Gaskins

Just go to Nick and Sarah Suarez’ restaurant — Gaskins! From the Germantown Manhattan made with exquisite local bitters, to clam and bacon flatbread, beets with blood orange on a bed of crème fraîche, to the bluefish with watercress, shaved fennel and carrot purée (which would be called foam anywhere south of Brewster) the entire dining experience was superb. Do not miss the dense, sensual chocolate ice cream. Ambiance charming and edgy, service excellent, and food beyond excellent! Cannot recommend highly enough! And they compost food waste!

Gaskins nails it with a great natural wine list paired nicely with their fantastic preparations of fresh, classic American fare. We ordered and enjoyed the spicy fried chicken, creamy, dreamy chicken liver pâté on perfectly thick, crunchy toasts with the right acidity added by dollop of grainy mustard, perfectly-​cooked shrimp and cheesy grits, and a simple yet elegant beet salad with just the right amount of crème fraîche to make it sing.
Everything was in balance. Sarah, partner and wine buyer at Gaskins, clearly understands exactly what I mean – everything in the right balance creates a sum greater than its parts. Gaskins has created a synergy that should be experienced. We will be back so soon! xoxoxo
Suzanne and Jordan Balsamo
Partition Street Wine Shop
Saugerties

Nick & Sarah Suarez have created an absolute winner in Germantown. A warm and inviting space overlooking Main Street offers excellent farm to table comfort food. Our group of 8 all gave high marks to each aspect of the meal and to the efficient and attentive service.
Most at the table opted for the burger, which earned uniform praise, along with perfectly prepared french fries.
Wood-​roasted chicken with turnips and cauliflower was filling and satisfying, but the real winner of the evening were the flawless shrimp tacos offered as a special. This item will encourage me to clear the calendar for their occasional «taco takeovers». Don’t miss the mac and cheese side dish; a perfect amount of cheese and deeply satisfying.
Desserts are not to be skipped, as the lemon polenta cake earned a rave review. The Bourbon butter bread pudding was also excellent, but half the portion would have been equal value (even with the perfectly whipped cream liberally applied over the top) as whatever liquor the raisins had been marinated in (bourbon?) started to dominate the taste buds by the end of the portion. Coffee comes out for the table in a french press.
Beverage list is well curated with names like Hill Farmstead occupying a six-​tap masthead, with about another 20 selections via bottle. We largely skipped hard alcohol but one person who ordered the negroni off the cocktail list reported that it was excellent. An interesting wine list offered a manageable, but diverse range of selections at reasonable prices, with about a half-​dozen offerings by the glass.

We enjoyed the setting, very warm and cozy; wonderful waitress and the co-​owner came over and greeted us and nicely asked us to move to accommodate a large group and said she’d buy us drinks, not necessary but nice! Nice bar area. We didn’t eat much since it was later and after a movie but the burger was great, and we went for the salad instead of the super looking fries, and a pork sausage, which wasn’t as good but oh well. The bread was warm and crusty and sweet butter which we tried to avoid. There aren’t tons of items on the menu yet we will go back. A good addition to the Hudson Valley and affordable prices for food and wine. We look forward to new entrees and appetizers as well. And we hope the food will only get even better.

Gaskins is located in a beautiful refurbished building next to Otto’s. The seats are comfy and the lighting creates a cozy atmosphere.
I had excellent service during the meal and found the portions and prices reasonable.

This restaurant exceeded my expectations. The space is beautiful and atmosphere is warm and friendly.
The menu is small but the choices are all appealing. And the food is fantastic. I had the pasta with the roasted squash and sage and had trouble stopping myself from actually licking the plate.
If you’re in the area, definitely make the time to eat at Gaskins. I can’t wait to go back.

Second visit. Ate at the bar and while the food was fantastic, the service was even better. The bartender went out of his way for us and the cocktails were delicious!
I will make it a point to return here every time I’m in Germantown.

This place is the Gem of Germantown. The food is fresh and beautiful. The wines are delicious. Service was excellent. We will definitely return.

All I wanted was a relaxing dinner after a long day at work. I sat a small table in the Corner with a barking dog next to me. I LOVE dogs but I have my own if I wanted to sit by a dog I could have made dinner. My Long Island was gone in 5 minutes because it tasted like lemonade. I got the burger. It was a burger with hard French fries. SO DISAPPOINTED. I’m a Germantown resident and was so excited to try. I even got charged for water …

Excellent food but so @#$@#$ noisy. Sitting 1 – 2 feet away from my fiancé and I couldn’t hear her, she couldn’t hear me. If they don’t soundproof the main room a bit it’s not worth driving to. Portions are decent size, and tasty food.
The noise level is seriously high. Think a club in NYC after midnight, but with like 30 – 40 people only.

Gaskins is a fantastic addition to the ever evolving Columbia County dining scene. The atmosphere is lively yet relaxed and the space has been masterfully rehabbed.
Fresh local ingredients paired with a creative yet approachable menu made for a memorable dining experience. Be sure to check out the fried chicken!

Germantown has been yearning for a restaurant/​nightspot for years. So understandably, many locals are very excited about Gaskins, and reluctant to say anything negative. I count myself in that group. But my first three experiences have not been very good. Details below…
On the positive side, the place is tastefully designed (though somewhat predictable, as far as trendy conventions now go in the Hudson Valley). There are multiple areas from which to choose: a small bar, an outdoor deck, and a large dining room with both booths and tables. The dining room definitely needs some soundproofing. The waitstaff is young, hip, and pleasant, and the host ingratiating.
However, other than the pleasant décor – and the fact that it is the only game in town – Gaskins needs to up its game on most every level.
On our first visit, we were initially charmed by the short menu, which seemed both fun, balanced and locally sourced. But a macaroni and cheese appetizer was unnecessarily oily. One of our party was vegetarian, and not being in the mood for pasta, chose what turned out to be a very strange and unappetizing-​looking mountain of stuff… mainly chickpeas. Everything was too salty.
Figuring this was just beginner’s blues, and that things would improve, some friends tried to make a reservation for a large party for several days beforehand. But no one seems to pick up the phone or messages until well into Thursday evening. And so no return confirmation was made until long after we were sitting at a Hudson restaurant instead. The owners might want to make sure they check messages during the first half of the week.
Lastly, we tried again on the late side on a weekend, and found that the kitchen was already closed. Since the bar was still open and we’d driven to go there, we sat down for a drink at the bar. But the surly, monosyllabic bartender seemed irritated to have to fill any more orders. Our drinks seemed to have little or no alcohol, and we noted that when we paid he did not give us the coin portion of our change. That was deducted from the modest tip he had not even really earned.
One other note/​warning: There is almost no cell service at this location.
Really, Germantown needs a place like this, and the owners seem too earnest and skilled for these problems to remain. But we won’t go back for several months in hopes that things smooth out between now and the late Fall.

Dined here on a Saturday night with a group of 6. We arrived at 6:20 and waited 45 minutes for a table while having drinks outside.
Once seated, we found the room to be extremely noisy… so much so that we really couldn’t hear everyone in the group… just the people we sat next to, so it was not conducive at all to an evening out with a group.
The food was OK. Small portions, but when we left and were able to hear each other, we found that most of us found the dishes ordered to be tasty. We ordered 5 different things between the 6 of us.
I would give it another try, but on a week night, when the noise level might be lower so the experience might be better.

VERY excited to see and support a restaurant in Germantown. We’ve been twice now and will return. It looks like the core menu stays the same with a few new items added and subtracted, which is nice. A decent mix of price points and diet options, I’d love a buck off, here and there.
Beautiful open space with artful details and nice views, some overlooking a grassy green. Charming + welcoming host and staff that make you feel like they truly are happy to see you. Fantastic signature cocktails, especially their take on a dark and stormy, I think it’s called The Constant. Frothy and crisp – perfection!
On our first visit (it was SO busy!) we had the fried chicken which was good, not great – a touch dry. The accompanying side was just a bit odd… unfortunately and unhelpfully, I can’t quite remember what it was! The starter salad and side green we got (both I’ve forgotten the specifics of, sorry) were both… OK…it tasted like something an eccentric friend might cook, rather than seasoned chef. Just a bit on the inventive side. More recently we cheaped out a bit and chose had a burger (solid) + fries (EXCELLENT) and the kielbasa (OK) & beans (ho-​hum), served with an odd assortment of parsley on top. I wasn’t sure whether the undressed parsley was a (BIG) garnish or… an undressed salad. The beans where a bit heavy and earthy; my preference would have been for a bright crunchy vegetable, maybe a radish of some sort. I wish I had ordered the wood cooked muscles, which looked amazing. But, we cheaped out.
People seem to love the place and be so very happy to be dining there. Looks good for small and large groups.
I look forward to returning over the next few months to see how the menu settles.

Nice addition to the neighborhood, town, region, state… Beautifully executed concept with very tasty creative American food. Homemade fettuccine was a delightfully cooked al dente. Celery soda was twangy and yummy.
Here’s to a Germantown renaissance!

I have to agree with all of the previous reviews. Gaskins is a real treat – excellent locally sourced food beautifully prepared and served by a friendly and attentive staff. I had the best duck confit ever served with braised fennel, roasted potatoes, and salad greens. Amazing food!

If you want to have a great meal at a restaurant that is great fun and want to run into people you haven’t seen in years then Gaskins is your new go to place. If you are tired of long complicated menus that challenge your ADD then Gaskins is your new go to place. Their menu has something for everyone and it’s all great. We were a party of 6 who hadn’t seen each other in a while and we were so busy laughing and telling stories that we ordered everything on the Menu. No kidding. As each dish was delivered our conversations stopped and were replaced by a «Wow!».
The place was jammed inside and out, the bar scene was an eclectic mix of sophisticated locals and weekend visitors from all over.
The service was seamless, the food was inventive and solid (Fried Chicken) and the portions were shareable.
Our recommendation is to GO, ENJOY, and HAVE FUN.

We stopped by right after they opened this summer and had no idea what to expect … WOW!
The interior is well-​designed and we were made to feel very welcomed with the right amount of friendly, non-​fussy service I really appreciate. We had a drink at the bar, then dinner in the dining room. You can tell the food and drinks were prepared with care. They told us everything is sourced locally and the menu will change with what’s freshest.
Looking forward to returning.

The menu’s approachability and price point do not do justice to the quality product that comes out of the kitchen.
This restaurant can hang with anything, anywhere.
It’s fantastic. Worth a trip to Germantown from wherever you’re from.
Anyone who gives this place anything less than 5 stars is a jealous Hater.

Another five star restaurant in The Hudson Valley! Gaskins opened on a very rainy Saturday afternoon this weekend. Packed with interesting and happy looking people. The staff were helpful, enthusiastic and efficient and not too cloyingly familiar. This chic restaurant has a well designed layout and a superb flow. The space is elegant and well proportioned. I could eat here on my own or with a large family and children. The acoustics could have been bad but were not considering how many noisy people there were enjoying themselves in the restaurant and the bar. We were last minute, afternoon walk ins and had a great table within 30 mins. Everyone we met suggested we have the snap peas sprinkled with chopped, toasted cashews. We started with them. Delicious! We ordered the special. A huge pork shank with kale. $ 55 for two. By far the most expensive thing on this very reasonably priced menu. The meat was tender and cooked through. A shank is my personal test for any restaurant as it is so easy to get wrong, this shank passed with flying colors. I wish Gaskins all the best! I will certainly eat here ahead of any other local establishment. In light of this amazing opening I will be revisiting my reviews of other local restaurants to determine their stars and reviews and contextualize their relevance. One certain restaurant in Tivoli had better pull its socks up if it expects to compete with this friendly and unpretentious restaurant.