The Brown Swan and Tavern — Restaurant in Town of Schroon

Below is our SAD experience from this year, 2024. We were here last year in the summer and the food was fantastic! And service was pretty good too. We did find out they changed chefs so perhaps that is the issue.

June 2024: I'm sorry to say that the standard of things has changed and the kitchen is failing badly! Our lunch had something wrong with everything we ordered and we were there for about 3 hours. We didn't get a gluten free bun and got battered fries. But then the manager said the fries were gluten free? (I don't know of any battered French fry that is gluten free.) There was something wrong with the Reuben sandwich. It just didn't taste right and we had to send it back. I got the haddock scampi, but it was NOT scampi. It was pasta with fried haddock on the side. The pasta was so lemony I couldn't eat it and it was dry, with no sauce or garlic. The fish and chips were not good either. The fish was very lightly battered, it was hard and dry on the outside. We also had Fried Calamari that came out soggy. They did take off the appetizer and Reuben from the bill. Finally, my salad didn't have the pecans in it but honestly I didn't say anything because we already had so many issues I just let it go.

So despite all that, I wanted to come for breakfast as I figured it's hard to mess up breakfast. Well, I was wrong. My daughter got the Salmon Benedict. The béarnaise sauce is NOT bearnaise. It was a very lemony, spicy, and thin sauce, that totally overpowered the fish. The eggs were poached perfectly though. The "very different" Corned Beef Hash (?) had an interesting flavor, but wow, was it salty! They really should not call it Corned Beef Hash as it is something completely different. Our first cups of coffee were cold but when we did get hot coffee it was good at $5 per cup. It was served with milk and when I asked for half and half or cream I was told they didn't have any, but then she found some and brought it later.

The servers are very kind but they seriously need to be properly trained! They know nothing, and I mean nothing about the menu OR customer service. If you have even a basic question, they have to go ask someone. (Example: So what are your salad dressings? Or do you have gluten free pasta? For both of these questions, "Oh I'm sorry, I have to go check." The manager did not even know the answer to these questions.) 🙄 It took over an hour to get our breakfast. We were unable to get refills on drinks because the server just wasn't around, and had very, very slow service.

Please get your servers educated on the menu. I have been in the restaurant business my whole life so there is experience and knowledge behind these suggestions.

They should know everything that is in every single dish you offer, they should know what salad dressings you carry, what soda's you carry, what's in your alcoholic drinks, they should know the soup of the day, etc. They need to be educated in which foods are good for gluten free patrons and know about food allergies. This will keep you from being sued. My grandson does not have celiac but he is allergic to gluten. Those fries and the not getting gluten free bread could really hurt someone. They need to check back to the table often to make sure of drink refills and quality of food. They should NOT bring all food at once (appetizers, salad and entrees ) OR bring one meal out but everyone else waits because their food isn't done, (that's also a kitchen issue). They need to repeat back what people ordered so they get it right every time. Consistency is key, if you want good reviews, work on these things and you're reviews...

TLDR: Meh to poor service. Steak and eggs breakfast not worth the price.

Service: A young woman saw my family and I, 4 people in total, standing in front of the host station and said nothing for a good 40 seconds. My wife finally asked if it was self-seating, to which the woman said, in so many words, "I'm entering an order and will get you seated afterwards". She continued to enter the order for another silent 20 seconds or so before another young man came over and a brief discussion was had between them and we were subsequently seated. The young lady wasn't overtly rude but seriously, how do you not acknowledge 4 whole humans for half a minute?? And mind you, she only acknowledged us after my wife spoke. She was entering an order I understand, but a simple "I'll be with you shortly", or some sort of acknowledgement goes a long way even if your hands are tied.

Our server wasn't bad. He seemed nice enough but he wasn't good enough to wash the taste out of my mouth left by his colleague. Honestly all three servers present kinda seemed like they'd much rather be anywhere else (based on body language and interactions with their tables and each other), and I can't blame them. It was the am after the eclipse so they probably got slammed the previous night but still, if you don't like food service, don't be a server. No one owes me a song and dance, I know, but jeez, for the food (more below) and the service, the prices are widely over inflated.

Food: Got steak and egg breakfast. The toast was kinda cold. The steak was chewy and lacking flavor, albeit cooked perfectly, and the roasted potatoes were also flavorless and uninspired. The eggs were overcooked and had a slight hint of the sulfur one smells when eggs have been cooked too long. Also, just meh.

Atmosphere: Looked nice enough. Great view of a lake through the windows; would've been better had we been sat by the window however -_-

Overall: Food and service were acceptable if they charged IHOP prices (came for breakfast), but they don't so they weren't. Do yourself and favor and just find the nearest Chic fil A or McDonald's if you want breakfast. You're practically guaranteed to get similar quality food, and definitely guaranteed to get better service. This is 3 star food and service for 4 star prices, so I gave 2 because I feel cheated.

Full disclosure, aside from the first encounter, the remainder of my review could've been influenced by this initial bad impression. Our poor server had an uphill battle because of his colleague and that morning he just wasn't up to the task.

If you're headed south along the eastern seaboard, skip this joint and go to John's Roast Pork in Philly lol. We missed out John's Roast Pork's phenomenal sandwiches because we...

I write this review with sadness and disappointment, but hope it will be used in a constructive way to improve on the deficiencies. As a whole, the property is beautiful offering many picturesque settings. We dined at The Brown Swan on Monday, June 17 at around 6pm, and were given our choice to sit in the dining room or bar room. At the time, there were two parties in the dining room and one person at the bar. We were a party of nine, and chose to sit at the bar tables because it offered us a chance to order from both the bar and dining room menus.

Two people in our party were vegetarian. One person had nut allergies. Over the course of 2.5 hours and a bill that totaled well over $250, only seven people were served food. The person with nut allergies was told the restaurant could not guarantee anything. The vegetarian who ordered pasta was served a meat dish after waiting nearly 90 minutes to get her meal – while everyone else had already been served. The other vegetarian’s eggplant was rubbery and uncooked, making it inedible. In the 2.5 hours we spent at The Brown Swan, we watched much of the bar side get filled up with guests. And, yet, the only server on that side was the bartender, Olivia. She did everything: make drinks for dining room guests, bar guests, and take/deliver orders from everyone eating at the bar side. Aside from her manager, Justin, who helped make drinks for a few minutes, Olivia ran around doing everything while two servers made it clear that they only worked the dining room – which was barely full.

Our experience was awful, and three people in our party left The Brown Swan still hungry. Two people were not even served any food. This is not a server issue. This is a management issue because it was clear that staff are not trained properly. None of the servers from the dining room (or the manager for that matter) recognized that the lone person working in the bar could have used help. Even when I asked one of the dining room servers for something, she made clear that Olivia would help me and that she worked the dining room.

This is a beautiful property but the service does not measure up. This was not the bartender’s fault. It was obvious that none of the young people working at the restaurant that evening were given proper training on how to work as a team. If this place is to survive, management needs to spend more time training their workforce with proper team-building tools.

Adding this after reading response from owner: At some point, an apology just falls flat. Other reviewers, too, have left legitimate reasons for their disappointment in The Brown Swan. At what point do you stop apologizing and do the actual, hard work necessary to improve outcomes...