Fanny's (Amherst, NY) - Review

I dined at Fanny's on May 2nd 2009. It was not at all what I expect from a fine dining restaurant. For the price you're going to pay here, you want a great atmosphere and the food to be exquisite. I experienced none of this.

My wife and I had a special occasion and made reservations for a booth (which we had on a previous visit and was quite nice). The maître d' said he would do the best he could to accommodate our request. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we saw that main dining room with the booths was completely filled for a private party. We were relegated to the "auxillary" dining room. This thing was hideous - there was a bad mural on one wall, faceted mirrors on the other, the lighting was beyond bad (way too bright), and the chairs were horribly uncomfortable. The atmosphere was a complete bust! Strike one.

Since we made reservations that same night, we know the maître d' had to be fully aware of the party and of the zero chance for us getting a booth - but he lied to us to get us in the door and that was upsetting. Strike two.

Finally, the food was just so-so. The calamari was uninspired and had ranch dipping sauce. I expect a restaurant of this caliber to be more creative than serving anything with ranch dip. Our Caesar side salads with dinner were $8, which were grossly overpriced. Finally, I had trout which had *way* too much lemon sauce and overpowered the dish. So-so fare is a definite strike 3 - especially at this price point.

In addition we had to ask for the bread that was supposed to be served with our dinner and our waiter reaked of cigarette smoke.

The lying about the availability of the booth was the absolute worst part and I'll never go here again.