Had dinner with a friend Sunday, and enjoyed once more the reliably good food and attentive service. Yummy delmonico steak; they happily replaced the steak fries with my requested polenta; the creamed spinach was perfect. My friend's potato champ was the only discordant note: way too rich and greasy to accompany the skirt steak, which itself had a rich sauce. We suggest they add a few malbecs and carmeneres to the wine list. You need to offer more affordable vinos.

I wanted to like Liberty Tavern last night -- I was being treated to a birthday dinner and the atmosphere, service and presentation all pointed to a memorable meal, but alas the chef grabbed a couple handfuls rather than pinches of salt. Dinner consisted of fried ("crisp") shrimp and clams, roasted beet salad, New England Style Fish "Soup", a half order of ravioli and a half order of pincianelle (more pasta), a kids order of fried (not "crisp" for the kids) shrimp and a kids order of a branzino fliet (Seriously! Aquaculture in Europe must have really brought the price down). With the exception of the beet salad, everything was too salty (in contrast, the salad was flat, lacking flavor despite the presence of arugula and a honey-juniper dressing). My salt-loving 8-year old daughter ate her filet and wanted more -- that by itself might have been worth 1 circle since her palate seldom extends beyond chicken and grilled cheese -- but even she noted that the fish was salty. The broth of the fish "soup" (why the quotes or why not call it a stew or chowder? I don't know) tasted a bit too much like the sea, and the salt monster in the original Star Trek would have loved the lamb ragu that came with the pincianelle (which looked like hand-rolled thick spaghetti, or pici). To end on a positive note, the French press Peruvian decaf coffee was quite good.

We ate here for brunch on Thanksgiving Day. It was one of the best Thanksgiving Day Buffets I have had. Lots of variety in the food and since it was a small restaurant, they kept replenishing the foods so they maintained their freshness. Enjoyed turkey and dressing, fruits, large cocktail shrimp, eggs, bacon, muffins, salad, a good mix of healthy and non-healthy foods. I chose not to have any desserts but they looked good as well. Only issue was cramped seating. I reserved on open table for 11:00 and when we arrived the hostess said our time was 11:30 and we would have to wait (which was wrong - I checked) but the manager in charge, said they would seat us right away which they did. Will go back.

We were finally successful in getting a group reservation to Liberty Tavern (what a popular place!). The beer and wine offerings were plentiful and being visited by both the sommelier and beer manager was a plus - really added insight to our dining. I enjoyed the short ribs (cooked 48 hours) and root vegetables (never thought I'd say that). Others in our group worked through a large portion of the seasonal menu. All agreed that the cheese course we started with was the biggest hit. Everything was very good, though the dumplings that came with the trout and the duck fat onion rings fell a bit short of expectations.