Keene Valley Ausable Inn

The ‘Spread Eagle Inn’ was a favorite watering hole of mine before and after hiking in the High Peaks during the 1980s. Always great burgers and cold beer, friendly people. Will be nice to visit back sometime, hope things haven’t changed too much!

Is it possible to make a medium rare burger burned followed by my buddy getting a fly in his chips. Be aware the fries are extra and are the same price if want the chips or not, the beers are watered down. By far the worst meal I’ve had in a long time. Service was mediocre at best. Even with discounting my buddy’s burger the meal totaled 65 for 1 burger fries, 1 ravioli and 6 beers.

You’ll love this place if you like over priced food, burnt burgers, over cooked fries and bad service.

«High Peaks Hunger»
by Josh K.
After a long day hiking Street and Nye mountains in the Adirondack High Peaks (my #33 and 34 of 46), we needed food. More specifically, we needed thick, juicy burgers and we needed them fast!
There are only a handful of decent eating to be had on the long drive on Route 73 from the ADK Loj to 97. Noonmark Diner is a legendary go-​to for breakfast and pies, but I find dinner there to be lackluster. The ADK Café serves some killer food, but it was packed and service there can be very slow. It was off my radar, but driving by we spotted the nearby Ausable Inn — the ideal spot to partake in good old fashioned American home cooking.
With its outdoor patio and cozy, fireplace interior, this locale used to be home to one of my favorite ADK haunts — the Tip-​a-​Canoe. With the demise of the Tip a Canoe after Tropical Storm/​Hurricane Irene, I had all but forgotten that there is still a restaurant albeit new ownership/​management.
Burgers were ordered Medium Rare — and medium rare they came out with a beautiful seared crust. They had a few different burger selections. I opted for the burger with melted Swiss cheese over juicy portobello mushrooms and caramelized onions. By only complaint were the lackluster large buns they were served between — they were dry and yeasty and much too large, taking away from the wonderful flavor of what was between. I think they were using Price Chopper’s kaiser rolls. They should be using the bread from the ADK café!
The hand cut fries that came on the side were warm and crispy (more akin to thick, homemade potato chips), and my hiking partner loved her garlic smashed potatoes as an extra side order.
We all of course enjoyed our cold beers — Switchback Unfiltered. I don’t remember exactly what the rest of the tap selection was, but it seemed ample.
Looking around, it appeared the other restaurant patrons were happy with their entrees. I saw and smelled some really good looking pasta dishes, thick, juicy steaks, and crispy, spicy Buffalo wings.
Food was served with fast and friendly service although they could use an upgrade to the bathrooms. They were too small and slightly dingy.
I will be back — perhaps when taking on High Peak #35 — and hopefully they have changed the buns.

Nice spot outside for a meal or cold one. Everyone flocks to this place. Friendly service, clean restrooms. Food is good. Standard fair great chicken.

Finally stopped here after several recommendations. A most enjoyable lunch in a cozy atmosphere. Hungarian Mushroom soup, ceabcake, and Guide Burger all excellent. Generous glass of wine and nice drought beer selection. We will definitely be back — soon

I’ve eaten here a couple times and it was just ok. I go here because it’s close to where I hike. Many times we get out of our hike late and they won’t accommodate us even 1 minute after 9. Fair enough. Tonight we get there at 8:30pm and they tell us they can’t serve us. They say they have become reservation only on busy weekends. Meanwhile they have an empty table but say more people are coming in. So 20 minutes later we pass by again. The table is still empty and even more people have left. They basically had no interest in serving us or accommodating us in any way and went on to start recommending other restaurants. Apparently they are so successful they don’t need or want your business so I suggest you don’t waste your time with these arrogant snobs. I forgot to mention to them that I’m an event host for a hiking group of over 10,000 people and myself and others run trips to the area throughout the year. I’m going to spread the good word to all my hiking friends. Thanks for nothing and keep your mediocre food and poor attitudes!

After a long day of hiking, climbing, and cliff jumping I needed food right away and let’s face it your options are limited in Keene Valley so the Ausable Inn it was. The restaurant like most places in the area has a ton of character and has been around forever. I looked at the menu for only a second or two before I knew exactly what I wanted which was the Yellow Fin Tuna with balsamic vinegar reduction and I had it cooked rare. This entrée like all entrees at the inn came with bread and a dinner salad. Both the bread and dinner salad were very unimpressive. The salad could have used a lot more vegetables and the bread was tough possibly because it wasn’t fresh. My entrée came out and unfortunately like many other places you order tuna it was very over cooked. It wasn’t horrible and the sauce on top of it was very good, but the fish was cooked somewhere in between med rare and medium which is very far from rare. I did however love the fresh vegetables which they substitute for my potato free of charge. The waitress was also extremely nice and helpful.
One other unfortunate side note was we chose to sit outside because it was a beautiful day and the temperature was still reasonable. This ended up being an awful idea. The bugs were relentless on the desk and we eventually had to move back inside. By no means a bad meal, but I felt there was plenty they could improve on.

Came here for some food after a 3 day backpacking trip in the ADK. We were craving burgers and they had beer on tap and outdoor seating.
Burgers were good, hand cut frys were great. Prices were a little steep. $ 5 for tap beer, $ 10 for a burger. Service was decent and the food was really good, but we were essentially ravenous. I had the burger with port mushrooms and onions. It was pretty damn good, but m/​r came out m/​w.

This is definitely our favorite place to eat in Keene or Keene Valley. Service is consistently slow but the food is consistently good. The setting is a true small-​town inn, with a small dining room with wood-​burning fireplace and an adjacent small bar area with bar seating and a few tables. There is outdoor seating which is great for summer lunches. I always order the boneless buffalo wings (hot) to start. Sometimes I get enough for a full meal; other times I am unsatisfied with the few I am served. I am always pleased with their bold perfect flavor. Today the soup was Hungarian mushroom. I don’t know what made it Hungarian, other than the fact that it was lukewarm (does it ever really get hot in Hungary?). The kids shared a Caesar salad and a platter with Brie cheese and fruit. The brie and fruit thing is one of our favorite here and is a bargain at ten bucks. I don’t think you can go wrong here. Locals, summer residents, and tourists all seem to like it and all are welcome.