Kitlas Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Frankfort

We arrived at 6pm and at about 6:15 one of our party members had to ask for waters and menus. We were advised that the restaurant was known for its ribs, so after we had to wait another 45 min to place our order, a few ordered the ribs and chicken platter. We waited just under one hour for our appetizers to come, and 20 min more for our salads and bread. Over two hours in, we finally received our food. The food and portion sizes were good. The taste was good. Overall it was just good - not great. The ribs tasted like the standard boil-and-bake.... so definitely nothing wonderful to write home about, nor was the bbq sauce (far too much cinnamon flavor). The chicken breast that came with the ribs was dry. I would venture to say that Applebees ribs and chicken are on par with Kitlas. They're just OK. Kitlas did provide a good portion of ribs though, which is better than what Applebees serves. After all that waiting, our party was done eating in 15-20min. It took another 30 min to get the bill. We were there for just over 3 hours, which is insane. It wasn't even busy. The consensus by everyone in our party was that the food was ok, but not worth waiting 3 hours for! We were all tempted to try desert, but passed for the simple fact that we just didnt want to be there anymore. We spent literally from 6pm to a little after 9 just to eat a 15 min dinner. We simply couldnt risk another hour for some pudding or pie. The restaurant was clean, the dining room and bar area were pleasing, and the menu looked good, and the food prices seemed fair. There seemed to be many delicious options and a desire to go back and try the others. However, with an inexcusably long wait time for every stage of the meal, and when the most highly rated item on the menu was simply "ok", it makes me question the desire to return and try the other entrees when there are SO MANY known-phenomenal restaurants around the CNY area. Maybe this was just horrible luck and a one-time incident, but it was enough to make us think twice about...

Some really great food, and really good customer service.

Customer service: Everyone is really friendly there. The staff were prompt and very easy to get along with.

Environment: It is really neat in there! They have old photos of what Utica used to look like. Adds a really nice touch to the place.

Food: Now onto the important stuff. We went with friends, but it was my wife's and my first time there, and we each tried a bite of everything that everyone ordered. To start, we got the onion strings. Our main dishes were the ribs, lemon horseradish haddock, potato crusted chicken parm, and the vodka chicken riggies.

Usually onion strings tend to be too oily, or too salty. These were not, they were great. They were crisp and had the right amount of seasoning.

The BBQ sauce on the ribs was probably the best BBQ sauce I've had. They make it in house, and I swear there's some apple flavor in there. Whatever it is, it's delicious. The meat falls right off the bones to on the ribs, they were so tender.

The haddock was delicious. I don't like horseradish, but I couldn't really taste it. It was cooked really well, and the crust on there was delicious.

The chicken parm is crusted in a potato crust. It's different, but it was really good! I really enjoyed the crust on the chicken, and the overall dude was great.

The chicken riggies had this vodka sauce on there that was really flavorful and tasty. I loved it. Comes with really good ratio of meat and veggies with the noodles.

Overall, the food there was really, really good and we enjoyed our time there a lot. If I didn't love it of state, we'd be going back...

Easy to get to from Downtown Utica just quick drive down NYS Route 5S. The Kitlas has been open since 1939 and it’s a third generation business and Tom the owner being very personable also an outstanding chef. They have all the original furnishings in great condition and adds to the warm ambiance. The music selection spans many decades and was one of the best I’ve heard at a restaurant.

I love seeing history through the pictures on the walls. Excellent value that you hardly see anymore in the restaurant industry. The food and drinks were amazing! The total with tax was $110 and included four cocktails, two appetizers, two entrees, and one dessert.

The service was outstanding. Our waitress Christina was outgoing, making us feel very welcome, and made recommendations for the cocktails and made them herself, and shared stories about the history of the business.

The menu has a variety of items that range from American to Polish to Italian to Greek. The onion rings are awesome, fresh cut onions, breaded in house battter coming with a homemade honey mustard chipotle dip. Flatbread with broccoli and mozzarella is a solid item. The chicken soup was like mom used to make. The riggies came with a thick sauce and had chicken and sausage. The dessert is also homemade and a great treat!

This it the type of business that should be supported often by locals for...