Härth Restaurant Review – Located at the Westchester Hilton in Rye Book, NY

 

Nestled in the lobby of the Westchester Hilton in Rye Brook, New York is a hidden gem. The restaurant is called Härth. Until I ate there while staying at the hotel I have never heard of Härth before. Now that I have had the opportunity to experience the amazing cuisine my husband and I plan on going back again. It’s only about a half hour drive from our home and well worth the trip.

We stayed at the Westchester Hilton. If you would like to check out my review you can find it here – Enjoy a stay at the Westchester Hilton in Rye Brook, NY. 

Härth Restaurant at the Weschester Hilton is very much a gourmet restaurant. I wouldn’t recommend taking children with you. I didn’t see any “kid-friendly” meals on the menu, unless they do have one that we did not see.

My husband and I were seated near the windows which was nice because we were able to enjoy the nice view. Too bad it was raining most of the time. Our view overlooked the outdoor seating and the hotel’s swimming pool.

Our waiter was named Angel and he was more than happy to tend to our needs and make recommendations from the menu. I had a hard time narrowing down what I wanted to eat. My husband is more of a burgers and hot dogs kind of guy. He’s not into gourmet meals so he had a harder time figuring out what to eat. I ended up ordering the salmon and my husband ordered a chicken dish.

While our meals were being prepared we were served rolls and an assortment of toppings to enjoy with our rolls – Olive oil, butter and something truly unique – Bacon Jam. I have never seen or heard of Bacon Jam before. When I think “jam” I think of fruit spreads. The idea of a bacon fruit spread sounded odd, but there isn’t any fruit in this jam. It’s just bacon, onions and a few other ingredients. My husband and I loved it. We even raved about how much we enjoyed it to Angel.

To drink I ordered unsweetened ice tea and my husband ordered soda. I know this might sound silly, but the unsweetened ice tea had to be one of the best I have ever had. You could tell from the very first sip that it was freshly made. I would love to know what kind of tea they used. I love ice tea and I drink it often, but this ice tea was by far the best I have ever had.

The food at Härth is prepared by Chef Rafael Velazquez. He was kind enough to send out a special pita bread for my husband and I to enjoy. Looking at it you would think it was an ordinary pita bread. It’s not. I don’t know how he made it or what he did to it but it was incredibly delicious.

I tried to re-create the pita bread at home, thinking it was just butter with some garlic salt sprinkled on top. It’s not. My creation didn’t even come close.

As an appetizer my husband and I ordered a house salad. It was presented in a very nice way on a long, triangle plate with a decorative drizzle of dressing on the side.

My husband and I always joke about gourmet meals and how they tend to be small serving sizes. They seem small but the reality is they are the servings sizes we should all eat. Most people tend to eat way more than a serving size so when served an actual serving size of something it seems small.

I had ordered the salmon for dinner. It came with Lobster ravioli, confit tomatoes and a sweet onion cream sauce. Oh my! It was amazing. The salmon was perfectly cooked. It was big and juicy. The meat easily flaked off. It even had a bit of a crisp outer part.

The sweet onion cream sauce (the cream colored sauce on the side) was DELICIOUS! I wish I had more of it. I wish they bottled it. I would buy some. It would go great on fish, chicken and vegetables.

I loved the lobster ravioli. It was filled with nice bite size chunks of lobster. I don’t normally order lobster, even though I love it. It tends to be pricey. Having the lobster ravioli was nice indulgence.

My husband had a chicken dish. I am sorry that I didn’t write down the exact name for it. It was chicken that was cooked with a brick on top of it to really get that cooked/smoked flavor into the meat. It came with fingerling potatoes and I believe Kale. I don’t recall what the sauce was. I do know that my husband devoured everything on his place and said delectable.

While we were savoring our scrumptious meal the restaurant’s manager came over to say “hello”. She also had two jars of Chef Velazquez’s bacon jam to give to us because she heard how much we loved it. That was very nice of her and we appreciated the gesture.

Later on in the evening Chef Velazquez also came out to introduce himself to us. That was really nice.

After dinner we were treated to dessert. I saw something on the menu that looked interesting. It was a strawberry and marshmallow “S’more” made on a flat bread. Our waiter Angel said it was made with a flat bread covered in a layer of Nutella, topped with toasted marshmallows, cinnamon sugar and fresh strawberries and finished off with a drizzle of chocolate. It sounded way too good to pass up so I ordered that. My husband orders a chocolate ganache cake with a berry compote.

I didn’t realize that my dessert was best suited for more than one person. It was HUGE! My husband had two slices and was full but didn’t want his chocolate ganache cake to go to waste so he ate that too. Oh boy was his belly full after that.

I’m grateful that our room had a mini fridge. We were able to take home our left over dessert to share with our children the next day.

I also had a cup of coffee with dessert. Restaurant coffees can be “hit or miss”. Sometimes it’s good, other times it’s more like cruddy diner coffee. The coffee from Härth was exquisite. I consider myself a “coffee snob” and I fell head over heels for this delicious coffee. It wasn’t just a one time thing either. We had the breakfast buffet the next morning and the coffee was just as delicious as it was with dinner.

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet the next morning at Härth. The buffet had everything you would expect – eggs, french toast, pastries, home fries, sausage, bacon, fresh juice and more. And of course a great cup of coffee.

When we left the restaurant after dinner we were stuffed. We couldn’t eat another morsel. We had a full and very satisfying meal.

When we arrived back at our room I went straight to the bathroom (I had an eyelash in my eye and I wanted to get it out). When I came out of the bathroom my husband was standing by the window and he said “I think this surprise was meant for you”. I asked him “What surprise?“. He moved to reveal a table with a chocolate cake on it with the words “Happy Birthday” on it as well as plates, forks, a knife to cut the cake, glasses of water with ice and two huge glass bottles of Voss water.

We went back down to the restaurant to see if they had a box we could put the cake in (there was no way we could eat another bite). THANKFULLY they still had the box the cake came in. We enjoyed it the next day with our children. It was so good!

The cake is still a mystery, but I do have my suspicions as to where it came from. 🙂

My husband and I don’t normally eat at fancy restaurants, but we are going to make the exception when it comes to Härth. We plan on eating there again in the near future. There are a few more menu items we’d like to try and we must have the strawberry and marshmallow S’mores dessert again. It was so good!

Härth is open to the public. You do not need to be a guest at the hotel to enjoy a meal at the restaurant.

Härth is open seven days a week. From Monday through Saturday it’s open from 6:30 AM to 10:00 PM. On Sunday it’s opened from 6:30 AM to 1:00 PM.

Breakfast is served from 6:30 – 10:30

Lunch is served from 11:00 – 2:00

Dinner is available from 5:00 – 10:00

Here are the various menus in case you would like to check them out.

Härth Breakfast Menu (PDF)

Härth Lunch Menu (PDF)

Härth Dinner Menu (PDF)

If you you are interested in experiencing Härth yourself you can always Book a table in advance or simply show up when it’s convenient for you. 

Härth also has a lounge where you can enjoy cocktails seven days a week from 4:00 PM – 12:00 Monday through Thursday and Sunday and from 4:00 – 2:00 AM Friday and Saturday. 

The restaurant is located at 699 Westchester Avenue in Rye Brook, New York 10573 in the lobby of the Westchester Hilton. 

You can check out Chef Rafael Velazquez too.

Kimberly

*I received complimentary meals in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way. This post also contains and affiliate link.