Daley's on Yates — Restaurant in City of Schenectady

I went to Daley's for dinner on a Friday night. It was a snowy night and the restaurant was fairly empty at 7pm. The decor is lovely. Dim lighting, comfortable seats and the firepits were burning outside creating a nice cozy glow through the windows. I was excited to eat here because there were so many gluten aware options. There were 4 people in my party and I was the only one with a food allergy ( gluten). We ordered a round of drinks and I placed an order for the baked brie for the table which was available with gf bread. I made sure to specify when I ordered that it was to be prepared gf. The waiter was like..."no prob, I got you". When the brie came out, I noticed the bread didn't look gf. As someone who has been gluten free for almost 20 years, I'm very aware of what gf bread looks like. I asked the person who brought it to the table (the manager, i think) if she could confirm if it was gf and she immediately said...oops, no it's definitely not. They took it away and prepared a new one with gf bread. When they brought the new one to the table the cheese was not at all melted which is sort of the whole point of dipping the bread into the melted cheese. After asking them to heat it up again, the manager apologized and offered to take the brie off of the bill Entrees were ordered prior to this and we waited and waited and waited... around 30 minutes. The restaurant was literally 3/4 empty. The kitchen was not that busy. There seemed to be a bit of an issue with our dishes coming out of the kitchen in a timely manner. The nachos and the chicken parm that my friend's ordered were sitting up there for at least fifteen minutes. The chicken was hot but the pasta under it was cold and the nachos were soggy after sitting so long. I ordered a crab cake and my friend ordered the scallops and both of those were fine. We didn't complain about any of the entrees because at that point we were just frustrated by the mistakes.

The waiter apologized about the brie and further offered that the next round of drinks would be on the house.However, we were not intending on drinking anymore. So instead of comping the drinks that we had already ordered he just didn't do anything and brought us the bill After we received the bill, we spoke to the manager and she did take the round of drinks off the bill as well as the brie. I appreciate that they attempted to make the situation right, but if you're going to offer gluten free options , you should really be well versed on how to serve them properly and safely. I'm not sure if they were just having an off night due to the snow storm but i'm really reluctant to come back again. Overall, it was a disappointing...

Our friends asked us to join them for their anniversary dinner @ Dalys on Friday evening. The restaurant was extremely busy, which is always a good sign. We did not have a reservation and we were surprised and appreciative when we were seated promptly. Our server Kevin appeared busy but approached us promptly and while he was polite and professional, he looked a bit stressed. He took our drink order and returned a couple of minutes later to explain it would just be a few more minutes before he returned with our drinks but wanted to inform us of the specials. We could see how busy it was so it seemed like the reasonable course of action. But it didn't take long before we realized the source of his stress and then that, unfortunately, became the focus of the entirety of our dining experience.

While our food did take an extended amount of time, when it came it was delicious. Besides, we had dinner and a show. We were surrounded by large groups of people who were rude and unruly and potentially had too much to drink. Two different groups of people appeared to be engaging each other in bad behavior, inciting hysteria and treating our server Kevin rude and disrespectfully. It was a full mob mentality and, had i owned the place, I would have asked both groups to leave. Fortunately for us, after about an hour straight of harassing the server and other various staff, they all left. But not before creating one last bit of chaos on their way out, trying to incite rage in other diners as they passed by.

To be honest, we were expecting a more "intimate" experience and the place was packed with large groups of people, which I think takes away from the overall experience. If I had come there with just my husband for a casual dinner, I would have felt completely overwhelmed by the disruptive groups of people. And I don't know what makes customers think they can treat the staff the way they did, but it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of other diners. Instead of walking away focusing on our great food, drinks and service, I can only focus on how terribly myself and my dinner mates felt for our server Kevin and the other staff.

I have to admit, I am hoping that at least one of those customers happens to stumble across this review and thinks twice before participating in that sort of behavior towards servers ever again. And I regret not saying something to the rude patrons before they walked out.

I can only hope that our generous gratuity offered some consolation at the end...

My wife and I had dined here a few times in the past and loved it, but then we brought friends for NYE when the restaurant was dealing with a perfect storm of sick employees calling out and a new reservation system overbooking the restaurant by accepting reservations for their closed patio, which led to an admittedly poor experience. Ownership/Management handled this situation with genuine concern and class, and enticed us to give them another chance which my wife and I finally did tonight. I'm so glad we did, because this was truly one of the best dining experiences we've had in a while. Not only did they remember us from NYE, but they went above and beyond to ensure this evening was top tier and they definitely succeeded. The service was phenomenal, the cocktails were innovative and delicious and the bread basket with the homemade carrot/curry compound butter was the perfect start to an amazing meal. We opted for one of the app specials which was four lobster dumplings in a red curry sauce with a spicy chili crisp and they were AWESOME. They were able to bring the spicy chili crisp on the side so I could get my heat fix without my wife dying which was great. My wife went with their classic pot roast which is a must try (I stole a couple of bites and it literally melts in your mouth - so tender!) while I opted for the confit duck ragu which is one of their new menu items. It was fantastic - not sure if they incorporate orange zest in the dish or cook the duck confit in some sort of orange glaze but there's definitely some orange undertones which work amazingly well in the dish. The manager (I believe?) recommended a cabernet to pair with our entrees which we both loved. Overall, an 11/10 experience and a fantastic evening. If you're a foodie in Upstate NY who seeks out restaurants with innovative, high-quality craft food and cocktails with exceptional service, this place needs to be on your list. As someone who worked in the hospitality industry for many years, I understand that even the best establishments can endure a rough service... but the ownership/management at Daley's should be teaching the Masterclass on how to rectify these poor experiences for their customers. They truly care about exceeding expectations and making people happy and it shows! Thank you - we'll be...