The Cellar Restaurant

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)

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

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.

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

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

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!

Nice atmosphere, good food & presentation. Appropriately sized dishes for the cost.
A nice place for a weeknight date or Sunday brunch.

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’ll try to keep this short and sweet. I created a Unilocal 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 ½ 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.

I would like to start out with saying the rating of 1 star is to much. My friend and his soon to be wife had their rehearsal dinner here. Needless to say it was very disappointing. The orders had been sent into the «chef» the week before and the bride to be was given assurance that they would be prepared, they in fact where very unprepared. We had 26 people in our party and arrived around 6:30pm orders where take again for some reason and placed about 45min after that. We finally got our food at 8:40pm. It’s the night before their wedding and they had to wait until 8:40 pm to eat? Really? So I sent my food back, I ordered beef wellington. I know beef Wellington is to have a pink center and cooked evenly. Mine was gray all the way through so I guess they nailed it on the even cooking. The side was rice with some sort of brown sauce all over the plate. It tasted like boiled meat. No seasoning in the one bite I had. Totally gross. I was not they only one with this complaint but at that point everyone was so hungry they just needed to eat.
I noticed one of the other members of the party asked to speak to the owner so I joined in.
The owner gave an excuse that she normally plans the parties and that she let the chef do it and he’s «not good with the details», that is no excuses for what happened. Also don’t belittle your chef, husband and co owner in front of disgruntled patrons, it’s not very classy. Then my favorite part of the encounter, she said I tried to call the bride to be but she didn’t pick up. Really blame the patron for your downfall. Blame the cook, don’t take the blame for messing up the dinner, just blame those who don’t own the the place. It was bad business, that’s the long and short of it.
So after speaking with her and the cook the bride to be and groom spoke to her and they tentatively paid for their dinners along with their child’s and the mothers. Everyone else was still having to pay for what the owner agreed was a less then desirable experience.
I was not impressed and would not recommend this place to anyone trying to have a good time. If you want good food travel away from there, you will be glad you did.

The owner is rude. Despite that I come back because the food is good. Try the smoked salmon! Good bar vibe too.

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 jalapeño 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!

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.

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!!!

This was amazing. I’m actually angry at myself for not trying this place a long time ago knowing now what I’ve missed out on all these years. The lobster Thermidor… though expensive… is worth every, single, red cent. It’s quite possibly the most amazing thing I have even eaten. And my fiancée’s beef Wellington literally melted on the plate it was so tender. I had the cranberry and walnut salad for an appetizer and it was also amazing. Overall I would say this was one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had.

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.

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 décor 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.

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!

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 entrée 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 crème 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 décor and atmosphere is romantic and cozy Service is perfectly paced, friendly and profession. We always feel special when we dine at the Cellar.

We went for Mother’s Day brunch — what a disaster! We had reservations, but were seated 15 minutes late. Our waiter was nice enough, and he brought us drinks promptly. That was about the end of our good time. We waited for 55 (no, I’m not exaggerating) minutes for our food to arrive. During that time, our waiter became more and more scarce. When he finally brought our food, he acted like nothing was unusual. The food was just fine, actually — but it was just breakfast food. A diner cook could have made our entrees in their entirety in six minutes. Admittedly, the diner wouldn’t have had the ambiance that the Cellar has — but then again, we wouldn’t have had to look at for long.
I would have expected the owner to stop over and apologize, or for us to get a break on our bill for such terrible service — but we got none of that.
I don’t think we’ll return any time soon.