The Towne Tavern, Averill Park, NY — Restaurant in Town of Sand Lake

Our first here Wed 2/16/22 6pm with relatives who are local and the Towne Tavern is one of their go to places. Rustic setting along side of a creek. We had reservations for four for dinner. Good thing we had a reservation because this place is packed with locals every evening. Full bar & full tables. Seem to have enough staff. We were seated within five minutes. Waitress (missed name, school teacher) took our drink orders. a little slow from the bartender, but not a problem for us. One drink was incorrect but quickly fixed. Full bar offers 23 beers in bottles & cans, 7 regular & other rotating craft beers, 25 wines, N/As, and sodas. Towne Tavern leads w/ their in house dry rubbed smoked ribs & brisket. Wed is BBQ rib night - $1.50ea. They come to the table dry w/ four choices of their house BBQ sauces. We ordered six ahead of our dinners - pretty good. Baked haddock dinner served w/ salad & rice($20) was very good, but my bride didn't care for the flavored rice. Our local friends had their go to sandwiches - beef brisket ($12.50) & a reuben ($12). As this was my first visit I wanted to try something new to me. So I tried this house specialty soup - Picante Onion Soup Our Signature - A southwestern twist on a French classic, a rich tomato and Beef based broth chock full of caramelized onions topped with a crisp crouton and Jalapeno Pepper Jack cheese, browned under the broiler $6.99. Certainly different, but in my opinion, this hybrid didn't combine the best of either soup. My dinner was the special - Towne Tavern's Cincinnati style chili ($18) - this is a beef chili made w/ a mole sauce served over spaghetti topped w/ meted cheese. A very good mole that was hidden under way too much cheese. But the mole was a winner. Current hours: Monday, Wednesday through Sunday: Lunch 11:30 am - 4:00 pm Dinner 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm Bar open 11:30 am - 11:00 pm or later *Closed on Tuesdays Reservations are highly recommended. So for our first visit it was a good recommendation by our local hosts. We will visit again soon for a second review. Thank you. Nick & Liz, Albany, NY 2nd visit 4/14/23 We went to our brother's favorite watering hole for their anniversary on Fri 4/14/23 for dinner. Busy night but we didn't have to wait long for our table on the deck. Our server was Caitlin and she brought menus and took our drink orders. Full bar w/ a good selection of local craft beers. Open 7 days a week 11:30am-9:pm. See website for their regular daily specials. Wed's special is in-house smoked pork ribs that come w/ their 4 house bbq sauces - $1.50ea. They are excellent. The Towne Tavern offers a wide variety of pub grub - smoked wings, build-your-own pizza, burgers, hot & cold sandwiches from $11-16, And a large selection of dinner entrees from $18-25, steaks $27-30. Sister-in-law had usual 1/2 rack St. Louis style bbq ribs w/ 2 sides ($22.59) w/ the four bbq sauce choices. Sweet, sticky, sloppy just the way they should be eaten. My bride had the baked haddock w/ cracker crumb topping w/ rice pilaf & veg ($21.59). Well prepared & hot to the table. I had their unique picante french onion soup-tomato & beef broth stock ($7.50) and the "Mom's Meatloaf sandwich w/pepper jack on a ciabatta roll ($13). I think it maybe more that just ground chuck, brisket maybe? Very good w/ the addition of their spicy Jack Daniel's bbq sauce. I missed writing down what brother had but he demolished it LOL. The owner came by to say hello to the "regulars" after the dinner rush was over. And to thank them for their steady patronage. A nice evening out at very comfortable neighborhood tavern. Thank you. Nick & Liz Albany, NY and your neighbors Chris & Liz...

Good Food, Rude Service. First time patronizing the Towne Tavern - made the trip out to Averill Park based solely on the recommendation of a coworker.

The Good: The fare was tasty, and well-portioned.

We ordered Buffalo Garlic Parm wings to start, which were very good. Crispy outside, sauce was not excessively messy, and just enough hint of smokey flavor.

It was steak night - my girlfriend and I both ordered the Garlic Sirloin Special, however there was only one Garlic Sirloin remaining, so the waitress came back and informed us of that. My girlfriend opted to order a Texas Beef Brisket instead. I've worked in the service industry as a waiter for some years - it happens. No big deal.

Our entrees were both generously portioned, and tasty.

The Bad: Our waitress, Stacy, is in need of a serious attitude adjustment.

She seemed annoyed when my girlfriend asked what sides were available with the Texas Brisket after Stacy informed us that there was only 1 Garlic Sirloin left, and was forced to make an alternate decision "on the fly."

After placing our entree order, it took at least 45 minutes for the food to come out of the kitchen. Meanwhile, we observed that patrons who had been seated after placing our orders, receiving their main courses (steaks, etc) long before our entrees arrived at the table.

Stacy made no attempt to apologize for the painfully long wait. As I mentioned previously, I have worked in the service industry for some years; I know every dirty trick in the book.

Stacy either purposely did not enter our entree order into the system, or verbally told the kitchen to slow, or to otherwise put our ticket at the back of the queue. There is simply no other explanation.

When it came time to pay, I laid out an Amex card. When Stacy came to pick it up, she noticed that the card was an Amex, shot me a very condescending smirk, and simply shook her head "no." She could not be bothered to express in words that the restaurant does not accept that card (which does tend to happen occasionally when using an Amex).

My overall impression of Stacy's service: rude, curt, disinterested, unhelpful, and disrespectful.

The Bottom Line: People go out to eat not just for good food, but to enjoy friendly hospitality and banter as well. It really doesn't matter how good your fare is when the hospitality element is severely lacking. People will remember poor/rude service much longer than the quality of the food they ate. There are plenty of other fine restaurants in the Greater Capital Region that offer good food, and have friendly, helpful waitstaff.

Accordingly, I doubt I will patronize this establishment again, nor would I recommend it to anyone reading this review, based on the very poor service we...

I had heard some good things about the Towne Tavern but after each of two visits I left with one word on my mind.....disappointing. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt though.....it's not that the food was bad, just not what was I was expecting. At least they had a decent beer selection.

On my first visit, I went big ordering a full rack of ribs. I mean between the decor, an old blacksmith's barn, and the smell of the smoker's, the ribs had to be good, right? The menu described them as dry-rubbed and fall off the bone tender, but what I received was spicy and extremely dry. Getting what meat there was off the bone took a good deal of effort and was as hard and tough, even with copious amounts of sauce added. The menu mentioned their meat being smoked for several hours, which may be spot on for the style of barbecue they are selling. But I think it was a few hours too long for my taste. If you're like me and enjoy moist, meaty ribs with good smoke flavor, try your luck elsewhere.

On my second visit, I avoided anything smoked, which eliminated about half the menu. It seems like the menu strives to be different than the competition, but at the expense of quality. For example, I settled on the Chipotle Lime Chicken which the menu describes as flambed in tequila and sauteed in a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. It sounded appetizing. But what I got tasted more like steamed chicken smother ed in hot wing sauce. It was paired with a zucchini squash medley and mashed potatoes. In and of themselves the sides were great. But they didn't belong anywhere near that chicken. I think they should have taken a simpler tack here and grilled the chicken in chipotle and adobo.

Others in my party had burgers which they ordered cooked medium. But they were clearly well-done. Again, in an effort to make something unique, food quality suffered.

Bottom line, I would not go out of my way to eat at this establishment. But in the absence of other options, I might give it another try. Then again, I might just...