After a wonderful day of antiquing and blogging, Julian and I were ready for dinner. We drove from Hudson to Catskill, and ate at practically the only restaurant in town. I should back up and say that we saw this restaurant from the outside and thought it looked really cute, but we weren’t quite sure if we wanted to eat there, so we checked urbanspoon and saw that it had horrible ratings (in the 60% range). We decided to read the reviews because we were wondering who their audience is, as Catskill is not the nicest town. We read about people coming in their pajamas (it’s kind of a fancy restaurant), and all sorts of outlandish stories about the “horrible” service.
Kasmira said, “My family and I had just woken up, It was a Sunday and we decided to eat at Bell’s Cafe. BIG MISTAKE, we were in our pajamas, which was apparently a big problem for the waiter. We did not get any service for about 10 minuets. So we choose our own table, and then the waiter came. Snobby and very rude.” Uptown girl replied to the PJ family by saying, “Whatever makes you people think that you can go out in public (let alone a restaurant) in your pajama’s!!??” We thought the bad reviews sounded fishy and reeked of people who don’t have taste (did I just say that?), and we needed to see for ourselves. It is also the first time I have ever seen people comment on other people’s reviews, discrediting their options. After we thought about going in to eat, we asked a couple who were just leaving who said that the gnocchi is the best they’ve ever had. We were sold.
When we got inside, the waitress greeted us and was very cheerful. The restaurant is very charming inside, with a large blackboard that had the specials on it and also a note that said that they do not want to waste water, so if you want some, you must ask for it. To start, we had a Hot Cider, and their delicious warm bread with Salad Verde, which we gobbled up quickly. I had a difficult time deciding what to order (mussels, duck taco, or gnocchi), but ended up getting the Duck Taco (Soft Corn Taco with Duck Confit and Chipotle Sofrito). Julian had the Pumpkin Ravioli. We were in food heaven. The food was really exceptional. I liked that my taco was relatively spicy, and the ravioli was some of the best I’ve ever had (and that coming from someone who hates pumpkin!). We were really happy that we decided to go here, and I hope to try their brunch soon.
Bell’s Cafe
387 Main St
Catskill, NY 12414
Phone: 518.943.4070
http://www.bellscafeny.net/MENU.html
