Henry’s Tavern

The décor is relaxed living room, industrial country. Service is not the best. Although very pleasant; 3 servers present with only ourselves inside dining; water not brought until second request, and the female server literally dropped our meals and ran, causing me to think that something was going on — nothing was. It was very odd. Food is okay, nothing to rave about. Salmon meal my daughter had included very obvious frozen vegetables, however; mashed potatoes were homemade and delicious. My Greek Goddess sandwich wasn’t horrible, more like benign in description.

One time home to Neville Heating and Plumbing, and then home to Saratoga Organics and Hydroponic Supply, the conversion of the space to Henry’s Tavern appears to have been successful. It’s not a large space and seems to be quite popular with the locals as evidenced by the full bar and high level din of the folks at the tables. The high tin ceiling most likely contributes to this acoustic attribute. Luckily we were able to score a table at about 6:00 on a Saturday evening.
There is a good selection of 14 drafts available ranging from the ubiquitous Bud and its Lighter brother, to local and distant craft brews from Davidson’s, Schmaltz, Dog Fish Head and more. Our service was well intentioned but inconsistent and possibly the result of it being the server’s first day (which she shared with us as we paid our bill). There were at least three servers working the floor covering 10 to 12 tables. Beers were slow in getting to the table, starting with a Davidson Belgian Triple ($ ⁶⁄₁₂ oz.?), a Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale ($ ⁶⁄₁₆ oz.), and finally a Guinness ($ 6.50/ 16 oz.).
The execution of the kitchen seemed inconsistent also. The HT Wings ($ 12/​ten) were plump, juicy, and really crispy when they were placed on the table. The house Habanero sauce had just enough heat and lots of flavor. Depending on how quickly you ate the wings, by the second or third wing the crispiness was gone because the sauce had been slathered on the wings. I’d suggest asking for the sauce on the side to assist in preserving that crispiness. The accompanying carrots, celery and blue cheese had one annoying problem. The veggies had been julienned so narrow that they were unable to scoop up any of the chunks of blue cheese. Otherwise, these were very enjoyable wings.
I ordered the Chianti Braised Short Rib ($ 19) served over mashed potatoes with a really nice rich brown gravy. The slab of boneless rib was tender, tasty, and absolutely delicious with the freshly mashed potatoes and gravy. Definitely a high point from the kitchen.
My wife’s Green Goddess sandwich ($ 10) was served on her requested sourdough bread and needed much more time on the grill or griddle. The bread had very minimal browning and the mozzarella cheese had not melted. The slice of cheese still looked like an obvious slice of un-​melted cheese between to slices of bread, and the advertised «sliced avocado» was actually an avocado spread. The sandwich did have basil pesto and baby spinach. We had asked if «Henry’s hand-​cut french fries» were freshly cut in house and were told that they were frozen, but much better than your typical fries. In fact, they were no better than your very average frozen fries.
Having previous positive, personal experience with Smith’s Orchard pies, I was ready to move on to dessert. Four different varieties were being offered and one was the one that I probably would have bought the next time I visited the orchard — Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie ($ 5/​slice). They even served it warm. A delicious brownie on the bottom, a whipped peanut butter on top with a nice dollop of whipped cream. A perfect and redeeming finish to our dinner.
So I would say there may be some hits and misses here, you’ll just have to try a few things to decide what you might come back for. It certainly has potential.
As a final note, on this Saturday evening they also had Marcus Ruggiero singing and playing guitar starting at 6:30 pm. That alone should be a reason to check this place out and at least enjoy his performance along with a beer.

The only reason this place deserves one star is the food. It was decent. The burger was good but over cooked from what not only myself but my friend order. Another in our party asked for mashed potatoes instead of fries and the waiter clearly did not listen. Our waiter seemed like he had been drinking and was intoxicated. Not only did he not listen but when he came over to ask if we wanted dessert he did not take two very obviously done plates. He did not drop the check off, and some young girl who looked like she was supposed to be the hostess did but still did not offer to take our empty plates. He came over a second time and still did not take our plates. Finally we put them on another table that took someone ten plus minutes to bus. The music was way to loud for such a small place and all our waiter seemed to care about was socializing with the other staff and patrons drinking at the bar. The fries were half cold and honestly it wasn’t worth the food. I would not recommend going there. Not worth your time or money.

Tiny tavern that makes up for its modest sized menu with its ambiance, bar, and beer selection.
This place is warm, cozy, inviting, and emanates that taverny feel. I was pleasantly surprised to see Allegash White on their beer menu… actually they had a pretty awesome selection up on the chalkboard which reminded me of a smaller version of Henry Street Taproom in Saratoga Springs if you’ve been there.
The menu was limited: a few apps, salads, burgers and sandwiches. Based on other reviews of the food (which were lukewarm here on Unilocal), my mom and I both got burgers and fries — both were cooked as desired and pretty standard as far as burgers go. Nothing noteworthy about them but let’s face it, sometimes you just want a burger and beer.
The fireplace up front had two lounge chairs you just sink into with a table and view of adorable downtown out the front wall of glass. Lots of stone, exposed beams and dark wood. It’s a small, intimate place… you kind of have to weave through tables, chairs and other people to get around, esp if it’s busy, but I imagine it’s great for mingling and groups.
Lots of parking around outside, central location downtown, and I *think* though have to check, I saw outdoor seating on the side for warmer weather. Will definitely be back.

I stopped in Henry’s with a large group of friends (8). The ambiance is awesome. appears this establishment has been recently redone.
We were there on a Saturday night, and it was fairly busy. The wait staff was excellent as was the food. I had the habenero wing and they were unbelievable.
There was a local musician playing guitar at a nice listening level but not over bearing.
I believe the owner was there watching over as he visited the table and asked how our dining experience was. I was impressed and will be back !!

Food beer and staff are excellent. Good amount of NY beers on tap and the Guinness Poutine and Hog Wings are a must.

First time I went I had a burger and it was good. Tried the turkey the second time I went and it was disgusting, Some kind of a processed canned turkey loaf kind of monstrosity.

I’ve given Henry’s another chance… a few actually. The service has improved significantly since my first visit almost a year ago. Now that I’ve had the chance eat there a few times, the food is very good. I love the fish and chips and the burgers. So I’m happy to give Henry’s a better review.

A charming little tavern with a decent beer menu and a limited food menu. They had a handful of local micro-​brews that were well curated, including a couple elusive double IPAs. Although we did not get any appetizers, they seemed to take up the most real estate on the menu. There were also a couple burger options, a few sandwiches, and what might be a world record for the largest fish in a fish and chips. My bourbon burger was quite tasty. The burger was cooked to my request of medium rare and the bourbon sauce encrusted it with a char broiled crunch. Wonderfully sweet and yummy. The fries were fine buy nothing to write home about.

Nice small town place to get a bite to eat and hear some live music on occasion. Service is good and waiters/​waitresses are friendly. They have trivia as well.

This restaurant is in a great location. That’s about all the good there is…
I’ve never had the food here, so I will just write about the drinks and service.
For a Tavern, you would expect a good beer selection, especially with ~15 taps, but not this place. They had a lot of cheap beers on tap, 2 shock tops, 2 stella’s, bud light… Nothing good! I mean, come on!
As for the atmosphere, the décor looks pretty cheap, and there is always live music! You’d think that would be nice, but the place is so small, it’s always way too loud.
Overall, if your looking for good beer and good service, go to The Factory; they’ve always got great beer and really nice staff.

Enjoyed a wonderful meal with good friends. The bourbon maple wings are out if this world best in the capital region. Spinach salad was fresh and full of flavor, lots of delicious bacon.
They have many craft brews on tap which is awesome. The staff was friendly and very helpful.
The atmosphere is warm and inviting. Wonderful live acoustic music was perfect.
We will be back!

Horrible waitstaff. Not friendly or efficient. Sent drink back because it was made wrong and saw the bartender give me a dirty look. it was her mistake! Menu is lacking for decent food selection. We too sat outside once with waiters and waitresses passing us by for at least 10 minutes…

So my boyfriend and I were excited to finally get to check out Henry’s since we both love a good pub atmosphere. This past Saturday we went in around 8pm and it was small and cute with some live music playing and moderately crowded. Seemed like the perfect setting although there was no hostess/​server available to tell us if we could take a table or not. We ended up getting 2 seats at the bar (which happened to be wet and dirty), so being an ex-​bartender I took a few bev naps and wiped it up while we sat and waited… and waited… and waited…
Now there was a lively group down one end of the small bar, but 3 bartenders behind the bar. Not ONE of them put a napkin down in front of us, said hello, or even so much as looked our way. We waited almost 10 minutes and had to call it. We aren’t usually so dramatic but what a bad first impression for a new bar. To add fuel to the fire we ended up seeing one of the bartenders who was behind the bar as we waited, outside smoking a cigarette. Nice.
We ended up around the corner at the Brickyard Tavern where we had excellent service provided by a single bartender taking care of a bar 3x the size of Henry’s. We probably won’t be back there anytime soon. Get your act together guys.

Great wings and service. Crazy fast service and the were very nice. I love this restaurant! I would eat here for breakfast lunch and dinner!

Love this place, very down low and very chill. Take your time and enjoy your night out. Live music is always great and the size of the place reminds you of an active bar in a large city. So glad Henry’s is in town with great people working and knowing you can see a good friend or two to hang out with for good times.

Henry’s is a good looking building in a great location. Unfortunately it’s a restaurant in need of much remediation.
Let’s start with entry: Walking in through the main door, you stand in the main thoroughfare trying to figure out whether to self seat or wait, meanwhile blocking outgoing traffic. A server shortly seats you at a good looking but not totally clean table. The menu is also dirty.
Its contents are a bit of a hodgepodge. Do you like cheese and pork? Good, we have them on everything. The server forgets to tell you the specials. They are apparently on a blackboard somewhere not totally out of sight. You decide to play it safe and try fish and chips because that can’t be screwed up, right? And you need to play safe after the impression gained from the first 5 minutes’ experience.
The fish batter is soggy with grease. Forget putting it on paper after it gets out of the fryer. Use the fries to do that. And forget using fresh fish. I was sick most of the day after. Not food poisoning mind you, rather, that kind of bad stomach feeling that makes you want to hold off eating for several meals.
A complete failure.

Well, tried Henry’s again, but had to walk out. The first time we went, we wandered through the restaurant and finally found a server who said we could sit outside (no hostess or manager?), and then proceeded to wait at least 10 minutes without being given menus, water, or any acknowledgement, for that matter). Several servers walked passed us and/​or waited on the adjacent tables to us but completely ignored us. One actually saw a friend on the sidewalk, ran out to greet him and proceeded to chat for several minutes. A server who wasn’t assigned our table finally asked us if we had been helped yet and was nice enough to take over our table. Food was pretty good, and that server saved that experience, so we decided to go back.
Cut to last night: Again, we went inside to get seated, and had to wander around to find someone to ask about being seated outside. Finally asked the bartender if we could sit outside and were told ‘sure — if there’s a table, sit’. Held the door open for a server bringing food outside & sat at the table next to hers. And sat. And sat. She took their order, took their menus, walked past us (with the menus) & went to the table on our OTHER side and cleared their plates. Walked past us with the menus AGAIN. We wait. And wait. See server from the previous visit help another table outside, go back in. A third server (who was later identified as the manager, but we question that), also came out, delivered beers to a table next to ours, and went back inside. Still no menus or acknowledgement of us. A fourth server (mind you, there are only about 5 or 6 tables outside, and not many people seated inside), also came outside and walked past our table. Still nothing. We had sat down at 7:35. It was now 7:42; we decided to wait until 10 minutes had passed and then we would leave.
…crickets.
On our way out, we asked to speak to a manager. Three servers and the bartender looked at each questioningly and finally identified someone to be the manager, who said «the chicken wings will be right out!». Okay… not sure what that was about. One of the servers who had walked outside said ‘Oh, I noticed you and figured you had ordered and were waiting your drinks or food’. The server who had ignored us our first visit also looked at us blankly, and the bartender finally asked if she could give us a free drink. Um, no thanks. We went down the street to Next Door Kitchen and were greeted warmly, got professional service, and an incredible meal, all in a packed house.

It’s an Irish pub without all the plastic paddy stuff. Lots of bald headed tattooed waiters and very high strung waitresses. Truthfully looking at the crowd it sort of screams townie… but slightly better dressed. Beer prices were fair. but I can’t say that I was intrigued by the pub menu. Still it’s good to have a local pub and the interior was well done. Ballston Spa has it’s charms but it still has kind of gritty slightly redneck interior too it despite all the new businesses coming in. I suppose the ones that can’t fathom eating pork belly at one of the other bistros will find the more familiar Marty McGillicuddy fare here or at the Brick Yard or Factory. It’s really a function of who you want to see… there are many of these places around the Albany area.

Oh noo! Reviewed too soon! Went to Henry’s for the second time and was really disappointed. Evidently they were short staffed so it took almost 5 minutes for a server to greet us, then in top of that I think I could have gotten a better salad entrée from Hannafords. If you want the details, keep reading, but the gist is that this place need to get it together a little.
Avocado is tricky, open too soon and you get a green rock, open too late and you’ll be eating brown mush. I ordered a Cobb Salad and the avocado (which is what makes it a Cobb) was a strange, rubbery, un-​ripened, green mango. And the four tomato halves and some blue cheese wasn’t going to make up for this. I never take anything back, but it was clear the avocado was sliced earlier in the day, so I asked for fresh slices. Our server brought over more of this ripe-​looking, yet rotten fruit, which was inedible. Between the wait to be seated and this generic salad I have changed my rating from 5 stars to 3.
Owner of Henry’s, if you don’t want to serve salad as an entrée, don’t put it on the menu. When someone takes a meal back, please either offer a new dish or send a manager out.
Review from ⁵⁄₂₀₁₅:
Just opened a little over a month ago, and it was a great experience for us. The Green Goddess sandwich was unique and perfect, the fish and chips were very good. They use a rich, but salad appropriate, bacon vinaigrette dressing which was original. The Toll House pie was so delicious, I was ready to do a jig! Our server, Zach, was wonderful and attentive.