Otesaga in Cooperstown

My wife and I spent a night at the Otesaga in Cooperstown a few days ago. Our anniversary is approaching. We made the mistake of getting married in early November, which suffers from my political activities, so we took off a little early.

The Otesaga was very nice overall. We arrived and checked in. The first room we went to, #311, was not spectacular. I called to see about getting a lake view. It didn't cost much extra and we switched to room 224. The windows aren't all that big, but I still liked the lake view better, plus the room was bigger. The Otesaga is on the southern end of Lake Otsego. This is a gorgeous location, and there was still some fall foliage so it was even better than usual.

The rooms are expensive. But dinner and breakfast are included and that is a substantial value.

Dinner was outstanding. We started with a cheese plate. It had 3 cheeses and "candied grapes" - I think they were coated in sugar. I'd prefer regular grapes, but on the whole the plate was good.

We both had soup and both were excellent. Heather had the tomato basil bisque, and I had french onion soup (I went off my diet for this short trip - and gained about 5 pounds). I had a salad as well - mixed greens with walnuts and a couple kinds of fruit. Very nice.

We both had surf and turf -- filet mignon with lobster tail. The steak had a great flavor, and the lobster tail was delicious. Some veggies with it as well - I think they were roasted.

Desserts were great too - Heather had apple streusel a la mode & I had cheesecake w strawberries (I told you I went off my diet).

Service was very good. There were different servers for cocktails, the main food items, and for dessert. That was unusual but it seemed to work well.

I'd say this meal in Albany would approach $100 per person, which makes the cost of a night at the Otesaga seem more reasonable.

Breakfast (a buffet) came with it too and it was good. I had an eggbeater omelet with lots of veggies. Not sure if this is saying much, but it was probably the best eggbeater omelet I ever had. There was a wide variety of other things to eat and I sampled a few items. All good. Figure this was worth $20 each and the cost of the room is even more reasonable.

Well, we liked the Otesaga so much that we came back for brunch (we ate light for breakfast to prepare). Brunch was not included, and cost about $30 each. A lot of the breakfast choices were there, but there were many other items as well. Notable were the shrimp cocktail (rather large shrimp) and the smoked salmon plate. Both of these were really good. Another significant addition was the dessert table. This is where the diet really fell apart. We sampled another cheesecake, a couple of chocolate cakes, pecan pie (not just a sample), and more. All delicious too.

The Otesaga is well worth a visit for those who can afford it.

A final note - we had lunch the first day at the Tunnicliff Inn near the Hall of Fame. This was not a good experience. Service was horribly slow. It took so long we walked out before the main course arrived. I just wasn't going to wait any longer. No, I didn't stiff them - I left money on the table - but I didn't pay for the food that never came. Probably just a bad day for them, but if you go there and it's crowded, I suggest going somewhere else.