5578 Main St., Williamsville, NY 14221
Web: The Eagle House
Phone: 716.632.7669
Rating:
[learn more]Pros:
One of the area's oldest restaurants still serves impressive food, ranging from strong appetizers to local favorite entrees and a particularly great dessert. Ambience, service, and venue are all impressive.
Cons:
Prices are on the high side; some items aren't universally thrilling.
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"There's no doubt in our minds that The Eagle House is serving dishes that are at least as good as the ones we remember from years ago, albeit at prices that aren't for everyone."
Thanks to a combination of fond memories and less than kind gossip, The Eagle House has been idling on our "to do" list for months. We still recall visiting this 180-year-old restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville back 25 years ago, sitting barely at table height and ordering items that were at least a little too sophisticated for a child's palate, yet capable of leaving an indelible impression - the sort that brought us back numerous times over the subsequent years.
Yet when we returned to Buffalo, we heard that The Eagle House wasn't what it used to be, so we hesitated to go back, wondering just how far the storied venue might have fallen. For once, however, the whispers weren't true, at least now: whatever hiccups the place may have had in recent years weren't evident when we visited. In fact, we found the place plenty busy - it's apparently a local hangout for real estate agents - and almost completely enjoyed our sizable meal.
Though few of the restaurants we visit these days are notable for their looks, it's hard not to pick up on some of The Eagle House's classical touches: the dark woods, the bricks, the charmingly moderate lighting, and the overall ambience of the place manage to convey a sense of its age, and though there's nothing dingy or worn about the dining area, the menu lists former President Grover Cleveland (first term: 1885) as one of its patrons. Once a rest stop for weary travelers, The Eagle House's inner build quality, relatively large size, and significant rear parking lot - permitting entrance from either the front or the back - are all impressive given its location in the typically cramped Village of Williamsville, and hint at its prior life.
So does the menu. This is a place where steaks and seafood sit side-by-side with wings and weck, a daily fish fry, and one item that's listed as "a family favorite for generations." It's a deft mix of hometown favorites and classic American fare. Other than the prices - a Chicken Pot Pie runs $11, as does the typical salad, with appetizers generally in the $9-$11 range, and sandwiches selling for $8 to $12 - it would be tempting to describe the offerings as comfort foods, but the truth is that the place is somewhat pricey, and you're paying a bit extra for class.
Thankfully, that's what we got. At the top of our list of Eagle House memories from years ago were the coconut-battered shrimp, which we recalled as small but golden brown, sweet, and tasty - amongst the best we've had locally. We had to see how they fared these days, so we put aside our trepidation over the $12 price, and ordered what's now billed as the "Colossal Coconut Shrimp" appetizer hoping that the name wouldn't let us down. The plate arrived with four coconut breaded prawns, which frankly were so large as to surprise us, initially causing us to wonder how much was bread and how much was shrimp. Answer: "almost entirely shrimp," perfectly cooked with succulent centers and served with a just-right sweet and tangy apricot dipping sauce. We've had slightly better coconut breading on shrimp elsewhere, but these were certainly great - enough to justify their price.
A second appetizer, the Hot Stuffed Banana Peppers ($9), was billed on the menu as the area's best - a claim that we're in a fairly good position to judge having tried so many other variants in recent months. Stuffed with cheese and small bits of spinach, the peppers were properly cooked, but received a mixed verdict from the two of us: the creamy gorgonzola and very light bread crumb stuffing didn't do much for one of us, but won over the other. We both agreed that the dish was better than some of the versions we've had, but wouldn't call it the best; it could have used bread, crackers, or something else to do with all the runny white cheese.
In order to try the owners' menu-billed generational family favorite, we ordered Hanny's Turkey Lamarque ($12), which arrived as a large metal dish filled with sliced turkey breast, tomatoes, and toast points, all buried under a generous topping of bright orange rarebit sauce, made from soft cheddar cheese and ale, with flecks of thin-grated mozzarella on top. It was pretty much exactly what one would have expected given the ingredients noted here: the beer and cheese topping transformed the turkey and toast into an overwhelmingly large, no-work-required fondue - not the sort of meal for someone on a diet, but plenty to eat for the price.
We were also curious as to how The Eagle House did with local favorites, so we ordered The Buffalonian ($12), a sandwich plate that let us sample a couple of Buffalo staples - a roast beef on kummelweck sandwich, and four "extra large" chicken wings, ordered "as hot as possible." The good news: the Beef on Weck was pretty close to excellent, a very nice stack of thin-sliced, high-quality beef served just under medium with an ever-so-slightly sweet au jus, contrasting with the appropriately salty, moistened kummelweck roll - we enjoyed literally every bite. By contrast, the wings were fine, not special, though they looked and tasted pretty much as we'd expect at a good local place. Four was a good number for a light snack, though they weren't very spicy.
At the end of the entree course, we were presented with a large plate of sample desserts, all interesting but none actually made on premises, something that we tend to take into account when ordering. Our consistently attentive server told us that the only truly homemade item was the Blueberry Bread Pudding, which wasn't on display, but she promised that it wouldn't disappoint. It didn't: we're bread pudding fans, and though the best versions of this classic dessert are made with a bit of whiskey, Eagle House's take - completely moist, charmingly fruity, and true to both its blueberry and bread billings, was legitimately great: a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, a pool of cream anglais on the plate, and strawberry halves with fresh whipped cream were all bonuses. We'd order this again in a heartbeat; a little whiskey would make it an award-winner. It's already better by 10 times than the one we had at Butterwood's down the street.
In sum, we left both filled and genuinely happy with our meal: no matter what we'd heard in the past, there's no doubt in our minds that The Eagle House today is serving dishes that are at least as good as the ones we remember from years ago, albeit at prices that aren't for everyone. This would certainly be a place we'd visit with out-of-town guests; even if some of the items aren't mind-blowing, the overall quality of the food, service, and ambience are good enough to merit a strong three-star recommendation.
