Bia — Restaurant in Town of Rhinebeck

Update 2/19 We ate here for the second time last Saturday night, and while the drinks and food remain wonderful, the restaurant was packed when we arrived for our 630 reservation. Our waiter was very friendly, but with limited service staff, we again found ourselves waiting for food. We ordered the chicken liver terrine, which came with 3 small slices of bread for the two of us. We wanted more bread, but couldn’t get our waiter so we just finished the appetizer. We had been at the restaurant for an hour before the entrées came, and wished they included a little bit of extra carbs or starch (my husband’s outstanding pork chop had a few halves of baby potatoes; my trout had a modest serving of white beans). The food is delicious, but it’s definitely more of a leisurely experience. It was a solid 15 minutes for the appetizer to come out after we got our drinks. Next time we visit, I will probably order two appetizers, and just accept that it’s going to take a while for the food to come out. The lot was packed so we had to find street parking a block away.**

I’ve been wanting to try Bia for a while based on the great reviews so husband and I went for dinner last Saturday. Overall, we had a great meal and a good experience with the only negative being the pacing of the service/food. We were greeted warmly upon entering the restaurant and seated right away. We arrived at 6:10 for our 6:15 reservation. It was 10-15 minutes before our waitress greeted us and told us the specials and left before we could order anything (and we were pretty decided at that point, having had enough time to look at the menus). We were one of about five or six occupied tables in the restaurant with a single waitress who was doing her best to handle all tables. We’d been at the restaurant for 30 minutes when we got our first round of drinks and 40 minutes when the appetizer arrived. At 7:10, we had our second round of drinks but entrees didn’t arrive until 7:30, at which point we were starving and the restaurant was filling up. I understand that many restaurants have staffing issues, and I absolutely don’t blame the waitress or kitchen at all. I just wish there was some sort of complimentary bread or nibbles because we were fairly ravenous and the drinks were quite strong. It also gave me and my husband plenty of time to talk to each other, which is hard to do at home with a six year old. The wait times detracted from the experience, but the food was good enough to make up for it. The gravlax appetizer was very good and all of the accompaniments/seasoning on the plate almost outshone the fish. I wished there were more than four small pieces of gravlax on the plate especially since it was a good half an hour until the entrées came. The entrées were worth the wait, however, each of them being outstanding. I had the steel head trout and it was one of the most well seasoned and cooked pieces of fish that I’ve ever had. The crispy skin was perfect. My husband’s short ribs were tender and the potato-parsnip puree was creamy and silky. Everything was perfectly seasoned. At that point, we were full and I was fairly buzzed, so we skipped dessert. Overall, it was a really delicious meal with well-made drinks that merits another visit. I had the boca roja (very well balanced, fruity/floral with a mild kick from the Mezcal) and the aperitif spritz. Of the two, I would order the boca roja on my next visit since the ingredients and flavor profile worked so well together (my compliments to the bartender). Next time, perhaps we’ll order 2 appetizers and be sure to order everything at once when the wait staff comes over. Bonus is that the restaurant is off the main road in small shopping center with a small lot, so no worry about having to find...

My wife and I had a wonderful meal here for our anniversary. It was quite slow while we were there, though we came shortly after they opened on a Thursday so perhaps the weekend crowds weren't in town yet. Our server was very attentive and we did not wait long for courses. I had the paté of the day which was duck liver and black truffle in a bacon wrapped taurine. It was incredibly delicious. Though I could see how people who don't like a lot of paté per bite might want more bread to come with it. For entrées I had the pork rib chop and my wife had the chicken schnitzel. The pork was the best pork chop I think I've ever had! Perfectly cooked, tender pork with a rich savory sauce with vinegary Italian peppers and roast potatoes.i would 100%order this again. My wife's schnitzel was crispy and delicious, over a bed of mustard- potato salad, greens and tomatoes. For dessert we had a date/ toffe pudding that was very good too. If I had any complaint, I would second a comment I read about the chairs being a little uncomfortable after sitting for about a half an hour. Being that we were seated for 90 minutes, there was lots of shifting around to get comfortable. Overall, we had a wonderful meal and look forward to coming back on a 1st or 3rd Sunday for the advertised...

I am writing this review in regards to treatment from staff - we were dining this evening and ordered 2 dirty martinis. The waitress brought each of them (2 mini glasses) in 2 large cups of ice. She did not tell us what anything was or how we were supposed to “concoct” our own drink. Naturally, we poured the mixers into the cup and the taste of the drink was completely diluted. When bringing this to her attention, she said that we were supposed to leave the mini glasses over the ice to keep them chilled. We had no idea. We asked if there is any way we can have new ones, and they said no you’ll be charged for them. Never in my life have I been in a situation like this with a drink. We asked if they would just take them away thinking that maybe they would just take them off the bill. Then at the end of the meal we were charged not only for the 2 drinks, but additional charge to have them the “up” style. A cocktail glass with ice certainly doesn’t hint at “up” at least not anywhere close to Manhattan. This could have been a good experience, but this really impacted our meal. You should think about customer service and how to treat guests if you want to avoid reviews like these or want...