The Albany Rail Yard

My cousin and I went here yesterday with my dog. It was my dog’s birthday, so we wanted to eat somewhere that had a patio so she could join us. They have ample patio seating, but no umbrellas, so bring your own shade and sunglasses to fight the sun. They also have an outside bar that you can sit at. We opted for that since it provided more shade. Once situated, we ordered the Irish nachos. They were outstanding, but sent them back because they were missing that Chorizo sausage listed in the description. No sweat right? We also ordered the garlic Parmesan wings, and the burger with the fried egg on it (can’t recall the name). I asked the bartender if the wings were «wet» and she told me yes, but my wings came out try as a bone. I requested buffalo sauce to dip for fearing pissing off the cook. Remember we already sent the nachos back to have the promised sausage added. Any who, my cousin hated her burger. So while the food or the service (two bartenders had terrible attitudes– oh and I forgot to mention after being there for an hour and a half we were asked to put my dog in the car! Are you kidding me?! We were told the manager was on her way, and wouldn’t be happy about us having our dog on the patio. Did I mention we were outside?! Right! So no I’m not going to put my dog in the car in 80 degree weather and kill her, I’ll just close my tab and leave) isn’t much to write home about, they do have a great happy hour where we indulged in $ 3 blue moons! If you go I recommend not bringing your dog, and get the Irish nachos TO GO (waffle fries with chorizo sausage, melted cheese sauce, tomatoes, jalapeños, and black olives!

My husband’s coworkers go here for trivia on Tuesdays, and I tag along because I just moved here and have no friends of my own to hang out with. The best part about it is I enjoy our server. She’s funny & friendly and brings me my beers, which wouldn’t normally stand out but here it does, because the server we had in Ashley’s (I think thats her name… the guys call her shanaynay) absence failed to do that 2 weeks in a row while bringing the guys additional rounds. (I was on beer order #1 both times). Sexism or coincidence I’m not sure.
The food is standard subpar bar food, and I got sick later in the night after our most recent visit. Not saying it was definitely the chicken quesadilla, but considering I hadn’t eaten anything for lunch the odds are ever in its favor. Maybe the grease just did me in.
The same guy wins trivia every week, so that part isn’t really a blast either. The good news is they have prizes (and super decent ones) for each round winner, and we sometimes manage to win those. The questions are apparently repeated at other establishments across town and it enrages me when I hear other tables saying «I’ve had this one before» after nearly every question. It shouldn’t be that difficult to come up with new content with the world being as large and old as it is. I should probably track down the trivia company’s page before I go into further detail as this is not so much a fault of the Rail Yard (other than the fact they make the choice who to contract this out to…) but I digress.
The atmosphere here is run of the mill dingy bar, leaving plenty to be desired, but it meets the minimum requirements of beer and bar food with sometimes friendly service. I probably wouldn’t come back here if I weren’t so desperate for the company of anyone but my dog, but here I am. The guys apparently like it.

Food sub-​par. Bartenders are miserable and basically ignore you unless you’re a regular I guess. Once finally served at the bar, not even a hint of a smile, or personality. There is nothing worse than a bartender acting like you are inconveniencing them by wanting a drink. Try smiling. You might get better tips.

I have been here twice. First time for a private event in the back room where brunch was servced. Food was decent, but they only had one person bringing the food and trying to man the bar. Bloody Mary was horrible. We thought we would try and order some take out based on our experience with the event. Three of us had quesadillas — two steak and one chicken — and they were one of the worst meals I’ve eaten. How do you screw up a quesadilla. The fourth person in our group had a BLT… there was barely anything to the sandwhich. It looked smaller then something you would make at home. Very disappointing. Definitely not a place we would go back to.

Went Saturday night… I will start with good band…1^st, the blonde female bartender… wow…miserable.Garlic parm wings… I think they forgot the garlic and the parm… Jerk chicken salad… taste like Vicks 44d, not jerk chicken. Won’t be back…

The Albany Rail Yard is a great place to come if you are looking for a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy some drinks and classic American bar food.
I have been here several times and have enjoyed each visit. The last time I was here my friends and I sat outside since it was a beautiful night. We came on a Sunday evening and were immediately seated at an outside picnic table. We took advantage of the happy hour specials which included $ 3 angry orchard on tap. Which is a favorite of mine because I am not a big beer drinker.
The menu is huge and everything sounds delicious especially when you come on an empty stomach. That night I tried the Californication burger which was topped with guacamole and jalapenos. The burger is a decent size and was cooked perfectly to my liking. Avocados and jalapenos are two of my favorite foods and this combination proved to be a success. Other times that I have come here I have ordered the southwest veggie salad and the southwest chicken quesadilla. The southwest salad was a huge portion and was delicious. I enjoyed the quesadilla also, however it was a bit large and overstuffed making it difficult to eat. I also felt that there were a lot of competing flavors in it. This is one time that I would recommend something more simplistic.
Overall, I would recommend coming here if you are in the Albany area. I sure hope to return next time I am in town.

We had our rehearsal dinner here. Event date 4÷25÷14 We just had some pizza and wings in the room in the back. We wanted a casual evening before the wedding.
We were extremely impressed with the service and the food. Lisa helped set up everything, tables linens and lighting. She made the room look really nice. That room has a private bar with your own bartender. Our Bartender rocked. So sweet, attentive and really fast! We had about 30 – 35 people and he kept up with everyone, no one was waiting for drinks. he also helped us with the music. The price was really fair! No B.S. fees or bartender fee, everything was one set price unlike a lot of places we found before we agreed to try the Albany Rail Yard. I got so many compliments on the service and the food and that is really all you can ask for! I recommend this place to anyone.

The Rail Yard isn’t bad… pretty decent, actually. By no means was any of the food I tried particularly memorable or unique. The wings were pretty good, although a bit skimpy.
With respect to service, it was a little slow because they appeared to be totally understaffed, but the waitress/​bartender was very nice and was definitely trying to keep up.

One word blahch! Ok Unilocal wants more so smoked half chicken underdone no real smoke flavor no taste from the rub. Ribs cooked well but no flavor of smoke or rub. Black beans straight from a can with a few chopped onions sprinkled on top no flavor Cajun fries soggy not spicy in any way. Best thing was corn bread muffin. Menu says cup of soup $ 1.00 more with entrée and lists French onion as a choice but it only comes in a crock for $ 6 so it’s 6 more not one. I wouldn’t complain if it was good but the cheese was the only part that had flavor. This should be enough but one more thing got a beer before ordering finish it ½ way through eating and did not get asked for another one till the plates were cleared and got my check immediately after it.

Pure unadulterated crap. Waited 50 minutes to get the bartender to take my order, after I asked if I could order. 1 person working the whole place. She tried to keep up but obviously could have used a helping hand. On a lighter note, bartender nailed my girlfriends martini on the first try.

Gave this place two tries and it went from bad to terrible.
First time was with a group of maybe a dozen people. We were seated in the back room. My first choice of pulled pork wasn’t available so I settled for the half chicken. More than half the people in our party had the half chicken because what they wanted wasn’t available. My girlfriend ordered the andoullie sausage plate which they had. We split the pork wing appetizer which was the highlight of the meal. The pork wings were moist, tender, fell off the bone, and were just plain tasty. Half chicken arrived and looked like it had been under a heat lamp since the day before. My girlfriend who is excessively positive had nothing remarkable to say about the sausage plate. At one point our waitress took orders for refill drinks and never returned with any.
Second trip was almost comical. It was late and most resturants had stopped seating so we stopped in again at the rail yard. Sat at the bar this time and asked for menus. Bartender returned with menus and took my girlfriends drink order but didn’t ask for mine. Bartender returned with girlfriends drink and asked for her dinner order as I sat with no drink. I asked for a Sam Adams at that time. Girlfriend then ordered steamed clams and I had to call the bartender back to order pork wings. Unbelievable. Pork wings were again awesome and girlfriend enjoyed her steamed clams.
In a nutshell, the food is terrible with the exception of the pork wings and the service is worse than the food.

Just Ok fair service. Ordered crispy fries with my meal. They were sooo soggy. Sandwich nothing special. Sorry wish it was better I then went to the ladies room. Needs to be fixed and no toilet paper. The place was dead so that just is poor management and laziness. I won’t be back.

I am rooting for this place to succeed because I like barbeque and this place has a lot going for it including a good draft beer selection, a nice outdoor patio and good service. But the two meals I had here so far were at opposite ends of the scale. A pulled pork plate was excellent. The pork was tender, had a decent amount of fat, (that’s good), and a decent amount of the «burnt ends» (also good). But what I really liked was the sauce. I was afraid it was going to be a sweet-​sticky goop; instead, it was a thin brown sauce that tasted mostly of Worcestershire. My second meal here was a plate of brisket that was tough as shoe leather. This was a nasty surprise as a friend reported to me that he just had the brisket two days earlier and that it was good. Maybe it was because I came in late at the end of the day and the brisket had been overcooked by then.
The sides here were a weak spot. Corn nibblets were swimming in butter and the black beans that are offered just do not cut it. Baked beans would be good but they don’t offer it. I would like to see a green vegetable — collard greens would be ideal. The Santa Fe rice was just rice with diced tomatoes and lacked any flavor.
Bottom line, I will give Albany Rail Yard 3 stars for now and hope to follow up with another visit.

I understand that this place just opened, so I’m writing this review to offer a little bit of feedback to the owners, because overall i enjoyed my experience, and want them to succeed!
The Food:
I got the BBQ Combo with a half smoked Chicken and the ribs. The Chicken was amazing, the flavor was fantastic, moist, A+. Loved it. The ribs were also really solid. I’ve spent a lot of time in Texas, so i“m a bit of a BBQ snob, but the ribs were good, but not great. Fall of the bone, good flavor, but not mind blowing. A solid B. The Sweet Potato Fries were really good, thick cut. Big fan. The Black Bean side had good flavor, but was served luke warm at best. Not as good as Dinosaur, but also no nearly as pricey, and no drive to troy. I would definitely come back here for the food.
The Atmosphere:
It was definitely very warm and stuffy inside, but our waitress seated us under a ceiling fan, so it was ok, but had we not had the fan, it wouldn’t have been super comfortable. The other thing is that the furniture seemed kind of low rent. The dining room was really sparse, lots of empty space, and some of the chairs looked nice, and fit the décor, and others were like cheap banquet hall chairs. There was also a table in the middle of the room that looked like it didnt fit at all. Also, it looks like they were doing some work, and there was some building materials on the stairs by the door. Not a good idea to store them in view of customers.
The Service:
Friendly, a little slow, but all in all solid.
All in all though, we had a good time, food was for the most part really good, but some issues with the décor should be addressed. But I would definitely go back for the Smoked Chicken.

My wife and I visited the Rail Yard for the first time this past weekend. Compared with C.C.s earlier review, it seem that many of the opening day wrinkles have been ironed out. They had about a dozen beers on tap, the names of which were read off by the server. A list of beer offerings with descriptions, either on the menu or separately, would be helpful. Our initial server (they seem to utilize team service) could have been better schooled in the choices, but she seemed quite young, perhaps not even of legal drinking age.
My lovely wife ordered the corned beef Reuben which comes with a choice of one side (about 15 are offered}. She chose coleslaw. I had a pulled pork platter, also with coleslaw, Cajun fries, and cornbread.
The Reuben was served on rather thick sliced marble rye bread with coleslaw instead of the usual sauerkraut. Wifey was not unhappy with the variation, except to say that if she had realized, she would have ordered a different side. She concedes that she did not read the menu description. She raved about the quality of the corned beef used in the sandwich.
The Cajun fries served with my meal were lukewarm at best. I sent them back and they were replaced in short order with fries so hot that I had to blow on them. The pulled pork was tender and tasty. I would have liked a deeper smoke. We both thought the slaw was excellent, containing little or no mayonnaise, in favor of a slightly sweet and sour version.
Although there seems to be a separate dinning room in the rear, all guests were being seated in an area partially sectioned off from the bar. The slight partitioning did little to mitigate the noise level, resulting in a din reminiscent of a middle school cafeteria. Finding a way to deal with the noise should be a priority for this establishment that shows a lot of promise.

I fully understand that they just opened and to be honest I had fairly low expectations from the start… so I’ll be fair with the review.
Walking into the place the first thing I noticed is that it was way, way too loud… not sure if its the design of the space or what, but you literally had to shout to the wait staff or person across from you to talk. The loudness was not due to music (there wasn’t any) but just the overall noise of patrons. I’m guessing its the design of the place.
There were no beers on tap, none what so ever… again, they just opened so I’m not going to complain about that as that’s an opening-​day issue.
The wait staff was in good spirits and I give them credit for being friendly and patient; however, this was one of the only positive points.
I’ve eaten at all the BBQ places locally as well as in the Carolinas and TX that completely blow this place out of the water. First off, they did not have pulled pork or bone-​in chicken available and suggested the ribs and the brisket instead. The reason was that the batch of pork or chicken wasn’t ready… not sure what happened there, but if you are opening a BBQ place you should have pulled pork available, especially on opening day. The brisket was dried out either because it was flash cooked (certainly not slow and low), or sitting under a heat lamp for hours. The ribs were dry and sticking firmly to the bone; not tender at all. The overall flavor of both the brisket and ribs were good and they both had a clear smoke taste, but they were by no means tender or cooked appropriately. I’d say this was either due to growing pains or a staff who is unfamiliar with their smoker or BBQ preparation in general. either way these should have been worked out before they opened, don’t just ‘wing it’ on opening day.
The positives (besides friendly staff) would be the sides, corn bread and salad dressings (all scratch made). The chips/​salsa/​guacamole were also excellent.
Overall I’d try them again after they work out the kinks, but first impression is that they need ALOT of work on their BBQ skills.