World Of Beer

I’ve made this one of my regular haunts. The beer selection cannot be beat. I love the music, friendly staff, great apps. But on the down side. I liked when I could sit anywhere (no hostess), entrée are so so, pricey (most likely due to mall location), needs a patio, and finally great happy hour but in need to expand beer selection given competition in this area. Still overall headed in the right direction. If you like apps & beer go here !

Wow how can you screw this up? Hardly anyone in here with staff running everywhere and no bartenders. Gave up after waiting 10 minutes at the bar and left.

Come for the beer, stay to watch people shamelessly cheat at a stupid trivia game.
Unlike level-​headed and reasonable Daniel B., I AM a beer snob and don’t get why they only have three stars. Are they not hipster enough? Do we want them to be more hipster? Seems like beer lovers lately are almost exclusively non-​ironic mustache having, fedora wearing, neck-​beards who like to use the word «meta» as often and incorrectly as possible. If beer places aren’t catering to them they seem to be rated poorly.
Things that make a pub great: Selection, quality, and rarity. I think only Beer Belly and a couple other places might have beers you can’t easily find elsewhere. WoB does a great job on all fronts.
The food is fresh and tasty. The service is attentive, fast, friendly, and helpful. The beer battered fried shrimp is insanely good, every time.
Bottom line is: You’d be hard pressed to find another place in the region with the selection they have. They have awesome beers on draught and bottled, always cold and properly carbonated, rotating often, and most served in the manufacturers glass!
(Meaningless anecdote: The middle aged women next to us who thought they were much younger were looking up the answers to the trivia questions on their iPhone 4’s, or having their waiter tell them the answers. The best pet is they would hoot and holler when they got a question «right». Seriously, people hand in their answer sheets and 5 groups immediately all have perfect scores. Haha, ok.)

Never actually eaten a full on meal while I’ve been here, so I can only comment on the apps and the beer selection, both of which are pretty good.
I think it’s a great concept, and a nice addition to the mall scene for those who want to take a beer break in between shopping. They also have live music some nights, which can be extremely loud, so I wouldn’t recommend going in for a relaxing meal during that time.
Went in over the weekend after shopping at Macy’s and Dick’s, both of which are open later than the rest of the mall on a Sunday. I really wanted an Auntie Ann’s pretzel, which wasn’t an option at 6:30, so we decided to sit down here and order a couple of apps and drinks to satisfy my craving. Ordered the German Pretzel (obviously), with the beer cheese and tavern taters. The pretzel was yummy, but at over $ 10 when you add the beer cheese, I think that’s a bit steep. The taters were good, just thought they had a bit too much of the cheese on top, but hey if you’re into that you might like it.
Service was friendly, but we waited a decent amount of time for our drinks to arrive, and for the check after we were finished. During their busy time, I would expect that, but there were probably 10 – 15 people in the entire restaurant while we were there, so our server definitely could have been quicker. I would be interested in trying some other food options if I’m in the mall and am hungry, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to dine there.

We were there Thursday night. Our server, Vanessa, was very nice, and we had no issues with any part of the service. My dinner was salmon with a side of vegetables. It truly was not good at all. Salmon was terribly overcooked, so much that it was completely dried out. The vegetable medley was undercooked, almost raw. It’s like they microwaved raw veggies for a minute or so and called them done. Nope! And when those raw veg include onions… well, not many people like raw onions by themselves. The only reason I finished the plate was because we were seeing a movie in less than 15 minutes, and I was starving. If I ever go here again it will be either just for beer, or maybe they are better at cooking burgers.

So so experience every time. I do like the vast selection but the prices are a bit exaggerated. Golden ale shrug was excellent. Pretzel was also delicious– no brainier really.

Aye? Pardon? You wanna fight!!! (The PA system was on my head and I figured changing seats would be more polite than ripping the system out by its wires) OK that’s better. I said FLIGHT, not flight.
Yesm’, enjoyed four four ounce pours from Stone Brewing Company ($ 14) (Escondido, CA) — one of America’s earliest craft brewers, at WOB last weekend, and it was some good. The Stone IPA was hop forward and the hops lingered — this was light, cold and strong. Nice. The Red IPA was sweeter, definite caramel, smooth, piney. Nice nice. Americano Stout smelled really good, definitely coffee, with dark chocolate roasted malt. Nicer still. Imperial Mutt Brown was malty and creamy, tasting strongly of alcohol, warmer from sitting. Really really nice.
Bee went for a Prairie Artisan Ales Funky Gold Simcoe ($ 12) — a sour beer that was yellow and hoppy, not too sour. Then she enjoyed a tall Unibroue Ephemere Apple beer — tart, buttery, with a sweet start, refreshing and delicious ($ 6).
We were happy and at this point we loved everyone in the whole world.
The draught menu long, organized by flavor profile, which is helpful for beer ninnies like myself. The bottles in the lit cases behind the bar look cool, but what’s in there? How long have they been sitting??? I asked about the selection and our waitress brought us a tablet with a searchable database. Too many choices. I was overwhelmed, and that’s pretty scary for for Zena, Doggess of Fire. Burp. Excuse me.
Where was I??? Oh, Unilocal.So, we didn’t eat, as you can tell. Burp. Sorry. Anyway, we’d been warned, and it looked like most of the folks around us that night were just there for the beer as well. But who cares about food when there is so much good beer to be had.
I love Friday night, don’t you???
Zena, Doggess of Fire

The beer list is extensive, obviously, which is really enough for me. I also had the street tacos as a meal — the option for two was satisfying — and the food was tasty. I had no issues with the service and would definitely return.
Clearly the Crossgates Mall location is a bit of vibe killer, but that’s solved by not facing out to the mall.

Environment was pleasant, good service lots of beer choices… food…had the steak salad and the meat was very grizzly… and Matt’s fries were underdone… Pretzel was a nice treat… will def give it another try bit was not impressed by the food

Was in today to get my golden ale shrimp. I work at the mall. Today the kitchen made my day I ordered my food and when it came out they told the server to let me know we love ya Dawn. The food is always on point I have been coming here since it opened and they did have some opening growing pains but that’s what happens when people have to learn a new job. This place is awesome the bartenders are great they know what beer I like. Jay, Jilly, Jane, Vanessa, and Quinn are awesome. The manager David always comes out and says hi and checks to see if everything is good. This is definitely my favorite place to eat in Albany.

Okay, so every year we go to the mall around the holidays and wind up eating here. This was the third year in a row that we got terrible service and the food was not good. The best part about this restaurant is definitely the beer selection. We sat at the bar at 2:30 (we had tickets for a 3:30 movie). We placed an order for a burger and a steak sandwich at 2:35 along with our beer order. At 3:05 I asked where our food was, and was told they over cooked our burger but would bring out the steak sandwich and a pretzel. 3:15 I asked to see a manager, who was kind of rude and acted like she really didn’t know what was going on. Our steak sandwich had about three thin slices of overcooked meat and was mostly bread. The fries were good! The manager took the food off the bill, but it didn’t help the fact that we were still hungry and late to our movie.

The beer list is large, but isn’t intimidating as it’s very easy to navigate. The food was okay, but I think the Sunday football rush may have interfered with the kitchen producing a more enjoyable meal for us. I will definitely go back for the beer, as well as will give the food another try.

tater totes
Guinness brat sliders
great happy hour beer and food.
almost 40 handles of draft beer.
generally a great place to grab a drink
if only it wasn’t inside a mall
with groups of young kids loitering outside
and suburban moms shopping around.

I’ll try to keep this short.
Beer selection is amazing, and the prices are fair. The 3 of us ordered drinks and food. The food took a good 30 minutes go hit our table. Two burgers and the fish and tots. One burger was fine, the other was the wrong type (wanted a bbq bacon, got a regular cheeseburger), and I got the fish and tots. Tots were good… The fish was not very good. It wasn’t a huge portion, was pretty oiley on the bottom, and they gave me maybe half a soufflé cup of tarter sauce. tarter to fish ratio was off.
We asked the waitress to split our checks, twice, and she when she finally did, she gave my friend back the wrong amount for change.
The place wasn’t busy. The bar somewhat… But there were servers and staff standing around. I would go back for beers, probably not for food.

Went back to WOB yesterday for my husband’s birthday, and I have to say things are on the decline. There were several subtle changes, but changes nonetheless, that took away from our experience there.
First of all, this used to be an awesome place to come and watch football…
They used to broadcast the 1 o’clock game on the largest screen in the restaurant and put the audio coverage on the overhead speakers, which is always better than having to listen to Tom Petty and Carly Rae Jepsen for the millionth time. They don’t do that anymore. Now you get to watch 4 games all mashed together on that big screen to the tune of «Call Me Maybe.»
They used to label all the TVs with which game it’d feature, so you’d know where you’d want to sit and position yourself. They don’t do that anymore either.
Finally, they used to do app specials during game time ($ 5 for the giant pretzel, wing specials, etc.). Nope, they don’t do that anymore either.
The one thing they still do is raffle off prizes during half time/​at the end of the game. My husband won something, which was cool, especially on his birthday. Be warned, though, that you only get tickets for certain featured beers, as well as food items.
The food/​drinks are as expensive as ever. Unfortunately we got charged for a Sangria drink that was poorly made. Our server was nice, but she should’ve taken the drink off the check. I was too buzzed to argue over it so we just paid the tab and left ($ 150+ for 4 people, mostly just apps and beer).

Why is the wedge salad never a wedge? I thought the first time was a fluke, but then it happened again. I love wedge salads. I do not love Bibb lettuce with wedge toppings. I mean seriously they don’t even stick with the right kind of lettuce. Iceberg and Bibb couldn’t be more opposite in taste and texture.
I think this place is decent otherwise.

I am not a beer snob… yet. But I’m learning more about beer and beer styles by tasting the rainbow of options available today. WOB is a convenient place to do that. But it’s not the convenience or selection that drew me to this place. It’s the hours and free WiFi.
Albany is not a late night town. And yes, I know WOB is technically in Guilderland, but it’s in Albany county dammit. But sometimes I like to get out of the house to write on my laptop. Coffee shops close surprisingly early. Not too many bars have good wireless connections. And some aren’t exactly friendly places to sit and write.
But at WOB I was able to easily hop on to their network, sit at the end of the bar, sip on a Jack’s Abby lager with a particularly low ABV (so I could drive home safely), and get a chunk of work done like a civilized human being.
The only thing that I would wish for is that the place would commit to a weekday closing time. It’s posted on their website as 2a on Thursdays, but I asked the woman behind the bar and she said they close based on volume.
As a single patron, I know I cannot control that volume, so it’s hard to have my work schedule determined by the drinking habits of others. I’m also not a very fast drinker, so it meant having to rush to finish my beer.
At least there’s a bench outside WOB where I could sit and finish up my work before heading home, but it kind of made me feel a bit like a vagrant. Still, I see myself coming back here to do some evening writing. Heck, maybe I can even organize a little weeknight writers group here. Perhaps that’s the answer to a later closing time?
Dare to dream.

I give this place a 3 because my friends love it so much and the beer selection is decent. The food, aside from the pretzel, is meh at best.
In my book, WOB scores most of its points for its namesake– the beer. They do have a sizeable selection and offer flights, which only makes sense. They have traditional paper beer menu or some electronic menu thing if you want to get fancy. Either way the beer selection is robust. This is the place to go if you want a beer and a pretzel.
The pretzel is probably the best food item I’ve tried and always served steaming hot. It gets a bonus for presentation as well.
The staff is always friendly and according to my friends (who are pretty much regulars) the staff at the bar are very attentive.
I had a small order of the BBQ wings and they are just standard– at best. The nice thing was that they offered the option to order 5, which let’s be honest, most of the time is all you really need anyway. I’ve been here a couple of times and honestly the only thing that brings me back is my friends and the beer.
Don’t miss the highlights: the beer, the pretzel, the staff and the giant Jenga set!

Sometimes you just want a beer and some reliable food. That’s what this is! The food is fine, nothing terrible about it. It’s a little expensive for a basic meal, but it’s only slightly overpriced.
Of course they have an extensive beer selection. If you want to check this place out for that alone, I would not say that was a bad idea. It would be nice if they had some exceptional food to accompany that.

Our first visit was just for the beer. Now we were ready to try some food too. An early Sunday evening with the Mall closing in about an hour found WOB less than half full. The bar was mostly filled, but people leaving the movie theater across the way were choosing to avoid the restaurant and head directly to their cars.
We chose to sit at a high-​top for four that had backless stools on one side and a banquette that you stepped up to on the other side. There was no live music being performed so it was easy to carry on a conversation. Our server Jane, promptly noticed us and delivered our menus, asked us if we were familiar with WOB and offered us glasses of water while we reviewed the draft beer list.
The menu has been rearranged since our last visit. The beers are now grouped by style, e.g., light & crisp; hop forward; malt forward; dark & bold; etc. While this is helpful for those who are familiar with styles, and most people are, a totally unrelated issue was very annoying. Their printer was not working properly and each of our menus had the same information missing at various points on the paper naming or describing the beers. For a national chain like this to knowingly present an unreadable menu to the customer is uncalled for. They should have sent someone to Kinkos.
Our beer choices were a Breckenridge 72 Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout ($ 7; 7.2% abv; maybe a 12 oz. snifter) and a Boulder Shake Chocolate Porter Nitro ($ 5.50; 5.9% abv; 16 oz.). Both excellent beers.
The food was less exciting, but for the most part still ok. The Chimay Burger ($ 13) is a half-​pound of beef with Chimay classique cheese, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, with a house made Chimay sauce and served on a brioche bun. It was requested medium-​rare and came out perfect. The Cuban sandwich ($ 10) had boiled ham, mojo roasted pork, Swiss cheese, sliced pickles, mustard and mayo between pressed Cuban bread. Again, another ok sandwich. The downfall of each order was that the sides of Tavern Taters that each of us chose were barely warm. Our sandwiches came from the kitchen pretty quick. So while they get thumbs-​up for that, it might indicate that there were a bunch of Taters just sitting around waiting for the next order to come in.
Service was above average as Jane routinely checked on us and easily balanced her time across several other tables in our area. We’ll likely return for more beer when we happen to be at this mall, but it is unlikely to be a dining destination.