The Ryland Inn

Reviews 3

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Doug Silverberg

Having been customers of the Ryland Inn before its sudden demise in 2007, my wife and I were pleased to hear it had reopened but were quite skeptical that it could be of the quality we had enjoyed in years past. Im glad to say, that skepticism was unfounded and we had a fantastic dining experience there last night. Upon arrival, one has the choice of self-parking or taking advantage of the valet service at the front door. As we entered the restaurant for our 6:30 reservation, we were greeted and seated promptly. Our main waiter greeted us within a couple minutes with menus and wine list in hand, pre-dinner drinks arrived quickly, and fresh warm rolls were added to our bread plates. As a Gin & Tonic drinker, I enjoyed that beverage with the Ryland Inns self-crafted tonic, which was very good, while my wife sipped a Martini. For appetizers, my wife had the Composition of Autumn Squash while I had the Spanish Octopus. The Autumn Squash was excellent with the only observation being that the pumpkin seed crisp that accompanied it could have been more flavorful. My Spanish Octopus was stellar. And while I realize not everyone is an octopus eater, if you ever wanted to try it, this is the place to do so. Having narrowed down the wine list to three choices, I asked the sommelier for his opinion of the three. Without doubt, he chose one over the other two and no, he did not pick the most expensive of the three. In fact, although all were priced closely, he picked the least expensive noting he had recently sampled this wine and thought it was one of the best wines he had recently tasted. He was right. This 2005 Muga Rioja "Prado Enea" was excellent. For entrees, my wife had the Long Island Duck while I dined on Horseradish Crusted Salmon. Both dishes were plated and presented well, cooked to perfection, and tasted fantastic. Accompanying our entrees we had Creamed Spinach and NJ Corn & Polenta as side dishes. These too were cooked and seasoned perfectly and were so good, I found my self scooping more and more onto my now empty plate even though I was fairly full at this point. This also speaks to the portion size of the sides which was plentiful. Our entrees cleared, we sat chatting, sipping our wine, and both noted that while attentive and there to pour what remained in our decanter just as our glasses were almost empty (a positive), there was absolutely no pressure to order deserts or turn the table. In fact, not until our wine was almost gone did they even hand us the desert menus. I found this quality of service top-notch. Able to sit, talk, digest, and enjoy our wine without any pressure was the pinnacle of the stellar service we had received all evening from the entire wait staff. And kudos to the wait staff for their attentiveness and professionalism throughout our meal as poor service, even with great food, would never bring us back a second time. Dessert didnt disappoint either. We shared a cheese board featuring local chesses with fruits, roasted nuts, and honey accompanied by a Sauterne and 20 year old Port - also both very tasty. In case you hadnt come to this conclusion yet, this was one of, if not THE top dining experiences weve had in many years. The Ryland Inn is back ... and in a more stellar way than its previous incarnation.

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Libby Devlin

My husband took me out to The Ryland Inn this past Valentines Day. It recently reopened with a new chef, Anthony Bucco. I am not sure that this is the best time to review the restaurant since it was a fixed menu, four course meal at $99/pp. In addition, there were three seatings, so we did feel a little bit rushed to get in and out. The decor was excellent - pretty much what it looked like before all the pipes burst several years ago. The service was excellent. I appreciated the less snobby, more friendly attitude of the new wait staff. As I mentioned, however, they were hustling and bustling to get us in and out of there fast because of the 3 seatings that night. Our reservation was for 7 oclock, so I imagine we were the middle seating. The food was good for the most part. I had arugala salad with poppy seed dressing, organic scottish (I think) salmon and it was cooked to perfection. My husband had the poached egg on polenta and the filet mignon. They also gave us a pre-appetizer which consisted of about two bites of duck liver pate. I thought it was delicious, but my husband who is a big eater said it was too small to taste. Then they brought out the dessert. It consisted of an a brownish cake, topped with some kind of extruded geletin-like chocolate in a swirlyque with a tail off to the side, topped with an oval scoop of coffee ice cream. Im embarrassed to say that my husband truthfully announced to the waiter that the dessert "looked like something they had found in the yard somewhere". At which point the couple next to us, who had just finished eating the same thing burst into laughter and said they had thought the exact same thing when they saw it! Now, I think for Valentines Day, the dessert chef could have at least had something red in there, instead of three colors of brown in shapes that resembled different consistencies of you-know-what. So somewhat disappointed with the dessert. But the biggest disappointment of all was when we got the bill. They charged my husband $14.00 for his glass of Johnny Walker Black scotch. (He switched to beer once he found out the price). IN ADDITION, THEY ALSO CHARGED HIM $1.00 FOR "ROCKS" BECAUSE HE ORDERED IT "ON-THE-ROCKS"! Now that is a first in my book! And how petty to be nickled and dimed over a drink. I had had three glasses of white wine at $10.00 per glass.These were perfectly measured. Personally, I hate when a restaurant does that. It makes much more sense not to be so stingy on the drinks. They make the most profit on these anyway and if they want people to come back they should just pour a generous drink in the first place. Im sorry to give this restaurant an average review because it used to be outstanding. But being rushed through dinner, eating what looked like excrement for dessert, and being charged for ice cubes just doesnt do it for me.

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Robert Gaydos

This past Sunday we attended the open table @ The Ryland Inn, which started at 4 PM Sunday, August 14. My wife got there early around 3:15 to meet me there as she was coming from another event in the area, and she was met at the door by who she thought was the manager. She asked if there was a bar there that she could wait at and if there was a bathroom she could use. He told her nobody was working yet and that shell have to wait till someone gets there before she can go in! Turns out he was one of the owners! He was the one that spoke with the Russian accent. He leaves, shes standing in the reception area and she sees someone behind the bar and asks if she can come in and use the bathroom, he says sure would you like a drink! Go figure. I arrived at about 3:45 to meet my wife in the bar with a couple other friends. It was extremely hot in the bar area so I asked the Russian dude the turn the air up he told me "NO" were about to have dinner its cooler in there!!! Strike two... We were all excited about the OpenTable experience and heard it was supposed to be very good. $65 for a wine tasting and three-course dinner. First course with a garden salad with tomatoes and cheese it was OK nothing more. The main course was smoked chicken it was awful I cant believe it the chef even put that out on the table as something special! The third course was a plum shortcake which was dry and tasteless with fresh whipped cream on it. It was very bland... During dessert we saw some people getting coffee so we asked for some coffee and the manager told us were not serving coffee!!! So I said to him, "then why are they drinking coffee over there," he said well theyre not supposed to have it and were not making any more. He was extremely rude! Then 10 minutes after desert was done he came out with 3 cups of cold, bottom of the pot coffee. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement!!! We will "NEVER" go there again! Heres my grade based on 0 - 5: Service - 1 Food - (-1) Ambiance - 4 Entertainment - 0 Oh yeah, included entertainment except it was in another room then where we were sitting we couldnt even hear it!!! Management- (-5) Dont waste your time or money. Last thing two of us dont drink so we asked them, days in advance by the way, to make accommodations and they poured us "Ice Water" and the rude manager said, "the accommodation was a discounted price," (which they made us pay before dinner) which we never got!!! Worst restaurant experience Ive had in 10 years!