Superlative food, romantic river view with oil-lit votives, attentive service. I have dined all over the world, but this place has "the right stuff". Go....GO!!! read more

Took my daughter out for her graduation meal because she likes the burgers here. They were out of everything I wanted, informed after sitting down that the owner/cook/manager (bad combo there) was going on vacation so there was a "limited menu". Might be good to post that shit on the door in big letters so ppl know what they're getting into, duh. When we did order we waited 45 minutes for our food. I got the chicken Oscar. The chicken was dry and tough, the crab was FULL of shell and instead of the special "hand churned hollandaise" their pretentious menu touts I got a greasy, wobbly, pile of split eggs and butter sitting on top of everything. This isn't the first time I've been disappointed but it's sure as hell going to be the last. The last time I was there I ordered the smoked salmon and my son ordered ribs. Both items were smoked to the point of crumbling and tasted like pure chemicals. Then the waitress had the audacity to tell my son that he should like the bbq sauce after he had said he didn't. For how lofty they like to advertise themselves their food and service fucking sucks and is insultingly overpriced. $8 for a tiny garden salad? Usually those come WITH a $27 meal, along w bread and butter lol. What a joke. Ditch the "French bistro" crap because you obviously suck at it and just stick to sandwiches and beer. read more

Our favorite in the area. Food is generally excellent and reasonably priced. Back room with beautiful river view. Friendly service.

Great food and wonderful atmosphere. The owner was great company as well. Would easily come back here!

The Cellar Restaurant is hands down the finest food in Owego, or anywhere! We had a delicious meal Saturday night. Sandy, the owner , was our waitress. She was friendly , attentive and knowledgable as always. We started with wine , but no appetizer . We knew we wanted to save room for the delicious entree we had been thinking about all day. My husband got his " usual", The Gillette. A melt in your mouth filet mignon. It is served in red pepper pesto and topped with blue cheese peppercorn butter. His eyes literally roll to the back of his head when he eats this. I was craving the breast of duck. This is a dish that I have never seen anywhere else. The dried cherry sauce and the hazelnut crust are an unbelievably delicious combination with the duck. We cleaned our plates! That didn't stop us from ordering dessert. Vanilla bean creme brûlée for me and pumpkin cheesecake for the hubby. This is how we keep our svelte figures! To sum it up: food is first rate.the decor and atmosphere is romantic and cozy Service is perfectly paced, friendly and profession. We always feel special when we dine at the Cellar. read more

The cellar is our favorite place for brunch when we are in town! I've never had a bad meal there and the staff is always wonderful!

I had the stuffed halibut and it was terrible. It came with an infant sized portion of rice and 7 green beans. I had a dirty martini which was not chilled and came in half size portion. The seating is uncomfortable. Overall it was a lousy experience. read more

Interesting find with good food well prepared and served. Nice wine list featuring local and other varieties. Thursday in season features oysters many ways. House smoked salmon appetizer was worth the opportunity. French Onion soup nicely flavored and not too sweet. Mussels in a full flavorful broth..Veal Oscar was a light well prepared dish. Worth the stop. enjoy! If i am in the area again I would include this as a place to stop. read more

Ok so this place I'd gonna cost you. Went there for Valentine's Day and the bill was considerably over $100 for 2 people. That being said the food was extremely good though small portioned. The staff was friendly and decor was nice (though I think it was done up specifally for the holiday- still nice touch). Overall, I was satisfied but thought the prices were a little over the top for what you actually get. Not a place that many people in Owego could afford on a regular basis but good for as special occassion. read more

Was driving through Owego and stopped for some lunch. Started with real smoked salmon. Very tasty and a nice portion. Burger was good but a little too done so make dure you are clear anout how you want it cooked. Other dish was Portobello mushrooms with pasta in a cream sauce. Excellent. If I an the area again I would go back for sure. read more

Very bad experience!! The staff was very unfriendly and they dumped a whole glass of water all over the table and it took them a very long time to clean it up. The dinner took a very long time to come out, while everyone around us who ordered after our table got their food. The drinks sat empty on our table for a good 30 minutes before they came to check on us for a refill. I would not request going to this restaurant. read more

Great Specials. I had the special Pecan crusted pork chop and peanut butter pie & they great craft beers

Walked in 25 minutes before opening. Older gentleman with pony tail told me we don't serve anyone before opening at 5:30. (Yes I was there at 5:05) I'm sure I will hurry back in 20 minutes to allow you to serve me! Not! Just think....all I wanted was an ice tea and a menu to start with. Would have waited patiently with my ice tea and menu waiting for my 6 friends to arrive for dinner. (This post deserves 0 stars) read more

Food is as fresh as it gets! Been there numerous times with many different people and have yet to receive a meal someone didn't like. The German Fest was also fantastic. read more

Food was tasty but service was mediocre at best. The hostess was pleasant but had difficulty understanding we would be waiting at the bar until a table became available. We had to ask several times if she wanted to take our name. Apparently, it was a foreign concept to request a table without a reservation and be willing to wait patiently enjoying a drink. Our waitstaff went MIA for a period of time so our meal took a considerable amount of time to be served and our drinks sat empty for over 20 minutes. We were disappointed as this place came recommended. read more

My wife & I have been going here for the past two months once a week and find it a charming place in downtown Owego NY with great help, wonderful food and a relaxed atmosphere. The signature salad is always fresh, the sauces are spectacular and the pricing is what you would expect to pay. Sunday they have a Special dinner for 2 @ $17.95 which is a Steal, Highly recommended! read more

It is indeed a shame that a restaurant with such good food should have such poor service! After a couple of lengthy meals in the dining room we had decided to try eating at the bar! The bartender, Nate, also I understand an owner, is one of the rudest people alive! Granted, he gets busy and has to hustle at times but there is absolutely no excuse for being disrespectful and displaying his patented cavalier attitude! I have tried to duke him with generous gratuities but to no avail, he is just a total jerk! Despite being a fan of the cuisine and generally interesting clientele, I will not be returning! read more

My wife and I recently had dinner here, and we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The stuffed haddock was quite good, as was the seafood czarina. Dessert was fabulous too - the peanut butter pie was incredible! We enjoyed the atmosphere, and the staff was great....knowledgable and friendly. The Cellar is a must-visit when in the Owego or the Southern Tier. read more

Had dinner at the Cellar tonight for the first time. I was truly impressed. The menu was very diverse and had a lot of interesting things to choose from which was great for my friend who is more adventurous with food, while still having lots of great options for me - the picky eater. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and personable. We had a table with a view of the river - it could not have been a nicer meal. I will definitely be back! read more

Not much to look at from the outside. Inside is not new but clean and well decorated. I had the Feta pasta with chicken and it was awesome. Priced right for an upscale meal. One critique is that when I entered at 5:30pm they had some heavy metal playing on the stereo. Nearly turned and left. In their defense they changed it to something much more appropriate immediately after seating me. Service was first rate. Thanks for a nice experience. read more

Went back tonight and not as happy as before. I ordered the mushroom ravioli and was disappointed. They weren't ravioli at all. Three or four ravioli skins on the bottom as a sheet, a layer of mushrooms, and a layer of ravioli skins on top. Did they forget to make the raviolis, or what? Expensive, too. I was excited about it before we went, but I'll stick to other places in the future. read more

Busy night, granted, but out of Hamburgers by 7:30? Service was poor, kitchen slow. Disappointing to say the very least. Three stars is an error-I meant 2 read more

I'll try to keep this short and sweet. I created a yelp account to express my dissatisfaction with this place. I was there on a Friday evening with a wedding party. We had reservations and sent in our order a week prior and possibly everything that could have went wrong there went wrong. I won't focus on every detail but this whole mess was handled very poorly by the staff and management which came as a surprise because of the great reviews I herd about this place. This whole experience at this place was an embarrassment to our party and the staff as well, no one wants to be put in this situation ever but the way that all this went down as inexcusable and unprofessional as it could possibly be. A 2 1/2 hour wait on a meal is unconscionable and not even apologizing is not only bad business but down right inexcusable. Deeply saddened about my experience here because I only herd great things and wanted to share our special moment with everyone at a highly regarded place, instead we had by far the worst dining experience of our lives, I'm sorry I had to write this sour review but I felt compelled to after such an embarrassment. read more

My husband and I recently went here the day before valentine's day. We had a reservation at 7:30 pm and was not even seated 30 mins later. Upon that 30 minutes we were waiting to be seated, we only saw one group (a man and a woman) left the restaurant. When we went to the dining room, there was literally 5+ tables empty and clean. Another couple that was seated 5 mins after us left because they waited for 15 minutes and still no waitress came and offer them a drink or a bread. Our hostess brought us a cold bread with no oil and we waited for a good 20 minutes until a waitress come to ask us what we would like for appetizer. The only reason I stayed was because I wanted to try the beef wellington that so many people raved about. Anyway... I honestly expected more on the appetizer. I mean I had one of the best french onion soup, but I was expecting classier appetizer instead of appetizers that my local diner offers. We waited for another 30 minutes to finally get our house salad. It was a great salad don't get me wrong, but having to wait for half an hour for just a freaking salad? Almost two hours have passed ever since we stepped foot into the restaurant we finally got our beef wellington. My honest opinion on it? Nope. It's bland, the puff pastry was soggy, a piece of my potato was undercook (it was still a little crunchy). The beef wellington's sauce is also pretty boring. The steak cur itself (filet mignon) is such an expensive cut that is so tender and melt in your mouth but beef wellington especially this restaurant's recipe have mushroom and porchiutto and yet I tasted none of that. Porchiutto is very salty so I should've gotten some salt from it, but nope, it was still bland! Tl; dr - service is so freaking slow and beef wellington that people raved about is just "meh" and nothif special about it. read more

A rather disappointing evening last night at The Cellar and it will be our first and only visit. It started off a little shaky, got better for a brief moment, followed by a long period of waiting, and thankfully ended with good food. But why won't we be back - inattentive and slow service. We were seated in the back area, which was very cold. The hostess said it was too crowded up front. Now, we didn't have reservations, and we were thankful to get a table although it really didn't look that crowded up front. The hostess turned on a ceiling heater that heated up quite quickly so that was nice. Our server came by quickly, discussed the evening's specials, and took our drink orders. Our drinks arrived and then she was gone for 20 minutes easily. We had to ask another server to find her so we could place our dinner order. After we placed our dinner order, our food did not arrive for about 45 minutes! We were a party of 6 I should add, and the party of 4, who seated after us, was served before us. Our server came by one time to ask if we wanted another drink (two of us had bar drinks) and she filled our water glasses. The food came out and was staggered so a few people had to wait. Our second round of cocktails came almost at the end of our meal. As I mentioned earlier, the food was quite good, thankfully. Our server was also quite pleasant when she was there. We dine out regularly and are pretty patient. The restaurant was NOT slammed so there was really no clear reason why our service was so disappointing. Too bad because the location is great and we really enjoy Owego when we visit from Virginia. read more

Our food was delicious! The Cellar is going on my list of favorite places to eat. I had the NY strip which was very tender and melted in my mouth. My friend had the seafood platter. She said the scallops were out of this world, the best she's ever had. I want to go back and try their Sunday brunch. Our waiter was very friendly and I loved the scenery of the river. I thought the prices were good. Definitely worth it. read more

Outstanding dinner of smoked duck! They offer half portions as well. They have tapas in addition to entrees. Worth a try and easy to find.

I have eaten here many times and never had a bad meal. Usually have filet or fish, always excellent, (especially the filet with red pepper pesto) and perfectly done. The decor is very nice, comfortable. I have also had brunch and lunch here, but favor their dinners. Though they do have the best cheese danish ever made! Do wish they had a couple more beer selections on tap. I am not a big craft beer fan. I recommend The Cellar. read more

We got there after the dining room had closed, so we ate from the limited menu at the bar. Burgers were great! Cooked perfectly and flavorful. Very nice staff. Will definitely go back. read more

There are many fine restaurants in the area, but The Cellar is our favorite. The food is excellent, the choices are varied and appeal to all tastes, and the flavors are outstanding. The staff is welcoming, warm and eager to assist the dining experience in every way. We have been dining at The Cellar for many years and we have always had a wonderful experience. The sauces the Chef creates are wonderful and they are applied in ways that are both delicious and interesting. I can think of no other restaurant that we would like to frequent more than The Cellar. read more

My 60th birthday dinner was hosted here with about 16 friends and family in December! Everyone's dinner was great, we were seated in the back room overlookinng the river - and there were fireworks that night! We were a very boisterous group, but we were so well accommodated! The owners and waitstaff were amazing! I have also been here for dinner with friends, and appetizers and wine in the bar after a day of shopping. It's a great place, fun atmosphere but also good for a more serious date occasion. Don't miss it. My only complaint - I don't live close enough to go there on a more frequent basis! Thank you to The Cellar!! read more

In town Memorial Day weekend. Saturday night, 8:20 pm. No reservation. Hostess says we can't seat anyone else. I say, bad way to run a business. Bartender comes around the bar and challenges me, "Bad way to run a business?" I say, "Did you run out of food? Your bar stools are open." He says, "I've got five tables waiting for food." I say, "Nice job. Way to not be able to handle an unexpected 4-top." Walk out. One of two restaurants in town. Oops. Guess he's the genius. Go to #ParkView. Screw The Cellar. Never again. read more

poor service, not enough booths, bad ingredients ,my salad was half wilted and came with dressing when i specifically said not too. poor attitude ofcstaff and they didnt have enough lo cal lo fat options read more

I came up from Washington DC to take my mother and sister out for Thanksgiving Dinner ... this place was highly recommended ... we get to the restaurant and the waiter asked us to try this new wine they had flown in from France ... it tasted like watered down wine .. I told him to tell the manager ... then we ordered and we waited 45 minutes for the food to come out .. only after I had to ask where it was (to which the waiter laughed) ... my salmon was undercooked and raw in the center ... my mother ended up with my sister's stake and with the wrong side and my sister ended up with my mother's steak with the wrong side order ... we pointed this out to our waiter and asked to speak to the manager ... when she arrived she did not want to hear anything from me ... talked over me even when I asked me to be quite and let me speak .... she took the plates away ... we waited another 25 minutes .... and finally I said, "Let's leave we waited long enough " (plus my mother is a diabetic and must eat within a certain time frame) .... as soon as we got half way out...the manager came out (who I found out is the owner) continued her rude attitude, holding the plates, and asked us if she wanted us to have her wrap up the two steak dinners .... I told her "I would not even take a mushroom from this place." The waiter over heard and came running up and said "Don't talk to my mother that way." .... (seems the workers are all related) .... I said are you trying to harass me? to which point he goes in the back and gets the husband which is also the chef ... the son/waiter then says we want you to leave ... to which I say "You don't have to tell me to leave because I would not stay in this crap place one more second." .... to which the manager/mother yells "I'm loosing $150 worth of a steak dinner on you." .... I yelled back as I was going out the door ... "This is a crap place everyone should leave." .... we go back to Lampy's in Endicott and pay $150 for three delicious dinners .... explain our horrible experience at The Cellar .... Lampy's was excellent ... food was great and service was exceptional. If you value a good dining experience stay away from The Cellars .... the owners have not figured out that the customer is the basis and foundation to a good restaurant ... STAY AWAY FROM THE CELLAR RESTAURANT!!!! read more

small portions, medium high price

their typical menu items aren't exactly my thing, but while i was in owego a couple weeks ago i saw that they had a BBQ smoker out in front of the restaurant. i did a little research and found their menu online, and their BBQ items on the menu were ribs and pulled pork but they were described as being "slow roasted in house". i got the impression that those menu items were not smoked, but i decided to go back out to owego and try the ribs anyways. i got there pretty soon after the place opened for dinner and the ribs i got seemed like they had already been sitting around for hours. the sauce was thick and sticky and the meat was a bit dried out, and my suspicions were right, they were not smoked. the fact that i went when they opened and was not served fresh food doesn't exactly make me want to go back anytime soon. i got the fried mac and cheese and that was ok. the breading on it was good but there could have been more cheese flavor to it. the blackberry jalapeno jam that came with it was decent, not very spicy though. i could see myself going back here someday if i'm in the area with a group of people who want to go out to dinner, but there's other places i'd much rather check out first. they should sell their smoker to someone who will actually put it to use! read more

Wow...what a nice surprise for the area. Nice atmosphere, decent menu, shockingly good staff. No complaints. The menu, while extremely limited has a little something for most. I had the duck, while my companion tried their Beef Wellington. The duck was fair. Edible...by far not the best that I've ever had, but hey, for this part of NY it was bordering on really good. The Beef Wellington was decent too. Not quite as good as I've had in the past, but definitely worthy of ordering again. YES...it is an old menu item, which they acknowledge and celebrate. Lobster Thermidor is also on the menu. Grandma might like this place! It was, by far, THE SALAD which had us agreeing that we'd be back. What a beautiful, delicious plate of greens with bits of yumminess which I can't recall at the moment. The ONLY weirdness to the dish was a few pieces of shredded mozzarella cheese tossed in. WTF??? The salad was begging for goat cheese NOT shredded mozz. Well, it IS Owego for you. Anyway, don't expect perfection, if you have any real idea of what a glorious meal is....but do expect a beautiful atmosphere, nice staff, decent wines, and some food that you will enjoy eating. If in doubt...get a salad! read more