Barnsider — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

We made reservations for what was advertised (on the 518 foodie page) as “Easter Brunch”. When one says brunch, they are expecting a mixture of both breakfast foods as well as more lunch dinner items. We also expected a combination of sweet and savory and typically speaking there’s some form of cocktails available like mimosas, bloody, Mary’s, etc. This was not the case at all.

The decor was very vintage rustic barn looking, which was fitting to the name. The tables and chairs were very old and rustic as well and incredibly uncomfortable. Anyone who has any types of hips or butt could not comfortably sit in these chairs. They have arms that wrap around connected to the back of the chair with zero give as they are made of all wood with spindles , so anybody with a little extra weight on them are smooshed in these chairs. I looked around the room. Every single table had men and women alike sitting on the edge of their seats because they could not comfortably sit back in the chairs without being squeezed.

We were given our menus, which was the standard menu, as well as a special Easter menu . None of the items included were brunch worthy. There are no waffles, no French toast, no eggs to be had of any kind. Both menus were incredibly upscale, and the main menu we found to be rather small, very limited variety. Our daughter eats a very small amount at a time and is a rather picky eater. After viewing the menu she found something she thought she would like and requested the dish to have no mushrooms. The waiter told us that everything is prepared as stated, and we cannot eliminate any of the ingredients. We were told “I don’t like mushrooms either, but you really can’t taste them. I promise” this was a no go for our daughter so we requested a child menu assuming that they would have something on it that she would like. Unfortunately we were denied because she is over there age limit of 12. I explained to the waiter that, although my daughter is over the age of 12, she does eat very small portions and can be incredibly picky and unfortunately there’s nothing on this menu that she will eat especially if they are not able to make substitutions or limitations on any of the ingredients . This is when he recommended she eat an 8 ounce sirloin stating that 8 ounces wasn’t very large. I turned to my daughter with the waiter, standing there and said, “let’s just pay for the drinks and we’ll go somewhere else” it was at that moment, the waiter changed his tune, and all the sudden offered up a dish of chicken fingers and french fries. I mean really he could’ve saved us a lot of trouble and just offered that to begin with! What if she had allergies to mushrooms she wouldn’t have been able to get that dish or 90% of the menu because everything contains mushrooms and then what?? We agreed to the chicken fingers and french fries, and my husband and I placed our order. We were then offered to go up to the salad bar and help ourselves. We were told that it was included with our meals.

We found the salad bar to be lacking . No hard boiled egg crumbles, no bacon, no cheese, no broccoli or cauliflower (no cheese except for big block of slice your own sharp cheddar). The homemade salad dressings were very good though.

The meals came, and the food was absolutely delicious although it wasn’t the brunch food we were looking for when told they were offering Easter Brunch.

Once our bill arrived, we found that we were actually charged $4 for our daughter’s salad bar, even though it was offered to us and stated that it came with our meals. Again, she’s very picky and doesn’t eat large portions so this really was a waste to us but because it was only $4 we didn’t say anything and just chalked it up to the icing on the overall experience.

Service was good as far as being attentive, refilling our waters and clearing our plates and the food was delicious. However, we most likely...

I went on a date here many years ago and always thought this restaurant was fabulous. When my cousin suggested that we go here for her birthday, I thought it was a great choice I made a reservation I told him it was her birthday and then I would like to have the little cake and happy birthday thing happened at the end of our meal. We went there tonight and from the beginning I could tell the food was not as phenomenal as it used to be, just based on the salad bar.

We each ordered a mixed drink. Mine was a cosmo, and it was good.

As I have foreshadowed, the food really wasn't good. I got the crab cake appetizer and the cake was very mushy it was like they had put the crab and a ton of bread comes into a mixer and Let It Rock for way too long.. then the cakes were pan-fried and put on my plate with a cup of some sort of a remoulade, a lemon wedge on one of those baby forks and a pile of red peppers that were perfectly cut into tiny squares. This would have been pretty cool if the peppers had been seasoned or some kind of herb or some other flavor had been added to them to make them like a relish, but I found it strange to just have a pile of red peppers on the plate. I ate about half of one crab cake then gave up. My cousin had the Wellington appetizer which she ate the entirety of so I guess it was good. For my meal I got the grilled salmon. It was the wide flat piece that happens at the end of the fillet. The quality of the fish itself was not very good, and it was overcooked, and unseasoned. Perhaps a little salt was on it. I decided to try the center of the fish because I figured that would be less overcooked, and it was, but it was still pretty overdone. No one asked how I would like my fish timer for whatever that's worth.

The wait staff was friendly enough, but for some reason we had four different people waiting at us at different points of time, and I think that meant nobody was tracking where we were with our meal. When we ordered our appetizers, we were not asked if we wanted to order entrees, and nobody ever came back to take our entree order. Eventually, we had to call the waiter over to ask him to take our entree order.

Even when it came time to pay, a new person brought our bill over, I immediately put cash in the folio, but they never came back to get it. After 20 minutes, we had to call someone over. That was pretty strange.

Again, everyone was pleasant, they just......

First, let me say that this has always been one of my favorite restaurants so maybe it was an off night, but…

Arrived at 5pm on a Friday and were seated immediately. Dining room was mostly empty. Ordered quickly and headed to the salad bar. Many dirty salad plates into the pile, we found some clean ones and we each got salad. Two teenagers got rolls as well. Appetizers came while we are our salads. They were good but just thrown on plates. No garnish, very good but no finesse.

Then the waiting started. Our server, whose name I have forgotten, told us the other members of the wait staff team who would be helping us. Never saw anyone else from the team. Our server was nice but we didn’t see too much of her. While we waited and waited and waited for our entrees, one son went back to the salad bar for rolls. There were none, so when our server ran by the table to wait on another table, I mentioned it to her. On her next pass by, she said she had told the kitchen and that someone would be right out with them. Another lady went up at least 4 times looking for rolls. It had to be at least 15 minutes before someone brought them out. The lady was actually standing there waiting for them when they finally came out. I think she got tired of walking back and forth. Son went up and got some rolls. Tried unsuccessfully to flag someone down for some butter. Finally started waving like I was trying to hail a taxi and someone came over.

I’m the meantime, a table next to us had finished their meal and left. Only 2 people at a 4 top. When they turned it over, I watched the guy swipe half of the table with a rag, and the reset the 4 top. He literally only cleaned half the table.

Several other tables that came in after we arrived were done with their meals before we got our entrees. 3 out of 4 were disappointing. The good: sliced sirloin was cooked perfectly. The bad: other 3 meals were overcooked. Two fish entrees were overcooked and cold. Pastry on beef Wellington was burnt - actually black on the bottom - and the meat was tough and overcooked.

Overall, this was a very disappointing meal. The one server we actually saw was OK, but she needed some help. Drink refills, clearing salad and appetizer plates, how’s your food, anything that you need - would have been nice. It will be a while...