Forum folks said "Go to Liberty Tree Tavern", and

A while back, I posted a list of restaurants I hadn’t been to, looking for suggestions what to hit during our Saratoga Springs staycation. (As an aside, Saratoga is an amazing resort for a staycation. We enjoyed our time so much that we’re considering buying our next batch of points there.)

Anyhow, on the list was Liberty Tree Tavern, which we booked for lunch. Our server was exceptional, and the food was outstanding. (I had the salad, my husband had the pork belly sandwich, and our kiddo had the pasta with no sauce…but hey, it’s vacation.) My husband and I split the ooey gooey toffee cake, and I can see why it is so highly recommended. It is absolutely a dessert to split, but incredibly plate-licking good. So yep, thank you all for the recommendation!

The other restaurants we ate at during our stay were Artist’s Palette (eh, it was okay), Cape May for dinner (yummy as always), The Wave for breakfast (outstanding as always), Trattoria al Forno for breakfast (which I live tweeted on the TouringPlans twitter account if you want the full recap), and Kona Cafe for dinner.

To say that Kona was a disappointment was an understatement. It has now gone from a favorite, must-do restaurant to “not recommended” for my family. The only thing that was much improved is the noise level in the restaurant, which is a lot better thanks to the lobby redo. Aside from that… egads, it has become a 2-star restaurant.

So, got any question about any of the above, let me know.

6 Likes

We are never disappointed with LTT, even when our party of 12 had to wait about an hour after our ADR time to be seated.

Exceptions like that aside, LTT rarely disappoints. The servers are always pleasant and accommodating and the food is always delicious.

That said… DON’T BOOK IT. then it won’t be sold out when I want it. LOL

2 Likes

I’m so bummed that LTT will be closed in September. I’m dying to try that toffee cake!

1 Like

This is weird but I am so happy you liked LTT. It has been a family favorite since 2003 when it was still a character meal (I still miss the characters). We were going to make ressies there for next trip but, alas, it is closed for refurb. Grrr…

1 Like

What was the issue at Kona Cafe? I have an dinner ADR there in a few weeks.

Thanks.

For me, the new menu that they have just isn’t as good as the old menu, which was much more Hawaiian-themed. There’s some odd dishes on there that I want to like, but just didn’t look appealing (like the tuna steak that comes with a deep fried veggie sushi roll as the side dish). When we got seated, they put us at a 6-top (for a party of 3), which was fine with us, but didn’t work for the people coming in later, so they had us move tables. Not a big deal, though. We then asked if we were going to be charging it to our room, and were asked to scan our MagicBand to authorize payment before we ordered. To me, that’s just tacky, but it does speed up the end of the meal.

Our drinks were refilled once during the meal (for the adults, not for the kid), but the old glasses were never removed from the table. I had the noodle bowl, which my the server said was spicy (but it wasn’t…which is a good thing, though). My husband had the duck, which the description said had spinach in it, but didn’t. (He was much more annoyed about that.) I ordered a spicy tuna roll for us to split as an appetizer, and they brought us one set of chopsticks. We asked for another and got it, but I’m a rather petite thing – it is a bit odd to think I’d order an entree-size sushi roll and then an entree to eat on top of that.

The sushi roll was okay, although the tuna used for it was a bit “stringy”. Not the best quality stuff, but at least it is whole tuna chunks instead of chopped up tuna bits.

Our meal took almost 45 minutes to arrive. The server did offer us more bread, and the bread is delicious, but I didn’t want to fill up on the bread. By the time we got our meal and ate, we didn’t even ask about dessert – it would have been a two hour meal. We don’t take that long to eat on DCL! (Plus the desserts, like the main menu itself, have gone downhill.)
The good news is that because we had authorized payment for the meal before we ordered, we were able to get out of there fairly quickly.

With so many good options for places to dine, this just didn’t live up to our previous experiences. I certainly see a few items that I know and love on the breakfast menu, but I don’t think I’ll be back any time soon for dinner.

The only time I’ve gone to Kona was back in 2011 and we were very disappointed. Our service was very slow and the food was just ok. We were going to give it another shot but the menu has changed a lot and not for the better. I don’t know if/when we will go back to Kona.

1 Like

Oh, your dinner at Kona doesn’t sound good!

I can recommend it for breakfast though (it’s a family favourite) - we were their last month and it was as good as ever.