This was an all-time quintessential uneven experience. There was a lot to like, but also one or two hits or misses that unfortunately marred this one for me. That said, I have zero problem believing that a lot of people come here and have a fantastic time.

The Millennial Chum and I came here with a Hiking Canine Chum yesterday for lunch after doing a 5-mile plus hike in nearby Ramapo. (It was probably the last decent fall foliage day of the year and that place was PACKED with people and pooches alike). It's definitely a convenient location if you're coming from that area - it's literally just a five-minute drive on the same road, with easy access to 287. We weren't entirely sure that the Canine Chum would be welcome, but a quick conversation with one of the waitresses inside (who was DELIGHTED and told me she'd meet us outside with menus) put any concerns to rest. She was true to her word, and armed with both the aforementioned menus and a water dish. Top notch stuff.

In honor of what might end up being the last decent Fall hiking day, I decided to get the Harvest Mule off the seasonal/specials menu. Delightful, and truly hit the spot. Perfect blend of harvest-y ingredients (I think it was mostly the classics like cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) and I ended up ordering a second one. My favorite quality of a mule is how refreshing it is, and this was that and then some.

We decided to split an app and ultimately settled on the mozzy sticks. After we'd each taken a bite, we looked up at each other in mild confusion. "It's not...BAD," I said. The Millennial Chum frowned. "No. Not BAD. Weird." She was right. We're pretty sure the issue was the texture - these were not breaded sticks; rather, they appear to have been deep-fried, so there wasn't any bend to them. We were grateful for the accompanying marinara sauce, because the sticks themselves were pretty bland, something I think that could have been easily rectified if they'd been prepared a different way.

The low point for me by far was the entree. I ordered a turkey wrap (turkey, brie, avocado and chipotle mayo), minus the arugula and peppers. The peppers were not there, but the arugula was. Not a HUGE deal, but it was difficult to remove that ingredient (this wasn't a situation that I felt required sending it back to have somebody else do exactly what I was going, but your mileage may vary), especially because of the chipotle mayo. The ingredients within the wrap were sparse and/or unevenly distributed. The amount of avocado was laughable - it was MAYbe two or three small pieces, and the brie was even less than that. Everything was huddled toward the top of the wrap so I'd end up taking a bite from there, and then a bite of empty wrap from the bottom to balance it out. I barely finished one half of that, and would never get it again. I was glad I was able to seek solace with the Harvest Mule. I will say though that the accompanying fries were decent; they were cooked well for the most part (there were a few soggy ones and some that were just too close to the side pickle to mess with) but did need the ketchup for flavoring.

Aside from the arugula snafu, we had no service issues. Halfway through the meal, our waiter seemed to be sort of informally replaced to an extent by someone else, but it wasn't a big deal and didn't impact the experience at all. She was arguably friendlier than he was, so there's an argument that it was even an upgrade. The manager also stopped by to check in, but not in a weird/obtrusive way (remember when you'd go to Applebee's in high school and have those super awkward 30-second convos with the managers stopping at every table? Maybe it's finally over.).

A different main course could have sent this in a more positive direction, and there WERE a lot of pros, regardless. Ultimately I'd come back because it's close to some popular hiking destinations and most of the intangibles WERE here, but I'm not going near the wraps again.