Wonderful meal! We had dinner on busy Labor Day weekend and it was just great. Two of us had the sirloin with garlic mashed for one, house made vadalia onions for other, both with bourbon sautéed apples that were outstanding Third person had high grade sashimi tuna with mango chutney All of us greatly enjoyed Yes, not fast as covid slow down impacts staffing But owners are there and we were treated very well Highly recommend! read more

Very disappointed and will not be going back. Where to start. Slow. Incredibly, incredibly, slow. Which might not be bad if there was even one iota of attention paid to the table. When we asked what the soup of the day was, the response was "I don't know." Also, the waitress was unaware that appetizers, soups, and salads come before the meal. Not sure that the waitress is to blame, as it was her 4th day on the job. Perhaps fifth. She couldn't remember. Either way nobody seem to be around for her to ask and nobody seem to care about her. On to the food. The menu listed many items that weren't an available including their "famous"Thendara ribeye, the short ribs and grits, maybe the chicken? Hmm. So we got through dinner, and she asked if we like dessert. We asked, "what do you have for dessert?" And she said, ice cream and milkshakes. I think they had other stuff but she could only do ice cream. And what's super cool is that apparently their ice cream came in "colors". Normally it would be "flavors", but at this place it's colors -you can get blue, red or brown. We went for the red and the brown figuring it would be strawberry and chocolate. How to describe the chocolate ice cream. It was soft serve with chocolate lines throughout - however it was actually more like a bowl of soup with a teeny teeny dot of ice cream in the middle. We did ask if she'd mind getting a different bowl and she mentioned that it was the first one out of the softserve machine so maybe that's why it was soupy. So, to make a long review short. pass this one by the next time you're in Old Forge. read more

Unbelievable HORRIBLE experience... DO NOT STOP HERE! Self serve for drinks, water and menu! 2 hours after sitting down not one item of food on the table...then told NOTHING was even being prepared! HOW DO YOU OPERATE A BUSINESS THIS WAY?? CLOSE THEM DOWN!!! read more

Had a great dinner here this evening. Food was excellent. Jesse, server/bartender/chef was great to talk with and he gave us a short tour of some of the very interesting parts of this grand building - including an original speakeasy in the basement. He also shared a bit of the story about this place that makes clear many of the negative reviewers should give this place another try. New ownership, a focus on quality, and clearly a fun place to spend time. We will absolutely be back - probably for a stay in one of their rooms too. Thank you, Jesse! read more

This place needs to think about what kind of establishment it is. I find it weird that to have $20+ entrees, crystal glasses, folded cloth napkins, and candles in a place where a live band is playing loud rock music while drunk people are slopping around the bar. I respect the "multi-purpose" attempt, but it flopped Linguine & Clam dish was no bueno. What was supposed to be a garlic and white wine sauce, was literally just oil and/or melted butter. Simultaneously, the clams were practically the size of a dime with the sweet sweet crunch of sand. For almost $20, i expected a bit better... Redemption seeking, i order the chocolate chip cookie sundae. I say this 100% sincerely---the "cookie" (chunk of chocolate chip something) was like a rock. Like an ice chisel, id hold my steak knife to it, and smack the handle with my palm/fist. It didnt really work...so the 4 year old that was with us got to play drums on the "cookie stone." They get 2 stars for a decent french onion soup, and for a waitress that laughed along when the 4 year old called his hotdog a "skin rod". read more

Bottom line - probably the best value for your seafood dollar we've experienced yet. Van Auken's was up the street from our B&B and so on the last night of our time in Thendara (so cute) we followed our host's suggestion that we check out the seafood grill and live music that is held every Thursday. Needless to say it ended up being a great evening - we got there at it's busiest, so the server was very apologetic (and obviously in the weeds) and kept reminding us that we got there at "the worst time," but we assured her that we were in no hurry. It was a lovely night, and there was a guy playing some acoustic hits, including "Imagine" by John Lennon - we danced to that with our folks at our wedding the weekend prior. Thursday nights is seafood grill night, so the owner sets up a big grill and makes a variety of stuff - mussels, lobster, king crab, scallops, etc. to order. This was all quality stuff, very fresh and it showed by the crowd present. We got the king crab and scallops (should have ordered the lobster for the $$), sides, as well as a bottle of wine. All told we spent only about $60 including tip, which you can't beat with a big old stick. We enjoyed the evening, relaxed, had some good seafood and wine, and the price was right. Stop by while you're staying at the Moose River House BB (review forthcoming). read more

We were right across the street at the ADK railroad and ran over to get a bite to eat...super fast and efficient staff. Food was fast and FRESH- we had salads that ALL the dressings were homemade...AND the beers cold. The chicken and meats on the salads were perfect- super yummy- I hope to be back and to also spend the night at this cool historical place! read more

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This place is a bit of a mixed bag. The service was alright but I had come in here with a party of 10 and there was a litany of complaints. For one, don't order the jambalaya because the portion you get for the price ($27) is no where near with the price. A few people had ordered red wine as well and all of the wine tasted oxidized, as if they were trying to get rid of some aging open wine. I myself ordered the pork loin and if it wasn't for the sauce it came with, the pork loin would have been extremely dry. I get that this is upstate New York but it could have been definitely better. read more

Worst experience ever. Extremely slow, they had us wait 2+ hours, and not only that thy waited an hour after we ordered to tell us one of the items we ordered (Prime Rib) would not be available that night because something was wrong with it. We ordereld appetizers and they never came out the whole time we were there. We ended up leaving before we got ANY food. Would never go back, and DO NOT reccomend. read more

The quality of the food has diminished (along with the service) over the past year. I understand it is difficult to get quality help in the Old Forge/Eagle Bay/Inlet area, but the staff over the past year is not worthy of any type of tip. The prime rib at one time was outstanding, but the last visit the prime rib came out well done (when it was ordered medium rare) and seemed to be a cut from the end of the rib that the kitchen did not want to waste. There are plenty of better options in downtown Old Forge. I was so disappointed in the change of quality of the food-its a shame. read more

Van Aukens Inne - Prime rib before-excellent quality, medium rare (as ordered) - Hotels Near Me - Thendara, New York

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Waited for a long time to be seated and it wasn't busy. Waitress never followed up with us at the table. Bartender offered to help us on the deck but ultimately wasn't much better. Finally paid for a beer and left. This place has gone down hill. Sad to see read more

Usually we stop here to party, but today we wanted to try their food. We walked in and asked for a table. Were told it would be a half hour before we could be served food (must have been understaffed in servers and kitchen). We were fine and waited for a table. We were sat in one of three dining rooms. There were about 6 tables total, two being 8-10 tops. I saw three different servers and two 'hosts'. We waited 23 mins and still were not even greeted. No water was filled. Nothing. Then we started talking to a two top next to us who stated they waited for forever for drinks and food, and the food they ordered was not how they ordered. At the end of the day don't bother wasting your time at this dining establishment. Huge waste of time. read more

The food is awful. The Owners are awful. The building is gorgeous.

Customer service is really lacking, also people skills and manners from the hostess. Came New Year's eve to have a drink and leave and weren't allowed to, had l a $15 cover, for a single drink..... This is a widely held perception of the inn..... nice place customer service sucks!! Same for the Old Mill read more

We have always had pleasant experiences at Van Auken's Inne. Good food, the speakeasy downstairs is a lot of fun, and friendly staff. Its a great place to visit! I hear there are several events in the winter. We have only been in the fall. Beautiful leaves, a lot of places nearby to bike and hike, and cute little shops right down the street. read more

This was the best place to go to for my sisters birthday dinner! The service absolutely made the night. Our server, Hunter was so sweet and professional and the executive chef John had us cracking up and was the nicest guy! His food was amazing too!! Everyone needs to eat here. (: read more

I hesitated to post this review because I feel like I have too many 5 star reviews lately for someone so picky, but this place is a true gem. In fact, I've read previous reviews and I'm shocked to see 1 star ratings. The food is absolutely delicious. I've had a lot of clams in my life, but these top my list. Not only did I order a second plate the first night, but I came back the next night for more. They are fresh, tender and full of flavor. My husband loved his jambalaya too. The atmosphere is fun and welcoming. Every dish we ordered was made to perfection ( French onion soup ... wedge salad.. etc) don't be swayed by the negative reviews because I'm sure their negative experience was a fluke. read more

Stopped into the bar for a drink after an afternoon of snowmobiling. All was well until we went to settle up the bar tab.... charged for drinks we never had and the staff didn't want to listen to our side of the story. Our advice, pay for each drink as you order and get a receipt. $ 40.00 for 4 beers is outrageous! read more

Will not return. We had been there for dinner with family and it was ruined by some crazy woman that was working in the kitchen. She was either drunk or just plain nuts. In the middle of dinner this woman was screaming and ranting obscenities at the top of her lungs. Real professional. We will not be back. read more

I really have enjoyed our stays here. My wife and I have stayed twice now in the fall. We love to hike and mountain bike, and I was impressed with the options for those things within riding/walking distance. The inne's staff was excellent, very kind, and helpful. Some of them even offered up great hikes and places to visit. It was like having a concierge of a major hotel. They have a breakfast room up stairs but you can also get coffee and some light breakfast foods downstairs. I enjoyed the rooms they have always been very clean and tidy. They have a few modern updates like the tv's, and the beds are very comfortable. There is also a restaurant downstairs and we ate there most nights, and never had a bad meal at all. Overall this place is a must visit old inne in Old Forge, NY, and there are loads of outdoors activities that you are very close to. read more

If I could give this restaurant negative stars, I would. I have never in my life had a more atrocious dining experience, and not to mention it was Father's Day, so the timing couldn't have been worse, and I was there with 5 other guests. I had previously visited this restaurant years back (it was under different ownership, and we loved it), but boy have things gone downhill quickly at this place. To start off... the server/waiter we had did not know a single thing about the menu. NOTHING. We all ordered from the dinner menu, and at the bottom of the dinner selection it read "*all dinners served with a house salad and a choice of side:", and it went off to list the sides. So the server took our orders, and we had completely forgotten about the sides because she didn't mention them, so several minutes after I got a hold of her and told her we had forgotten to order sides. Her response was "oh the dishes you ordered don't come with sides". I asked for a menu so I could show her where it clearly stated that all dinners came with sides, and her response was "oh, we'll have to look over that menu and change the wording". Not to mention, but 2 dishes that were ordered clearly stated in the description of the dish "comes with a side", which we also pointed out to her. Reluctantly, she took our sides orders. We had also ordered a cheese platter with fruit as a starting appetizer. A little over half an hour went by before we got our cheese platter, with no fruit. So I pointed it out to our server, she apologized and said that the cook is new and may have forgotten. She brought back a tiny plate of sliced strawberries, a sad attempt at a clearly last minute arrangement. It was an hour before we got our meals, and one of the guests didn't even get hers at the same time (she had ordered wings off the appetizer menu, which you would assume wouldn't be that difficult to get out at the same time as the rest of the meals). I had ordered the chicken picatta and was very excited to try it after high praise about it from the server. What I saw on my plate after I received it was a sad, sad disappointment. An unseasoned, grilled chicken breast thrown over a bed of unseasoned, basic pasta. If I wanted a slab of unseasoned chicken over unseasoned pasta, I would make that at home myself, not spend $23 on it. At this point I didn't think my experience could get any worse, but low and behold, it did. We were charged for ALL THE SIDES that were supposed to come with our meals for free, and my meal in no way had been comped, it was sitting right there on the check. So we called the server over, and she apologized and said she would fix it. Only to come back with the check and NOTHING, I mean NOTHING was changed, all the sides and my uncomped meal were still on there. At this point, the manager came back out and she was very rude the second time. She said that none of our dishes came with sides because we got pasta dishes (it DOES NOT SAY THIS ON THE MENU), but we kindly reminded her that only one of the guests ordered a pasta dish, so she said she would remove the sides. When I asked her about my meal that was supposed to be comped, she replied that my original dish (the chicken picatta) was comped. This made ZERO sense to me as I didn't eat anything on that dish but sent it right back, so why wouldn't that be comped? The way she made it sound, I was under the impressed that my second choice for a meal would be comped because of the trouble, but apparently I was very wrong. The manager server rudely walked away and slammed the door after herself. At this point, we had had ENOUGH. What was a beautiful day spent in Old Forge, quickly turned into an absolute nightmare. We paid the bill, and left. We will NEVER EVER return to this restaurant, and we will make sure our friends and family, and anyone else that we can warn, will not come to this restaurant either. Father's Day was ruined for my dad and my family because of this restaurant experience. There were other little things that I didn't mention in the review that happened (getting wine menu late, etc.), but I would need to write a novel to explain everything. Moral of the review: STAY AWAY FROM THIS NIGHTMARE OF A PLACE. read more

Tried this place once several years ago and the food and the service was terrible. Then we saw a video of the place and discovered they had a new Chef named John and heard the food was to die for. So we went and tried it. The food was delicious and told the owner we would be back. Well we came back last Saturday and the food was terrible! So I asked the bartender where Chef John was and I was told he was laid off for the winter. Now this place bills itself as a Ski Lodge and Inne and the Executive Chef is laid off??? What kind of half ass operation is this guy running here? Won't go back and won't recommend it. read more

The service here is super slow. Unless you plan on waiting for a minimum of 45 minutes for your dinner to show do not come here. Our waitress was not attentive at all, and did not ask us how our food was nor did she bring part of my dinner. I had to inquire about the rest of my dinner, and drink refills from the hostess. Additionally, the "famous" southern fried chicken was dry as a bone and flavorless. Very unhappy about our experience. read more

The service here was ridiculous! We were one of the only tables in the place and it took one hour for them to even bring us bread! We were unintentionally there for three hours. Although the food was incredible, especially the bruschetta, it was all finished with a ridiculous amount of paprika. Sadly even though the food was delectable, I am not sure I could endure the unnecessary wait yet again. read more

Arrived at 7, waitress showed up at 7:30 and took our order. At 9 we inquired about food for third time and told it wasn't coming. Left at 9 without eating. NEVER NEVER EAT AT THIS HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PLACE. read more

We called ahead to let them know we would have a large party, and they said it was okay on the phone. When we arrived and told them that we were the group of 18, they immediately started being rude. They brought us into the dining room and told us to sit anywhere. We tried to put two of the tables together (as they were next to each other) so a member of our party would not have to sit alone. The waitress actually yelled at us in a tone you'd typically hear a teenager use towards their mother. They also will not break the check for us even though they're making is all sit separately. Terrible service, they were very rude. We are currently sitting at our table as I'm writing this and we want to leave because we feel so uncomfortable because of how were being treated. Definitely do NOT recommend coming here. Haven't even eaten yet and the head lady definitely made a bad first impression. read more

Well I have not been back since the new owners took over so I was really looking forward to going in for a drink and dinner,,,,,, BOY WAS I DISSAPOINTED,,first I went in the front door to get dinner. I wanted to go down stairs to the new bar for a drink. I was inconveniently re routed outside in the dark to a graffiti door ,,,, ( they were quite proud of!!!!) I could have taken the inside stairs but I was not allowed. Ok great now we have rules!!!!! So I walk around to go in walk down a hall way to be greeted by cruella that tells me ,,, I can't enter unless I have a password,,, Really??? It's Nov 7 ,,,, 4 people in old forge and I need a password,,,, I went to walk in the bar anyway and was denied admission....not real f------in friendly,,,, so we passed ,,,,, and left and went to old faithful billys. Just good service,,, no games and a nice meal. Go to billys he's a good guy and don't Jack you around when you go in to spend money,,,, I was DISSAPOINTED. So please all my snowmobile brethren ,,, if you decide to go. Enter the bottom door walk down the hall make a left ,,,,,, ignore cruella. Also if you care the owner bought totes apparently so no classy dancing girls anymore,,,, what has this world come to. ????? Old forge. Come on man???!!!! read more

Dinner there Monday night. 3 of us ordered the steak and shrimp combo. Executive chef comes out and says they ran out of the steak, do we mind an upgrade to filet mignon. No of course not, and thank you! Was supposed to be steak and 5 shrimp, all came out with 3-4 shrimp. Menu states chicken wings serving is 10: my son got 8, but the biggest disappointment was the 3 of us that ordered their mac and cheese, we've been there before: it's delicious and a huge portion. Well, for $16 all 3 of us got literally a spoonful of just ok mac and cheese. Not ok. read more

Awkward experience- employees arguing at bar and then complaining about each other at front door... Charged for tap water at the bar, we had other drinks so I'm not sure why they felt the need to make a buck on tap water! read more