RE review time kids! Here it is,Tuesday,the second Monday…read moreof the week. I'm shot from the screw show of the day and the bride is right there with me! We decided to take the short walk here for a few reasons, great beer and cider selection, always good service and.......taco Tuesday!! We found ourselves a table and were promptly greeted by our waitress,and placed our order for adult beverages. While waiting we cruised the menu, already knowing what we wanted (ehh never hurts to look!). Drinks delivered,I scratched our name on the pool table chalk board. Before you could say"rack-em!" Our dinner has arrived! The bride pulled the trigger on 2 chicken,1 beef and one fish tacos. I ran with 2 chicken and 2 beef. Along with an order of loaded fries to share. Great chow for sure! Man what a excellent way to end a craptastic day!

Good little local bar serving up a nice mix of beers on tap, plus a simple bar food menu w really…read moregreat wings. Nice staff. All around great joint.

We revisited one of our favorite places on Sat May 14, 2033 5:15pm. The Hill at Musa is a friendly,…read morecomfortable spot. It's a year=round terrace garden w/ outdoor & indoor dining above the Muza restaurant, Think Polish beer garden. Both offer "handmade European food". The Hill offers a fine selection of Polish beers, on draft & in cans, & wines. I recommend the Zywiec Lager Beer on tap($8). The menu is limited but the apps are generous and can be shared w/ many as a meal. We had Zapiekankis - a sliced in half, baked baguette w/ Kielbasa & pickles ($15) and another one cherry tomatoes($14). Both are unique & excellent. We took home one half of each. They also offer 4 sandwiches and a great meat & cheese platter. Food & two drinks each was $70 w/ tax. The service from Chris W. was great. Reservations are encouraged. You can book online. When the sun is out this place is busy. We were lucky this visit. Thank you to all. It was a great visit. Nick & Liz, Albany, NY HOURS Thursday - Friday 5pm -- 10pm Last Seating 845pm. Kitchen Closes 9pm. Saturday 12pm -- 10pm Last Seating 845pm. Kitchen Closes 9pm. Sunday 11am -- 4pm Last Seating 245pm. Kitchen Closes 3pm. BRUNCH Weekend Brunch offered on Saturday and Sunday mornings! Book a table! p.s. street parking only w/ a public lot a couple of blocks nearby.

We loved the look of this place. It has this really cool garden vibe. The inside was really nice…read moreas well. The staff was so great. The bartender gave great suggestions. I had a black currant margarita and it was great. We also mixed a lambic beer and another honey beer on the bar tenders suggestion and it was great. The food was a little lack luster. We had the pretzel bites , chicken schnitzel, and pierogis. I think if they had a little more flavor they'd be better. I would definitely come here again but probably just for a drink. Come for the super friendly staff and the cool vibes!

I've been here once every time they rotate their drink menu to try their seasonal menu, so at least…read more10 times now. They've got the best drinks in all of Albany hands down. My best friend and I have wandered NYC, Pitt, Philly for cocktails before we settled our lives in Albany and Savoy takes us back to the good old days. We come here to catch up and just have a good night. Lots of other locals too and bartenders are great. Their food is pretty banging too -- caesar salad with ANCHOVIES, delicious burgers and fries to satisfy my fries craving. Street corn. Bacon jams. Brussel sprouts. Yum yum yum. If you're just visiting Albany and need a place to stop by for a good night, highly recommend!

Pretty uncrowded before 7 PM. Definitely picks up the later you go in the evening. We were able to…read moreget a table easy. But the tables were practically all full when we left. Good menu with plenty of options. And the portions are large. Not incredible, not bad. Just some middle-of-the-road tasty food. The service is...not great. Unfortunately, I think they were understaffed? After we ordered, we didn't really see our server again until it was time to get the check and leave. Has a nice dive-y feel to it. Chill vibe. Definitely a decent spot to spend an evening.

Backstage Pub came highly recommended by so many friends, and I can't believe it took me so long to…read morevisit! Since my first experience, I've returned several times over the past year, and each visit has been consistently excellent. The cocktail menu is outstanding, with a great selection of creative drinks. Their espresso martinis have become a favorite for my friends and me during our girls' nights out. The food is just as impressive--the appetizers and entrées are rich, comforting, and full of flavor, with plenty of indulgent, cheesy options that never disappoint. One of my favorite places to dine is the Library at Backstage Pub. It offers a warm, inviting atmosphere that makes every visit feel special. A special thank you to Terry and the wonderful staff for their exceptional hospitality and consistently providing such a memorable dining experience. I always look forward to coming back.

I've had this place bookmarked for awhile and finally decided to give it a try. One of the reasons…read moreI kept putting it off was because I thought the menu didn't look much different from the typical pub fare in the area. But after eating there I found they have curated their own unique versions of the classics. We started with an order of 3's company wings which was a mixture of buffalo, garlic parm, and lemon pepper sauces. The sauce was pretty good but I like my wings crispy and these were not. For dinner I got the Backstage burger and upgraded to poutine fries. Now I'm not the biggest fan of a traditional poutine but I wanted to try it anyway because it looked good. The burger was cooked perfectly and the beef they use is very good. The poutine fries were enormous and apparently only half the size of a full order. If you like poutine you'll probably be into them but I thought the gravy was a little thick and not that flavorful and the cheese curds didn't melt as much as I would have liked. The real sleeper hit though was the Mac & Cheese. I wasn't expecting anything special and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely would come back for that. When we showed up it wasn't too busy but they were full by the time we left and I got the feeling that reservations are preferred.

I came here as my first ever bar after turning 21. Didn't know what to order and had my friends…read more order for me. Came here again with another friend and order a drink for myself. I love the ambiance, it's very quiet but also cozy for a bar. Able to have conversation without there being awkwardness.

Recently came to the Lark Street Tavern for a comedy show and had a great experience. We started…read moreoff with drink which we enjoyed very much. I ordered an espresso martini which was made exactly how I like, and my friend ordered the watermelon martini which was refreshing. We ordered the garlic parm fries which were made fresh but a little on the salty side. They have a nice space in the back for open mics and comedy shows. I do recommend getting there early to snag a good seat. The bathrooms in this establishment were also very clean, which is rare to find at a dive bar!

Loved the manager and the server. Came on date night…read more We were chatting about going to the wine store down the street but realized they were closed. the manager actually ran over and asked the wine store to stay open a bit longer so we could go pick out a bottle. Great service and well informed servers who are very accommodating!

Gina is amazing! The drinks are good. Great customer service, very informative about drinks. Place…read morealso connected to a bunch of other Definitely plan on coming back when in town!

Boyfriend and I were in Albany NY for one night - he wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory, but the…read morewait is apparently typically long on a weekend night (I have no idea - never been there!) so we decided not to chance it, and uber'ed from our hotel to this restaurant, hoping it would be good. I'll be honest - my heart sank as we got there, I almost cried. The neighborhood is *sketch*. The outside of the restaurant didn't look like much - but I felt better once we got in. Beautifully decorated with great lighting, lounge-style atmosphere. Great Latin music. We sat on the bar side as it was less busy. Beautiful bar with lots of options! Bartender made us **amazing** margaritas... omg were they strong! Loved it! Since we had never been there before, we played it safe. First we went with a fried calamari appetizer - not the best, but not bad - but then it's not typically something you'd order at a Mexican food restaurant. Boyfriend had the street steak tacos as main - hold the cheese as he forgot his lactaid, lol - and I had the steak quesadilla. Delicious! We loved it. The steak was especially well seasoned, not overcooked and sides were yummy. We ended the evening with churros - definitely homemade and on par with the ones we love at El Mirador in NH. Boyfriend even took his life in his hands and had some of the ice cream, couldn't resist - it was that good! Overall, as Boyfriend put it - this is absolutely a hidden gem type of spot - service was spectacular, food was delicious and we would totally return! (**Seated next to us were two young women on an obvious first date - girl #1 showed up, then girl #2 showed up a few minutes later with a big bouquet of flowers... what a nice touch! We just wanted to put it out in the universe - we hope you guys make it, you were super cute :)**)

I wanted to give L'Roca five stars because it has so much going for it including a charming staff…read morebut on our particular visit, service was extremely slow. There's also an irony here, because this is the only Capital Region restaurant I've encountered that adds a service charge to the bill of between 15- 20 percent. I'm assuming this is a new practice because service charges-- which are common in cities like Miami-- are not mentioned in any of the previous Yelp reviews for L'Roca. This Latin-American restaurant has been open for about a year. When I looked online, the general explanation for service charges is that restaurants collect these fees to offset operational costs and management has the option to put a portion of the fees towards tips for staff but they don't have to. I asked the servers if that was true and they said yes. So for a meal that basically cost about $60, there was an addition service charge of over $12 and since it appears that only part of it will go towards tips, I paid an additional $10 in hopes that the staff could get a decent tip and with tax my whole meal cost over $90. That was a bit of a surprise. On the bright side, loved the light up menus and the food is great. My friend loved his steak and side dishes. I thought the fried green plantains were especially delicious. I liked the pigeon peas and stew,too. It was a Friday night and I'm glad they were busy but the wait for everything and anything was long. We were shown a table in the back because the seating in the front of the restaurant was almost full. I wasn't upset when it took a while for a server come back to take our orders. But there was also a wait of more than a half hour--perhaps as much as 40 minutes--before the food was served which was unfortunate because my friend was very hungry. The great sound system helped us pass the time. There's even a jukebox. With the dim lighting and the pretty decor, the back room had the feel of a nightclub. We ordered dessert to go but even getting the slice of very good tres leches cake took an additional fifteen minute wait. The kitchen may have been overwhelmed. The two or three servers were at times distracted. They got into conversations together and the bartender had to remind them that customers were waiting to be seated. I saw no apparent manager on duty. I would like to return because I hope the problems are an aberration. Other reviews indicate some service issues but nothing as we experienced. With talented chefs and a friendly staff, I wish them success. I also wish they'd lose the service charges and improve time management.

I stayed one night at the Renaissance because I was overnighting in Albany and it looked close to…read moreCity Beer Hall which looked good on Yelp. Well that's a confusing sentence. I walked the half block from my hotel room and saw the lighted sign on the building drawing be to City Beer Hall. The bar is old school wood, long tables, and people generally having a good time. I was alone so chose the bar for sitting because that is more convenient for me and the wait staff. The beer menu was long with a few regionals new to me. Too many sours though for my taste, but those are popular now. I am not going to talk about the beers available because those will surely change by the time you read this. I ordered a beer and checked out the food menu. There were some good looking items on the menu, I really wanted a good pizza after my earlier airport pizza debacle, but a whole pizza was too much for one guy. I discussed the food choices with my friendly bartender and settled on the chicken nuggets and a side of fries. The nuggets are hard breaded from thighs and pretty good. The fries were crispy, well seasoned, and overly abundant. Overall the meal was great! It was Thursday night and they had a trivia-like game that was related to Family Feud so I played that. Might have stayed a little later than I should have but the beer was good. I was looking at the beer refrigerator and saw Fiddlehead IPA and asked my bartender about it. He was not really keen on it but that is the best beer they had there, but that is one really good beer. Later I notice that was the beer they were giving you if you ordered the $8 beer and a shot, which is an excellent value! There was some kind of drama this night. There was a lady who first tried to order Jager Bombs for her table and the bartender told her sorry we don't do those so she ordered Tito's shots instead. Well this ended about how you would expect with her losing a credit card and blaming everyone in sight for her problems. The bartender and manager were S-tier professionals managing her and keeping the food and beer flowing to the rest of us. Guys, thank you for your service! If you are in downtown Albany and you are hungry or thirsty hit up the City Beer Hall.

I'm conflicted about this review but, here goes: upon entering the restaurant it smelled "dirty"…read moreand it was, in fact, pretty dirty. There was dust collected around on windowsills and walls throughout the restaurant. The while building was run-down. The employees were mostly indifferent except the food runner-he was pleasant. The food, however, was fabulous! The meatball sub had delicious bread. The wings were crispy and flavorful. The veggie burger and hot honey pizza were also very tasty. I had to overlook the cleanliness and hope the kitchen had higher standards!