Lombardo’s Bridie Manor

This is one of those restaurants where the view is so great that you can overlook some things that might loom much larger in another setting. All glass walls overlooking the full sweep of the Oswego River below you, the canals and locks with sea going ships travelling through and the fishermen lined up along cement walls with all the activities associated with that. The parking is free and easy, just steps from the door. OK, the food is a guessing game; sometimes good and sometimes not so good. The view makes it worthwhile to take your chances.

What do you say about a beautiful setting for a restaurant but once in and your order arrives noting but disappointment. The salad with my meal was ice berg lettuce, that is crap by today’s standards and not even the heart of the Ice Berg and a onion not even purple to give the salad a bit of eye appeal. Hey it is only salad. Now the gulf shrimp scampi was crap and the scampi was missing more of a butter sauce. As is most places up state the locals in this case were our mature men enjoying their P.B.R.‘S they do project a you are in our bar demeanor which with the present level of food being served leads me to think that new blood is needed to be brought in or this beautiful place might as well go back to making flour.
My server was polite and I felt bad she had to serve such a poor quality of a simple dish such as Scrimp Scampi.

I had some friends come in for Harborfest weekend (5 of us total). Since it was Sunday, all the usual places we frequent, were closed. We decided on Bridie Manor. It was quiet when we entered (only one other table being occupied). We were seated and instantly thought that the view over the river was lovely. We were quickly served water and then our orders were taken.
While we sat waiting for our meals we had a good amount of time to notice our surroundings. We noticed that the carpet floor was in poor shape (it seems that the carpet was starting to peel away from the subflooring and it had many spill marks). Though the view was nice, the windows were all dirty. Overall, the place looked quite outdated and rundown. I didn’t put too much thought into this because I have been to «hole-​in-​the-​wall» places and was astounded by the food. In the end. I believe it took 1 hour for us to be served our food (15 minutes before that we were served bread and butter). I don’t think I have ever waited that long for food before. I think it would have at least been bearable if they had served us the bread and butter early on.
I am providing the meals and corresponding issues:
1. Chicken parm– all of us tried the sauce and were connived that it tasted like like Chef-​boyaredee sauce. It lacked any seasoning while tasting acidic. The chicken itself was edible but nothing to rave about.
2. Veal with crabmeat– The crabmeat that was in the meal tasted spoiled. When we expressed our concern, we were dismissed on the basis that «The meat is not spoiled. Blue crab has a stronger fragrance». Yeah, BS, crab should not taste rancid. Since it was summer, we assumed that the accompanying veggies would be fresh. However, they were steamed (previously frozen) veggies. Also, the mashes potatoes were cold.
3. Veal parm– My friend said that his meal tasted ok, but he later ended up having diarrhea.
4. House soup that included meatballs in a tomato based broth– The soup wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t good either. It reminded me of canned soup with some veggies added. The soup broth tasted very similar to the tomato sauce on my friend’s chicken parm. I also had the cheesy curley fries. The fries were quite good, but only because I believe they came out of a package. The accompanying sauce was cold when i got it so there was a thick film on the top, which didn’t look appetizing.
5. Scallops– of all the food that we tried. The scallops were the best, they were in a cream sauce with spinach and bacon.
Overall, the ambiance and poor quality food has convinced me to go anywhere else but here. I do not believe I will ever go back unless they make some major changes. The thing that they did exceptionally well was qualify for the show, Restaurant Impossible (they should look into this).

This restaurant has a beautiful view but the food is inconsistent. I have had good meals there but I have had several bad experiences with the service. I have attended some weddings and showers there and those events were nice. It really is ashame because the bad service overshadowed the potentially good food and river view.

Bridie Manor is in a nice location. The Florida Room overlooks the Oswego Canal with a great view. On the flip side, during winter months the Florida room (with all its windows) is pretty cold, and not well lit. It isn’t the most ideal section to dine in during the winter months. There is a whole separate dining area (complete with a water wheel) to go to which is warmer, besides the bar.
There is a variety of items to choose from on the menu. The food is decent for the price, but nothing has ever particularly wowed me. Honestly, I would probably go somewhere else first if given the choice. There are so many dining options in Oswego, this one doesn’t really rise to the top of the list.