BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

EAT AT HOME: SAVE TIME, MONEY, AND FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!!!

I NEVER leave reviews, especially negative ones, but yesterday my girlfriend and I went here and agreed that this was the worst dinner experience of our lives. It was so horrible that we could only laugh through the entire process because the staff is so incompetent and unable to do their job. Upper management seriously needs to step in and address this ASAP because BJ's used to be an enjoyable spot with great food and great service, but now you'd be better off going to any fast-food spot for better service and better food at 1/3 the price. If it wasn't for their prime location, they would undoubtedly be out of business. Every step of the process here is broken.

1. The Host - Different Rules for different people It seems as though every employee here was working their first shift. My girlfriend and I arrived around 6:30 without a reservation. We checked in with the host who took our name down and told us that it would be around a 25 minute wait for a table for two, this was no problem for us and we were happy to wait. After the 25 minutes passed the host began seating other walk in couples who also had no reservations WHILE WE WERE SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.

2. The Environment - Duct Tape and a Prayer As soon as we sat down at a high top table, I noticed that my side of the table leaned over and would fall to the ground if any weight was put on it, EVEN IF I JUST PUT MY ELBOWS ON THE TABLE it would fall over. Our server and the manager there both noticed this and when I asked for something to shim the stand of the table with they both reacted like a deer in headlights. I was willing to fix THEIR problem and they were still unresponsive. Instead of fixing the problems themselves (which any server or manager should do) our server returned with a stack of over 20 coasters and handed them to me as if that would solve the issue. ASKING FOR SERVICE HERE IS A WASTE OF YOUR BREATH. After determining that no help was in sight and that I just couldn't put any weight on my side of the table, my girlfriend and I opened our menus. SURPRISE SURPRISE the menu didn't have anything in it, just empty pages of plastic covers. Even as I'm typing it out now it's hard not to laugh at how atrociously bad this place functions.

3. The Server - IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN TO TABLES I hope this guy was brand new because before we even got to our table he was already telling us how stressed he was over having to serve 4 tables at the same time. You read that correctly, his Entire section was only 4 tables and he was STRESSED. I would feel bad writing this review of him if he was new and learning how to serve, but how he continued to treat us and the other 3 tables was absolutely inexcusable on a HUMAN LEVEL. It took him around 25 minutes for him to get to our tables (terrible but I'm not that mad over it). Once he finally got there we placed our entire order and we wouldn't see him again for another hour and fifteen minutes. While he was MIA, 30 minutes later, other servers were bringing food to the other tables in our section and they brought out our appetizers. But unfortunately he was too busy to bring out our drinks. AN HOUR AFTER THAT HE EMERGES, WREAKING OF CIGARETTES!!!! He was clearly smoking outside while the very few customers he had inside were complaining to the manager about the poor service. After nearly two hours of us being at the table our entrees finally arrived, and of course THEY WERE COLD AND STALE because while he was smoking outside for so long, our plates were done and sitting under a heat lamp in the kitchen. I have never left a tip under 20% in my entire life but our service was so poor last night that I left a single dollar for the tip. My girlfriend and I had been there for two hours before our entrees even came out so we just boxed them up when they finally did come out and went home.

If I could rate this zero stars I would. The host, server, and manager are all completely incompetent. From what I saw they spend most of their time conversing...

don’t think we could’ve experienced a worse dining experience than we did here. Today 3/24, my boyfriend and I arrive at BJ’s brewhouse on Wolf Road in Albany at 7pm there were multiple tables open, we were told it would be 45 minutes before we were sat, we went online to the BJ’s website and made us an online reservation and the wait was 10 minutes, we were then seated in about five to ten minutes, the other 2 people of our party had arrived at 7:20. It took until 7:45 for our server to come and take our drink order and apologize for the wait. We ordered our appetizers once our drink showed up around 20 minutes after we ordered them, we place an order for appetizers, we ordered two pretzels, small salad and chips and dip, the two pretzels and salad came out in about 20 minutes, the chips and dip took about another 20 minutes to arrive, so as we were finishing with our appetizers, another person in our party was just receiving theirs. As the last appetizer arrives we place our entree order. Two filet mignon, chicken sandwich with brussels sprouts, and a soup. It took over an hour for our food to arrive. our steaks were well overdone, we never received the brussels sprouts, we also never received an alcoholic beverage that we ordered an hour prior and the food was just overall very poor. At this point we want to order desert to go because we are just so fed up but looked foward to the pazzuki cookies. The waitress takes one persons order and then leaves and doesn’t return until we flag her down 20 mins later to finish taking our order. Now it’s about 9:20 and we just want to leave. We have asked for the check numerous times as other tables have came and gone as we are just sitting there. Not to mention the waitress tried telling us that the desert we wanted wasn’t available in the size we wanted it (which it is it’s shown in picture form on the menu!). We look up our check on the online app and after removing our steaks the bill is 109.00. The Brussels sprouts were $7.00 and not removed. I addressed itwith the waitress as she handed us a paper copy after 6 times of asking. Now I’m expecting a bill to come back as 102.00 after removing the missing food. It comes back 2 dollars cheaper at $107.00 and we notice that now all of a sudden we are billed for “sparking mineral water”. Appearantly that was the 1 cup of tap water we received and over the course of 3 hours there never was able to get a successful refill as well as any of the rest of us. Truley just disappointed. We didn’t leave till a little after 10pm. After waiting 3 hours for such terrible food let alone service you’d thing the manager would come forward or have some items comped off the bill for the inconvenience and or not receiving items but lesson learned we will never be dining...

I came here on a Friday night to have dessert with my family, something we rarely get a chance to do as we all live in different corners of the country. I kept my toddler and baby up late for this occasion that we were looking forward to. We were seated quickly but it took 20-30 mins to get waters, and the server still hadn’t introduced herself. When she finally came, she was friendly and took our orders, which we all ordered pazookies. but another 30 mins went by and nothing came out, despite her saying they were almost done halfway through this process. Nobody came to check on us during this, no accurate updates, and we had to flag staff down to see if we’d been forgotten maybe. We eventually asked to leave as we had been in the restaurant over an hour for just dessert. The kids were restless and we thought we’d be close to being done with everything at this point, but there was no sign of our order even coming. The server (who happens to be the back manager we were told) then yelled from across the floor “bye guys thanks for coming!” In a friendly voice that was obviously sarcastic. She then came up to us and said “just so you know, if you come for dessert the kitchen still needs to cook”. This comment was quite condescending as if we wouldn’t understand the process of eating at a restaurant, meanwhile there was no empathy as to us waiting an hour with only water, no commentary from staff regarding a warm appreciation for “needing to wait but they’re doing the best they can” kind of thing, and honestly we felt actually ignored the whole time in the restaurant. Our table was in the far back with no one eating by us, and the only staff that were by us were the ones that were walking in and out of the kitchen quickly to other parts of the restaurant. I’ve never eaten at an establishment and felt so disrespected and forgotten. It’s truly a disappointing experience to say the least and even moreso given how much we were looking forward to it as a family. BJs was where my parents first met my in laws and this was going to be our first time back since. So it was a nostalgic spot, too, which has now been ruined by the poor service and rudeness of our server. I don’t see our family wanting to come back but if we do it definitely will not be at this location due to...