Albany War Room Tavern — Restaurant in City of Albany

Update: I'm not sure what happened to this restaurant in the three months since I last ate here, but damn the results are shocking. I made 6:45pm reservations for my husband's birthday for a party of 7 through the Open Table app in March of this year. We arrived early to get a drink in the bar before dinner. The drinks were not consistent and definitely not as good as the first time. I will note that bar staff was training, so likely this is the cause.

When it came time to be seated, the dining room was full and the host seemed surprised at our group and wasn't aware of our reservation. We were led up to a third floor which initially seemed kind of neat. Until we realized that it was not heated and the lighting was so dark we couldn't see the menus even seated right next to the windows. When our drink orders were placed, they were taken by the same staffer that was being trained behind the bar when we arrived. She returned with the host to take our dinner orders and it became clear these staffers didn't understand what was on the menu. A couple members of my party tried to order the Sushi & Sashimi meal which is listed on the menu. The staff thought they were ordering two meals each and trying to explain to the staff that no they weren't each ordering the individual sushi and sashimi meals (which would have cost an additional $37 each!) was a joke.

45mins after the order was 'placed' we looked around and realized that none of the drinks had arrived, nor did the appetizers. Another party seated shortly after us was making similar comments about how it was taking. At this point, it was nearing 8pm, everyone was starving and it became clear we would not be eating anytime soon. I consulted with the wait staff and she said the drinks were 'almost ready' and I asked if our food order had even been started. She didn't know. I told her, please tell the kitchen not to bother because we're leaving. On the way out, we ran into the host and another man I think was the owner and again explained we would try back another night but please cancel our order. They offered to comp our drinks, but frankly that was not going to solve the issue at that point. We needed to eat and so we wound up going home and ordering take out sushi.

This is especially frustrating when contrasted with our first experience at the War Room. I just don't understand how the quality and experience here tanked so quickly. Dropping my review to two stars as a result and really hoping whatever issues there are get figured out because it was amazing when it was working.

Original Review: I had dinner with two others here on a Friday night and it was delicious. I had the Lobster roll and my other party members had the sushi dinner. Everything was amazing. The service was great and the space felt very cozy. Will...

Ok let's start with the good: Sushi is excellent. Fish is very fresh and I appreciate the Chef Saso's take on a rainbow roll (I forget, but it was either yellow tail or striped bass instead of crab stick.)

Fried zucchini fritters were delicious and tasty. $18 - a little pricey but appropriate for the rest of the menu's pricing.

That is where the good ended. The bad:

We ordered the fried chicken poutine and lobster roll. The fried chicken poutine was good - the white gravy sauce is excellent. However, it was supposed to come with cheese curds, and it did not. It came with small chunked cheese instead. It also did not come with the "hindquarter" as described on the menu. For $30, we were served a very small amount of chicken breast (see photo.) For this price point, we expected to have a little bit more chicken, appropriately described cheese curds and chicken type, and not a plateful of (what seemed to be) frozen fries - not even fresh cut fries.

Same with the lobster roll – as you can see in the picture, it was a very small amount of lobster that didn't even fill the small bun that it was in. For $34 this is overpriced and not worth ordering. The lobster meat was good and seemed fresh, but I mostly paid for frozen fries and a basic bun. I realize this isn't Maine, where lobster rolls are overflowing for $25, but I also expect that a restaurant charging $34 for a lobster roll would appropriately fill the bun they are using for their roll. And have fresh cut fries. Otherwise I would suggest to the restaurant to use a smaller bun that fills with the amount of lobster meat they are using, or fill the current bun with more lobster meat.

Service was subpar. The waiter we had was kind and nice, but did not check on us at all between serving us food. He also kept forgetting things. I had to ask 3 times for a lemon for my green tea, and he forgot our containers for leftovers when he brought the bill. Then when he brought a container it was the wrong lid that didn't fit the base. Again - guy was nice. But just not a great waiter.

A couple things I didn't bring to the restaurant or servers attention at the time: my napkin (cloth) has crusty food residue/stains on the backside after unrolling. And the soy sauce on the table was empty - we had to grab it off another table for our sushi; I would've told the waiter but he never came by the table again and/or I wasn't able to get his attention until our main meal came.

All in all, If I was going to go back, I'd only go back for the sushi. And that's a maybe, because of the price point. I expect much better quality and accurate menu descriptions for the price point of...

So disappointed with this place. As small business owners in the area my wife and I like to treat our clients who are also small business owners to local places in the area to support the restaurant scene. What did we get at this place? Some quality sushi but probably the worst restaurant service we have ever had to date since doing these traditional business celebratory outings. Want a drink? You had to wait 45 mins to an hour just to get it AND in order to get it you would have to remind your waiter several times that you still haven’t received the drink you ordered. Need your food you ordered also? Make sure to let the restaurant manager know that you haven’t received it after waiting for two hours and finally it will magically appear. Knowledge of the drinks you have at your restaurant? Non existent. It’s unfortunate because honestly the sushi was excellent and the other items were pretty good but the horrible service our table of 6 had to endure out shadowed every good piece of positive we could possibly share about this place. You would think a table spending close to $800 at your establishment for a business outing would be treated at the highest level tier of service but instead we almost felt like our presence was unwanted. We were there for three hours total and it wasn’t because we weren’t enjoying the atmosphere but rather how long we had to wait for our entire orders to be finalized

I regret not talking to the restaurant manager last night while we were there but honestly we just didn’t want to take away from having a good time with our people and it became a running joke with our group with how putrid the service was.

Safe to say for future business get togethers this place is crossed off with a big red marker that says BEWARE and for people that run this location I’d re evaluate your staff if you really would like to be a location people will go out of their way to entertain their guests.

Sad and unfortunate.

EDIT;

After this review was posted and replied to from the owner we reached out to him and he made everything right and then some. I was able to get the same ownership group out from the original dinner and they were beyond impressed. One of the most impressive turnarounds I’ve ever seen from our original experience. Great job to ownership, management, and staff in making this whole messy situation right. This place cares about your experience even if it was the worst case scenario like ours and they will do everything in their power to make sure your experience is top quality as nothing short of excellent is the bar.

Kudos to you albany war room tavern you...