The Carversville Inn has been serving guests since 1813.  The Inn is located at the intersection of Aquetong, Fleecydale, Wismer and Carversville Roads in Solebury Township. Presently, it is owned and managed by Chef Will Mathias.

    Call 215-297-0900 for reservations.
Review of the Carversville Inn, January, 2005
The Times of Trenton
HOURS: Lunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tue.-Sun.; Dinner: 5:30-9:30 p.m. Tue.-Thu. and Sun., 5:30-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; brunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sun.

Historic Carversville Inn offers fine meals in cozy surroundings
While much has changed in the 19th-century village of Carversville, Pa., much has stayed the same, giving it a measure of the charm found in similar tiny hamlets throughout central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

At the heart of the village is the Carversville Inn, where the menu is, happily, far different from that offered when the inn was built in 1813 as a way station for those traveling between Philadelphia and New York.

The intervening years have seen the building become a general store, an ice cream parlor and, finally, in the 1970s, a restaurant.

Photos on the walls of the inn attest to the building's changes; executive chef Will Mathias, who bought the restaurant 15 years ago with wife, Denie, attests to the changes in the menu.

Reluctant to classify his cuisine, Mathias will narrow it to American regional, with occasional infusions of Asian, Tex-Mex and classical French.

The winter menu includes roast duck and venison, dishes that might have greeted the travelers of long ago. But Mathias' outstanding roasted rack of lamb with a pine-nut crust and fresh rosemary demi-glace, $26.50, would have been an out-of-season treat not available in the 19th century when lambing waited until spring.

With eight chops cooked to the requested medium-rare, the moist, peppery lamb was the standout of a recent meal. It's no surprise that Mathias said he keeps it on his menu year round, along with the duck, at the request of his customers.

Rounding out the plate was a mound of hearty mashed potatoes prepared with the skins and a small heap of crunchy mixed vegetables.

Before the entrees came the appetizers, including a special, mussels steamed in white wine, $10.50. Bountiful and fresh, the mussels were sweet with mild seasonings and a hint of wine.

A ring of wilted spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, $8.25, had plump white mushrooms hiding beneath the wilted portion of the salad. Fresh leaves of baby spinach, chopped hard-cooked egg and bits of bacon formed a cover and a textural and flavorful contrast to the softened spinach underneath.

Among the inn's entrees is a fettucine dish, $22.25, that changes daily. On this day it was a spinach pasta with large chunks of shrimp and chicken and a lightly flavored sauce. The noodles were so fresh that it was obvious they were, as promised, made on the premises.

Salmon, the health food darling of the 1990s, was present and accounted for, and came well dressed for the meal. A moist fillet, $23.25, was wrapped in a crunchy crepe stuffed with a mushroom duxelle. Served on a bed of dark, tender wild rice, it was accompanied by the same vegetables as the lamb.

A warm fruit crisp took top honors among the desserts, all $5. Although mostly apple, it got extra pizzazz from other fruits, including raisins and clementines.

A wedge of ganache was rich but not heavy, perfect for the chocolate lover, with a drizzle of fruit sauce. A strawberry and papaya mousse was a light and creamy finish to the meal.

Two-lane roads lead to the historic village of Carversville, located just west of New Hope, Pa. It's one of those little places you might come upon by chance and marvel that it seems immune to the changes going on in surrounding towns.

If you travel to the Carversville Inn by design, you will find a fine meal in cozy, old-fashioned rooms with white tablecloths and a competent wait staff. And if you're lucky, you will get one of the two tables by the fireplace in the rear dining room, which reportedly are the most requested by the restaurant's regular customers.

CREDIT CARDS: yes

SMOKING: Bar area only

LIQUOR LICENSE: Yes

FOOD: Excellent

SERVICE: Pleasant, efficient

AMBIANCE: Cozy, old-fashioned

COST: Appetizers $6-9.25; dinner entrees $22.25-$26.50; lunch entrees $7.50- $9.50