I found myself at Cellar 49 in Tarrytown, NY. This is the on site restaurant for Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center, one of the Destination Hotels. This was a completely weird experience. The estate is large and well-manicured; the restaurant is located in the basement or the wine cellar of this majestic old house. All sounds great so far, right? 
For a 8:30pm dinner, there were no other diner in the restaurant. The servers had nothing to do and were way too friendly. See this little hut in the photo? It was built to block the entrance to the kitchen. The picture in the middle of the wooden wall blocks the window into the kitchen.
WINGS / sweet chili or honey buffalo. Surprise! These honey buffalo wings were excellent. Not really spicy but they were fried perfectly and seasoned with enough sugar to keep me going until tomorrow morning.
BABY BEETS / smoked / yogurt / candied cashews / herb puree. Interesting plating and concept. Liked the color play but the beets were not seasoned properly. The herb puree did absolutely nothing.
SMOKED PORK CHOP / grits / chard / peach preserves. The glaze and the execution were what made the dish stand out. The meat was tender, juicy and sweet- like all good tropical fruits. I was impressed by how tender it was because this chop was thick and wide.
DUCK TACOS / chorizo / onion slaw. The concept was intriguing and worthy. The execution was terrible. The duck was dry. The combination of duck and taco was a no go. Did not taste the chorizo – perhaps it was masked in the slaw.
Although we were the only ones in the restaurant, the noise level was intolerable. The loud conversations from the bar were piped directly into the restaurant space. It was not just loud, it was crystal clear. I heard the entire conversation about someone they know between a woman and the server.
Overall, the food was a little awesome when they hit it right; when they didn’t, it was disappointing. Out of the four dishes, two were excellent. The entire experience of eating at a restaurant alone in the basement of an estate mansion while listening to loud conversations next door was just weird. I wonder how destination hotels stay in business with no one dining in their restaurants.
This experience took place at
Cellar 49
Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center
49 E Sunnyside Ln,
Tarrytown, NY 10591
Phone:(914) 591-3183
Peilin Corbanese 