Just prior to our food arriving our first round of beer was dry, no one was stopping over. I could see staff standing at the hostess station talking to each other, but no one came by. I motioned to our waiter when I saw him to please give us another round of drinks. He took the order (again not writing anything). Our drinks did not arrive until after the 6th plate had been delivered and eaten. We sat there all through the meal with empty drinks. While all the events so far could be attributed to newness, the next part, no. Upon getting the bill I asked for the late round of drinks to be removed from the bill as they came so late. A while later the manager came out. She said she removed the charge for that round , she explained that the drink order had never gone into the bar system, so that why the drinks were not poured. (but had anyone been paying attention to our table they would have realized were eating dry). She then said “There were mistakes on our part and yours”…What!, what did we do? We could not believe a manager of a place would state such a thing and with such a tone. She then handed me a check on a clipboard, the wrong check, not ours, she went back inside. I had to go inside to find her, our waiter and my credit card as that was not with the check. The whole operation hopefully will improve with time. I will try it again, but I will give them a few months to shake things out. If they had better service, they easily could have made more money from us. We would have gotten at least two more rounds of drinks,...

The Governess is beautifully located on the Hudson River at the end of Main St in Poughkeepsie. The atmosphere is casual yet elevated, depending on the occasion. The outdoor seating area is inviting and spacious creating a sense of privacy for each table. You feel like you are in your own little bubble. The view and breeze create a calm, relaxing vibe even when it’s hot outside. The interior is designed to delight the senses, even the bathrooms (make sure you visit them as well, I won’t say more than that, so I don’t spoil the fun for you) Now, let’s talk about the menu. The menu itself is a work of art -each description more enticing than the next, making it very hard not to want to order everything! Thankfully, our server Anthony, a foodie himself, was more than happy to help us navigate our way through from appetizer to dessert!! Everything he recommended was spot on!! His attentive service made us feel welcome from the moment he introduced himself. His sense of humor and quick wit made for a delicious, fun & memorable dining experience!! To be honest, I haven’t experienced customer service that exceptional in a long time. So that was as refreshing as the Waterloumi Salad and the Burnt Salmon Tips put together! The flavors of these two dishes were like a symphony for the mouth. The Curry Me wings and Mac and Cheese, though much more subtle in flavor, balanced out our spread perfectly. Lastly, the Fried Apple Dumplings and Dulce de Leche Gelato sent us off completely in awe and fully satisfied!! I highly recommend The Governess the next time you are in Poughkeepsie…. Oh and ask for Anthony as...