Red Newt Cellars — Restaurant in Town of Hector

My family and I had dinner at your restaurant on Oct. 24, 2013. We chose you with particular care because our grand-son, who was with us, is the Sommelier at Carbon in NYC and food and wine are important to him. In fact, his General Manager at Carbon assured him that we had made a good choice in choosing The Red Newt as our dining destination.

How wrong we were! The female Sommelier who waited on our table was uninformed about the wines that she suggested to the point that your 2011 Riesling was insipid and undrinkable. We then ordered the 2007 Riesling. Our waitress ignored the nicety of removing the used glasses from our table, and to add insult to injury, both the "starters" and the ""mains" were a big disappointment.

My grandson wanted to approach the chef and tell him that the disrespect that he showed for the hens in his preparation of them was a disgrace. They were over-cooked to the point of dryness, the pumpkin soup was lacking in any distinction and the ravioli was cold, tasteless, and limp.

My dessert of "cobbler" was an insult. To charge $10.00 for a teeny cup of fruit and crumb topping was absurd .

Finally, the trio that was playing that evening was too loud and intrusive to be able for us to have normal conversation. We...

It is difficult for us to properly characterize Red Newt. We are sure the facility, at one time, was THE place to be. The staff are all very comfortable with one another and with customers, know the place and their product inside and out, but aesthetics have suffered simply due to age and wear. As for the wines, we felt they were a bit of a mixed bag. There are solid stylistic elements at play in many of the Rieslings, though many of the drier offerings straddled the fine line that divides "classic" from "ascetic." Old world-like tension and austere minerality could be found in these wines. However, some of the harvest and vinification choices made to achieve this have smothered the lovely orange, tangerine, clementine, and floral qualities that Seneca Lake so often imparts to her Rieslings. We ultimately did not find this style compelling, though some may. An interesting experience, but Red Newt is not high on our...

wife and i loved our recent visit. such FUN with the great women pouring and discussing our wines. we even bought several bottles, something we rarely do at tastings. the atmosphere is very spacious and open and friendly and enhanced our time. i got hungry while tasting and saw on their menu board a cheese and charcuterie plate. I can't resist them. But I was more than surprised at how delicious and creative the plate was! I'd get it every time if I could. excellent and ample slices of toasted baguette, two meats, and the local salami was just superb. two cheeses, one very local--a bleu cheese--and out of this world. an apple and ?? chutney was a treat. oh,, then three small pickled items--olives, cabbage (or was it shallots?), and a fun twist on pickled shaved carrot. Delicious, for a very fair price and with great staff and...