The Century House Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

This is a restaurant week review with a limited menu.

Firstly: Century house is one of the only restaurants that abided by the spirit of restaurant week-- that is, to have a limited three course menu at a discount. We wanted to love it and return regularly, and had high hopes.

The ambiance: The place was half full when we arrived and stayed half full throughout the meal. A restaurant week menu was not given until we asked for it, and the service was extraordinarily slow and interactions terse, that we wondered if the waitress was unhappy that we were there or if she was having just a terrible day but still trying to get through it as professionally as possible.

Decor is homey, old timey. They strangely had some thin, worn and dirty looking rugs under some of the tables but otherwise the feel is nice and cozy and almost reminiscent of a nicer ski lodge. Temperature was uncomfortably warm and stuffy, as it was in the 50s outside but the fireplace was burning bright.

The food: Lobster soup was decadent and phenomenal. Big pieces of claw meat and just the right size to not be too much.

Desserts were also beautifully made and served.

The prime rib sandwich though... was dry, on dry bread, with over salted and under fried fries. If it used prime rib, it was butchered and overcooked to the point where the cut did not matter. We thought this was a total flop...

... but then we looked around: The table next to us was served a beautiful heaping pile of lobster mac and cheese with gorgeous bubbling cheese and huge pieces of lobster overflowing the bowl. And another table received a very small filet of salmon on a rather sad looking plate. Others had perfectly respectable but uninspired looking meals.

Are the subpar entrees just what was on the restaurant week menu to help cut costs? Is this actually a really good restaurant if we would have visited any other week?

We have no idea. Here are some photos to...

I ordered room service during my stay in the hotel. I ordered the surf and turf (prime rib and a lobster tail) and they were unfortunately sold out of the prime rib. Instead, I got the CAB steak with a lobster tail. Yumm!!! It came with au jus, roasted potatoes, green beans and grape tomatoes. I also got their horseradish sauce on the side and I'm glad I did. It was cooked perfectly and so well seasoned! I am still thinking about it 5 days later.

The one critique I would give is the room service ordering system. You call the restaurant and leave a message and the message tells you they only have 1 phone line so you may not get a confirmation call back for 25 minutes. They do encourage you to use their online food ordering system which is set up to order as pickup or delivery. I couldn't figure out how to order as room service so someone could bring it to me vs me having to walk there to get it. I ordered by leaving a message and waited for 25 minutes with no call back and no answer in the restaurant. Eventually I had to call the front desk and ask them to reach the restaurant for me so I could confirm my order was in.

I have now eaten from the restaurant 3 times and love love love the steaks I've had!! I will genuinely drive 25 miles from my house to get this food on occasion. But if they could come up with a new slightly revised plan for their room service ordering system, that would definitely be a...

We stayed at the Century House hotel on a Saturday night about a week ago, and I reserved us a table for dinner weeks ahead at their restaurant. It was very delicious, and I bet it is the best restaurant in the area by far. They have an appealing menu and wine list with plenty of options. And while this is fine dining, it is not fussy or over the top. The inside of the dining room has a warm and welcoming, soothing feeling as a result of being a pretty decent decor recreation of a Colonial American public area…fireplaces, lots of wood paneling and warm textures and colors, soft lighting. My prime rib was fabulous, and my husband’s NY strip was excellent. My daughter really liked her lobster mac and cheese. My other daughter thought her mushroom pasta was fine. They enjoyed the calamari and were delighted by the very good bread and butter. We had a bit of a rough night with sleeping in the hotel because a large and very boisterous wedding party occupied the other rooms and they were rowdy until very late, but oh well. I would stay there again anyway because that was just the luck of the draw. The restaurant and the hotel are both good value for the money, and are a touch of the unique but comforting and special in an area full of strip malls and generic chain...