Jeff S.
Yelp
We stopped in at the Washington Crossing Inn last week. It's a really attractive property. The outdoor dining area is visually pleasing and is a really nice, relaxed atmosphere to sit in. There's also the indoor dining option which is more cozy and old-fashioned. And indoors, you can also wind up dining under a stoic portrait of good old George Washington!
For the most part, the food was disappointing. We went with a red and white pizza and french onion soups as our appetizers. They were served hot but they were really unremarkable in terms of flavor and quality. The pizzas were really basic, crust, cheese, sauce - all unremarkable. The soup was okay but it had a strong, overly salty, MSG type of flavor going on which I didn't like.
For our main courses I went with a filet mignon with fingerling potatoes and green beans, my wife got a New York strip steak with broccolini, and our kids got the chicken schnitzel in a lemon caper sauce along with fingerling potatoes.
I did not have any expectations that the steaks would be steakhouse quality, but I assumed they would be pretty good considering the price they charge and the reviews. However my steak was fair at best. The meat quality was decidedly average and it was not served hot. It was barely warm enough, which is not what I expect when I order a steak. They also put on a clunky sauce which was overly thick and had a one dimensional flavor. It definitely wasn't the worst steak I ever had, but it was noticeably subpar. My wife's steak was much worse than mine. The meat quality was poor. There were a lot of inedible, sinew laden parts and it was served at a cooler temperature than mine. She offered me a bite to try and I accepted but it was so bad and chewy that I had to spit it into my napkin. Really lame to serve steaks like this.
Other hand the chicken schnitzel was really fantastic! I can't believe the same kitchen that produced these crappy steaks made such a nice schnitzel. It was crispy on the outside, tender inside, well made and very flavorful. My wife and I enjoyed it immensely and wished we had ordered it for ourselves.
Even though our meal was generally disappointing, we decided to check out the dessert, mostly because our kids were clamoring for it. We went with the strawberry Napoleon and vanilla ice cream. We weren't expecting much from the ice cream but it was actually really nice. It had notable vanilla flavor and was super thick and creamy. The Napoleon on the other hand was not as impressive. I don't believe it was made in house and I got the feeling that it was sitting around for a while. There was just something about the taste (almost like a freezer burn) that made me feel like it had been sitting in their fridge for too long.
I also wanted to mention the service, which, like the food, was a mixed bag. They started out strong, getting us seated quickly, checking in on us to make sure we were comfortable and quickly taking our order. But as the meal progressed, it became very hard to find the staff. By the time we wanted our check we had to wait a good 20 minutes to find someone to give us the bill, and it was a little bit annoying because it was getting late and we wanted to be on our way. Our bill by the way was close to $200, which I thought was really a lot considering how mediocre most of the meal was.
In the end, I absolutely would not return to the Washington Crossing Inn. I think it's definitely overrated and not a very good value.