Torches On the Hudson

Do you remember the story about the blind men and the elephant? Each man touches a different part of the elephant and each has a totally different experience. That's how I feel about this place. Your experience and stars will depend upon which part you touch.

* If it's a beautiful night and you have a drink on the deck, it doesn't get much better than this! The view is killer. We're talking 4 or maybe even 5 stars. I'd happily go out of my way to do this again.

* How about sitting inside at the bar? The bar itself and the décor are very nice. The bartender was also pleasant and competent. Unfortunately a place this nice needs an interesting and well-made specialty drink list and they fall down here. They need to step it up. I'd go for 3 stars and maybe 4 if you get lucky and they nail your favorite drink.

* OK, now it's time for dinner and in my opinion things go downhill. I had one of the toughest and least flavorful steaks of my life here this week. Accompanying sauces were also mediocre. Service was spotty and just barely average for an overall 2 star experience. That's unacceptable at this price point. Entrees here are generally in the twenties.

I understand they will undergo a remodel this winter. I would suggest the owner changes his priorities and concentrates on the food and service! This is one of those places where our fellow Yelpers can really help. If I was contemplating dinner here again I would look carefully at recent reviews to see if anything has changed.

Stopped here for a late lunch because we were taking a ferry to Bannerman Castle.
It was a great day and our meal here was excellent.

We were a group of 8 and were seated fairly quickly. Every meal received raved reviews from our group.

We would definitely eat here again. The outdoor seating is especially nice in good weather!

Came here last Friday night with a friend. She hadn't been to this particular restaurant to dine in but she did come by here in the past for drinks. We decided to eat here once we looked at the menu and saw things that we both wanted to try.

We were seated indoors as it was pretty chilly. We did get seated by one of their large windows, so we did get a view of the river. I imagine it's much much nicer when you're able to dine outside, though. I got their veggie panini and autumnal old fashioned. The drink was quite strong and the sandwich, along with their fries, were also quite tasty. My friend enjoyed her food and even though her salmon had been initially a bit burned, our server quickly managed to amend the situation and the manager of the restaurant came by to apologize to us. In the end, we also got complimentary cookies and milk (it was actually a caramel milkshake shot). Not too many restaurants would do something like that, so we really appreciated that extra touch.

The space is very big and I thought the sea-themed wall sconces were very cute. I'd love to come back here once the weather is warmer.

Beautiful decor and view of the Hudson.

Server took a while to greet us/bring water.

Nice bar and cocktail selection. Overpriced. That said, try the polenta fries!

Went in to this restaurant (or is it really just a nightclub masquerading as a food service establishment?) It was 8:00 pm on a weeknight. There was exactly three other people in the entire establishment. One loudmouth screaming into his phone at the bar and a table of two. It was a beautiful summer night so we asked if we could sit on the outside patio. Blunt no was the answer. We waited to be greeted by the bartender for ten minutes while she gossiped with the other workers. How hard is it to greet new customers when you have none?

And the giant fish tank that everyone mentions in their reviews? It was FILTHY and disgusting.

Come to think of it, the food was disgusting too.

Do yourself a favor, avoid this place like the plague.

The atmosphere and food quality at Torches has gone down greatly over the past year. The Sunday brunch is not as great as it was before. On my most recent visit my order was wrong and the table was dirty. The staff was still very friendly, but that is only part of what makes a great experience. I was also sad to see their signature fish tank gone.

Oh my god. I went here for my birthday dinner at the recommendation of my parents, and the sheer awfulness of the service nearly ruined the meal for us.

We got there at the time of our reservation and were seated outside promptly. I have to say, the view is beautiful. Sitting on the patio was a great choice. We had menus, but it took a while for our waiter to get over to us and get our drink orders. No biggie at this point, though we were already ready to order our appetizers.

My mom and I order their house margaritas, and we order buffalo wings and regular fried calamari. Our margaritas come and they are, well, not margaritas. It tasted like something I would have made at a high school house party and cost a lot of money. It tasted like there was a lot of booze in there, at least.

Then, a food runner (I assume, since our waiter has been MIA since dropping off some bread) drops off our apps, except it's not at all what we ordered: one regular plate of fried calamari, and one plate of buffalo calamari. WHY WOULD WE ORDER TWO PLATES OF CALAMARI. To their credit, they took it off our table right away and replaced it with buffalo wings, which they comped. We were beginning to realize that this restaurant has a serious communication problem.

Our totally dull waiter finally returns, and takes our order for entrees. Doesn't ask if my mom and I would like another drink. Hmmph, ok. We do ask for more bread, though, which comes at once. Except, well, it was raw and doughy in the middle.

I got the NY strip steak and, while the steak itself and the sides were good, did not come how I ordered it. I clearly said MEDIUM RARE and it came out well done. This is one of my pet peeves. Oh, well.

My girlfriend got the baked mac and cheese, which was good, but really how can you mess that up? My parents both enjoyed their stuffed flounder. I REALLY would have liked a glass of wine with my steak but, again, was never asked if I wanted another drink when our waiter did care to show up at our table.

We eat our entrees, and don't even notice the time flying since we are having a good time, but it took someone a good fifteen minutes to notice that we were done with our meals. Notice I say someone and not our waiter; we had to ask another employee to take away our plates and if we could please see a dessert menu.

We get our dessert menu, and our dim server finally shows up again to take our order. Our order was not complicated: a slice of cheesecake, two regular cappuccinos, one decaf cappuccino. Our server comes out and, lo and behold, he hands us two decaf cappuccinos and one regular. We explained that he had made a mistake. His response? "Oh, sorry." and walks away. No offer to comp it, no offer to replace it.

Well, at least the cheesecake was good. For the money we paid to go here, it was so not worth it. They need to train their waitstaff better and learn to communicate effectively before they can be anything other than frustrating.

I see that a lot of the reviews are here are complaints because they went in later at night. I've never been there when there has been a bouncer or a cover. I usually go at around 6:30 on weeknights for dinner. We've never had a problem with the hostess or our waitresses.

I usually have a glass of wine and have never received a dirty glass or bad drink. Usually my bf and I split the house salad which is definitely large enough to share as an app and then I have the crab cake BLT. They have AWESOME fries and the crab cake is the best I've had outside of Baltimore/DC, including all the different crab cakes I've tried in NYC. It's giant and comes with an awesome chipotle mayo. I always take home leftovers. I haven't tried dessert because there are so many fries, and like I said, they are AWESOME.

On top of all that, you get a great view of the Hudson and they have lots of outside seating. It's a little pricey but I chalk it up to the view. This is our regular spot for a nice dinner near home.

I will continue to return to Torches with my family, but not for the food nor drink. A summer evening outside, with the breeze wafting from the Hudson River, is best enjoyed on the Torches patio. No rush, no urgency interrupts your meal. The clientele
consists of couples, older families, and friends with nice salaries. Unlike the other restaurants that dot the shoreline, Torches strives to be the classiest. I wish the quality of its food matched the ambiance.

My parents and I ordered edamame pot stickers and BLT crab cakes as appetizers. For $12 each, I thought we'd have more than 5 pot stickers/5 crab cakes. In an effort to be artistic and mod, Torches has strayed from the traditional pork pot stickers, and experimented with edamame pot stickers. Torches should abandon their experiment and revert back to the pork. Nice try, but no. And the crab cake "bites" were literally that. One bite, the end. The side of guac reminded me, unfondly, of grocery store prepackaged guac, adulterated with far too much lime juice. Anyone with a palate could discern this.

I ordered the almond-crusted tilapia, which came with no lemon. Since when does a piece of white fish not come with lemon? The fish tasted like air, but I enjoyed the texture of the almond crust. Again, for $19, the quality did not live up to to the price. I thought the buttered rice that the fish was served atop probably was the best part of the meal.

The cucumber martini, which I have enjoyed in other establishments, sucked. If I had wanted brackish pond water, I could have visited the swamp beforehand. The flotsam of herb in the glass added no taste and served as an annoyance more than anything else. Stick with the basics. Mich Ultra. Glass of wine. Etc.

The priciness of Torches is attributed to its location and fabricated swankiness. Being that there is a dearth of such restaurants in and around Newburgh-Poughkeepsie, I find myself returning time and again.

Great view, good service, excellent food. I have only been to Torches once so it's hard to give a solid review especially based on all of the negative reviews prior to mine. I will say that the Hawaiian Ribeye was easily the best steak I've ever had priced under $40. I would easily return simply for this dish.

In my experience there was really no flaws. However, no one else was really raving about the food during my visit. Also, the restaurant was empty when I went. I think I just hit the jackpot with the Hawaiian Ribeye (cooked medium rare).