Chowing Down in the Catskills

Our Jeffersonville house is near an all-inclusive resort called Villa Roma. They have a hotel, time shares, golf course (or "gulf" course as they call it), all kinds of sports, and different types of dining. It's in a lovely setting, and I've always wanted to go up there and explore it. I never expected much, but I figured the food was worth trying, once.

Harry, who's on Spring Break and whom we'd picked up at Vassar, was up for Italian food. We arrived around 6:30 and a valet jumped out and asked if we were registered. We told him we just wanted to have dinner. He'd apparently never heard of a non-guest dining there. Uh-oh. He double checked that it was alright and then led us to the dining room which was so bright I could've used my sunglasses. Harry said it reminded him of the banquet hall he worked in in Rhode Island.A large group from the Hauppaugue, Long Island Realtors Association came in and started giving toasts and speeches. Tomorrow night they were having a masked ball, costumes optional.

We were given menus which had no prices. The prix-fixe dinner included 5 courses. We tried to guess how much this was going to cost per person.

I started with antipasto, which wasn't bad. Then I had lobster bisque which was actually quite good. The salad was anemic but at least went beyond iceberg. My main course was an eggplant dish, a melanzane preparation. This was quite good if a little salty. For dessert, I had the lemon merengue tart. I washed it all down with a glass of nondescript pinot noir.

We got the bill and were happy with the charge which turned out to be wrong. They'd only charged us for 2 meals. Maybe kids ate free? No, we'd gotten someone else's check. Marty and Harry said we should tell our waiter because the mistake would come out of his pay. They're better than I. Total cost was $30 per person. I'd said it would be $19.95. It was worth it.

It's going to be a long time before I'm hungry again. I'm not sure I'll ever return to Villa Roma, but I have no complaints.