It's gone down hill over the past 5-7 yrs or so. It was for 20+ yrs a go to for steak etc....but just quality and preparation has dropped off...not worth the $$% read more

My family and I went there this past Saturday evening to celebrate Mother's Day early, as they were booked on Sunday. We've dined here several times in the past and my wife thoroughly enjoys going here. However, this time was the worst experience ever. All four of our meals were over cooked. My son ordered Beef Wellington and it was totally charred. My scallops were over cooked and browned to the point that the excellent server noticed the condition of them, and approached me while I was at the salad bar and offered to replace the scallops. Furthermore, my daughter's asparagus had dirt in the vegetable, which tells me they weren't washed. My wife's garlic sliced sirloin was well done, when she ordered it medium. That dish was also sent back. The service was excellent, but the meals were not prepared well at all and never should have been sent out. read more

Been a long time customer. Will never return. Server was extremely rude and quite frankly childish. Took family from out of town and the waiters behavior was embarrassing. read more

First time back after a long absence, and Barnsider did not disappoint. To save calories for the goodies I skipped the salad bar, bread and alcohol. I prepped in advance and started off with piping hot out of the salamander clams casino that had plump cherry stones covered in the right amount of bacon and breadcrumbs. Then had a spot on medium rare beef wellington covered in a mushroom pate wrapped in pastry dough sitting on a deep dark wine demi-glaze gravy, hello happy taste buds. Would have preferred it wrapped in liver pate, but heck it's Albany not London. Finished off with a 5 star turtle cheesecake with an amazing dollup of homemade whipped cream. Service and atmosphere was old school, light background music, zero TV's with 5 star engaging service. I will dine here again. read more

Barnsider - Turtle Cheesecake - Steakhouses Near Me - Albany, New York

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When I went to college in Albany three decades ago, Barnsider was a pretty fancy "special occasion" kind of restaurant that we could seldom afford. I remembered it as being pretty fancy, at least in the eyes of us 20-something college kids. Maybe my fond memories have been clouded by nostalgia or romanticism, because when we revisited yesterday, after an absence of 30 years, the place looked a bit tired and dated. The first impression, as we walked from the back parking lot, was how amazingly shabby the rear wood deck looked -peeling stain and in a general state of disrepair- it looked terrible. The interior is very rustic- high ceilings with wood post and beam columns. The open kitchen was fun- we saw half a dozen cooks working feverishly to keep those steaks a'coming. But it did seem to us that the waitstaff was a bit understaffed, because our service was spotty. I did enjoy the salad bar. The bread was hot and plentiful, and the big slab of cheese next to the bread was unexpected but yummy. I started with a soup special - Corn Chowder that was hot and tasty. My entree was the Ginger Scallion Swordfish for a hefty $29.95. It was excellent- moist, juicy, flavorful, and perfectly cooked. Entrees are served with a choice of baked potato, rice pilaf or vegetables. I tried to get a half order of rice and a half order of veggies, and the waiter looked at me like I was from Mars. But for an extra buck or two, I could get both, so I did. Whatever....... Since it was a special occasion, I went for dessert and chose the Key Lime Pie which I enjoyed a lot. So all in all- how was the Barnsider experience? So-so, I thought the food was fine, but overpriced. I thought the decor was dated. I thought the service could have been better. I should have relied on my memories......... read more

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Went in for Father's Day dinner. Called a week in advance, was told we couldn't book a reservation for 5 people but could book 4 people, at a reasonable dinner time. We called back multiple times checking in to see if there were any last minute cancellations and could accommodate our extra person, and was told no. However, while we were at the restaurant, there were many tables open that would fit 5+ people. These tables were available for the duration of our dinner. Very disappointing that our 5th guest was unable to join us. Those of us who were able to attend all enjoyed our meal. The food was delicious! read more

Not as great as it once was and certainly doesn't deserve the 5 stars I once gave it. The salad bar is still pretty good but they really need to dry off their lettuce. I get it. You washed the lettuce. Now try drying it so my dressing doesn't taste watered down. Service was very slow tonight and the dining room was loud. The food is just not worth the prices they charge these days. I got the crab stuffed haddock once again which tasted good still but wasn't as hot as it should have been. The garlic smashed potatoes were on point but its almost hard to justify spending the extra charge. You mean to tell me that a baked potato is free with your meal, but to mash it up and add garlic, butter, cream, and chives cost $4 more? They also need to rotate the menu more than just having a few daily specials. read more

Barnsider - Crab stuffed haddock - Steakhouses Near Me - Albany, New York

It was as good as I rememb er red from all my birthdays as a kid. Service was great. Salad bar still there. Great family restaurant especially for b days. read more

The Filet Mignon was perfectly cooked with great flavor. Love the salad bar. All items were fresh and there was a great selection. The service was professional and attentive. Enjoyed my dinner! read more

Five of us went there for mother's day. The place was jammed of course. The food was excellent the service was excellent and the ambiance was great we were in the back upper Room I think that might be the quieter space. But anyway we had the stuffed shrimp, two different salmon dishes, baked scallops and beef bourguignon. Is all excellent the sides were good rice and garlic mashed potatoes. I don't know about any of the bad reviews but what I've seen is they are older. You know most people are happy to write a bad review. Hope others will make comments from recent visits. Can't make corrections...? read more

Great atmosphere and great food to eat in a restaurant. We had the prime rib it was nice and rare ,as we like it, and the sides were really good. Added baked scallops to the mix. read more

While the Barnsider may be revered by many, my experience last evening clearly demonstrated that they are resting on the whatever remaining laurels they may have. I dined with family last evening and decided to share the "Prime sirloin" for two. We ordered it medium rare. When it arrived, it was clearly medium well. That happens. I get it. We mentioned it to our waiter, who apologized and took it back. They offered to make us a new steak, which was nice of them. However, when the steak came back out, it was tough and had a odd flavor to it. I took two bites and pushed the steak aside. Very disappointing given the amount of money they charged. This actually was the second "not so great" experience we've had there recently. Needless to say, we won't be rushing back. read more

We came here on a pretty busy Friday night for a celebratory dinner. We had reservations and were seated promptly upon our arrival. The wait staff was very attentive & friendly and paced their check-ins appropriately. The 3 star rating here primarily comes from the food. Our appetizer - the crab stuffed mushrooms, was unfortunately quite bland. It tasted as though it was an underdressed imitation crab meat baked into frozen Mushroom caps, which just made a poor first impression. As for our entrees they were fairly lackluster as well. My ribeye was cooked okay, I ordered it cooked medium, and I received it cooked as I usually prefer it which is typically medium rare. The taste of my steak and potatoes was overall pretty good, nothing spectacular. My boyfriend was not impressed with the 'award winning' prime rib he ordered but did say his scallops were tasty & cooked well. The barnsider has some good and some bad dishes, and for the most part I'd say they have plenty to improve upon. 3/5 is fair for the experience we had here, but unfortunately I don't see us likely returning. read more

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Overpriced for mediocre food. They should increase the quality of their food, or lower their prices. Food is under seasoned and portion's were small. $300 for two people. 1 Appetizer, 3 dinners, 3 desserts and a couple of drinks. $100 per meal, for that meal, was certainly not worth it. There are tons of better options for steak and seafood where the bill would've been half the price and better quality. The service was decent, but odd that the servers rotate. Opens up room for error. Will not return. read more

Somehow this place has 4 1/2 stars on google? Should have believed yelp the food is not good. And the service is s l o w. Unless you say you didn't like your meal, then the manager is very quick to appear. Anyways I ordered steak au poivre and the sauce was brown and huge chunks of peppercorn in the sauce and on the steak. The managers response "well that's how it's prepared"...eh no it's not. Baked potato tasted like dirt and pretty sure the outside of it wasn't washed. My friend got the baked seafood and it was just undercooked shrimped sitting in oil lol. Miss me with thatttttt it looked like meatloaf lol see the pics. $62 down the drain homie read more

Barnsider - What steak au poivre should look like - Steakhouses Near Me - Albany, New York

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We stopped in in a holiday and had the most delicious meal! We had the filet, chicken breast florentine, and chicken pasta, calamari appetizer was over cooked and rubbery but the waiter came through and gave us a new order which was perfect and delicious. Salad bar was great! Fresh! read more

Service and salad bar are the highlight once again. Appetizers and entrees extremely disappointing.

If you enjoy sitting for hours in a large room so loud it's deafening, waiting for terrible food and steaks that are consistently overcooked, tough and tasteless; If you like rude, uncaring service and a manager who is openly hostile to customers; if you don't mind restrooms that reek of urine, well all of that awaits you at the Barnsider! read more

We had a party of 4 on a Sunday evening with out a reservation. We didn't have to wait too long. We enjoyed everything about our meal, the food quality and quantity was generous and tasty. We enjoyed the salad bar included with the meals and will go again! read more

Went out with a group of 5 for my birthday early so no coupon which is fine. Was expecting to have a great meal and great service - got neither. Barnsider had a reputation to beat none and is now declining. Calamari was so overcooked I wouldn't eat it - $18. Wait staff that took our order was nothing short of rude but fortunately the other servers were better. I won't be coming back as I had reserved this restaurant as a great place to go celebrate and now they are less than mediocre. So sad. read more

Here for Easter diner. Over two hour wait for a steak. Horrible don't eat here. Since new ownership its been awful.

The atmosphere is warm and the service is FABULOUS! The food is terrible.... no flavor and nothing spectacular for the price.... SPEAKING OF PRICE..... the price on the menu is less than what is on your bill.... not our fist time visiting but it's been awhile l....we were so disappointed! the crab cake and stuffed mushrooms that we used to live were garbage.... i felt like we ordered food from a Sysco food truck... nothing fresh and no flavor read more

Prompt seating and service . Waitress was friendly and fast. good food for entree with average salad bar. Ambiance is a bit dated but comfortable read more

Salad bar had rotten Tomatoes, and 6 bacon wrapped scallops for $17 wasn't worth the noxious gas following. Chicken Florentine was scorched on the bottom and side of vegetables was so overcooked it was basically mashed. Probably for their target audience. Dated overpriced cafeteria. read more

Disappointed with Restaurant We had a Corporate Event , 11 for dinner. Call ahead with final headcount, but table was set for 10. Waiter had an altitude and insisted we Squeeze an adult on the end. His attitude did not get better Took 20 min and a trip to the hostess to get resolved. Beverages were served fast, but took too long to refill. Waiter was asked for a glass of wine, and we were told we had to wait on the beverage guy.. 15 min later Finally took order and 10 more min to bring it..Really!!. Salad bar was disgusting!! Dirty Not refilled I have been a patron for many years, and was excited to bring my team from All over the US to dinner at The Barnsider". You guys should be ashamed of what has become of your resturant..There are better choices in Albany. Never Again read more

Atmosphere wise, it's not a 10. It looks a little run down but still has some traditional appeal. Family friendly but very expensive. But hey, maybe your wallet can handle a $30 entree per person. The food is very delicious without any problems. They have a quaint salad bar. It's sad that most restaurants these days have gotten rid of salad bars. I like it and it makes it easier on the staff. Focus on my cooked food please, I can handle the rest. I got the chicken Florentine which was delicious. I ate everything and rolled out of there reeling. My absolute favorite part was my Jolly Rancher Martini! Yes! You heard right! Tasted exactly like a Jolly Rancher and I wanted the glass to never be empty. Our waitress was a girl in the beginning, but then ended up with a man. Not sure who we tipped, so we just went basic 20%. I'm a money saver so if we didn't have a gift card we probably wouldn't go here. I'm glad we did though. All these fancy new restaurants focus so much on atmosphere, they miss the mark on food. Cocktails are also pretty important!! I love this place. Maybe if I save up enough to go back. read more

Barnsider - Steakhouses Near Me - Albany, New York

The Barnsider is hands down my favorite steakhouse anywhere (and I have traveled extensive here and abroad). I've read all the other reviews and agree that the salad bar is GREAT, especially in this post COVID world. I see a lot of bad reviews about the steak being tough. I probably cannot comment as I get my steak well done. But considering it is well done, I still believe it is tender and juicy. My wife, son, and I LOVE this place! I actually fly my plane an hour to come here almost every other week; never had a bad meal. Going again tonight ;-) read more

This was our fifth visit to the Barnsider in 2019. This place is big, plenty of seating in the dining rooms and private rooms for parties from 15 to 100. We prefer the comfortable atmosphere of the pub-like Iowa Hawkeye Grille. As usual we sat at the bar after a short wait on a busy evening. We ordered a glass of wine ($7.75) and a draft beer ($5.75) from the bartender, Steve, who has always given us excellent service on previous visits. There is a grille menu from $10-$16 which is the right size for us. Includes appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, soup, salads. You can add the big salad bar for $3. The full restaurant menu is also available. This is a steakhouse - steaks, prime rib, filet mignon, beef Wellington, etc. The bar menu has more chicken & seafood choices. She had the prime top sirloin w/ baked potato & veggies (19.50) and I had the Cajun blackened catfish w/ cole slaw & cornbread ($14.50). Both were hot, as ordered, & excellent. Three wines, two beers, two meals, & one salad bar was $90. w/ tax & tip. A good price for the quality and is fair in comparison to their local independently owned competition. A very pleasant evening of food & drink. Thank you to Steve and the rest of the staff at The Barnsider. See you again, Nick & Liz read more

The whole place is horrible. The food came out of the kitchen COLD. I am not normally one to complain but the staff was horrid. My reservation was for 6:30pm. However I showed up at 6:15pm to get my party together and all that, my party waited to receive a table at 9pm. All the meals came with a salad bar which you would normally think great salad with my meal. However the salad bar was EMPTY I mean there was nothing that even looked like salad ingredients were there. The waiter was slow as they took 20 minutes alone to bring drinks for a party of 5. Oh and don't get me started with prices. Paying $200 for 5 people with small COLD meals is ridiculous. I will never recommend this place to anyone. The only way you should go is if you are willing to waste time and money. read more

The potato was good. The salad bar was excellent. The steak was charred beyond reason. My coworkers steak was the same way. We were both disappointed. I mean, there were people having birthday parties there! I assure you, every place I've been on yelp that has 3 1/2 stars or more has been fine. This place has three stars and that's just too many... read more

Barnsider - Ribeye - Steakhouses Near Me - Albany, New York

went to barnsider sat night my girlfriend order beef wellington med rare after a long wait received well done waiter replaced her meal with a raw peace of filet that was raw by thenshe did not have a appetite been to this restaurant many times very disapointed this time joe r read more

Reminded me of a more expensive Applebee's. Foods not bad but also could have been made at home. The salad bar is still pretty good and they have multiple people serving to you at a time which is nice. read more

Barnsider has an extensive fresh salad bar. The entrees are varied and tasty. The service very good.

Our food was very good! One of our waiters was very arrogant and seemed to be bothered by taking our order. Didn't tell us anything about the salad bar, where it was or that they don't start preparing our food until after we're done with salads. We didn't eat any salad so we waited and waited. We were given a BIRTHDAY COUPON for 1/2 off birthday person and 2nd person. Beware, they don't honor it. They say it's a miss print. Manager came over and could care less if we were happy or not. Customer service skills are lacking there. The place is over crowded and loud. read more

RECOMMENDED On 4/15/17, I dined her with my great brother and sister-in-law who graciously took me to The Barnsider as part of a belated birthday present. The restaurant is set back slightly from busy Wolf Road. There is ample parking. The paneled decor of the restaurant is reminiscent of an Outback. We experienced good service and an efficient kitchen here. The restaurant seated the three of us promptly. I started with an Absolut Vodka Martini. It was good but it was not served in a full-sized martini glass though it commanded the typical downstate price in the teens. This is one of my pet peeves. If you are going to charge me 12-16 bucks, give me a proper glass and make it big and stiff please. No snickers, peeps. We continued with the Salad Bar which was included with the entrees. Others have commented about the salad bar being somewhat less than amazing. However, when you have to literally take out a mortgage to eat at places like Peter Luger where EVERYTHING is a la carte, I'll appreciate the gratis salad bar and just say "thank you". I ordered a 20 ounce Prime Rib which arrived with a baked potato. As is evident by my photo it arrived a perfectly cooked medium rare. It was tender, tasty and so nicely seasoned that I did not need extra salt. It was similar to a Prime Rib that I'd consumed at The Old Homestead in NYC. I enjoyed it very much. The Baked Potato was also nicely cooked. My brother and sister-in law ordered the Top Sirloin and Rack of lamb and pronounced them good. The restaurant features a good and reasonably priced dessert menu with selections such as Chocolate Mousse, White Chocolate Creme Brulee, Key Lime Pie and Deep Fried Ice Cream. We were each too full to consider dessert, however. I enjoyed The Barnsider and recommend that you give it a try. read more

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The Barnsider is one of the best resturants in the area. The location is right down the street from my house, there is tons of parking, and the menu is huge. There is the dining area menu and the bar side menu, both have excellent choices. I take my grandmother here for her birthday very single year, she absolutely loves it. She can be very particular about how her food is cooked and served. The wait staff gives her the special attention she is looking for. She likes the salad bar to be fully stocked...i mean who doesn't. If something is empty, a staff member is sure to fill it right away and brings out fresh bread. She needs her baked potatos to be extra hot, and they make sure she gets it just how she wants it. They even push her chair in for her every time! She can be a handful but they never complain! The waiters work in teams, so sometimes you have different waiters throughout the night, some people complain about this, but honestly i think it makes the service better. The food is always so good. The steaks are obviously one of the best selections on the menu. They have all different cuts, and they cook it just like you ask. I have also sat at the bar on a few different occasions and the drinks are always good, as well as quick service. read more

I don't know who is in charge of reservations but they need better training when it comes to taking reservations. Members of my family made reservations early enough for a birthday dinner at this establishment, tonight. They never answered their phone so my family had to go there in person. They were treated rudely and they left. I'm guessing the food must be as sour and rancid to match the attitudes of the employees, read more

Overrated. Excellent service and nice atmosphere, but food is mediocre. I love vegetables and salad. One reason I wanted to go there is because they have a salad bar. It was beautiful, but salad was plain and the dressing was watered down. Probably the best part of our meal was the rolls and cheese from the salad bar. I ordered a ribeye with the garlic butter sauce. I envisioned a slab of garlicky butter melting over the steak, but it came melted in a soufflé cup. The ribeye was chewy. I was so disappointed. My wife ordered a filet. Ribeye was chewy. Filet was ok. I don't recommend this establishment if you want a really good steak. read more

There were six in our party. Each of us had something different and every meal was outstanding. The salad bar was fresh and the staff very accommodating. read more

The food was very good. The staff were lovely. The disability access in the ladies room was impossible and disgraceful. I could barely get a wheelchair down to the wider stall. I was assisting my 91 year old mother and was forced to perform gymnastics to transfer her safely on the toilet! The bathroom stall that I assume was supposed to be for handicapped access, was very narrow and small. I don't understand how they have not been notified of these problems and fixed them, yet when I spoke with the front desk I was told that I was the first person to ever complain. It makes taking our mothers out more and more difficult when a restaurant does not value each guest enough to have the proper facilities required for comfort and relief!! read more