The Red Hen Cafe LLC

One of the best meals I’ve ever had! I first came to The Red Hen in 2011, and three years later I’m happy to say it’s as delicious as I remember. Last night my friend and I had an unforgettable dinner.
We started with the foie gras, and I have to say it was out of this world! The best I’ve ever had, it was accompanied by caramelized apple slices.
I had the steak frites. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium-​rare, just like it should be. It was a good cut of meat, lightly drizzled (as opposed to drenched) with a delicious sauce. The fries were good and very much in a French Bistro style, and the side of carrots was fantastic.
My friend had the halibut special, and the piece I tried was perfectly cooked, brown on the outside, juicy and flaky on the inside.
We had no room for dessert. They have a very good wine list which is reasonably priced and features great varietals, and the bread and butter throughout the meal was extremely good.
It is clear that Chef Matthew knows exactly what he’s doing, and his dishes are confident, hearty, and really really well prepared. His wife Linda is a gracious host and extremely personable.
TRUST ME, do not believe any negative reviews. This is the perfect spot to get your French fix!

I had been hearing about The Red Hen for the four years my friends Charles and Lance have been going there. I had gypped them out of two trips to dine here by insisting I had dinner waiting for them at my place. The most recent change of plans was last Saturday night. (We had a lovely supper al fresco under the pines at my place — a review to come later…)
After the Opera at Glimmerglass we headed down to Roseboom and into this very unpretentious bistro.
We were warmly greeted by the charming owner Linda (wife of the Chef) and seated and attended by charming, handsome (sexy even) Daniel — a customer who once ate there and then asked for a job!
The meal was lovely… home-​made smoked salmon appetizer, a terrific perfectly seasoned house salad, and finally Steak Frite — rare for me. My friends both had the fois gras (I am sure delish but knowing what I know. I am not a fan).
Lance had the mussels as his main course. I am freak for mussels and said as they arrived how much I loved them… Linda then brought me three in the broth and some extra bread as a treat… I nearly swooned.
Charles had the trout… it was gone before I had a chance to ask for a taste.
The evening was filled with great conversation with my friends and with both David and Linda. Then Chef came out and we thanked him. A quiet, self effacing guy who worked at my beloved Horned Dorset five years ago.
After a little dessert… Charles only indulged in that — profiteroles… we made noise to leave and Chef came out with a bottle of a burgundy that Charles and Lance adored… and he GAVE it to them…“Take it… it’s for you!“
Gosh…who was know that in the middle of nowhere — sort of — we could find some many wonderful eateries… The Red Hen, The Horned Dorset, The Rose and Lattice. Now, The Red Hen is a real favorite.
In addition to fine dining, Linda — a prolific artist — I got up to examine the lovely paintings she has done in her time off from running the place. Sweet, colorful, light, airy, summery, charming paintings done by a woman of similar nature, from what I can tell.
A great place to eat, an easy ambiance, no pretensions, generous servings and service. A must do when in the area. Highly recommended!

At age 83,! can no longer scurry around Paris to visit the wonderful little bistros which I have loved for years.
But thanks to the magic cuisine of Chef Matthew Herzog at the Red Hen Café I can occasionally re-​live some fond Paris sensations.
A spoonful of the caramelized foie gras sauce carries me back to Lassure behind the Palais Royal.
A slice of the succulent Truite Meuniere transports me to the ancient landmark Bofinger.
Breaking the golden crust of Herzog’s Crème Brulee conjures up Bistro Salazar.
It is only when I go to pay the bill, that I realize that I am in a little bungalow across the street from the gas station in the tiny village of Roseboom, New York.

Five stars just isn’t enough to give this restaurant. The food is beyond amazing. I have travelled the world and find the food here to be some of the best. The foie gras is better here than that I have had in Paris. The owners are lovely. As there is just the one chef, which provides superior quality control, they limit the number of guests so that everything can be just perfect — and it is. From the bread until the final treat everything is superb. I have visited here numerous times, and have never had a bad experience. One cannot find a better meal.

The Red Hen is one of those hidden gems that makes a good evening great. Having eaten all over the world we can honestly say that the Red Hen measures up to any French restaurant one is likely to know, and many of the dishes we’ve eaten here (fois gras, mussels, sole meuniere, boudin blanc) are simply the best version of that dish we’ve ever had. We have been here at least twenty times over the past few years and have introduced many of our friends to the impeccable service, wonderful atmosphere and fantastic food the owners lovingly create and serve. Guests of ours from all over the country have been uniformly impressed by both the food and the owners’ hospitality. Somehow one does have to save room for the desserts which are every bit as fantastic as the courses!

If I could rate «0», I would.
I am part of the group of Unilocalers (seen in the thread of reviews) that was not served dinner and asked to leave the restaurant. We were all local performers at a summer festival and decided to take our business to this restaurant because we had heard about the wonderful food.
We never got to taste it.
It’s interesting that the owner was so strangely stuck on proving that the restaurant could NOT serve a party of 7 when we were actually a party of 6 — one of us was not eating dinner due to dietary/​health restrictions. The restaurant took a reservation for 7 and set a table for 7, but allowed us to wait an hour and a half to tell us that they could not, indeed, serve us.
I have never experienced such passive/​aggression from any retailer or restaurant.
People that are this out of control should not own or run businesses.
We were told that we’d better be careful what we say in public because the owner «knows people» that could affect our future relationships with the summer festival. This laughable threat was the «dessert» at the end of our torture session and was anemic at best.
None of the people at our table need the proprietors of The Red Hen to vouch for us, bolster us or «help» us get hired.
We stand on our own merits and my hope for the owners of the Red Hen is that they begin, in turn, to stand on theirs.

Like eating at home with our own personal French chef. Every appetizer and main dish was outstanding and the service friendly and attentive. This is not fast food, so if you plan to not be in a hurry, the entire experience will be enjoyable. If they don’t open a place in Rochester area, we will be back!

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!
Mere words cannot fully described how horrendous my experience was at this place. I’m unable to give a review about the food, unfortunately, because the owner refused to serve my party and threw us out of the restaurant!
The story goes that we made a reservation for 7 people. My friend spoke to the owner on the phone about our reservation and had agreed to seat 7 even though they have this policy that no one party can be over 6 people. Strange, but, the owner made an exception and had a table waiting for us.
We get there and wait at the table for an hour and a quarter wondering why our orders haven’t been taken down. The owner comes up to my friend who made the reservation and bullies her by saying that she’s kept us waiting there because we decided to bring our party of 7 even though she had specifically said the policy only allowed for parties of 6! My friend stares at her in bewilderment as she then starts taking all of our orders one by one.
My friend is the last to order and instead confronts the owner about how she had agreed to seat our party over the phone and even made up a table to accommodate 7 people. So, why was she bullying her over something she had agreed to? The owner said, «Well, you didn’t give me a choice.» My friend laughed and said, «Ma’am, we always have a choice.»
The owner walked away, went into the kitchen, came back, and said, «I’m sorry, but the chef has DECLINED to serve you tonight. Please leave.»
I confronted her after this crazy announcement and asked her why she was doing this. She had no explaination for me and just told me and my friends to GET OUT. We were all shocked, hurt, and extremely confused by this WILD behavior. Never have I ever experienced this at any restaurant and can’t understand what possesed this owner to act in such a manner. She even threatened my other friend to be careful who he tells this story to because there could be severe consequences?! I’m sorry, WHAT?!
People of the Unilocal community, please, do yourselves a favor and DO NOT come here. This owner is nuts and should be banned from owning a restaurant. PERIOD. I’ve talked to many other people in the Cooperstown/​Cherry Valley community and they all have said that they don’t go there specifically because of the «strange, blonde owner.» Too bad. Her husband is apparently a very good chef.
By the way, this is a true story. My party of 7 can attest to that.

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the food in this review, as we were not served any. My rating is a reflection of the service we experienced, and if I could give The Red Hen zero stars I would. Even as I type this, I cannot believe the experience we had.
It’s a bit of a long story, but here is the semi-​short version. We called to make a reservation for 6 with the possibility of needing to add a 7^th person, and were told they only accepted parties of 6 or less. After checking with the chef, the woman who took the reservation said they would take our reservation for 7 people. When we got there (around 7:30 pm) a polite young man served us water, and told us our order would be taken shortly. We had been warned about the slow service, but we were not prepared for what was about to happen. At 8:45 pm one of the owners of the restaurant finally came to take our order, but preceded this by telling us the reason it took so long was because of our party of 7, and that we had been warned they only took parties of 6 or less. The tone of the scolding made it clear to us that we were the reason for the slow and inattentive service. What we didn’t understand was that if seating 7 was an issue, why did they take the reservation? Not only did they accept the reservation, our table was set with 7 places when we arrived. We took this as a sign that they were ok with feeding a party of 7.
After placing our orders, a member of our party quietly and privately expressed confusion to the owner about being reprimanded, and that if seating 7 was an issue they did not need to accept the reservation. Starting our dinner by being made to feel unwanted was not how we imagined our night to begin. The owner left for a few minutes, and returned to inform us that the chef would not be cooking for us, and they would like us to leave. We were stunned. Considering we sat, sipped our water and waited patiently for over an hour, without a whisper of complaint, we were very upset by this surprise. After trying unsuccessfully to get an explanation from the owner as to why we were being asked to leave, we drove away and went to the Rose and Kettle where we had a fantastic experience.
However the food may taste, any establishment that treats their customers this way has no business in the service industry. We will certainly not attempt to go back, and we will share this story whenever the topic of eating in the Cooperstown area comes up.

This one of those places that you can’t judge by the outside. It is an unpretentious little café just south of Cherry Valley NY on Route 166.
My wife and I were pleasantly surprised by the menu, specials and wine list. We both ended up ordering the nights specials. My wife had the whole lobster that was out of the shell and I had the half chicken. Both were finished in exquisite sauces and accompanied by carrots and green beans.
For appetizers we had the crabcake and also the fois gras. Both were awesome! I would definately recommend this to anyone!

Great French food and cordial service. My wife enjoyed the white sausage with mashed potatoes and fresh snap peas, carrots & spinach. I enjoyed the shrimp provencal. Our favorite appetizer was the sausage wrapped in pastry dough. This restaurant is a gem in our rural community. The owners, Linda, who cordially greets guests, and hesr husband, Chef Mathew are very friendly and chat with diners. We didn’t order dessert, but Linda brought out a small dish of freshly-​baked macaroons and jellied squares that were wonderful.

This is a hidden jewel in an area sorely lacking in fine dining. We have been here several times and each time outdoes the last. With Cooperstown being bereft of any good dining these days, and only a few decent options in Cherry Valley and Sharon Springs, this local gem is a true foodie mecca.
From the fois gras, mussels, and authentic french onion soup to the amazing fresh dinner entrees (menu changes quite often… something a few restaurants around here should try!), the food is impeccable.
Perfectly done baby vegetables, fresh fish, and the most amazing mashed potatoes this side of heaven.
They have a wonderful and reasonably priced wine list, or very graciously allow you to bring your own bottle.
Do not leave without trying the home made salted caramel ice cream!
This is a very small operation. It is run by a husband and wife team. It takes time to prepare your meal, and reservations ARE A MUST. But please try this place as soon as you can. It is just that amazing.

Did you ever dream about discovering a hidden gem? A world class menu in an unlikely place? That is the Red Hen.
The best mussels I have ever eaten (better than any I have had in Paris or Brussels), foie gras with apples, exquisite scallops and trout, some beautiful and unexpected lobster dishes, fresh baked bread and wonderful desserts. If they have their salted caramel ice cream, don’t miss it. The chef’s wife, Linda, handles the front of the house with shy grace and enthusiasm for every dish. Their new wine list is carefully chosen and reasonably priced.