The Eis House

This was our first visit since the new owners took over (in 2014) and we were not disappointed!
First off, upon talking to our server we learned that these folks had made a wise decision and kept the previous chef. While the menu has changed (we certainly miss the gouda-​stuffed chicken breast that used to be a staple for us), we understand that the chef is given more of a free hand in determining not only the daily specials, but frequently the accompaniments that go with regular menu items.
We started with some Hot Tom oil, a slightly spicy, very garlicky tomato-​based oil that leads most sensible people to completely ignore the butter that also arrives with the fresh bread. I’m notably not a bread eater any more, but I made an exception for this dipping sauce; every bit as good as I remembered it being. The bread tasted fresh, and could have only been improved had it been heated a bit prior to table delivery.
For our main courses, we ordered the Chicken Marsala from the regular menu and a Cajun Salmon finished with a roasted local peach buerre blanc. The chicken was very nicely prepared, the mushrooms were fresh and tasty, and the Marsala sauce was spot on, full of flavor without being overpowered by the wine. The salmon was quite excellent, a blend of cajun spices formed a crust on the fish while the buerre blanc was rich and buttery, the roasted peaches in the sauce giving it a most excellent flavor. My concerns about the flavor of peach combining oddly with that of salmon were groundless — obviously the chef here has an excellent sense of what works (more so than me!)
My only (very minor) critique would be on the vegetable of the day, which happened to be green beans. While they tasted fresh, I thought the preparation was somewhat uninspired. Simple steaming worked fine for us because of the flavorful sauces we were both enjoying, but had these been a side dish for a steak or chop, they would have been fairly bland.
It was a quiet evening in the dining room — we had the place pretty much to ourselves for most of our dinner, and our server took excellent care of us throughout. The bar is separated enough from the dining area that we were able to enjoy quiet conversation in spite of the decent-​sized crowd there watching the game.
We’ll certainly be back!

My wife and I stopped here today for the first time as we happened through Mexico, NY. With only snowmobiles in the parking lot, my expectations were not that high, but we found a welcoming staff, a table beside the wood stove, and an immaculately clean dining room. We were thrilled with a wine list that was reasonably priced and had good variety in a number of price ranges and varietals Delicious oysters on the half shell was a special and were served with a perfect cocktail sauce. My wife’s Gorgonzola burger was perfect and I had a special burger with deep fried pickles that was truly memorable Our waitress was personable and handled a change in our order without issue. My only reason for a four star review rather than a five was that this was ‘family American’ cuisine, but everything was prepared at five star quality level

My husband and I were married here in June of 2011 while we were living in Syracuse — it has such a quiet and quaint quality about it that we loved. The campus is beautiful, set next to a small river with multiple buildings for events and a deck that connects everything. It’s a great setting for beautiful photos.
Our ceremony was held in the garden (we had about 85 guests) with chairs set up there and on the deck as well. Our reception was held in the Mirror Room and fit everyone comfortably. It has a cute loft upstairs, which my photographer loved and used to take some great overhead photos.
We had a simple buffet setup and everyone enjoyed the food. The staff was helpful and set up the room beautifully, however, if you’re planning on having table numbers, I would highly recommend creating or bringing your own. Being a designer, I created virtually every printed piece for our wedding, but when it came to table numbers, I assumed that this was something simple enough for the Eis House to provide. Well, I realized that was a mistake when I saw that every table had a randomly shaped and haphazardly cut number. In the big picture though, this is really the only thing that went wrong and NO ONE noticed besides me :)
All in all, you really can’t beat the price for such a beautiful setting, even if this is a bit out of the way. I would definitely consider the Eis House if you’re looking for an affordable and intimate location for your wedding.

I have no idea what any other positive or even mediocre reviews are talking about. This place is truly a disaster, which leads me to believe that they stay open due to lack of competition in the area, which would seem true.
I arrived at 5:30 to fond no seating due to reservations, which I completely understand, so my party decided to sit at a booth in the bar. We sat at our booth for more than 20 minutes without anyone waiting on us at all. As we are literally standing up to leave, a waitress runs over to us and throws a single menu our way when we needed 2. We wait for another 20 minutes before we can put in orders to the bartender and another 40 minutes before our food was served.
The two other tables that were seated after us received their food before us. The waitress even swiped all of the condiments off our table and gave them all to the table behind us… right in front us! Mind you we’ve been sitting there for roughly 90 minutes before our food is served.
And the food? Absolutely horrendous. Starving children in China would send it back to where it came from. This place could turn toasted cheese into a significant health risk. I ordered the fish sandwich and within about five bites had to go to the restroom with vomiting. That’s how bad this place is… they somehow managed to spoil a frozen fish fillet!
Maybe my standards are higher than the area since I’m not from around there. Maybe I caught them on an off-​night. Maybe Hurrica Irene caused some sort of weird astronomical anomoly that is responsible for ruining my meal and the crappy service… but I doubt it. And they claim to host weddings. W-​H-​A-​T???
This place was so extremely awful that the rest of my party found comfort and solace in a Subway down the street. How bad is that?
Do I really need to officially say «don’t go to Arena’s EIS Restaurant and Sailfish Saloon… EVER?»

Just shy of five stars, for Mexico. Excellent food and prices.

***NOTE*** the Eis House is under new management as of over a year ago. The Arena family no longer owns or runs the establishment. A lot has changed with the new management.
***My earlier review is no longer accurate for the restaurant under the current management.
I can’t believe I’m the first to review. Very good food. There is a bar/​saloon to eat in, or a finer dining room. Also a beautiful banquet space for weddings and parties. Pretty fun social scene on weekend nites. Hosts bands and card tourneys.
It’s the kind of place you could take your mother out for her birthday for a fancy meal… or show up on a Saturday nite to let your hair down, hit on the locals and sing some karaōke. The bar and dining room are separate, obv.

If you are in the Mexico area and really looking to slap a little cologne on and go out for a well prepared dinner and not diner or hole in the wall bar food, then this is the place… Actually its the only place around there so thank god it’s good. Place is huge with a regular bar then it actually has a sports bar attached. Food is good and they even give you healthy options of not using butter in the meals. Really a great place to eat. I even sometimes ride up there just for a meal, so I wouldn’t even consider it a «make do» type place because there’s nothing else around. It’s a place to drive to and check out.