The Wildflower Cafe & The Crooked Rooster Brewpub

Having never been to this establishment before, we stopped in for lunch on our way thru Watkins Glen. The food and service were amazing. One order was a chicken/​apple sandwich, another ordered a quinoa salmon salad, and the last order was a medium well burger. When the burger we ordered was a little undercooked, our waiter, Matt was very accommodating, and he insisted on getting us another one. He said he wanted to make sure we had the best experience possible, and thanks to his attention to detail we did. While waiting for the replacement burger, he brought us some fresh baked gingerbread to take the edge off. Thank you for an overall great experience.

their seafood hamburger is really awesome! Must try! Very nice restaurant! Must 5 star!

Beer was actually pretty decent but if you come with a young one and need to change a diaper there is no changing table in the bathroom. They make you go outback on the blacktop… How hard is it to put a changing table in your bathroom? Seems like they’re missing the basics every good restaurant needs.

We went to this restaurant while on vacation at finger lakes. Every dish we ordered had a problem
Either it was too salty or bland and dry.

The food wasn’t terrible but nothing to rav about either. Did the job post wine tasting all day but I’m not sure if I would come back if I was in area again. Wings were good. Burger was cooked well, but the pasta dish was soaked in oil and pasta was over cooked… enjoyed the artichokes in it but wish it wasn’t so soaked in grease. All the dishes were more or less good, but they lacked that oh my god moment where you wish you could come back again soon to have them again. Nothing was memorable to me. And when it comes to food/​restaurants I’m always looking for places that leave a lasting impression that I can’t wait to tell everyone about and hope they visit when they are in area. Unfortunately Wildflower, I wasn’t exactly wild about. Service was good. Can’t knock them there.

Had wicked good beer. Avg food. And BAAAAAAAAAAAD service. If your bartender is more interested in her iPhone than your experience, yea. That.
Do yourself a favor, go to the BBQ restaurant owned by the same folks, same beer, maybe 9 doors down. Get the pulled pork and brisket, and the same beer.
All the bennies, none of the snotty bad service.

Good food, good beer but the service was horrible, so bad I’ll never go back despite the decent food and beer.

Love, love, love this restaurant! This place is my favorite restaurant in the area. Food, drinks and service are fantastic. Listen to the reviews and order the crab and gouda dip for an app! I’ve gone with mussels, apple cheddar Panini and the Rachel with sweet potato fries — all delicious.
I want to give 5 stars, but their drinks are a tad overpriced in my personal opinion; however, the food is priced fairly.

We really enjoy this place. I ignored the fact that the waitress was rude to my group because we sat in the pub and she wanted us to sit in the restaurant portion. Thank goodness we didn’t have her as our waitress. The bar tender ended up waiting on us.
We had the coconut curry muscles!!! Yuuummm. Great flavor and a nice new change! I also got the fish tacos which were good. The crab dip with brie was yummy as well. The only beef i had was my friend ordered seared tuna with soy sauce noodles. They literally soaked those noodles in the soy sauce. It was so disgusting and i have no clue who would have done such a thing. Hey how about sprinkle the soy sauce on in a small increment. So gross. Noodles were ruined. Lets hope they change this.
You can order samplers of beer here which is a nice option to test what they have to offer. This is a yearly stop on the way to the finger lakes and will continue to be! Lets hope the grumpy waitress is gone by next year.

Asked a foodie friend whod recently been through town for a recimmendation for lunch and eas not disappionted.
Very nice atmosphere. Very casual and laid back. Nice beer selection. Our waitress seemed knowledgable about the choices. Food was good and reasonably priced.
Service was warm and friendly. Waitress was attentive.
The mussels with kale and bacon (Deep South?) is one of the better mussels dishes I’ve had.

Good sized burgers & the soft pretzel appetizer was delish! Though the only thing I wished was that their potato chips were house made, and not from a bag. Other than that, great experience & fun ambiance.

Very unassuming little gem in the heart of Watkins Glen.
Dark, «hole in the wall» local favorite restaurant. Great beer list, small wine selection, amazing burgers!
Highly recommend any of their burgers, pulled pork sandwich and/​or chicken wrap.
Our server Ryan was fantastic, he was professional, prompt and attentive.

A very basic review, but here is the gist of the experience. The recent reviews and word of mouth about this place is consistent with our experience– good beer and decent service for below average food at very high prices.
Beer — ³⁄₅ above average fare, with the Gold being exceptional.
Atmosphere 2÷5− okay. We ate at the bar due to our reluctance to eat at tables tightly packed next to others. An old ice chest converted into a cooler dominates the backbar and adds a nice change. Two live musicians played directly behind us — and that was a little close in reality.
Service — ³⁄₅ polite but less than attentive… We walked in at 7:30 and left after 9:30 — 2 hours of mostly waiting time when we only had apps and burgers. She dropped off food and never returned to ask how it was until almost done. She did get us a round of drinks because of all the issues with our meal.
Food — ohh boy… Quality 2/​5, value .5÷5, Execution ¹⁄₅.
I try not to be be picky, and realize that mistakes happen but the meal was just below average. We had the poutine and crab and Gouda dip. The dip was served with some bread and was quite tasty but the portion was pretty small. Being so close to Canada in NY, getting quality poutine is not difficult. So when the other dish came out with a really small portion of fries with gravy and mushrooms (which was tasty) with five (5) small cheese curds thrown on top, we kinda got the feeling that the menu was more ambitious than what the kitchen could deliver. We pointed out the problem to the server and she did take it back and they threw on what would still be considered a small amount of curds and must have heated the dish because the fries were mushy when they came back.
For dinner my GF had a chicken cheddar Apple sandwich while I had the the truffle burger — a $ 17 burger that promised on paper to be a great meal but ultimately fell way short of expectations. The burger was small and a full count under, the egg was overcooked and thus no runny yoke, and the bacon/​cured meat component had been baked to beef jerky consistency. There was no semblance of truffle oil flavor in the whole thing because the dominant ingredient was this overpowering blue cheese mayo that was slathered on every layer.
I would have sent it back but it was dropped off and then our server/​bartender never made eye contact with us until we were done and I was at this point ready to throw the towel in, eat, and head back to the harbor hotel.
Final bill for two apps, 3 beers, and a burger and sandwich was $ 78. I usually give places a second chance and may yet with this place, but our experience seems to mirror many others– good beer, bad food, high prices.

Very much enjoyed my time here while visiting the Finger Lakes wineries. Food was really good and people were nice.

Great beer selection and good prices, huge food variety, I had the thai vegetable plate — it doesn’t come with noodles just spiraled sweet potato and beet with a perfectly flavored spicy sauce. Husband had mussels and he loved them. It was difficult to choose what to get everything looked great, and we were so happy with our choices.

Me and my wife in town for a couple days. Heard good things about The Wildflower café and were skeptical, we’ve had some nightmare dining experiences out this way. After reviewing the place on Unilocal the reviews looked good from similar experienced diners as ourselves so we made the leap, and were glad we did.
We came in pretty late for a lunch, 2ish. No problem though. Restaurant was empty aside from two other patrons, but to be expected with the time and day of the week.
Friendly greeting at the door, seated and started looking at the menus. We were starving and everything looked amazing. Lots of locally sourced produce and products from the area. Local wines and beers etc.
We started with a flight of beers to sample, and a bloody Mary. The beers were delicious, the bloody was meh, but not a big deal, we rarely find one better than the one we make ourselves. It had a deep smokey flavor, when we enquired to what it was the waiter happily said he’d find out and returned to tell us it was «smoked paprika». Not our cup of tea per se but was worth a shot.
We started with the crab and Gouda dip and the medium wings. The wings were delicious and fresh. Well sauced and dressed. Fresh carrots and celery (a must, we have had a horrible wing experience in the area recently that was reviewed as well). The Gouda and crab was very rich and smooth served with what we estimated to be a home baked brown small loaf. The dip was amazing, however we felt it lacked a little levity or something to contrast the heaviness of the cream, Gouda and crab. Perhaps some veggies or salted chips instead of a warm loaf of bread. All said, very good the same.
My wife ordered the goat cheese burger appointed with caramelized onions, for me a Caesar salad with chicken. My wife’s burger was med rare as requested, and she enjoyed it immensely. The onions were perfect, burger seasoned and cooked well. We ordered the fresh French fries with the burger which we good.
With my Caesar I love anchovies, in the least in the dressing. I asked for a side of anchovies and was told by our nice server they didn’t have any. I said «well at least their blended in the dressing» (I always assumed and correct me if I’m wrong that anchovies were a key ingredient to Caesar dressing). My salad came with nice lemon and garlic zested chicken, the brown loaf we had previous halved and topped with garlic and butter then put under the broiler. The dressing was more of a peppercorn parmesean perhaps, but after asking for some lemon and adding it to the salad, it lightened it up and gave it that bitter contrast I was looking for commonly found in Caesar dressing.
A couple more beers and enjoyed the afternoon there. All said two apps, flight of beer samples, bloody Mary, and 2 pints of beer we liked from the flight sampler and two entries for $ 78 and change. Pretty reasonable.
We enjoyed this place very much, and the dinner entrés looked nice with such thing like grilled salmon with risotto, steak etc. We will be back again to try dinner or another fun lunch.
A definite.

I had lunch here with my wife and some friends after a long motorcycle ride around the lake. We all had a great meal and the beer selection is very good with a few interesting beer selections. Most notably is the Summer Sky Hefeweizen which has a peculiar banana taste to it. Worth a try for the adventuresome. Will definitely stop in her again the next time I’m in the area.

Stopped here for lunch after driving five hours and had a very satisfying meal. We wanted something light since we were heading to a 3 pm wedding. I ordered the mushroom/​leek/​potato soup and Caesar salad. The soup was only $ 3 since I ordered a salad too so my meal only came to $ 10!!! What a deal! The salad was fresh and the dressing was delicious. I also enjoyed the soup. Will hopefully be back one day!

We loved it here!
We headed here after some wine tasting on Seneca before hiking The Glen. Cute little street.
I had the BBQ seitan tacos which were amazing! And HUGE! They came with three and a side! I got the summer chickpea salad which was also delish.
We sampled beers. $ 3 a pour. Pumpkin was great. And the original nut brown was a favorite too. We wound up walking down to the brewery to buy our growlers to take home as gifts. They sell them
There but we just wanted to see what was going on down the street.
Hubs got a burger he really liked with a side of yummy sweet potato fries.
We sent my parents here when they headed up to The Finger Lake and they liked what they had too. Mom had a shrimp po boy with the homemade chips and my Dad had a burger. Both were very pleased.
Not much to the place as far as décor but we did see they have live music too. Very cool.
Server was nice and knowledgable.
We would come back when we are in the area. A few other veg options that looked great!

I just spent my 6^th consecutive year at the Finger Lakes Wine Fest in Watkins Glen, and Rooster Fish is my usual go-​to spot to kick off the weekend before drowning in wine. I’ve only ever sat on the brewery side so can’t comment on the café side.
Great selection of beer and they technically don’t have a set sampler — you can just choose to taste however many you want. We each did 7 tasting beers and I believe it was about $ 13 if I remember correctly. They have a wide range but I really liked the blonde and the summer hef. Surprisingly even though I usually hate porters, theirs was pretty good and not as heavy as I thought it would be. Other than that, I had everything else on the menu except for IPAs (hate IPAs). I was bummed that the Tripel was out of season because that sounded delish!
Food here has always been excellent! I had the shrimp po boy, and my friends had a burger and a salad. I always get the sweet potato fries! Most place don’t season their SP fries, but they put the perfect amount of salt on them here and they were very yummy! My po boy was very good, loved the heat it was packing! The meal was the perfect size and I was stuffed. Their food is more on the expensive side, but on par with any other gastro/​brewpub you’d go to.
Our server was fantastic! Forget his name, but he was fun and engaging! And he even chased us down after we left because my friend accidentally left her keys at the table, whoops! Thanks dude!
My one odd downside of the place is that the booths are super uncomfortable. They are wood and literally stick straight up. That wouldn’t normally be a problem but the distance across the table is too small so that you can’t really push the table to where everyone can get comfortable. Basically you are forced to sit straight up on hard wood as opposed to leaning back or anything.
I’m sure I’ll be back next year regardless!