Rats Restaurant

[shesallthat]

Thinking about going to Grounds for Sculpure..if we spend the afternoon enjoying the garden..are we able to walk into Rats for dinner in our jeans and sneakers or is a late lunch better adviced. I've read mixed reviews..how is the chef there these days?

[Heatherb]

last i heard, the park was closed to Rat's patrons unless they paid, but I could be really wrong about that. It's only hearsay - you might want to call and ask specifically what the policy is.

[NJDolfan]

I had dinner at Rats 2 weeks ago. Food was amazing. Had the lamb Tartare, Braised short ribs. Amuse was a cucumber soda, pretty tasty. Chef sent out some kind of ravioli with morels and foie gras really good. Then butter poached lobster, not sure what was in butter sauce, but really good. it had something in it, wasnt just burre blanc. oh yeah, had the beer flight, settled with DogFish. Then chef sent out duck breast with pickled mushrooms. For dessert we had everything on menu. Waiter took menus away when we couldn't decide and brought out a plate with a lot of things on its. Chocolate mousse, Peas & Carrots and a few others.

Really nice time. Well done.

[JustJake]

Heading to the Grounds for Sculpture in a couple of weeks. Intend on eating at the Blue Bottle Cafe in nearby Hopewell rather than Rats.

[HillJ]

http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/up...
Their happy hour is served Tues-Fri from 4-7pm and after a nice walk through the entire sculpture park a nice way to end the day without spending a fortune at Rat's for late lunch. Park & restaurant are closed Monday. It was my understanding that only members of GFS rec'd admission discounts...I could be out of date about that though.

[sadiefox]

I'm not sure if this is still true -- so you might want to call the restaurant to check... but it used to be that if you had lunch at Rat's before entering the Sculpture Garden, you could exit through the restaurant patio and enjoy the grounds without paying the admission fee. Not that the admission fee isn't worth it -- just sayin' :)

I haven't been there since the new chef though. I have never eaten at Rat's for dinner, but always enjoyed lunch.

[SusieQQ]

I haven't been since they changed chefs, but you will need reservations. We went without them on a week day for lunch and got the last table.

[shesallthat]

But what's the dress code..I don't want to wear dressy clothes when we walk through the garden.