Classic local "dive" bar with that old neighborhood feel. A place for low key drinks with friends.read more

Great place! One of my regular places. Reminds me of one of my college bars back in the mid 1990s…read morewhen I was in school. Kelsey is a fantastic bartender. Love when she is here.

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 was staying at the Renaissance down the street for a conference at the Albany Capital Center. I…read moreneeded a quick dinner before I went to do more work in my room. The City Beer Hall fits the bill. Located on Howard Street, the City Beer Hall has the local hangout vibe for professionals in town like me and locals wanting a beer and a pizza and fun times. The building at one point housed the city's old telephone company, and now is a cool pizza bar joint with a speakeasy that wasn't open when I went. The large room that houses the bar and long communal tables with high ceilings and large windows is like a Biergarten that is works great for happy hours and evening hangouts. Pizza wise, I was pleased with their Hot Honey Pizza that balances sweet, savory, and spicy flavors between its delicious crust, pepperoni, creamy ricotta, tomato sauce, mozzarella, fresh basil, and a lovely drizzle of hot honey. I enjoyed the pizza with a Ommegang Blueberry Falls that was a "Blueberry Kolsch" whose crisp and slightly sweet flavors balanced well against the spicy and savory I was noshing. The only downside was I found the service behind the bar to be a bit slow and distracting from conversations with other customers. I felt I was forgotten until I finally flagged for the check. But overall, the City Beer Hall was a solid experience highlighted by their hot honey pizza.

This place is truly a hidden gem located just steps away from Washington Park. What really stood…read moreout to me was the staff--they were absolutely amazing, welcoming, and kept the entire place incredibly clean and well designed. Combined with the cool upper bar vibe, pool room, and darts, the great service makes this a must-visit spot in the area

After 2 drinks they would not let me in told me I was to drunk absolutely garbage service from bar…read moretender and security most likely letting under age girls no Id

I visited around 5:45 PM and had a disappointing experience. There were only about 15-20 people in…read morethe restaurant, but I still waited around 35 minutes for a waiter. When my food arrived, At 6.40pm the order was wrong, which made the wait even more frustrating. The staff also didn't seem very welcoming. Overall, the service was slow and inattentive despite the restaurant not being busy.

My overall experience was terrible - food, service, and ambiance. I'll never return…read more I entered D&B from the parking lot to watch a sports PPV because it was getting late and the mall would be closed by the end of the PPV. There was a sign about seating, but no one was available to show me a seat. I made my way over to the bar seating where there are TV screens. Behind the bar seating are some booths. The first thing I experienced was the horrendously loud noise from all the gaming machines. Next, there were very few customers at the bar or using the booths. The customers at the bar were more interested in each other than anything on the screens. The barmaid was at the far end of the bar yukking it up with some guy who probably was her boyfriend and I was ignored. Finally, I went up to someone who worked there and was told something about a basketball game being on and the PPV will start after the game. Total bullsh*t. Another employee got a remote and found the PPV and put it on two screens. The barmaid eventually came over and seemed disturbed that she had to take my order. She soon disappeared again and didn't ask me anything about how I liked the food or whether I wanted a refill (soft drink) until I was about ready to leave. Now it's close to midnight, and the bar area booths got swamped with little kids who just finished with the games. What normal parents bring their little kids to a bar near midnight when they should be in bed sleeping? I was glad the PPV was over and I couldn't leave fast enough.

I hired Rick to move a pool table from a home about 1 1/2 hours away, transport it to my house,…read morereassemble it, and install new felt. About two weeks before the move, I selected Dark Green (#32) after Rick sent us a color swatch from Championship Billiard Fabric. I also said I would confirm that color with my husband. On the morning of the move, I texted Rick to confirm that he was still able to bring the Dark Green (#32) because that was the color that we decided on. Rick replied, "Got it!" When he arrived, my husband noticed the felt package was actually Accuplay English Green, not the Dark Green (#32) we had agreed on. When I pointed this out, Rick immediately became angry and started yelling. He claimed, "You texted me this morning and that's what I had in the truck," even though he texted back the two words GOT IT when I asked if he had that Dark Green 32. He also complained that he had driven an hour and a half, despite the travel being part of the job we had hired and paid him for. Then he insisted it was "the same color, just a different company," but it clearly was not. What shocked me most was how quickly the situation escalated. In a matter of seconds, he went from a normal conversation to screaming and issuing ultimatums. His emotional self-control reminded me of a five-year-old throwing a tantrum rather than a professional contractor trying to resolve a customer concern. He then said, "Give me $1,000 (of the $1,900 we owed him) and you can get someone else to finish the job." I have never experienced such unprofessional behavior from someone providing a service. He also accused my husband of "hovering" and interfering with his work. In reality, my husband simply asked that the table be centered on the carpet. Rick himself asked if the placement looked correct, and my husband moved it about a quarter of an inch so it would be perfectly positioned. That was the extent of his involvement. At that point, I just wanted the job completed, so I reluctantly agreed to keep the felt he brought, even though it was a different brand than the color chart he showed us and, more importantly, a different color than the Dark Green (#32) we had selected two weeks earlier and confirmed again the morning of the move. Unfortunately, the problems didn't end there. In addition to installing the wrong color felt, several pocket nails were missing, the table is 1/4" out of level (even though Rick claims he levels it as he builds it), and the rubber bumpers were not aligned evenly with the wood rails. And after Rick left my husband used a rubber mallet to align the uneven bumpers. For the record, I purchased this pool table from the original owner, and I am only the second owner. The previous owner had bought this table 30 years ago new and kept it in pristine condition. Rick was the only person who disassembled it and then reassembled it. If the missing pocket nails weren't there after the installation, they went missing during the move or reassembly. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Rick. His communication, professionalism, and workmanship all fell well below my expectations. Looking back, I wish I had paid more attention to his previous negative reviews because my experience was very similar.

The owner Rick is an idiot. Doesn't know what he's doing and acts like a child when he can't figure…read moresomething out. He got so frustrated he had to quit assembling my pool table because he couldn't fight how to unscrew the bumpers from the rails. It's probably a good thing he left, because he was about to be thrown out. After he left, I noticed he damaged the slate and simply drove screws into pieces instead of putting it together properly. I've spent the last couple hours undoing evening he did, so I can put the table together right.

Ambiance food and service. The bar tenders are great. Food is delish and plenty of it.read more

What a great find! Great food, very friendly staff! Must have a great reputation because it was…read morereally busy. We sat at the bar so we didn't have to wait for a table. The bartender was awesome and earned a large tip from us. Both of our sandwiches were enormous and neither one of us was able to finish it. Delicious! Looking forward to the next time we are in the area.

My friends and I started going to Uncle Sam's every Wednesday night this spring semester and the…read moreoccasional Sunday night. You can't beat the deals. It's gotta be the cheapest bowling around ($1 games and shoes and $6 pitchers of Busch). That being said, it's certainly not the fanciest place around, but when it comes to bowling, I prefer the homelyness. They do the lanes and rebuild the machines every summer, so it's fairly well kept up. There's a snack bar in the middle with great deal prices and a full bar by the door in a separate room from the lanes. Food wasn't anything special, just super cheap, greasy snacks, but that's all I would ever get at a bowling alley. Great regular staff, except for one dark-haired bartender on a Sunday that looked like she would rather be anywhere but there. The blond bartender with the short hair is great and she's usually there at least on Wednesdays. The older man (I want to guess the owner) who works Sunday is also very friendly and helpful and even offered us a free pitcher if we came the next Sunday and we weren't even regulars yet. Patronage was a large variety from kids, high schoolers, college students and middle aged folk. It can get a little crowded at times, but the only time we've been turned away was when there was a tournament going on that we had to wait til was finished, which meant drinking and playing pool at the bar. Bottom line: Don't expect anything super nice; if you're fine with inexpensive items that are well priced, you'll have a great time. I will continue to return.

There was no one fucking working. Someone had to hunt down an employee because there was only one…read moredude there and they don't pay attention to people coming in and out. The place was meh and the people were just a bit odd. Sketchy location and definitely not a place I'd go back to. If no one's at the counter when we have to pay for over ten minutes should we even have to pay?!?