Bookmakers Restaurant and Lounge — Restaurant in City of Saratoga Springs

I'm giving Bookmakers 3 out of 5 stars. I took my mother out to dinner for her birthday tonight. She's a very picky eater, so after exploring all the options, we settled on Bookmakers.

I made several attempts to call to make a reservation to no avail, until I called the hotel front desk, where a very friendly woman took my reservation. When we arrived, I was unsure that we were even at the right place because the restaurant was more or less empty. However, we were promptly seated by a very friendly waitress.

After we were seated, several other tables were sat shortly after us, at which point it became evident that the waitress, who was new, was the only one working the dining room. I ordered the Reuben Chowder, and my mother got the Irish poutine; both were delicious. We both ordered the chicken Bruschetta, hers without parmesan. They both came out without parmesan or the white wine butter sauce. We sent them back to get sauced, and when they came back, they were fine (though I still didn't have parm). Personally, I would have preferred more than a sprinkle of basil on a Bruschetta dish, but my mother loved it. For dessert, she got the chocolate cake, and I got the banana bread waffle sundae. The chocolate cake was good, but the banana bread waffle was dry.

The bartender was helping out as he could, and the person I assume was the manager on duty was running food. Everyone was very apologetic for how the night was going, but I don't think it was fair to have someone new working the dining room alone on the Saratoga restaurant week Friday night. Our drinks for the night were comped for the inconvenience, which was appreciated, and we tipped 20% on what the bill would have been with the drinks. I'm giving 3 out of 5 stars instead of 2 because of how we were treated, but it's unfortunate because restaurant week is supposed to be for local businesses to showcase their products to gain new repeat customers. After tonight, I don't plan on returning to Bookmakers.

As a side note, there was something weird happening the lighting. One minute very its bright the next kinda dark. If there's a problem with the lighting they might wanna have an electrician...

My boyfriend and I were excited to come here for Saratoga Restaurant week. He had never been before and I have been in the past and it has been very enjoyable. Tonight they only had one person seating and serving and I felt bad for her. She was clearly new and was given little to no assistance. People who were seated after us got waited on before us and received their food first. We waited 20 minutes at our table before we even got our order taken or a glass of water. Then we waited another 30 or so minutes after our appetizers before our entrees came out. My entree came and the pasta was supposed to have a white wine butter sauce. It came out dry with a chicken breast on top. Then we asked for our desserts to go and the check. They brought it out on regular plates without the check so we had to ask again. Then they told us they were out of one of the desserts we ordered at the beginning of our meal. Which is something that should have been told to us before. This was not even worth the restaurant week cost of $35 a person. Overall, it took us over an hour and half to have a simple dinner. If you don’t have the help, then don’t participate in Saratoga Restaurant week. Also, the server was clearly overwhelmed, yet they continued to seat tables. That wasn’t the best idea. All of this on top of the fact that the lights clearly weren’t working and kept going on and off. This establishment did not set up their staff for success. I used to work in the restaurant industry and I just feel bad for the staff here. I will definitely not be coming back...

3 different menus and 3 different sets of prices. the pamphlet menu out front has the lowest prices and offers items not within the paper menu handed to you after youre seated. when the bill is brought to you, there is another set of prices that dont match the pamphlet out front or the paper one. there is also a 4th price list that a customer posted in google photos under the menu category. when asking the manager about this, we were told that its all handled by corporate and nothing could be changed. we were charged the higher prices. $19 for a basic hamburger with no addons. $18 for broccoli pasta with no sauce and only light broccoli sprinkles. the paper menu handed to you after being seated is printed in a font size so small that its near impossible to read unless you have good vision. its as deceptive as the hotel which the restaurant is located in. hotel account has flooded their review pictures with unrelated photos in the hopes of burring actual customer photos of the poorly kept building with unreliable elevators, uncleaned old carpeted floors, and hallways lined with multiple linen carts at all hours, both...