La Stazione Italian Restaurant

Wouldn’t try this place again. We stopped in for lunch and ordered two bloody Mary’s. The bloody Mary’s tasted off– I bartended for years and the only thing I can attribute the funky taste to is either old tomato juice, or perhaps the cup wasn’t properly cleaned. I made it through two sips, my fiancé wanted to be polite and finished about half. The bartender never asked how our drinks were (we were the ONLY customers in the entire restaurant). Finally I got her attention and asked for the bill. I told her that something tasted off with the drinks. She said the mix was made recently and maybe I wasn’t used to the taste? Which is correct, I’m not used to the taste of funky bloody Mary’s. She still charged us ($ 20 for a half drank and barely touched Bloody Mary). Most quality restaurants would have either a) not charged us OR b) at the very least offered a new or different beverage

We haven’t been this dissatisfied with a restaurant in a long time. La Stazione is the textbook example of: price gouging.
Highlights—
PRICES
We cannot overemphasize checking with your server the cost of over-​priced «specials menu.» If you don’t, you’ll likely be taken (see below).
WINE LIST:
Extensive, but far too many California wines to be taken seriously for an «authentic» Italian restaurant/​cellar.
MENU:
We made the mistake and didn’t inquire about the prices on the «Specials Menu» and we paid dearly (pun intended) when the check came: Nearly $ 50 for an over-​cooked veal chop and $ 30 for «fresh», extremely oily Fettuccine Alfredo. We based the Specials on the regular menu — we clearly got gouged.
STAFF
You’ll have about 3 – 4 servers (none of whom communicate with one another). The servers are semi-​educated on menu items, know nothing about wine, they’re overly attentive, and not very well trained. Every time we put our forks/​knives down to talk, someone would run over, hands already on our plate, asking if they could clear the table — we had to, no less than eight times, tell the servers/​busboys we were not done. The manager/​owner should have been more attentive to the dining room — he never left the bar.
ATMOSPHERE
The building is a historical landmark, an old Train Station. However, the interior is not designed well (nothing historic about it) We believe attention to detail carries to various aspects of a restaurant and La Stazione’s lack thereof is more than clear with their food, service, and general amateur-​hour presence. (Also, there’s a creepy camera in the dining room.)
UNIFORMS
The men wear black pants and black long sleeve collared shirts. Women also wear black, but their «uniforms» are more in line for a cocktail waitress at a seedy club than a restaurant that advertises high-​end Italian food (high-​end they certainly are not).
CLEANLINESS
Visually, very clean.
OVERALL
We will never return, nor will we recommend La Stazione to anyone. We eagerly await a restauranteur that is serious about food and the attention to detail a Historical Landmark and village deserve.

The Italian food here is really delicious. They used to give 10% discounts for takeout. Not sure if they still do that because it’s been a really long time. The dining room is small but the service is really good. I also really love the location right next to the rail trail. I prefer dinner here compared to lunch. The gnocchi is delicious!

Great service and good food. Much more on the plate then I could handle even after an afternoon of hiking.

Went here for a quick bite to eat after a vigorous hike, unfortunately we were looking more for lunch than dinner, we shared lobster bisque and buffalo calamari, each were divine, the lobster bisque was full of lobster in each bite with a large shrimp inside. The specials for the night sounded amazing, will have to return for dinner.

This place is way overpriced and the food servings are way under what you should get. My wife and two friends all ordered different specials. Between lamb chop, Chilean sea bass, and two different pastas. I can say my wife’s dish had maybe 6 – 8 raviolis on it as an entrée… And my sea bass was 4 oz, maybe, with French fries and snap peas. Both dishes were in the $ 30 – 40 range. All in all we had those four dishes, 4 Stella’s, 2 Chardonnays and a Shirley temple = $ 204 bill. I’m going to pass on this establishment again. The food wasn’t amazing for the price and the serving sizes offer something to be desired.

I came here recently with my boyfriend and his parents,
I was feeling extremely under the weather so I got the tomato escarole soup it was insanely salty i couldn’t finish it, but there wasn’t much to be said for my appetite.
Our waitress Francesca was really great, really liked her!
They need to train their bussing staff a little better… I’m not sure if there was a lot of communication going on around the place.
Patio was beautiful, owner (or manager?) was friendly, Francesca was amazing.

AMAZING! Food was spot on (recommend the tuna tower & sambuca clams). Service even better (Bill is the best, also the owner *forget name* was super charismatic and friendly). Atmosphere is awesome (lots of history and great outdoor area right off of rail trail). All n all would recommend to every

Had dinner, my boyfriend ordered filet mignon rare and got it medium-​well. I had a seafood red-​sauce pasta that was mediocre. Presentation was sloppy. Our male waitress (blonde) was very nice, but most of the female employees were dressed very provocatively. Not what I want to see while out to dinner.

Been to this restaurant a few times and today was a big disappointment. Server was just not evening checking on the table and on top of that we had to chase everyone for our order. On top of that two of the guests orders were screwed up… be aware of service issues and just don’t know if they care

Went here because my friend worked as a waiter while we were undergrads and Rocco was the owner. Apparently there’s a new owner, Rocco went to jail and this place is straight doo doo butter now. Service was atrocious. Our thirsty hungover post college bodies had to ask for water every time our glasses were empty. Food took an hour to come out. Guy over sold everythinggg when reading the specials and 5 out of 7 dinner goers at my table hated their meal. I should’ve eaten at Hasbrouck

The service was excellent and the food was delicious and well portioned. Nice atmosphere, good location (right next to the water street market and on the rail trail) and outdoor seating. There’s also a bar outside which is really nice and there are heat lamps. I’ve only been once but I will be back!

I great place to eat. I have never had a bad experience. The food has improved after new management took over. The staff is friendly. The restaurant is clean, great location, and acomedating for a large group of people.

La stazzione is a great local restaurant with nice service. While most Unilocalers will not be made aware by Unilocal this restaurant changed hands it has been a quality experience for those who appreciate hand made pasta and local foods.
Unfortunately some Unilocalers may be ignorant to the fact that their negative smarmy reviews only serve to line the pockets of the super rich owners of Unilocal and large corporations while harming local small businesses. If you don’t have the mental capacity to find some thine nice to say about a hard working small company who against all odds takes the chance to provide for the people and chooses to redistribute the benefit of their hard work all into the local area you probably should think more deeply about your purpose and its impacts.
I feel we on Unilocal should all rise above and if we can’t give 5 stars then Dont bother at all. Besides many non tech people may not be aware but low star reviews actually boost a web site rank. So if you really hate someone its actually best to say nothing at all.

I’ve been here quite a few times and it’s on my top 5 places to eat in New Paltz. I have not had anything from their menu that I did not enjoy. I’m a big fan of their tortellini. I’ve eaten inside and outside. Service has been great each time. Great wine selection and the manager/​owner always checks up on my table to make sure we are happy.
Not sure what all the bad reviews are about. I’d recommend La Stazione and I’m a pretty picky eater who has high expectations. I’ll also continue dining here.

This restaurant is under new management :-(
chicken franchise was overpowered with LEMON
filet mignon trio was smothered in sauce, BIG MISTAKE
raspberry swirl cheesecake was GUMMY and no raspberry!
Waiter, RUDE! Manager, beyond RUDE and definitey not listening!
overall experience was NEVER GOING bACK!!!

Do not buy La Stazione gift certificates-​they do not honor them. Even if one of their own employees promises a service, they do not stand behind that promise or seem to mind keeping your money anyway! WORST RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE OF MY FIFTY YEAR LIFE and I have eaten at many, many restaurants on five different continents!!! Chose any other restaurant-​even Burger King-​for a more pleasant dining experience!!!

Yum!

I was not impressed with this restaurant, although, it is worth noting that I ate outside on the patio and only ordered a pizza, so take my review for what it’s worth.
It’s not a bad location across from the Water Street shops and along the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and in good weather the patio offers good people watching opportunities. The service was fairly good and the owner even took a moment to make sure I was being served, although, I could sense that he put his staff on edge by hovering so much.
This was my first visit to La Stazione and apparently they recently began serving pizza’s (bar pies). I ordered the margarita pizza and it wasn’t very good. The sauce was rather bitter and they were a bit too heavy handed with the basil — the flavor is not meant to overwhelm the pizza, it’s meant to enhance it. The crust was ok, but the flavor was lacking big time and not something I’d order again.

Under new management, so I figured I’d write a review. I’m local, and frequent this place often. It’s historically a good bet amongst locals for a decent and inexpensive dinner, usually. I visited this evening for a belated anniversary celebration with my husband.
Positives: attentive, polite staff, a pleasure to be served.
The scampi gamberi risotto was excellent (well, the rice was. See negatives below re: shrimp). Delicious seared broccoli rabe. Good wine choices; the Sauvignon blanc (New Zealand) paired excellently with my seafood choices.
Negatives: service was very slow. The shrimp were overcooked, as were the mussels. It’s a shame to obliterate seafood; I was hoping for melty, not tough and chewy. However, the sauces were delicious for both the mussels in wine/​garlic and the risotto gamberi/​parmigiano.
Poor beer choices, nothing on tap. Overcooked chicken and broccoli in the Pasta di Rosa. (Again, sauce was tasty). Salads took far too long to arrive, and one came with the wrong dressing. For a chopped iceberg lettuce and grated carrot, there should be less than 5 minutes turnaround time.
Overall: Tasty sauces, overcooked seafood; poor beer choice, good wine choice; attentive, polite service, but too long of a wait for service. There were only 4 tables occupied this evening, so no excuse. I hope it picks up.