Smokey Bones Colonie — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

this was the WORST experience i’ve ever had at a restaurant. after waiting for 3+ hours, our waitress didn’t refill our drinks until we asked, she also was told as the beginning of the stay, before we even ordered drinks, that our checks would be split four ways. we didn’t have any silverware. so after asking a manager how long it’d take for our food to come out, since we’d be waiting 2 hours by this point, they offered to take off half our bill as our waitress was looking after 2 other tables and she was asking them how they were doing but completely walking past us. when the food did come out, 2/7 were completely wrong. 3 ordered chicken, which admittedly WAS good, but absolutely not for the wait we had to wait. and then someone else ordered a burger which was rock hard on the outside, cut in half and it was raw. even a different waitress said it looked disgusting. so after this, we asked for it to just be removed from the bill and if we could just get the bill. my 1 year old son was also with us and waiting 3 hours in a restaurant with a toddler is never enjoyable. we were trying to let our waitress redeem herself many times as she said it was her first day but after waiting for our bill for a hour, we went to the check in area and asked to just pay there. upon going there, she said how she thought we wanted to split the bill 7 ways evenly so she never split it in the ways we asked so we had to read out every item we got for her to split it. then, looking around and waiting, the women’s bathroom was flooded and when telling a manager we were told “oh yea we know. it’s been like that for months.” also, the fan that is directly above the area to be seated was FULL of mold. the floor by the door hinge also was moldy and clearly not touched by a mop. when she got to my portion of the bill, it was $60 cut to $40 even though the manager said it would be cut in HALF and the drinks taken off. we just said whatever and paid the $40. this entire ordeal probably took 3.5 hours. absolutely ridiculous and completely gross. never ever will be going back. she tried to give us coupons but we gave them back as we will not...

I am sorry to say, but our experience at Smokey Bones was incredibly frustrating and disappointing. Despite having a reservation for 6:30 PM, we were not seated until 7:10 PM. It was apparent that there was a unique situation unfolding, which led to the restaurant closing early and unfortunately turning customers away.

To our surprise and dismay, walk-in customers were being seated before us, while we were left waiting. We twice approached the hostess regarding our reservation. The first time, she admitted that she had forgotten about us and reassured us that we were next. However, on our second approach, she seemed to have completely lost track of our reservation, asking us if we had just walked in and informing us that they were closed.

We were finally seated and, to give credit where it's due, our meal was satisfactory. However, the lack of communication and mismanagement overshadowed any positives that could be gleaned from our visit. Had we been informed upfront about the ongoing situation, we would have happily chosen another restaurant for the evening and considered returning to Smokey Bones at a future date. Now, regrettably, we will not be returning.

Adding to the frustration of our experience, I repeatedly received text messages stating that I wasn't present for my reservation - an odd and ironic twist to an already regrettable dining experience.

In summary, a complete lack of effective communication and organization from the staff at Smokey Bones led to an incredibly frustrating evening for us. Transparency and effective communication can go a long way in managing customer expectations, especially during a crisis, and this was sorely missing from our experience.

TL;DR: Our experience at Smokey Bones was spoiled by a lack of communication and mismanagement, leading to unnecessary frustration and disappointment. We won't...

I have been to Smokey Bones in the past. I have always had good service, and the food was always good. I am in the business, so this is hard for me to write. I hardly EVER say anything negative about a business, or it’s employees. I am super sensitive to everyone. Especially is these times. I was there the other night. I don’t want to point out any particular person, because we all have our days. We went there for drinks to meet another person. We sat at the bar. We were given menus. I was planning on ordering an appetizer. The other people I was with were not. I will say that I was on my phone quite a bit (Facebook not talking) The other people that I was with were in a meeting that I was not involved with. The menus were taken away without even a question of whether we wanted anything or not. The bartender was NOT busy!! Like I said, I have been in the business for almost 20+yrs. She was on her phone, and doing anything other than attending to us. I understand that, as a bartender, you don’t just stand there and stare at your customers. I was always a better bartender when it was busy, because you were not easily distracted. You were focused on what you were doing. I was just very disappointed that I was not even asked if I wanted something to eat. I hope this is not taken as necessarily a “bad” review, but rather a teaching moment. I just want to make every business better. I truly hope that this might help a little. If it was my first time there, I probably would not have returned. I know you are a better business than...