The Bond 1786 — Restaurant in Town of Warrensburg

I will preface this review with the following key points: Everyone who attended our bachelorette party dinner has either worked in the restaurant industry, held client-facing customer service roles, or both. We were extremely patient with all Bond 1786 team members, despite our less than optimal dining experience.

Now for the meat and potatoes of this review - Our group of 13 had made a reservation for Saturday evening at 7:00PM. We were asked, very kindly before our arrival time, if we would be willing to push back our reservation to 7:30PM to accommodate The Bond’s capacity needs - no problem! We were happy to show up later!

Our group walks in a little earlier than 7:30 (~7:23) because we didn’t realize how short the walk from our vacation rental would be. We were politely asked to wait outside so as not to block the entrance - again, no problem!

We were sat at our table on time after this by the host, and a kind waitress greeted us to help pass out menus and fill water glasses. Our drink orders were taken promptly, but after this, our experience quickly became frustrating.

After our drink order was taken, we waited well over 45 minutes for them to hit our table. My group grew increasingly irritated as we were ready with our food orders within 10 minutes after sitting down, but our server asked us if she could put our drink orders in first to give the bartender time to make all 13 drinks, while our server took our large party’s order - again, no problem! The time it took for the drinks to get to our table wasn’t the biggest issue, albeit not ideal, but was the quality of the beverages. As a restaurant manager and bartender myself, members of my party asked if I thought something seemed “off” about our vodka-based martinis and cocktails, and there certainly were problems with all of them upon my tasting. Every one of those drinks I tried (~4) tasted like rubbing alcohol. The dirty martinis clearly contained no vermouth and the request for Grey Goose to be used as their base was seemingly not met. Again, no problem, we simply requested our drinks to be remade.

After this, we were met with hostility by the same woman who greeted us when we came in, with that frustration on the restaurant’s end being directed at the individual sitting at the head of our table - The Bride who we were all there to celebrate. This was unacceptable.

After our drinks came back a second time, still incorrect, we requested they be removed from our bill. Again, no problem for us, we simply just weren’t going to pay $13-$15 (x4) for drinks that we wouldn’t touch. This request was met by the server who also gave us champagne, on the house, as a gesture of kindness.

By the time baskets of bread hit our table, we had been sitting for well over 1 hour. Our food did come out promptly after our server took our order, but not everyone in our party received meat cooked to the temperature they requested, and pasta dishes at the table were unseasoned and flavorless. Not a single person in our party complained about this to any staff member because we were trying to be understanding, and didn’t want to make anything more complicated for our clearly overworked server who was doing her very best to help us.

Once we were ready to depart, we requested our bill - this is where the shock set in. Our party of 13 received a bill that was ~$580. We were happy to pay for the food and drinks, whether eaten/drank or not, but the fact that our bill was still that high after our experience was insulting. I understand automatic gratuity for large parties, but 20% as the standard felt like highway robbery for my group. Personally, I was planning on tipping our server directly in cash for her hard work with well over $100 in cash, because I did not trust that The Bond would tip-out our server appropriately (ex. pooling tips with other staff members and taking away from what she deserved single-handedly). If The Bond does pool tips, shame on them.

Take this review however you wish, but please consider other restaurants in Lake George for...

Made a reservation, both online & called - it was a Birthday Celebration! Arrived 15 min early. NO ONE at the counter. Stood there, not wanting to ring the bell - we were early. Peeked into - what we later found out to be the Tavern - and it was Busy! Finally after 5 min, I walked to the left side looking around to see if anyone was there. A young man saw me and said we'll be with you shortly and disappeared. Went back to the desk AGAIN waiting. Long story short, more time passed so I walked back to see what the heck was going on. Waitress came out, said we are very busy and we'll be with you shortly. Back again to the counter, waiting. Finally they asked, 2 for dinner? I explained about the reservation I had made - with notes about a Birthday - since no one bothered to look it up to see. Decided to sit in the Tavern as they explained a private party was in the dining room. Fireplace was on, so good choice. From there it went straight DOWNHILL. Read the menu several times since no one approached the table. Finally the waitress took our drink order but disappeared again. Came back at some point to tell me that the wine I ordered was not available. Made my new wine choice - wife's came first then my wine arrived. Long wait again. Order salad and dinner. And the staff disappeared. Luckily some rolls arrive to the table. Salad plates then arrive with the promise of a salad on the way. But not till later! No one around other than the bartender who seems to be watching a movie on the bar TV. Waitress comes empty handed to announce my entree was burned? and is not available. Very nicely offers to comp my entree - pick anything I want - nicely offers to get me a menu. Just to speed up this already SLOW night, I ask for recommendations, choose Chicken Marsala - since she recommends it. Behind us, we hear other diners telling the waiter that their dishes were switched and placed incorrectly in front of the wrong person twice. An omen! Dinner finally comes out. Wife's pasta primavera, devoid of vegetables, just a few tomatoes - a few carrot slices and a very tiny amount of spinach. No other vegetables in a dish based on vegetables with pasta? Disappointing to say the least. How can you possibly get this dish wrong? My dish is actually more like Pasta Marsala, since the chicken is all off to the side in small strips with just a few pieces of chicken - minimal portion at best. Again this is very disappointing. Waitress rightly asks, cheese anyone? And again disappears. We're discussing who's at fault at this point! We'll excuse the wait for fresh decaf to be brewed, an understandable delay for that when my wife orders decaf coffee. Dessert is offered as a "to take home", we say thanks but we'll eat it here. An excellent Crème brûlée is brought out. Hooray at the finale! It's around 8:30 now. A 90 minute meal! Must say the waitress was extremely apologetic and was working very hard to keep up. She was very nice. We certainly know both waiters were quite busy with the party and the Tavern room. Someone needs to better manage the required help needed here to run a restaurant. We very much appreciate the comped entree and dessert but this entire experience was just unpleasant. The setting, surroundings & investment in this location are all wonderful but what should have been a Birthday night out at a "Fancy" place was not. So many other places we could have chosen. Reading the other reviews, this seems to be an issue here and you would think the invested management would take better notice of these warnings. On a minor note. Lovely salt & pepper Grinders. Nice touch. But to put table salt in a salt grinder? When you turn the grinder over without realizing not to grind? A Mountain of salt pours out. It's a small thing, but if you’re in the restaurant business, a priority - get the important things along with the small details . Doubtful we'd risk...

I hate to write this review, but our experience was so unpleasant that the proprietors need to know about it.

We live locally and had a gift certificate that we wanted to use for dinner. We arrived at 6:15 (I know this because the 2some ahead of us indicated they had a reservation, but it wasn’t in the book…). We chose to sit in the tavern and there were 2 other groups there when we arrived, and it seemed like a few tables in the dining room. It is early October and the tavern was cold! There are 2 fireplaces in there (which were not being used) and at least 1 person at every table had their coat on…read the room folks!

There was a bartender and 3 waitstaff working. I asked for a wine menu while my husband ordered an Octoberfest that was listed on the chalkboard. The waitress and bartender said they didn’t have that one but they did have a different one. A can of beer arrives at the table and the waitress pours it into a glass…my husband was looking for a beer on tap, and likely would have selected something different if given the chance. I order a glass of white wine and we order the crabcake appetizer while we consider our entrees. 20 minutes later, we’ve not seen our waitress and I ask a different waitress for the glass of wine I ordered. She goes to the bar and bartender indicates that he didn’t hear it come in (along with at least 4 other tickets that I see in his hand). Wine is delivered and he notes that a 2nd glass is on him because of the delay. Still no crabcake…a few minutes later our waitress arrives, apologizes for the wine and says the crabcake is on the way. We take this moment to order our entrees and a bottle of wine for dinner, worried that we might not have another chance!

The crabcake arrives and looks great. It is larger than a hockey puck and almost double the height. Filled with crab and a little red pepper and topped with capers.

We finish the crabcake and the bottle of wine arrives and the waitress pours us each a glass. Another 20 minutes later she comes back to the table to say that they don’t have the sesame seeds that are supposed to be encrusting the tuna dish I ordered. I said that’s fine, no problem. Another 20 minutes or so and she stops to say that our meals will be out shortly and pours more wine for us.

The meals arrive and they were disappointing. The tuna was not seared. It wasn’t cooked at all. The spinach and mushroom risotto it was supposed to come with had hard rice in it, no spinach or mushrooms, and no flavor. The vegetable “slaw” was also bland.

The $38 short rib entree was a half cup of short rib, which was very tasty. The accompanying risotto was no better than the one with the tuna, and it came with sautéed vegetables. I didn’t get a picture before my husband started eating it.

The waitress stopped by and I told her the tuna was inedible. She asked if I wanted something different, and at this point I just wanted to leave. They took the entree off the bill. The extra glass of white wine never arrived, instead an after dinner drink. Which would have been nice, had I actually eaten a meal…

We left the restaurant a little after 8pm..and when we got home my husband cooked me dinner.

Very disappointed. If the kitchen staff are new, perhaps you should limit the menu to items they are...