Overall rating on a scale of 1-10:
Service 9 • Food - 8 • Ambiance - 8 • Price - $$$$

By Danielle Pitanello

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first thing you’ll notice about The American Hotel is the magnificent porch that screams out “Come sit and enjoy as many before you have.”
Located in Sharon Springs, NY, it was built between 1847-1851 by Nicolas LaRue of Esperance. It operated as a hotel until the 1950s and then as a religious retreat until it closed in 1989. In 1996 it was purchased by Garth Roberts and Douglas Plummer and re-opened in 2001 after extensive renovation.
My friend and I had a lovely dinner that began on shaky ground (it was our fault). We showed up 15 minutes late for our reservation, not knowing that seating was done on the hour mark. It is a very orderly system that provided for wonderful service. When you control the flow, you can control the service. This is a system that more restaurants should adopt.
Nonetheless, we were graciously seated. After a long day in Cooperstown, we were hungry and thirsty for adult beverages! I started with a summer favorite, Prim’s Cup. It is made with Prims #1, lemonade and fresh mint. My friend had a glass of Italian, Mezza Corona Prino Grigio.
One thing that struck me is the unbelievably comfortable environment. Everyone who arrived was greeted with such warmth. It was apparent that there are many returning guests to this restaurant.
While waiting for our entrees, we enjoyed complimentary bread and butter with herbs and chives. Though the bread was satisfactory, the butter blend was very good. We were also served a pickled plate of cauliflower, carrots, onions and red and yellow peppers. It was tasty and just enough to hold us over for the dinner ahead.
Each dinner is served with your choice of house salad. We both settled on a salad with tomatoes, arugala, feta cheese and black olives. It was good, and sized just right. The pita croutons mixed in were a surprise, as they were not in the description, but blended well. The two other choices were field greens with buttermilk dressing and a steak salad.
Appetizers ranged from $8-$14. They have the standard shrimp cocktail and the not-so-standard beer battered Palatine Cheese with a spiced apple relish.
For our entrees, we really went from one extreme to the other. I had roasted Long Island Duck. It was semi boneless and served with a dried apricot ginger sauce. The duck was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It was served with rice and yellow squash. The apricot ginger sauce was an excellent accompaniment and not at all icky sweet as some of the more traditional sauces.