Casola Dining Room

This is a review from a visit in March of 2020, days before the Covid lockdowns went into place. This place deserves more than five stars and all it takes is one visit to see why it's nearly impossible to score a reservation. This entire experience, from start to finish is deserving of praise. Some of the nicest servers we've ever encountered and the food could be served at higher end restaurants in the Capital District and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Come here for a change of pace from your typical restaurant, with the menu changing each week, you won't want to dine anywhere else.

My husband and I had a classical French dinner last night and it was terrific. It's a lovely formal dining room with coat check. Tables were set accordingly. The staff are all students and our server, Brenda S., did a wonderful job. The menu is abbreviated but we had nice choices. The appetizer we chose was a shrimp bisque. It was perfection, with an abundance of shrimp in it. The entree we chose was a salmon Florentine. It was poached, topped with Mornay sauce, over sauteed spinach with some small potatoes. It was excellent as well. Dessert was an apple tart which was very good. This meal was a bargain for the price. I can't wait to do it again. PS, in reference to the Open Table reservation app, this was a little frustrating but keep trying. Its probably jammed up right at 8am..it took me a few tries to get the reservation.

If you can get a reservation go here. It is awesome. Very hard to get in though. Go to website to get instructions on how to make reservations. Seasonal. Fall and spring only. Lunch at 12 and 1230 only and dinner at 7 & 730 only. Not every day. Go to website. Cheap top notch food. No booze but you can bring your own wine. Corking fee. Dinners are under $25 each which includes tax and tip!!!

My experience this year would give no stars. We love Casola Dining room, and the SCCC program, staff & students. And previously we loved having meals there. This year has been ridiculous for making reservations. After 3 times of trying for an 8 o'clock reservation on Open Table, and calling the Casola number several times for info, we received a call back - and were told that using the Open Table website at quarter of 8 would work. SInce when does our society work that way? We did try quarter of 8 this morning - and all tables were booked. The mysterious messages "No tables are available within 2.5 hours of your request" and "Booked 1 time today" appeared. Such a bummer.

I tried to use the new Open Table site to book a lunch yesterday. What a surprise when I accessed the site at the required hour (8:00AM) it was booked up with 8 resservation.How could this happen? Were they taking early reservations or does someone put in favored reservations prior to the time?I know the former method of calling at 10:00AMwas frustrating but at least you had a chance. And could speak to some one.

This is a student thing, but that being said, it is a wonderful experience in any context. It will take some effort getting reservations and finding the place, but it is a gem. The students all take this very seriously and as wait staff and as cooks, you could not ask for a better experience. Top notch.