The Red Onion — Restaurant in Town of Saugerties

We were very excited to have found this restaurant on our quick 2 day trip to the Catskills and ultimately were quite disappointed with it. Firstly, if your establishment accepts reservations it is in your interest to have made sure that when your guests arrive the table is ready. The host fumbled welcoming guests and it was evident he had to make sure things were ready at our to be table before we were seated. This is normally something I would completely overlook had I not had the following experience I had here. Moving on, we were seated with menus by the host and not greeted by our waiter for what seemed like a small eternity. A bread runner came but did not ask for a drink request or anything other than pouring some water, of which he almost took the remaing water back with him before ultimately deciding he should leave it on our table. After our waiter finally came and explained everything on the menu was indeed on the menu tonight…? (Run out of things often?) he took our drink order and again was in abscondence. Drinks came, and were decent. Once he finally returned to take our meal orders, I explained I was between two items on the appetizer menu and two items on the entree menu.. he feigned curiosity at my choices, and went on about how everything was so good but ultimately suggested the pierogies and the duck. Awesome! Sounds great. I’ll have the duck breast on the rare side please. EH! Wrong answer. We recommend medium rare. There was no asking if I wanted it any other way. Sure, fine. As my appetizer came the waft of truffle piqued my interest again to my ultimate let down. The pierogies were acceptable at best. I’ve had better pierogies at beer festivals. The truffle oil that perfumes the dish is the only thing that elevated the dish and certainly does not bring the plate to the price point they are charging. But that’s alright, I still have some delicious duck to look forward to! Yet once again was I to be let down. A mediocre duck breast, less than mediocre jus, and some lackluster collard greens. The potatoes too.. Potatoes are one of Gods gifts to humanity. They are almost impossible to not get right. All they need it a little butter and something the kitchen evidently doesn’t know exists.. SALT. Guys, if you aren’t going to put salt on your tables.. You better be getting the seasoning right in the kitchen. EVERYTHING was underseasoned. I understand nouvelle cuisine, and if that’s where you are going with this, properly seasoned food is a must to let the food speak for itself. Yet, something tells me the head chef probably doesn’t even know what I’m talking about. Our waiter shifted from pleasant to short and it became evident he himself was not up to the task of waiting tables with acceptable behavior. An affogato that’s not been properly thought out, which turned into a soupy mess, finished our night here, of which will be the last time we come to the more appropriately named “bruised...

Great experience. Me and my girlfriend had a last minute reservation on a Friday at 7pm and the older male host (front staff manager maybe?) was very accommodating and friendly at arrival.

The old farm house is beautiful, quaint and cozy. Really fitting for this area. Almost feels like your attending a private dinner party at a family household.

We started with drinks and two appetizers. While we waited we had some bread. Ive worked food service for several years in upscale restaurants so I'm often hard to please. The sardines were phenomenal and absolutely well executed all around! The sweet, acidic and salt was well balanced in this dish and every bite had something the last didn't. The perogies were also very good! They were however a little bland compared to our Sardines. It would have been nice to have a little more filling, a little more black truffle to really make the flavors pop. Otherwise it was perfect. Our dinners were the Duck Breast and Swordfish. Cherry reduction and duck breast is a pretty normal menu item that I've seen and made a lot but this is admittedly better than other dishes that are similar that I've made. The chesnuts and red cabbage was a combo that really made this dish feel unique. Hands down best duck in the area. My girlfriend had the swordfish and she said it was the best she's ever had and she normally doesn't like swordfish because most places overcook it.

To top it off we were not rushed at all and got to enjoy ourselves on a Friday night for a hour and a half. Great way to end the work week and we will be back more often. Next time we come back we are going to try the lamb lollipops and maybe tackle a couple of the premium $$$ high end entrees.

Quality ingredients always worth the money. Portion is excellent for...

My husband and I had dinner here for my birthday. The last time we ate out just the two of us (without our toddler) was almost 2 years ago for our anniversary, and it was also at Red Onion.

Overall our experience 2 years ago was far superior. The food was good, the drinks were amazing, and the atmosphere was great. Unfortunately this time things fell flat. The food was ok - appetizers were good (scallops and anchovies) but mains not so much (and asparagus as a vegetable in January? Why? I almost didn't order the cod because I didn't want to be eating asparagus this time of the year), and dessert was really just so-so (tiramisu). Cocktails were ok. The menu could really use some revamping as the only vegetarian main on the menu was the same as it was 2 years ago.

Service was weird - we waited a very long time for our server to show up, and then service was too fast. In fact I was about to eat a bite of food on my fork when a young man asked me if I was done and if he could clear my plate....I stared at him feeling confused and didn't know what to say. Awkward.

I know restaurants have no control over how their patrons dress, but when you're putting some effort into looking nice and you're going to a nice restaurant, and then you see folks rolling in like they literally pulled their gross clothes and baseball caps out of their gym bag and put them on....well that definitely ruins the atmosphere.

Last but not least, usually when you make a reservation at a restaurant and you indicate it's a special occasion, the dessert plate has something written on it, or you get a candle. Not this time, so that was also a bummer.

I won't say we won't ever return here, but it will probably be a very long time before...