Handshakes Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Town of Wappinger

Best Chicken wings in town. Try the house sauce. It is a tangy pineapple based sauce with moderate heat and it is amazing. Thursday night is all you can eat Ribs and wings. Bring back Kareoke please on Saturdays :-).

Bar aside, this is also a great place to take a family for an awesome American dinner and not have to go to a Route 9 chain. It also tends to be the place that Seniors and families with small children go to for an early dinner. I went at 3pm for my birthday dinner recently and when we walked in the owner was cleaning the light fixtures and ketchup tops. He was our waiter and we received excellent service. Over the years I am starting to feel like I know him. He has the perfect temperament for the restaurant and bar business. You always feel important and recognized and well fed!

My personal favorite dish is the wings platter but I have tried many platters over the years and always leave happy. I can also recommend the porky Mac, the balboa, loaded potato skins and the ribs.

If you are planning a big event such as a superbowl party this is the place that will come through with your wings and apps fast and never charges market rates on Chicken. Before inflation the wings platter was 16$. Now it is 17.90. It is great to know you can get the best wings around locally, just down the street.

I ordered a large takeout order of wings for a recent Boxing match. Almost every other place was charging market rates for chicken. I just called Handshakes and ordered 4 wings platters to go and they were the normal, menu price. Order and pay ahead and they will not let you down for your big party.

Lastly, bored on a Sunday afternoon? A football Sunday upstairs at handshakes is always a great Sunday....

I rarely write a review, especially not a negative one, but this one really bothered me.

SERVICE: The server needed training, was inattentive, brought us the wrong meals, never refilled waters, we waited an extremely long time for plates to be cleared and again to get the check. She was argumentative about a small error on check and told me she was too busy to re-ring it. It continued negatively from there with this sever.

FOOD: The food was good. I had the special which was salmon and it was cooked perfectly. Mixed vegetables were fresh and tasty. All the dishes being served a neighboring tables looked very good. However overall the menu seemed like it was very outdated. Lots of beef, burgers and chicken sandwiches. Given this is a Bar & Grill that makes some sense but the menu needs some interesting modern options.

DECOR: Black cushioned vinyl seats felt like the life had been gone for years, uncomfortable and at wrong height for tables. Decor is very dark and dreary. There was garbage in grass in parking lot. The landscaping has not been touched yet from the winter - all other local restaurants in area have it done.

Some improvements and this place...

Food took at least 45 minutes to come out. Waiter never came over in that time to check if we needed anything or for drink refills. After 45 minutes we asked the waiter how much longer and he said there was an issue with the printer but take out orders were flying out of there. You just leave us sitting there until we had to say something. Not great customer service.

The tables in the center are so close together it feels like you’re eating with the table next to you.

When food finally came out, husband asked for burger medium rare. It was well done and he didn’t even finish it. Son ordered wings. They were the smallest wings I’ve ever seen. I didn’t try them but husband said they were very dry. I ordered a burger which was good but I asked for waffle fries and I got regular fries. I said to the waiter I ordered waffle fries but if it’s going to take way longer I’ll just keep these. He took my plate and took the fries off the plate brought me back my burger and said the fries would be right out. I would say the fries took maybe 5-10 minutes.

The waiter apologized and said sorry it was busy. Will not be back for the...