Quick summary: Horrible service, cold bread, tasteless salads, mediocre food, not worth the price, do not recommend. Please visit the garden but don’t come to Hudson Garden Grill to eat.

My partner and I are big fans of NYBG so we were very excited and eager to try the Hudson Garden Grill. Unfortunately, our experience was pretty disappointing and put a damper on our night. We thought it was a nice restaurant, but we were proved wrong. The dining experience was way below our expectations, and frankly quite frustrating and upsetting. NYBG is so amazing and incredible that having such dismal quality food and service at Hudson Garden Grill is almost embarrassing. I’m just grateful we didn’t come here for a special occasion like we planned to because the dinner would’ve ruined our night.

The service was absolutely abysmal, and it was so difficult to get a hold of our waiter. It took some time for us to get some water after we sat down and when we asked what the vegetable of the day was, our waiter left to check and didn’t return for another 15 minutes. When we finally got our appetizers, I cut into the focaccia and the center was cold. I would’ve asked if we could have the bread heated up, but we couldn’t get ahold of our waiter. We gave up trying to ask our waiter for help and when he finally came to check on us, we had long finished our entrees and the plates were cleared. Also, quick note on the focaccia, it was dense, not airy and bubbly at all like focaccia should be, but maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more if it weren’t so cold.

The kabocha squash appetizer was mediocre and somehow very dry and not flavourful. I love kabocha squash and this was the first time I’ve had it prepared in a way that I didn’t like.

The beet salad was fine. Since it was a salad, we expected there to be more greens. We also added the tofu for an extra $8 and it was not worth it because the tofu is seared on two sides and then cubed, so some tofu cubes looked cooked and others were just a plain cube of tofu. Regardless, it lacked flavour and didn’t taste as fresh as we thought it would. The salad also just looked a little sad.

The lamb tagliatelle pasta was good, but over salted. Pasta was cooked well but the lamb was too salty.

The flourless chocolate cake was fine, the ginger and fig on top didn’t really pair well with the chocolate cake in my opinion, but the presentation was nice.

I didn’t like eating on the piece of paper covering the cloth table cloth, but I guess it’s easier to clean so I understand.

I also tried the blueberry smash. I wish they gave me a straw or a stir stick or something to stir my drink so that the blueberry syrup/flavouring wasn’t all at the bottom and the soda all at the top. It made the drink tasteless in the beginning and too sweet at the end. But again, I couldn’t get ahold of the waiter to ask.

I really cannot recommend any of the dishes I’ve tried and I do not recommend coming to the Hudson Garden Grill. I really wish I had better things to say but this was such a disappointing dinner experience that we will never come back nor will we recommend it to our friends.