Champêtre — Restaurant in Town of Pine Plains

We made reservations at 6 on a Saturday for my birthday. We had peeked at the menu before we arrived and had a good idea of things we would have liked to try. I was excited to see that they had escargot on the menu so we ordered that and the fried artichokes. Unfortunately they ran out of the escargot, so that was a little disappointing. We ordered the duck pate instead. The artichokes were fine, crispy with a nice sauce. I've never had pate before, I probably won't ever again. It reminded me of a slice of old fashioned loaf. Maybe I just don't get it. For entrees we ordered the steak and frites and the duck margret. The duck was cooked perfectly, it came with some nicely cooked root vegetables. I wasn't crazy about the cherry sauce. It was very sweet and boozy, however the cherries were out of this world. The steak was also cooked perfectly medium rare. The Cognac sauce was delicious, still very boozy, but it worked. The frites were also very good. I was a little disappointed in the menu selection, I understand that a small menu usually means better food, perhaps we just came on the wrong night. For dessert we ordered something chocolatey and a strawberry rhubarb on merengue. Outstanding!!! Probably the best desserts I've ever had. I would probably go back just for dessert. The staff was outstanding, perfectly attentive. I had asked our waitress to fix our wobbly table and she came back with a piece of cardboard to stick under the leg right away. I felt that the table size was a bit too small, it became cluttered quickly.

Overall, we spent upwards of $300. We had a very nice dinner, but I left a little disappointed, for that much money I had higher...

Overall my family was disappointed by the food and the service. Not really an experience worth 4.9 stars. Maybe the best French restaurant in Pine Plains, but if you’re used to restaurants in the city and/or you’re familiar with French food, this place will not do it for you.

The service was so-so, lots of young waiters doing the best they can. In my opinion, there are too many tables put out front for the waitstaff to operate efficiently and easily, so not really their fault. We did wait astonishingly long times to get service at times.

We ordered a bunch of appetizers and mains to share and taste the food. Some of the dishes were good-ish, like the lamb chops (the meat was great - veggies were unseasoned and tasted like rubber). The bouilllabaise was not good. Watery stock. The artichoke was bitter and dry. The basket of bread they started us off with was amazing and fresh, but when they restocked the basket, it was a completely different batch full of stale bread, something we had to flag and ask to be changed. Shouldn’t be happening to begin with.

The escargot was really the one standout dish out of the several ones we tried.

The bottom line with the food is that there was nothing special about it. There’s much better restaurants, and specifically, French/French inspired food in the area, Cafe Mutton in Hudson for example, that it doesn’t make this restaurant...

PERFECTION! I called for a reservation to celebrate mine & my husband's 15YR Anniversary here on a November Sunday evening. The woman on the phone was quite lovely and said they'd make it special. They 100% delivered! Upon entry, a lovely lady greeted us and sat us at the only corner banquet table in the restaurant. The restaurant itself is deceptively large with high ceilings, plenty of tables with space between, a bar towards the back, and kitchen behind it. Our waitress arrived with 2 glasses of champagne for us to start our evening with a toast, which was lovely. She was very personable, professional, & prompt. The support staff was great too and never had an empty glass of water or a dirty dish on the table. An older French gentleman greeted us, as well, and I think he was the owner. When our food arrived, it was one superb dish after the other, and we ordered a lot! From apps, to entrees, to dessert, all were delicious. This was the PERFECT way for us to celebrate our anniversary and I HIGHLY recommend a beautiful dining...