Café Ommegang

Interesting and tasty menu items to go along with Ommegang’s great beer. The room is elegant, with huge tables and a long bar, but boxes and other storage room items seem to spill into view behind the bar, taking away from the atmosphere a bit.

Awesome beer, OK food. They try to do the Belgium food thing but it just doesn’t work. Seems like they should stick to burgers, etc. We had mussels (very bad, chewy, oversized), poutine (thick fries, with cheese and beef stock; just not that good) and chicken & waffles (just OK). Again, the beer is worth it, but the food, not so much.

Oh my god I am blown away by how good their Mac-&-Cheese is!!! Their service is awesome and I love how their tables are set up. We meet new people every time we come here! And the «Beeriodic Table of Elements» shirt! Haha genious!

Headed here after our beer tour and tasting. Their mussels in pesto cream and beer was delicious with large mussels though some weren’t throughly clean. The charcuterie and cheese plate was delicious. As were the Sriracha wings — again plump and perfectly flavored.
The tuna sandwich was overcooked although they assured me that the tuna would be cooked rare. The server, hostess and service was all great.
And of course the delicious beer!

The ambiance here is amazing. Really cool looking building. The beer was really good-​recommend doing a flight if you don’t do a tasting to choose which beer you want.
The food was a great complement to the beer. We had the frites, which were more like a steak fry but actually cooked properly. My husband had the chicken and waffles that he really enjoyed except the waffle was over cooked, which was our only complaint. The wings were crispy and flavorful.
This is definitely a great stop if you enjoy a good brewery with creative bar food.

We were excited to visit the brewery, and it was really at the top of our list on our vacation. Glad we stopped by, but will not suggest to others.
Food was good for the most part. Brussels sprouts were over done and a bit mushy, tuna was good, and sausage dog was pretty good (slaw was outstanding). Wait staff were good and attentive.
Main focus is the beer, but of course. It was all bad. We ordered a flight of which all tasted like cough syrup, except the ONE that was not even made by Ommegang. That one was a fruit concoction that I could have downed a couple pints.
Sorry, but a brewery needs to have good BEER over food. Work on it folks.

Very cool place adjacent to the brewery. Full selection of interesting beers served at the perfect temp. Service was excellent, friendly and informative. Menu looked great but since it was after lunch we did not order.

The Good:
The servers and staff were super helpful and friendly to seat our mega group of 9 people and patiently taking our orders!
The Delicious:
The food is nothing to write home to mom about but it is hearty and delicious with some creative mixes. I had the waffle and chicken. I didn’t expect the jam… but it was a nice touch. The Brats were well flavored, but were only well balanced with a touch of the artisan mustard.
The Beers:
The beers truly were craft — very well put together. All of them had strong flavors and good balance. None of the skunkyness of amateur craft breweries
The I Can’t Believe This Happened in a Brewery Restaurant:
Don’t expect the servers to know much about beer. When we asked them questions, they pretty much confessed that they were John Snow and knew nothing.
The amusing:
I was a huge fan of the the hints of a hearty meal whiffs in the air and the alps interior decorating. I was a huge fan of the mapboard where you can put pins in for where you were from.
Why it doesn’t get 5 stars from me:
They really need to train their servers to be more more aware about beer. Also they really need more servers. I felt bad for them because they were utterly understaffed.

Ommegang’s beers really are world-​class and should not be missed. This review is limited to the café though.
Cooperstown is the perfect distance for us for a day trip and we wind up there at least a few times each year to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Farmers’ Museum (two fabulous places that we highly recommend checking out). In past years, these trips often included a side trip to Ommegang for a tour, some tasting or just to stock up. Recently, the tours and tastings have been pretty crowded so usually our stop was limited to the retail store. We hadn’t thought much about the café until one trip when there were a couple last minute openings for the tasting. Two of our group jumped on that and the others wandered over to the café for a snack and to just kill some time. Just the frites were ordered, but when they came out perfectly crisp, delicious and with many choices of dipping sauces, we knew we’d have to be back to try a meal.
Many meals later, we’ve yet to have one that has disappointed. We’ve also not experienced any of the service issues referred to in a few of the other reviews. In fact, in our most recent visit, our server (Dan) was one of the nicest we’ve had anywhere. He was very accommodating with the kids, made relevant recommendations and described all the beers perfectly (and in a helpful, not condescending, manner).
As for the food, you can’t go wrong with Ommegang’s take on chicken and waffles, any of the sandwiches or just the cheese and charcuterie plates for a perfect meal when paired with the amazing beer ($ 10 for a flight of five ounce pours of five choices is a great deal). Definitely get the fries too though. Any of the dipping sauces will do — all are good.
Now the café is an integral part of almost every Cooperstown trip. Our strategy is to arrive right at noon when they open so there’s no chance we won’t be seated right away (they don’t take reservations for lunch). We sit outside when we can. It’s a beautiful spot and the kids can run around in the huge field while waiting for the meals. After many years of disappointing meals in the Village, we are glad this café was discovered. It’s added something to each trip and now we rarely go anywhere else.

UPDATE — Café Ommegang is no longer doing «gourmet» dinners for evening hours. They have now extended their «regular» menu to the evening hours. And I have heard that Chef Evan is leaving. Still a great place to visit, particularly outside of the summer season.

We went for the beer and stayed for the food.
We took a cab here because we were doing the tour and knew that we would be drinking a lot. We got to Ommegang at 3:30pm and signed up for the 4 – 5 tour and tasting. We had a half hour to kill so we sat at the bar and grabbed a pre-​tour beer. While talking to the bartender, she mentioned that the bar closes from 5 – 6. This sent us into a state of panic as we did not have a car so we could not go anywhere, and it was a little too cold to wait outside for an hour until the restaurant re-​opened. The bartender explained that she was new, so a more experienced bartender came over and explained that the kitchen is closed for this hour, so they don’t serve food, but we could of course sit and drink our beer for that hour at the bar. Crisis averted.
I have already reviewed the tour and tasting, so now let me talk about the food. For a place that most people are visiting for the beer, the food was waaay better than it even had to be.
We started off trying the frites with the roasted garlic and the mustard dipping sauces. They had my heart right there because I am a sucker for condiment choices. The frites come with two dipping sauces and it was actually a struggle to choose just two, but the ones we chose were excellent.
We then moved on to a cheese plate that had a variety of cow, sheep, and goat cheese. My boyfriend is lactose intolerant, so finding a cheese plate where he could eat 2 out of 3 varieties was such a win for us. Each cheese was great, and the accompanying honey and figs made for some good pairings. There was also a pistachio butter which I did not care for, but he did.
My boyfriend is a mussel fiend so he got their mussels and thought they were very good and honestly huge in size. I got the waffle dessert with coffee ice cream and it was the perfect amount of crisp edges and fluffy interior.
And last but not least, the drinks! Ommegang had 10 beers on taps and they do flights of 5 beers. Obviously they wanted us to get all 10 beers, so we complied. We liked them all. Some better than others, but there was not a beer there where neither of us liked it.
Ommegang was definitely worth the trip!

food was fine. Simple menu. Service was friendly, but slow. We were forewarned that the kitchen was running about 30 minutes behind schedule. We did not get to take the tour because of the time constraints, so that was a little frustrating.

Husband and I were visiting today with his family and though we had a great time with the tour and beer tasting, the café was just the opposite. Servers here seems to hate their job and we waited for over an hour for our food. I got the poutine fries which was pretty salty and the cheese was chunky while hubby got the bratwurst. Food was not great and the fact that we waited over an hour for it was a waste of time.
Also the table that was next to us didn’t even get cleaned up for over 30 min which was annoying since the flies kept flying around us. Just pure laziness!

The first time I came to Ommegang for a tasting, the restaurant was unfortunately closed, little to my knowledge — I sat at the entrance just before 5:00 smelling the delicious aroma of fries, wondering when I’d be seated, only to discover they close extremely early off season.
This time I came back around lunch time to avoid this blasphemy. Jesus, everything was delicious. Our beer tasting was too crowded to enjoy so we asked for a refund and moved into here. You can build your own flight and try anything you’d like for a fair price while enjoying your meal. The mussels looked amazing and are on my list for next time. The french baguette was so crispy and good, and I got the potato and cheddar ale soup to go along with it. The Jamaican duck wings were actually spicy which was a pleasant surprise and perfect beer pairing. The poutine was a hefty portion and SO GOOD.
Definitely stop in when visiting the brewery.

This place is absolutely horrible. I can’t believe how rude, disrespectful, and incompetent the staff is here. They made rude comments, had obnoxious employees eating and drinking at tables (and getting served faster than my party), making disturbing/​racist comments from the kitchen.
Horrible. I don’t think I will even drink their beer anymore.

The staff is incredibly rude here and obviously just do not wish to be there. I arrived at 6:15 with my son. It took a moment to get the hostess to acknowledge us, as she was with a customer. We were patient. It was rather slow, business wise there. Many open tables. When the hostess asked us if we had a reservation, I said no, but we would be a party of 5 people. She said she would have to go and ask the chef if they could accommodate us, since we didn’t have reservations. There were plenty of tables open! I got the feeling they didn’t want to have any business there last night. We left. Not very welcoming. We were hungry and wanted to get a good meal with friends. I guess we aren’t wanted without a reservation even though there are 4 large 6 tops sitting empty.

I have never felt so compelled to write a Unilocal review after my atrocious experience at the Ommegang Café last evening.
To give a background, I have worked in food serving and fine dining for three years. Just last year I left the industry, where I have worked in a craft beer bar as well as two fine dining restaurants in New York City.
I sold Ommegang Three Philosophers at the Bronx Ale House, so I am aware of their product.
I have NEVER felt so disrespected at a restaurant. And, boy, have I worked and dined in many.
My boyfriend and I were celebrating our four year anniversary, and decided to sit outside. Mistake number one. We wanted to make our reservation a little later in the evening so we could enjoy the sunset on the grounds. Mistake number two. We arrived early at 8:22 for our 8:30 reservation, absolutely respecting the establishment we were going to eat in.
Our server takes her time to get to us, but advises me later that she is new. Fair. I let it slide since it was a beautiful evening weather-​wise.
The gift shop attendee informs us around 8:50 that he is closing up shop. The last of the patrons there for an earlier dinner leave. As I look around, I realized we were the only individuals there’s. About 5 minutes later, the attendee yells «GO HOME» at the top of his lungs. Seemingly directed toward the air, but absolutely directed to me and my boyfriend.
Jokingly or not, I know exactly who he was talking to. I’m not stupid, honey. We used to make comments QUIETLY in the back about people at our establishment late-​like an hour after closing-​but we were there up until BEFORE closing. Can you hold it together for another five minutes?
You’re running a gift shop. Like, I’m pretty aware of your tactics and your manager will be more than disappointed with your actions, which will hopefully result in a termination (I am reviewing and emailing management)
And are you seriously going to disrespect the people who are dropping $ 100 on dinner? They absolutely did. I kept that comment in mind and judged the experience on the timing of the last meal, the last round of drinks, and the additions to my meal that I requested.
Of course, the staff was cleaning up. You can hear everything they are saying though from the kitchen, which was expected.
I loved restaurant culture, but you could tell the kitchen staff didn’t appreciate their job. In addition, I could tell most of the staff was young, but I did not think that their immaturity would be so blatant. It was more than rude. It was on another level of embarrassment to their Café.
Our meals came out after 25 minutes. I ordered the primavera, which was good, which will uphold the only star I will give this ‘restaurant’ (after the beer of course). My boyfriend ordered the Salmon.
I asked for some extra cheese, because when you order a dish of pasta at a 5 + star restaurant in NYC, your server will always offer you cheese. I love cheese and did not think this would be an issue (???)
It was.
The barback… busboy…whoever it is… openly mocked me from the kitchen. He stated:
«This isn’t Olive Garden!»
He was upset he had to take a minute away from drinking to do his job, I’m sure. I know the type.
He proceeds to send the waitress back out to tell me that there is none, while simultaneously and unprofessionally leaving the kitchen to do the exact opposite. I was floored. But I played it off and laughed at him and the waitress as the proceeded to go to the back and blatantly drink in front of me and my boyfriend. Do your job you are getting paid to do, it is NOT that hard.
I DONT play games. Especially when I’m spending a lot of money. And ESPECIALLY when the evening was supposed to be in celebration with my boyfriend-​an enjoyable evening. Quite the opposite in terms of the workers.
The immediate wait staff made me and my significant other wholly uncomfortable. Plain and simple.
The workers can insult me all they wish, however I am going to do everything in my power to get my closest circle in Cooperstown to NEVER go to Ommegang again for any purposes.
Take that as you wish, but I am looking for NO freebies from Ommegang because I am wholeheartedly disgusted with that place. I will never go back, and I will make sure that my friends are aware of the contemporary service that seems to be the standard at this place.
In my opinion, they should stick to beer. It seems like the only aspect of the job they can handle.
Perhaps the low tip was an inclination of how terrible a time it was.
***
Update: Management has made contact with me and has apologized, so I have condensed my review to only this page; the experience has been cordial. However, my opinion remains the same of the service. Hopefully they will make adjustments.

This review is for the café only.
We walked in for some beers and snacks at 4PM. There were seven of us and they would not seat us at one of the large tables because they had dinner reservations at 6, then ignored my mom. When they seated 2 people, my mom spoke up and they said, «these people have been waiting for 30 minutes» and promptly ignored us.
We all scrunched in at the bar and enjoyed some drinks and the fries, chicken & waffle, and mussels were all very good.
While the food and beer are good, I was disappointed by the service. I did grab a bottle to enjoy when I get back to Boston.

Stopped in on a beautiful Saturday afternoon expecting to find a vast array of outstanding beers and left with a new found love of chicken and waffles. Never have I had the dish before but do to a small menu without a burger option I was left to venture out of my comfort zone and deep fried chicken seemed safe enough. This was no ordinary deep fried chicken though, the flavors found in the perfectly crispy breading mixed with the jam and gravy all topped upon a delicious waffle made me forget why I came there in the first place.

The whole experience was great — brewery, café, food and drinks!
Their fries where delicious (yes, fries.!). Mussels and beer, best pairing ever.