1840 Tavern — Restaurant in Town of Clarkstown

This was a very pleasant surprise. I came here this past Wednesday for lunch with one of my top-tier chums who lives a few minutes away; I'm pretty familiar with Rockland County but had no idea there was this little area straight out of 1800 over here. Adorable. We were debating between this place and a brunchier establishment across the parking lot, but this won out largely because the sunny outdoor patio area beckoned and it seemed like the perfect spot for our outdoor eating seasonal debut.

I always get a little hot and bothered when I see tater skins on an apps menu, so that was an easy call for us. The waiter told us immediately they were "homemade" and not processed - in hindsight, I'm not really sure what would distinguish them as homemade other than that they don't come out of a TGI Fridays box in the freezer, but regardless, they were tasty. A LITTLE overly fried but hard to go wrong with the almighty tater.

A lot of the entrees looked intriguing but I impulsively went for the fresh burrata ravioli (a choice that visibly startled my chum, who should really be used to eating with me after all these years, but no matter). Also good - the sauce was a little watery and the accompanying pieces of garlic bread were just okay but it was a solid portion especially for lunch and didn't last long. In hindsight, I don't think this type of dish is really their bread and butter so I'd probably get something else next time, but still ultimately a win. My chum got the Chicken Caesar Wrap from the specials menu and enjoyed it - insisting that I take a picture of that as well. So enjoy that. It's here.

In what was an encouraging theme, the dessert section also had a bunch of items that we both were interested in. After finding out that the bread pudding was a little TOO authentic for my palate (aka it had raisins in it), we ordered the Hudson Valley Apple Crisp. Delightful. I think it could have used a little more ice cream, but that was a pleasant palate cleanser.

The real star of the show here - among an impressive list of contenders - was the service. We had a fantastic waiter who was very friendly and pleasant, with a lot of thoughts on the menu and restaurant overall. We also a brief visit from presumably someone in management/ownership who stopped by to check in on us, which was a nice touch. We were the only ones out on the patio and possibly in the entire restaurant, so arguably we SHOULD have gotten the lion's share of attention, but still. It was an intangible that legitimately and dramatically improved the overall experience, which is the ideal.

I have some residual PTSD from the atrocious restaurant scene in the northern part of Rockland, but places like this ease my trauma considerably. Stick to the...

So as unfortunate as this is we went here after a wake. Our party o 18 people was not prearranged nor did we have a reservation. We got seated after a very quick 5 minute wait. We had a semi private room in the rear. And our server took our drink order pretty fast. She returned to get our orders, we started with calamari, mozzarella and tomatoes, chicken wings (both Buffalo and parmesan) and also Bavarian pretzel. We enjoyed all equally however the mozzarella was less than our normal quality. The calamari was seasoned more than we are used to but was still good. As our main dishes we ordered fresh burata ravioli (not our favorite) sause was a bit too acidity for our taste. 1840 burger was a big hit, the bacon jam was genius. We also ordered the Ale battered fish and chips, fresh fish moist tender and had great crunch. Famous corned beef sandwich was good but very lean for my taste buds. It was thinly sliced which helped with the lean meat. Beyond burger was also good. We also had the pizza the kids loved.. Some of the non drivers drank some of the draft beers and most of the girls liked the Goose island IPA beer. I must say the short notice for such a big crowd would have been overwhelming for most small restaurants to handle but we felt our server handled this amazingly well and we tipped accordingly. Thank you 1840 for making a difficult time...

The food is decent. I decided to give this place a chance due to the reviews which I have absolutely no idea how it's not less than a 4.0. It's a basement type place. Fine. Smells like a basement. If the food was amazing I was willing to overlook that. We were the only ones in there at 6pm and got the worst service. Kyle has 0 personality and 0 hospitality skills. I've never eaten here before so when I had 2 questions I was quickly and sternly answered with a nope. Barely checked on us and had to sit longer just to wait for the check- Mind you again we were literally the only ones in the dining room. Sign says to please wait to be seated and at first I was behind a professional yapper who knew a few workers and had to wait to even get noticed. Will not be back. Burger was decent. The onion jam is a nice touch with the fries that come in a basket but I could get better service and food from any burger joint. Save your money unless you want to hangout at the bar and drink...