Downtown Social — Restaurant in City of Glens Falls

I've developed a love/hate relationship with this restaurant over the last couple of years. First, let me say that I've never had a bad meal here. Truly an A+ kitchen crew. I've tried a variety of different food from their menu. Everything has been excellent. From the pizza to the steak sandwiches, it's all well worth the asking price. The various steak sandwiches especially are great. Whoever they have cooking their beef tips and shaved sirloin is a load-bearing pillar of this establishment. I'm also very fond of the fact that they offer a reasonable uncharge to make any starter, be it wings or a quesodilla a meal. That's a deal that more restaurants should embrace. I love that I can get some wings, fries, and a 20oz beer as a meal without having to pay through the nose for a side of fries.

I feel the need to stress how consistently good the food is. I want the kitchen staff to know I'm not coming after them with this review. You all are doing a great job, and your menu is excellent. Truly.

That said, the wait staff is comically horrendous. The service absolutely terrible. Every. Single. Time. It doesn't matter if it's slow, swamped, or in-between. It's always exceptionally bad, and it's honestly gotten noticeably worse over the last year. This not a one time experience. I gave them the benefit of the doubt the first couple of times. I assumed maybe it was just an off night or someone had called out. No, the servers are consistently lazy. Bold to say, I know but hear me out. After the first handful of times my wife and I had awful servers I decided to start counting the staff and watching them. More often than not the girls waiting tables are at the hostess stand or the corner of the bar socializing with each other. In my most recent visit it took a half hour just to get a beer AND that only happened because management picked up the slack and took our drink order for us. Our waitress? Lingering at the bar, only coming to check my table until I watch the manager speak to her. That should've been the end of it, but no, she disappeared (not really I could see her flirting with bus boys) for another half hour and for the second time the manager approached us and took (and later had to deliver) our appetizer order. All in all we were stuck there for nearly two hours. For a two top. I counted two bus boys, 4 servers, 2 bar tenders, and 1 manager on the floor.

This is not an isolated experience. This has been the norm for Downtown Social over the past year. Except half the time, there isn't a manager available to pick up the slack and scold lazy servers. Normally, I see the servers disappeared into a side closet for 15 minutes to a half our at a time with the bus boys. Or just shoot the shit with bartenders instead of checking on tables. This has happened dozens of times.

So why do I keep going back? Well, the food is reasonably priced, and it's excellent. It has been good enough that I can overlook the laughably bad service just to get my favorite entrée. It's been over a year of "maybe this time won't be so bad" only for it to be as bad or worse, and I'm at my wits end.

In short, the food is great. But expect to be stuck there for 2 hours with little attention from the staff. I wish I was exaggerating but after giving them the benefit of the doubt once or twice a month for going on two years, I'm giving up. I'll go to the sister...

So difficult when a business simply fails on so many levels you don't know where to begin. Let's just summarize, oh nevermind, here is the whole experience...greeted and seated right away, no wait on a Friday evening. This was the best part of the experience. Our first visit...btw. We waited about 10 minutes after being seated...no wait staff greeting, no wait staff acknowledged we were there. The table of four next to us had been seated ahead of us and they got up and walked out the door, never to be served or seen again. At the time we did not know why, but after being ignored ourselves for 10 minutes we assumed they too were ignored. We got up and decided to go to the bar. We were immediately acknowledged as there were only 6 people currently at the bar with three staff members behind. We ordered drinks and food right away as we had plenty of time prior to review the menu. Then the experience went farther downhill. The house chardonnay was warm. A can of beer however was a perfect temp. So only my wife was disappointed with the beverages! One of the staff members behind the bar was very loud, used "F" word loudly in speaking to guests, was seen taking shots, and even taking hits off of a vape of one of the guests. This staff member, while indeed was the one who took our initial order promptly, never in 40 minutes again acknowledged we were there or asked us if we needed anything. Another staff member, when asked ended up getting us various items throughout our meal. The meals (a personal pizza and a chicken parm sub) came out within 15 minutes which was good for a Friday evening during dinner hours, but the sub was to come with a side and did not, we had to ask again for it. The server delivering the food never inquired if we needed anything future, nor did the bar staff. The food itself was, at best, easy to forget. The pizza thin crust had little cheese for a margarita pizza, and lacked any real flavor. The chicken parm sub, of substantial size, was severely lacking any memorable flavor, was lean on the sauce, and served on a dried out sub roll. The original bar staff member was the "entertainment". This person was loud, making inappropriate comments to guests, appeared to be only concerned with certain "target" new guests who would catch his eye, and sweated profusely, so much so he would be wiping visible sweat back every few moments onto a rag over his neck. Mind you, the bar was of a very comfortable temperature and was not busy. We felt bad for the remaining bar staff as they seemed to attend to everything the primary bartender seemed to want to ignore. As I noted, this was our first visit, but unfortunately was also our last. If you want flavorful food and a modestly attentive staff experience, our recommendation would be to step 6 steps across the alley and dine with...

Biggest sore eye in town. All summer gangs of people circling the building. Drinking outside, smoking in non smoking areas. Music blaring outside till 1:30 am. Police there every weekend. Fights, drunks throwing bottles and cans. Serving till they are drunk and start fights on street. I find their behavior is rude to the other businesses, and tenants that are close by. This is a nice welcoming town, the "Social" does not belong in the center of "Glens Falls". Well....review #2 Last night 1:30 a.m. Door opens....and the drunks are on the loose. Yelling, screaming, drunk, staggering on the sidewalk. Music loud and 10-11pm the NYS tenant manual states that tenants paying rent have the right to quiet time, it is a violation of a tenants right. I would love the owner to hang around on a Friday or Saturday night. Park your expensive vehicles right out front. Get to witness it first hand. You'd be embarrassed. This is "GLENS FALLS HOMETOWN USA " NOT SOME STRIP WITH LOUD BARS AND LOUD MUSIC. The kicker is, walking your dog on a nice beautiful morning and have to walk around vomit, condoms, needles, drinks that have been thrown, cups and cigarette butts all over . A petition needs to go around. These police officers of Glens Falls are not baby sitters. They are called almost every weekend. They should not have to deal with the drunks that come out of your bar. Why don't you, your wife and kids hang out there some weekend, ya know, family night. Let me know how it goes. The mayor has dealt with this and attorney General is next. Her name us on front page of tenants rights manual. Onwards........ 1:13 am. Another fun Friday night at the SOCIAL....since 10pm yelling, screaming, loud, drunk, fighting. Three Glens Falls Police called. Took a drunk off in handcuffs, obviously served him to much to drink. All that place cares about is $$$$$$$$$$. Next batch of drunks will be coming out in 10 min. The noise, the loudness, has kept me up since 10pm. I am a tenant and will be exercising my rights. Not many in town are fond of the place. They over serve till everyone is drunk. No reason for that place to be open till 1:30 am. No other place is in town. Now the motorcycles are revving their engines, loud, and skid away. What a disgrace to...