Craft — Restaurant in City of Binghamton

The short: The milkshake flavor was good. All the rest; we were less than impressed. Not somewhere I'd likely go again any time soon.

The long version: We (2 adults) decided to give this place a try after seeing a Facebook post about their fabulous looking milkshakes. Monday 1pm, they weren't super busy but had about 4 other tables of 2 to 4 occupied.

The food wasn't great but the Apple Crisp milkshake had a great flavor. We ordered beer battered chicken fingers (they were over cooked and dry, otherwise had a good flavor), crispy chix slider (same over cooked chicken as the chicken fingers), and totchos with the toppings on the side (they definitely weren't anything special, even with everything on them. There's no Cajun to these tots.)

The most disappointing was the lack of service/customer service from the moment we walked in. On the outside it looks like a hip or trendy place to eat. Their ad drew us in.

It's very rare that we walk into a restaurant and feel as if we aren't welcome or business isn't wanted. Unfortunately, today was one of those days.

The look of the place created a good upbeat feel. I expected to be greeted when we walked in the door with a friendly smile, maybe a "Hey! Welcome, we'll be with you in a minute." Instead, I'm not sure either of the girls behind the bar really looked our way. They knew we walked in but didn't acknowledge us. Even once we sat down at a table, it was a good 10 minutes before they came over to even acknowledge us.

They finally walked our way but only to take drinks to the table across from us, away and back again to take their order, away and back again with milkshakes to the two tables around us, away andback again to bring food out to a table... all the while not even acknowledging we were there. Nothing.

Finally a waitress comes out with water and asks if we wanted other drinks (we didn't) and tried to quickly walk away without asking to take our order.

Overall, the lack of eye contact, a smile, or a greeting... etc... was enough to turn us off. Combine all of it with over priced bar food that wasn't great, and it's hot somewhere I'd recommend. Definitely not what I expected of this place. Quite...

$$. This is a small bar/contemporary restaurant on Washington Street in downtown Binghamton. Decent selection of craft beers/hard ciders on tap with a simple menu focusing on sliders, shakes, and salads and the inclusion of a few appetizers and wings.

Our visit occured during late lunch hours. The restaurant was busy, but the staff was friendly and attentive and the wait times between ordering and being served were short.

We focused on the slider selection on this visit. The menu structure allows for any number of 3 ounce sliders to be ordered individually with the ability to add a side for a little extra, be it chips, fries, tots, or a side salad. I ordered two sliders (Pulled pork and crispy chix) with a side of fries. While the sliders were appetizing, for the size and price I honestly expected better. The pulled pork was good enough but was a little dry and lacked the flavor one would expect from "20 hour braised pork." The crispy chicken slider was just a chicken tender neatly wrapped between the rest of the slider ingredients and was good, but underwhelming. At the end of the meal I felt that wasn't quite enough for my appetite and a third slider probably would have been enough to compare to a standard burger and fries from most other sit-down restaurants.

And that leads to price. At $4 for a single basic slider (there are also specialty sliders for $6) a full meal with sliders pushes a bit into the pricey category for what you get, which would be okay if the sliders had a wow factor, but sadly these ones didn't. I cannot speak for any of the other menu items without having tried them, but a lot of patrons rave about the milkshakes (which you can order spiked with alcohol at $12 a shake) and the wings are priced on par with most other establishments, so that's good.

Overall, I will likely give Craft another shot, and try a few other sliders, a salad and perhaps a milkshake next time (as long as I'm not driving). But although the service was good, sadly this time the food and cost fell short...

You know this is a collegetown type of place when the menu is solely available by scanning a QR code on the table. But I found it strange that there's absolutely no non-alcoholic drinks listed anywhere on that menu. I'm usually fine with water anyway, but it just seems like a basic feature that's lacking.

As far as the food, it was touch and go. Like another reviewer said, it is a bit like rolling the dice. Nothing was bad, per se, but I found extremes between mindblowingly amazing and "this is all bun" kind of flavor.

So let's start with the best. The sushi slider.

It's a little messy, so prepare for some fall-out, but the flavor was perfect. The soy marinade on the ahi tuna paired perfectly with the tangy pickled slaw and bun, which was like a fried rice tater tot. Crispy yet creamy and starchy. It was a match made in heaven, and I would happily go there just to order that again.

The Unicorn shake was also great. Blended perfectly with a nice creamy strawberry flavor. And all the pizzazz of those stylish overfilled shakes but, thankfully, that top was just whipped cream so it was not a mess at all. We did not try it spiked, but they have those options, too, if you're interested. But do note that some people might consider these shakes a meal in themselves! It's a lot.

Now for the "meh"... Basically all other sliders I tried on a bun, which were the Social Slider and the Grilled Shroom Slider.

The amount of filling made it so the entire slider was fully overwhelmed by the bun. All I could taste was bun, with a hint of filling. Having tried the sushi one first, these came as a major disappointment. So considering ALL of their sliders except the sushi one has the same normal bun, I'm skeptical that I won't be disappointed coming back to try more.

If you're coming here for the milkshakes, craft beer, or the sushi slider, you'll love it. Otherwise, it just seems a bit "meh". If I didn't absolutely love the sushi slider this would have easily...