Terrapin Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Rhinebeck

FOOD POISONING!! (And we did not realize that this restaurant was unfriendly to non-white customers when we selected it.)

We were considering a full buyout of this restaurant. A friend recommended the place to us as were were looking for a special event space.

(TLDR: It took almost 4 hours for a party of 2 people to receive entrees on a Friday night in a restaurant that was not particularly crowded. The establishment did not apologize or care at all about the wait. Will not be back and did not rent the place for our event.)

We read great reviews, and loved the look of the place inside and out. We requested and received prompt quotes. The rates were within our budget (under $20,000 for dinner for approx. 50). We were prepared to meet the event manager and make a deposit. On a whim, we decided to go for date night before scheduling our meeting with the event manager. We are VERY glad that we attempted to have dinner there first- it helped us avoid a HUGE MISTAKE.

We arrived on a Friday night at 7:00pm with a reservation. Appetizers were served promptly. The wild mushroom soup was good, along with several other appetizers. I ordered 2 cocktails, which were also good. That is were the pros end.

We waited 2.5 hours for our main course after salads. TWO and a HALF HOURS!!! During this time the server came to us just 1 time after my partner attempted to flag him down for over 20 minutes. The server said only 1 sentence to us before walking away quickly "A large party left, so the kitchen is just catching up." No apology or even a soda was offered to us as a gesture. Just a flimsy excuse.

We were never checked on during the entire 2.5 hour wait (remember- my partner flagged the server down). Our water glasses were empty, we were not offered the option to order more appetizers or drinks, or given a single update about when we could expect our food.

We were having a great date, so we did not immediately notice the long wait. However, once we did notice it- we also noticed that every other customer that had been present when we were seated, was long gone. This includes several that arrived after we were seated. Large parties of 7-8, small parties of 2-3, everyone had been served and left...but us.

The only difference that I could distinguish between every other customer in the restaurant and us is that we were not white.A couple sat next to us at the 2 hour mark, and received their dinner BEFORE us. It took another half hour for us to be served. We were in the restaurant for 3.5 hours total. This was a total waste of a Friday night. If we were going to have a 4 hour dinner, we would like to have known in advance, and picked a fine dining establishment.

My fiancé finally politely informed the server that the wait time was unacceptable. To this complaint, no apology was offered. Instead, the server (A middle aged Latino gentleman) offered a single dessert to compensate us for his rudeness and lack of hospitality. Needless to say, our food was cold when we finally received it. We were the last people to leave the restaurant. No manager came over to apologize, there was no remorse for holding us hostage for 3.5 hours. Our entrees were mediocre in flavor; not great, and certainly not worth the time or inhospitable atmosphere.

The worst part is that we both had stomach sickness the rest of the night. Due to this horrible experience, we did not buyout the restaurant for our event. We discourage anyone from buying out this restaurant or dining there. We concluded that if they could not handle a two-top on a Friday night, they certainly cannot handle an event of any kind. Avoid at all costs!

Update: Message from owner was posted as a PR stunt. I was never contacted by the restaurant. I HAVE heard multiple stories from coworkers and neighbors that also had negative experiences at Terrapin and believe their poor treatment was due to prejudice against their identities (lgbt couples, racially diverse customers, disabled...

Dined May 1 2025, our first visit.

Bottom line: food excellent, service/attentiveness/attitude not top notch.

Tapas appetizers -- wontons with goat cheese, and patatas bravas. Both very good. Entrees were grilled chicken which menu said came with asparagus which my wife loves, so she ordered the chicken. I had Hudson Duck breast matched with two crepes containing duck confit. Excellent. Drinks were interesting. Menu is on the expensive side but we knew that going in.

As for staff service: the apparent maitre d' lady was grimly working on something at the "welcome" desk and she curtly said she's be with us very soon. After a minute or so of not so much as a glance at us, a passing waitress took us in hand and seated us. Thank you Miss! Our waiter could not be described as attentive -- took a while for him to ask us for our drink order. Tapas showed up promptly and we enjoyed them. Then a bit of a long wait, looking at the clock, before a young lady brought the entrees (I don't understand why our waiter doesn't bring the food, a common issue in restaurants nowadays, which sometimes leads to confusion like the following). My wife noticed that her vegetable was brussel sprouts not the asparagus she was looking forward to. The young lady who delivered the plates was confused by my wife's protest, so she went and got our waiter who carried the plate back to our table and asked my wife "What's wrong with this?" That's not a good attitude. She told him the menu promised asparagus. He seemed stumped by this and stood for a bit, and finally said, without a smile, "we can do asparagus" and he disappeared with the plate before my wife could ask how long it was going to take. She waited while I enjoyed my duck. After a moderate wait her entree came to the table, with asparagus and she enjoyed it.

After dinner I asked for cappucino while our table was being cleared. It was fetched promptly, but no dessert menu was offered. Our waiter appeared to be having a nice chat with someone standing in a doorway across the room. After a noticeable wait he returned to our table and I asked for the dessert menu. Finding nothing enticing we asked for the check. After leaving the check, he did not return so I went to the lady at the Welcome Desk to pay. She said her computer was down and she would have to go to another register to print our check. We were able to pay promptly and leave without being delayed further.

Our staff service experience did not match up to the glowing reviews. The restaurant was NOT full/busy. At Terrapin's pricing and high food quality, we felt the service/attitude was not...

Our daughter and son in law highly recommended Terrapin. It was my wife's birthday and we wanted to go some place special to celebrate. Even though the place was almost an hour away, we thought it would be worth the trip.

Our son in law called and asked what time they closed. We were told that the dinning room shuts down at 9:30 pm. We arrived just a bit past 9:00 and told them we needed seating for two.

The hostess informed us that the main dinning room was closed and the outdoor area was closed as well.

We told her we called ahead and was told about the hours She said they closed early. We were then informed we could have a seat in the Bistro. We walked over to the entrance to the Bistro and it was packed with people. No one was wearing a mask and they were not seated six foot apart.

I'm not willing to die over a meal.

We never made it inside the door of the Bistro. We went back to the hostess and I explained that I was diabetic and high risk. Not once, but twice, and was NOT comfortable being jammed in with a bunch of people not wearing mask.

She said she would go speak with her manager. After a couple of minutes she returned and we were told that we could not sit anywhere but the Bistro and we could wait to see if it cleared out.

My wife informed her that we drove almost an hour to come and eat there. The hostess just shrugged her shoulders. She made it very obvious that she could care less.

I may be a bit weird. But if I spend my money somewhere. We WILL be treated with respect and dignity, and not treated like garbage.

To be fair. My son in law called and spoke with the manager and informed him that he called earlier about closing time and also informed him of our experience.

He said the waitress did come and speak with him but never informed him that I was diabetic and high risk. He even offered to let us sit in the tent and he would wait on us personally. Although we greatly appreciated the offer, our experience and expectations of Terrapin was already ruined by the attitude and treatment of the hostess.

We were already 15 minutes into the trip back. By this time it was to late to find another place to eat. So my wife's birthday dinner was a frozen pizza.

We were very much looking forward to s nice evening out for her special day. It's ashame our image of the place that was spoken so highly of was ruined by one employee that could care less about the people that support the business. We won't be back...