NaNola

Went here last night for trivia. Enjoyed the trivia on Tuesday nights, but the service and food are so incredibly «blah.» Nothing special and any drive for me to return back to this restaurant. The service was insanely slow for an empty restaurant and the server brought me an incorrect drink. My shrimp Caesar salad was brought to my table after waiting for 45 minutes. The large white bowl had some great promise. Along comes an huge bowl of plan lettuce, 3 grape tomatoes, 4 very rubbery pieces of grilled shrimp and a take out container of Caesar dressing. I left the restaurant needing actual dinner. The very lethargic waiting-​for-​food mindset and incorrect drink orders were a big turn off. Will not be returning

Back to NaNola’s and like we suspected received a great reception and even a better meal. This is the best place Malta has to offer. Planning our next trip around the corner already!

I had heard a few bad reviews and one good one but decided to give this place a try because I love Louisiana style food. My experience started out fine but quickly got worse and worse. Me and my friend walked in and seated ourselves as the sign at the door stated us too. The atmosphere seems decent and the interior decorations were neat. Our waitress greeted us pretty quickly because she was right at the table next to us. I had several questions which my waitress was great about answering. We decided to try the crawfish hush puppies and gator bites for an appetizer and I ordered gumbo that was suppose to have chicken, sausage and crawfish in it as my entrée. My friend went with the jambalaya as her entrée. As we were waiting for our appetizer the table next to us ordered a Bloody Mary with shrimp and gator bites as a garnish. It looked awesome and I love bloody Mary’s so I ordered one. After ordering mine the waitress goes back over to the table next to us to ask them how the Bloody Mary was and the guy asked her to take it back because he didn’t like it. I thought to myself uh oh but decided to just remain optimistic. So I get my Bloody Mary and a couple of minutes after we receive our appetizers. First me and my friend try the gator bites. THEY WERE AWFUL. My friend actually got up from her seat and ran to the bathroom to spit it out in their garbage. Now I have had gator before and that is not what it has ever tasted like. Ugh just thinking about it makes my stomach turn. The waitress comes back over and we tell her we really do not like them. She apologizes and says she has never heard anyone complain about them (I FIND THAT HARD TO BELIEVE.) and takes them away. Then we try the crawfish hush puppies. My friend wasn’t into them… I thought they were okay but overly seasoned and really lacking on the crawfish tails they are suppose to have. At this point me and my friend are really regretting our decision of trying this place but still we are trying to be optimistic. Then I try my Bloody Mary. All I can say is UGH. It just was not good. I usually drink a Bloody Mary on Sunday’s when I go out for brunch… so I have tried my share of bloody Mary’s. This was the worst Bloody Mary I have ever had. And here me and my friend are still trying to remain optimistic haha. Then our entrees arrive. First of all. Some spots in both of our dishes were hot while other spots were Luke warm… doesn’t seem very safe to be serving food to your customers like that. My friend had a few bites of her jambalaya and looked at me and said this is just not good. My gumbo was okay but guess what… It was literally all sausage. I found ONE CRAWFISH TAIL AND NO CHICKEN. At this point we are both done. We are just ready to leave. I’m not one to be a huge complainer and didn’t plan to be until we went to pay. Since my friend hated her entrée so much they gave us a 15 dollar gift certificate which said it was valid that day. Since neither of us planned to go back we asked if we could just put it towards our check. The waitress was very hesitant and told us she’d need to speak to her manager. So the manager comes over and says well we don’t usually do that but I can take ten dollars off your bill and get rid of the gift certificate. I was like uh why only ten dollars… the gift certificate is for 15. The manager began to give me her excuses as to why she couldn’t and I was so annoyed at that point I began to go on about the other issues we had during our whole meal. To me if you have customers that have had such an awful experience you should at least give them what you originally offered. Not try to half ass your offer because we didn’t want your gift certificate to come back. At that point the manager just took the 15 dollars off and tried to convince me that their food is really good (also find that hard to believe) and begged us to please come back and give them another chance. NOT HAPPENING. I’m all for giving restaurants a second chance when one or two things seem off… but the whole food/​drink experience was just so awful I can’t stand the thought to go back and waste my money on disgusting overpriced «Louisiana style» food. I’d much rather go spend my money at the many amazing restaurants in downtown Saratoga. My advice is don’t waste your money like I foolish did after hearing bad reviews… unless you have awful taste in food then go right ahead and waste your money.

Went for the first time last night & was pleasantly surprised they had a restaurant week deal. We had the crawfish hush puppies, macaroni & cheese, & dessert for $ 20. The portions were huge & food was great. The wait staff was very pleasant & we will be back, as there were lots of items on the menu I’d like to try.

Food was not great. Had mac and cheese. Last week it was really good, this week, I couldn’t eat it. Service ok. Not very attentive. LOUD in bar, had to move to outside to eat. It got cold out there, but at least quiet. Then a big group of people came out to smoke and swear right near where we were eating. NOT HAPPY. I’m a smoker, but they had absolutely no concern for us right next to them. Check came… very expensive for what we got. Not sure that I will go back.

Sorry to say it took about 10 minutes before I was acknowledged at my table. Once waited upon the waiter didn’t know where the seafood was from/​caught. When he did return with where the seafood was caught I really wasnt surprised that it WASN’T from the Gulf Coast. I opted for just a Blue Apple salad and a Mascato. My dessert was Beignet’s with a raspberry sauce. Nothing like New Orleans ’ Café du’Monde.
I might come back once more to see if the staff were more knowledgeable about their food and if they were to get their seafood from the Gulf.

If I could give no stars I would and I actually thought the Ceaser salad I ordered was pretty tasty. But the service sucks. After sitting for about an hour with no visit from any waiter I got up to look for one. Found a girl who said she’d find a waiter to come over. About 20 minutes later a waitress and I use the word loosely came to take our order. I ordered my salad by yelling at the waitress as the band in the background was playing was too loud and pointing to my choice on the menu. My friend ordered rice and beans which looked surprisingly like jambalaya when it arrived and a glass of orange juice which came as orange vodka. My remaining friend ordered buffalo chicken salad. About 45 minutes later our food arrived, first strike the rice and beans came to me in spite of the fact that my friend is s blonde and I am a brunette. 10 minutes passed and she brought my salad to my other blonde friend once again I’m a brunette. The salad was delicious but then it was time for the check or in other words another practice in futility. We had to find another waitress to get us our check another 10 or 15 minutes passed the check was wrong, wrong, wrong. Waited some more for a corrected check. My friend payed with a credit card which sat waiting on our table while our waitress flirted with s patron at the bar. Twenty minutes later she arrived with check in hand. We gave her a tip which she clearly did not deserve and I guess the burning question of the evening is how does this place stAy in business? I probably will never go there again and by the looks of the crowd or lack of one I’d say a lot of people feel that way.

Nanola’s is quite impressive at first glance. A big wrap around deck circumvents the exterior and inside they have worked hard to capture the ambiance of a New Orleans bistro. A friendly greeter met me at the door and seated me immediately. So far, so good. However, this is where the wheels start coming off the cart.
While perusing Nanola’s menu I began to wonder why at 9:00 AM on a Saturday that I was the only customer in the place. This is a time when most places serving breakfast have a line out the door and a twenty minute wait. Here I am seated, with menu in hand, immediately! My question was soon to be answered.
I opted for my all time favorite breakfast, Eggs Benedict, served with a side of fried potatoes. My food came out quickly, which wasn’t surprising since there was no one else in the restaurant. The presentation was very appealing, pretty as a picture. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the taste, which is what dining is all about.
Being a Hollandaise purist, I simply do not like people messing with the best part of the dish. The chef (cook?) at Nanola’s decided that he had to play mad scientist with it, using some hot creole spice in it. Major bad decision. Major disappointment. When the Hollandaise sucks, the entire dish sucks! Just the way it is.
Strike number two was that Nanola’s idea of Canadian bacon is to lop off a chunk of ham and throw it under the poached eggs. I have no problem with using ham instead of Canadian bacon IF the ham is sliced thinly. Eggs Benedict is a delicate dish of poached eggs served on a Hollandaise soaked English muffin. Having a big honkin’ piece of ham, full of connective tissue, is not delicate in the least.
Strike three was when I tasted the perfectly fried potatoes. «How do you screw up fried potatoes?», you might ask. Well, by putting the same obnoxious spice, that you used to ruin the Hollandaise with, in them. That’s how. Good thing I ordered water on the side, because that turned out to be the best tasting thing I was served at Nanola’s House of Horrors!
In fairness to Nanola’s and their chef, I was aware that their theme was Cajun, but not every theme restaurant alters every dish on the menu. If you are going to drastically alter the taste of a classic dish, I believe that it should at least be mentioned in the menu description with a phrase like «prepared with Nanola’s special spices» or «served with a Cajun kick». The customer deserves to be forewarned, instead of just assuming they know the taste has been severely altered.
I can’t help but wonder if this is the reason they were empty at peak breakfast rush hours. I know that I won’t be back.

Went here part of a party of six for breakfast. We had a reservation for 10:00AM. because of good reviews about it. That was unnecessary, when we arrived there were four cars in the lot on a Sunday morning in the middle of summer. We were seated quickly which was the only thing quick for the next hour. The waitress took our order and then the wait began. Forty five minutes later the food started arriving. The cook must have done things in stages. All the plates with home fries had cold home fries. Pancakes were also cold. Eggs were the only food that was warm. Toast was ordered 45 min. reordered when my eggs were brought out then it took 5 more min for it to come to the table. The only positive was bacon ordered well done was cooked to order. Also if you go bring a fly swatter to kill all the flies flying around and you will have something to do during the long wait.

Great beer selection and really fun menu. I highly recommend coming in for brunch. The food is yummy and they always have a fun brunch cocktail — think Bloody Mary with a slider on top! They also have great bands. Go to the dueling piano show if you can, great time!

I’ve driven past this place dozens of times and finally got the chance to stop by there today for lunch, parking lot was fairly full. So took that as a good sign. There are pros and cons with this review.
Pros: Got seated quickly, of course at the time it was seat yourself. Atmosphere looks pretty good, stage for music it appears. A decent crowd was there for lunch with 2 large groups. Ordered the Shrimp Po’Boy, it comes grilled but preferred fried, whatever, better for my health I suppose.
The Po’Boy was excellent, though. It came with a side of Saratoga Chips and a small amount of slaw. Everything was good, although the sandwich was advertised on the menu as spicy, didn’t really notice any spice at all. The shrimp was large and plumb, cooked just right. Chips were hot and crispy and the slaw was just creamy enough. I’d recommend this sandwich to anyone, may get it again if I ever go back.
Cons: There were 2 fairly large groups (at least 6 – 10 people per group). Not sure if they were understaffed, busier than usual or what. But the service was atrociously slow. I’m a patient person and if those things I mentioned are going on, I can understand it. All I ask is to be informed that my meal may take longer than usual. The girl didn’t bother to. Had 3 guys come in after me and got their order well before me. Now, they did order the jambalaya, so that could’ve sped things up. Still, nothing from the waitress about the status of my order. Did they have to go down to the Gulf to get the shrimp?
Price: sandwich came with about 4 or 5 pcs. of large shrimp, L&T and sauce, side of chips and slaw for about $ 14 bucks. A little overpriced, imo. But that’s USNY for ya.
I may give this place another shot. It would be solo as the wife isn’t a fan of cajun food. Reading a previous review, seems the service has had issues before. Maybe Mgmt. can clean that up, be better staffed at all times and have the waitstaff be more transparent in cases of busier than usual days on wait time.

Trivia night seems fun with a great host from EQX, and our waitress did a great job of trying to recover the bad taste in our mouths after sitting at our table for 25+ minutes without a visit from any staff followed by an unpleasant interaction with the hostess when i went to ask for help during minute 23. All members of our party agreed that the reaction to our table by the staff (prior to our waitress) felt a lot like snubbing/​judgement.
We were originally planning on staying for trivia and the music to follow, and after much deliberation at our table, we decided on appetizers and a pitcher to share, and if things got better we’d stay around for dinner.
The beer we ordered off the menu was kicked, which you know — happens, but still had an impact on how we felt about our experience. For appetizers we ordered the fried pickles and sweet potato fries, both were B/​B+.
Oh! And each of us received a different version of a beer menu, two of which were old versions that were not accurate. This made being a first timer a little more frustrating than normal.
And things did not get better. So we left during round 2 of 6 of the trivia game.
Bummer.

We (3 of us) visited Nanola’s on a Friday evening, around 6:30. Walking up to the restaurant the first thing I noticed was a fire pit outside. It was a small area, just big enough for a group of 5 people, but it was a cool thing to have. Upon entering we were hit immediately by LOUD, *LOUD* music. We were seated at a table, with my husband and I seated side-​by-​side. The music was so loud that he and I had to lean in slightly to hear each other. That’s just obnoxious-​loud in my opinion.
We ordered Fried Pickles as an appetizer, then for entrees: Red Beans & Rice, Cajun Pasta and a Steak Po’ Boy. The pickles were good. They had a beer batter on them and were accompanied with a horseradish ranch-​type of sauce. We all enjoyed this dish.
We also had salads before our meal. They were fantastic, especially for a regular side salad. There were lots of veggies and a super nice mix of greens. It was something you’d expect at a fancier type of restaurant. What I didn’t like was that they don’t put their dressing on the side. Our waitress was heavy handed and smothered all our salads with tons of dressing. The bottom of our bowls were pooled with vinaigrette and the bottom lettuce made you cough a little from too much dressing. No one finished it completely. It ruined a great salad. What as waste.
The Steak Po’ Boy came with peppers, onion, swiss and the steak. He ordered it without the onions or peppers. When the sandwich arrived it seemed paltry and sparse. The roll was large and the steak was just one layer deep, as if they didn’t have enough and laid it out in attempt to make it look better. I didn’t expect it to be inches high, but a little pile of meat would have been nice. He removed the top bun and ate it like an open face sandwich — with just the bottom bun — because the bread would have overwhelmed it. In spite of this our friend said he really enjoyed the flavors. Maybe it doesn’t look so sad when there are peppers and onions piled on.
My pasta was flat out awful. I had expected a possible cream sauce or something of substance. It was plain spaghetti tossed with oil and Cajun dried spices. It was such a weird mix because the plate was so plain looking — just like a pile of shiny, naked spaghetti. Yet when you ate it there was definitely a kick, a hotness to it. But oddly there wasn’t a really «spice» flavor, just a sensation of heat. No salt, butter, cumin, pepper etc. There was a smattering of spice that was visible to the eye but it was so little. I could have been ok with the lack of flavor as salt and pepper can liven most things up. It was the copious amounts of plain oil — not even good oil either! A fine oil would have been some consolation! The plate was just swimming in it. Yuck. When I picked up the pasta with my fork, the spaghetti would sway a little, as spaghetti does, — and the oil was so thick it flicked off the spaghetti strands and stained my shirt. It was that dripping. When I ate I had to take small amounts and and then hold my hand under the pasta so the oil wouldn’t drip onto my chin or clothing. I’m not a barbarian so this was not user error. It was just that oily. Why no sauce Nanola’s? Or even butter? That would have made it better since butter would have added a texture and richness to it. I ate about ¹⁄₃ of the dish and then started to feel a bit sick — choked up a little; as one should, when they drink canola oil straight up.
I used to have a friend that couldn’t cook to save her life. She knew what she wanted but didn’t know how to get there — like she knew she wanted an alfredo sauce but instead of making a white sauce base she just poured milk, cheese and oil over her pasta, hoping a few stirs would make it all work. Her Asian soup broth? Straight soy sauce in a pot of plain water — nothing else. I still choke a bit when I recall eating that nightmare. And that’s what this spaghetti plate seemed like. That someone was trying to toss together a dish but didn’t know how to pull it off. Chef, go online and get some inspiration. Pioneer Woman makes a killer Cajun pasta.
Wow, that all sounded mean… but it’s my truth. In the end this really sub-​standard entrée, along with the WAY too loud music sealed the deal for me. To be accurate and honest: My two male dinner companions agreed about the music and salad. They both tasted my pasta and hated it. Steak Man agreed the sandwich skimped on meat but said he loved the flavors. He wasn’t sure if he’d give Nanola’s another try, but was open to it. Red Beans & Rice guy loved his dish and he was positive he’d go back. Me? The pasta, in combination with the WAY to loud music at 6:30 pm, was a deal breaker. I don’t believe I’ll go back for a second visit.

We came to Nonola SOLELY FOR THE DUELING PIANOS. Dueling pianos are very popular where I’m from and we’ve been looking for a piano bar since we moved to this area. The dueling piano performers were phenomenal. Unfortunately, the crowd was not participatory (I’m not surprised — it’s sheltered, uncultured upstate NY). Nonetheless, we’ll be back when the dueling pianos come back.

We arrived on a Tuesday to celebrate the granddaughter’s acceptance into college. I don’t remember which one so don’t ask. This place had been talked up by a neighbor with whom we’re no longer on speaking terms. My wife still waves at them in the morning even though I told her not to, but how do you scold a woman who bore your seed?
My soulless neighbor serviced me with advice as terrible as the waitstaff serviced my dining experience. I oft checked my wristwatch to both keep track of the time wasted, and to show my displeasure to any of the waitstaff paying attention… which they were not. This is worthy of a timeline.
18:35 — Arrive to Nanola
18:43 — We’re seated after an entire display of incompetence from the hostess.
19:00 — I’m confused by all these folks dressed like waitstaff lumbering around the dining floor. If they indeed worked here, then there’s no reason I’ve been sitting for fifteen god damned minutes without having my drink order taken.
19:03 — I pull out my sidearm– an 8 oz. flask filled to the brim with Makers Mark and try to discreetly take a pull. The granddaughter notices and complains to my wife, daughter, and stepson that grandpa came prepared. While explaining my display of fiscal responsibility by drinking from a flask I brought from home rather than drinking a steeply priced beer bought at the restaurant, a waitress finally arrives. I order a $ 7 beer in jest.
19:10 — Drinks still haven’t arrived. Some bearded rapscallion on the stage has started hollering into a microphone some questions that don’t make any damned sense. My entire family is craning their necks around in search of the disappeared waitress.
19:15 — The waitress finally returns, not with drinks, but to inform me that the beer I ordered is not available, despite it being on the menu. I’m upset, so I just order some domestic beer because there’s no reason they shouldn’t have that. She takes our dinner orders as well.
19:28 — Waitress returns to inform me that the domestic beer is out, and suggests I go for a draught of that beer instead. I’m too pissed at this point to take another look at the menu so I just agree, god dammit. I’m getting mad just thinking about this again.
19:33 — Waitress comes walking back with a look of concern on her face and informs me that the keg has just tapped. So, without hesitation, I put my napkin on the table, and walk out of the front door without saying a word.
I spent one hour in the twilight of my life waiting for a drink and meal that would never come. To ease my temper, I had a couple drinks at that Taproom place before I went home. It took an entire minute before being served a drink from Billy.
I was a bit sauced by the time I got back to home, and the wife was both upset and understanding. She explained to me that the granddaughter was upset that I left her dinner… that my daughter and her husband were a bit more understanding, but upset nonetheless. I told the wife to invite the granddaughter over this weekend and we’ll take her to the arcade.
Three stars off for the god awful service we experienced at Nanola. I’ve never had worse. One more star off for making my family angry at me, which will result in over $ 20 being lost to the arcade this weekend. Never again.

Tired coming back to give them another try after the last failure. Wow second time is a swing and a miss again! The service was a little faster this time around but everything came to a crashing halt with the main course!
We order gator bites, grilled oysters and oysters on the half shell and everything was great. They even brought over a different type of sauce for the gator bites.
I order the salmon and gnocchi dish as the New Orleans Turkey sandwich had just sold out. When my dish came out I couldn’t see any salmon at first just burnt Gnocchi. As I search under the gnocchi hidden in the sauce was shredded pieces of raw salmon. The salmon looked like they scrapped it out of a cat food can. It was cold and slimy to the touch and it would not even stick on the fork when I tired to grab a bite.
I wave the Waitress over she was apologetic and offered to have them refire the dish or make something else. I politely told her I was all set. The kicker was the manager and chef sent the waitress back out to explain they used smoked salmon instead of a salmon filet.
This dish was not pleasant to look at or eat! No giving them a third try! Their seat up is disjointed and I think they are concentrating more on their Bar business. Don’t go here for dinner, but enjoy the Poker Tournaments in the dining room or a seat on the dance floor for some drinks.

Just ate dinner here, and I have nothing but good things to say. The bar was very crowded due to an awesome band playing, but our waitress Chelsea was still very attentive and took care of everything we needed. I had the Kobe Burger with the Ghost Pepper cheese, and boy did that have an enjoyable kick to it! Started with the gator bites, and yes they are alligator, a very rare thing to see this far north but they were excellent. If I’m ever in the area again I will be sure to return!

Food was great, service was great. Our waitress brought over some free pints of a new beer for us to try. Band that came on later in the night was great.
I felt I needed to write a review after the negative responses. Ignore them! This place is a fantastic, casual, fun environment.

Nanola is just another restaurant.
ATMOSPHERE: Depending on the day you go, it can be average noise or loud when a live band is playing. Our group arrived at about 630pm when it was quieter, and later in the evening live music began playing.
SERVICE: Like the other reviewers have said, it was slow. It took a while to get refills or to get our entrée orders taken after we’d received our appetizers. This attribute greatly lowers the restaurant’s overall score.
FOOD: This part was okay. We tried the fried pickles as an appetizer, and they were decent, albeit the portion was small. My entrée was the pulled pork sandwich with fries. I asked them to make it spicy since it didn’t come that way, and thankfully it was spiced in such a way that it was enjoyable. The pork was fairly moist, and the portion was mid size.
VALUE: Could be better. With $ 5 draft beers, small $ 7.50 appetizers, and $ 10 sandwiches that aren’t anything spectacular, I’m not exactly raving to spend my money here again.

Went there on a Sunday afternoon. We knew the music ended at 4, but wanted to try the food. We were seated promptly and greeted by a very nice young lady named Mackenzie. I ordered several Pale Ales and Mack told me they were out. Totally ok, the beer I finally got was fine (made down the road in Clifton Park Schmaltz brewery) I ordered the jambalaya with a side of shrimp and Jayne ordered the Po Boy beef sandwich. The sandwich was reportedly very good and the Saratoga chips were hot and delicious.
My salad came out pretty quick and was pretty good with a nice Italian dressing. We waited quite a while for the rest, but we were not in a hurry and just relaxed with our beer. it was really cold in the place and I blamed it on old windows. Jayne finally looked at the thermostat and the A/​C was on !!!
My jambalaya finally arrived. Nice spice with almost no veggies. The rice looked good but was obviously uncle Bens boil Bag… It had exactly 1 tiny piece of the famed andouille sausage. The chicken was hard as a rock and inedible.
We saw the owner of the old Bayou Café walking around and figured this is a new version of that failed Albany spot.
Bottom Line — the food is not good. You would think they could get this down by now. We will try this again when the weather gets nice.