Restaurants in New Paltz
There are lots and lots of restaurants in New Paltz, catering to just about everyone’s taste. I’ve divided them up by type of food, and provided maps to show which are in which areas of New Paltz. There are many more restaurants than I’ve listed, but I only felt I should review those I’ve been to at least twice. Summary of my thoughts? Variety of beer and billards? Go to Bacchus. Microbrews and outside seating? Gilded Otter. Big TVs and sports watching? McGillicuddy’s. Asian food? Gomen Kudasai Japanese or Lemongrass Thai. Breakfast? Main Street Bistro or The Bakery. Best pizza? Rocco’s by the Stop’n’Shop. Romantic dinner out? A Tavola next to Rock and Snow.
Quick Links:
- Beer
- American
- Breakfast / Bakery
- Diners
- Pizza / Italian
- Asian
- Mexican
- Middle Eastern
- Fast but Healthy Take Out / Deli
- Fast Food
- Maps
Restaurants to Drink Beer At
Bacchus Restaurant
4 S. Chestnut St, New Paltz, NY – (845)255-8636
When I started climbing at the Gunks in the 1980s, this was where we always went after climbing. Since then the food and service has gone downhill. I still occasionally get a tasty meal there, but it seems a bit overpriced for the quality. My current favorite is the Pork Tenderloin (bacon wrapped medallions served wth a horse radish-apple cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes & veggies). Looking for an obscure favorite beer? Try Bacchus. They have a ridiculous collection of beer here, the beer menu is just about as big as the food menu and they have their own brews now. They also have a billards hall connected to the restaurant if that’s your thing. There is a different menu for the downstairs bar from the upstairs dining room, but you can order mix it up a bit if you ask. They serve brunch, lunch and dinner and have a kid’s menu. They’re located a couple of stores down Rt. 208 South, right off of the main intersection in “downtown” New Paltz.
The Gilded Otter Brewing Company (Clemson Brothers)
3 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-1700
Very popular restaurant and bar, beautiful building, but definitely lacking in sound proofing. Go on a nice day and sit outside where it’s quieter and you have a nice view of Skytop.
McGillicuddy’s Restaurant
84 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-9289
Nothing special but fine for standard decent American bar food, with attentive service. Sports on the TV. They have event nights, such as live DJ, poker, trivia.
P & G’s Restaurant
91 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-6161
Bar, decent bar-style food like burgers and sandwiches, good selection of beer on tap. Popular with bikers as well as college students. Landmark corner building over 100 years old.
General/American Restaurants
Mohonk Mountain House
1000 Mountain Rest Rd, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-2056
While the address is in New Paltz, this spectacular resort hotel is quite a ways out of town. If you have lots of money and have nicer clothes than what you climbed in, it’s worth a trip to see this beautiful place. Note that I said lots of money, this is not a casual affair. You will need to make reservations so that you’re on the list at the entrance gate and can drive up to the hotel and park. You’re expected to dress neatly and for dinner, it is required that men wear jackets. Their Sunday brunch buffets are enormous and will run you about $55 for an adult. They often have separate buffet tables for children’s tastes. The cost for overnight guests includes all the meals, and at least when I was there a few years ago, they often seat people together with others at tables to encourage socializing. I recall that the food was quite good, plentiful and the selection varied. It might be something worth doing if you have a special occasion to celebrate while you’re visiting the Gunks. If you want to spend the night, prepare to pay hundreds a night, but it’s a really special place and one of the last of the great Catskills resorts.
Breakfast/Bakery
The Bakery
13 N Front St, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-8840
Down a side street from where P&G’s Restaurant is you’ll find The Bakery. Tasty pastries,egg dishes, bagels and coffee, good sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch. Seating upstairs or outside. Very popular.
Main Street Bistro
59 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-7766 – all week breakfast & lunch; dinner only Fri & Sat nights
Seems like this place always has a line out the door, especially on weekend mornings. Excellent breakfast selection, creative choices, quiche, sandwiches, soups, along with bagels and muffins to go. For lunch and dinner, it’s eclectic American food and vegetarian entrees. It’s a good choice for breakfast if the line isn’t too long.
Diners
New Paltz Plaza Diner
27 New Paltz Plz, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-1030
This diner is in the large Tops plaza, not far from the Thruway exit. It’s decent. I go here for a fast hot breakfast, and their belgian waffles are usually pretty good. Service is usually fast, food is… well, diner food.
Pizza and Italian Restaurants
A Tavola
46 Main Street, New Paltz, NY – (845)-255-1426
I’ve eaten at A Tavola three times and each time I was very impressed. It’s next to Rock and Snow, up a few steps. I read a really good review of a Tavola in the Hudson Valley magazine and had to try it. It’s a two story restaurant, so if you get a seat upstairs, you get a nice view of New Paltz through a wall of windows, as well as a view straight down to the 1st floor of the restaurant if you’re seated along the railing. It’s a cozy atmosphere. Nice and classy, but a little rustic. Even a little romantic. The menu isn’t very big, but the selection is creative and unusual. I had a very rich appetizer of Funghi E Uovo (egg and wild mushrooms with creamy polenta & tomato sauce) and it was tasty and very rich, with plenty of delicious mushrooms. Rich enough to make me worry if I had room for dinner. Dinner was a parsnip ravioli which was a combination of interesting flavors and quite delicious. My husband loved the Lamb and roasted beet salad. It’s pricey, but at least you’re getting delicious quality food for the money. Probably the highest quality food you can get in New Paltz. Tops my list for where to go to celebrate special occasions.
La Bella Pizza & Bistro
194 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2633
Been here a couple of times. Once was while my daughter attended a birthday party dinner here, and everyone seemed happy with how it went. Came back a month or two later with just the kids and the service was atrocious. They forgot my daughter’s dinner, despite me mentioning it to the waitress a couple of times and eventually having to go up to the counter and complaining. By the time they admitted they screwed up, the rest of us had almost finished eating and she was so hungry she was ready to cry (we shared the rest of our food with her when it was apparent her food wasn’t showing up soon). They weren’t too apologetic either. So I doubt we’ll go back there, even though I think the food was decent.
La Stazione
5 Main St, New Paltz, NY 12561 – (845) 256-9447
La Stazione is a casual but slightly upscale italian restaurant in the historic old New Paltz train station building, next door to the Gilded Otter Brewing Company. Been there a couple of times. I would say the food was OK and a bit on the expensive side, and wasn’t outstanding enough for us to go back. It’s under new ownership, not sure how it’s changed.
Rocco’s Pizza
4 New Paltz Plz, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-7161
This is my favorite of the New Paltz pizzerias. It’s in the Stop’n’Shop Plaza, near the movie theater. Because of the theater, it can get very crowded, as it’s a small place. While they have entrees as well, I go there for the pizza. Nice selection of pizzas, especially the square ones with the sliced mozzarella, tomato, basil on it (I believe it’s the caprese one). The garlic knots are my kids’ favorite – buttery greasy and garlicky.
Asian Restaurants
By the way, I have yet to find any edible Chinese food in the New Paltz area. Suruchi, the Indian restaurant, has closed as of the summer of 2015.
Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant
18 Church St, New Paltz, NY – (845)256-0621
Located off a side street from the main section of New Paltz is a little corner Japanese restaurant. Food here is good, my family rates it the #2 Japanese restaurant. My husband likes their sushi. My daughter, who speaks Japanese, said it isn’t run by Japanese people.
Mexican Style Restaurants
TBD
Fast But Healthy Deli/Takeout/Other
Karma Road Organic Cafe
11 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-1099
Karma road is a funky little cafe next to the bike store, downhill towards the bridge. If you like smoothies and shakes, this is the place to go. They have organic local vegetarian food in the form of soup, salads, and an enticing variety of hot and cold foods in their deli case. Last time I was there, I had a sample of 3 items for lunch which blew me away. Delicious!
Main Course Catering and Restaurant
175 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2650
Main Course is mostly known for their catering, but they do have a shop in town with some tables to eat at or take out. The food is absolutely fantastic and made from fresh local ingredients. You get what you pay for, it’s not cheap, but worth it. Despite looking like a take-out place, sit-down service is very slow.
Fast Food Chains
Burger King – 238 Main Street, New Paltz (845)255-3071
Dunkin’ Donuts – 250 Main Street, New Paltz (845) 255-7685
McDonalds – 261 Main Street, New Paltz (845) 255-8141
Starbucks – 1 Plattekill Avenue, New Paltz (845) 256-9815
Stewart’s – 76 North Chestnut St, New Paltz (845) 255-4382
Subway – 234 Main St # 4, New Paltz (845) 256-6425
Maps
Wide view of New Paltz showing eateries east of the main intersection all the way to the Thruway (click to see full size):
Last updated: 1/14/2021
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Restaurants – An Overview » cliffmama.com
June 3, 2012 at 2:11 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
[…] which has a small number of restaurants. Most of the “nightlife” is in the town of New Paltz, a fun and funky college town, home of the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. There […]