Spill’n the Beans Coffeehouse & Bistro

I would agree with a recent review. Only a few of the waitstaff are friendly or even pleasant. However, the coffee is generally pretty good, and I like the seating – particularly when it’s outdoors. If you can stomach a little upstate NY rudeness, it’s okay.

More negative attitude, than Productive service. When Management is horrible, evidently their traits roll down.
I recommend this place… for those who «do not» value friendly customer service, cleanliness, or efficieny.
28 minutes for a sandwich to come. During early afternoon.

Best coffeehouse in Upstate and if you disagree you’re probably a socialist commie, hippie, or a know it all liberal.
Comfortable, clean atmosphere.
Never seen a kid here once = 5 stars.

Coffee house coffee the way it was meant to be. This is not your average Starbucks coffee (and I like a Starbucks) — it starts with the best coffee beans brewed to perfection and finished with quality ingredients by baristas who know their shit. Let’s not forget the food which is always very good. When I’m downtown, this is my go to place.

More than just a coffee house. The menu for breakfast and lunch is pretty extensive. And delicious I should add. Tends to be very busy in the early AM. Apparently, I’m not the only person who likes this place. Lol. Anyway, the coffees are outstanding. Wide variety, and I have yet to get a bad cup. The few times I have had food, it was the breakfast sandwich special. Always fast and always very good. As long as they continue with the consistency and speed of the meals, I’ll be a regular. You should be too.

Great lunch or coffee place! The service was quick and very friendly! The food was good as well. Will definitely go back when in the area.

That first really blustery super cold day of the winter really is chit. Until you push your way inside of a big warm room full of laid back locals and the smell of fresh coffee and smoke from the grill. Instant cozy and the world is all right once more. No superheroes required.
Located on 3^rd Street in up and coming finally downtown Troy we lined up to place our order from a selection of breakfast classics, burgers, and sandwiches as well as some tempting looking sweets (no calories in looking, FYI). FF went for the Smoked Salmon sandwich, laced with spicy Dijon and horseradish on an easy bitin’ baguette — this was a lovely creation that easily did without cream cheese and capers. I polished off a Classic Melt — not a panini like it said — BETTER: smoked ham, nice stringy swiss, tomatoes and some baby greens served up with a croque-​monster worthy buttery crunch sliced white. Side salads were available instead of chips — a bit of cuke, cherry T’s, carrot and tender greens with a bit of balsamic made for two lovely lunches.
Service wasn’t slow considering how busy they were, and we weren’t in a hurry. There’s table service with your order once it’s ready, but you do need to get in the queue and pay up first.
Our only diss was that the coffees weren’t perfect. The French pressed coffee was rich and very very dark. My Definitely Decaf or I’ll Come Back and Find You was pretty weak and thin, almost as bad as DD in that respect, but the roasts did taste good.

I have been to many coffee shops and this one is by far my favorite. Their almond milk latte is the best in the Capital District. Nice staff and comfortable atmosphere.

Amazing «stay-​in» cappuccino. Wonderful waffles. Extremely enthusiastic almost host. The menu is diverse… skip the drip and go barista.

RPI student regular. Used to like this place a lot more but they can’t handle more than 20 customers. Waited 45 minutes for 3 muffins.
Other than that, their food is superb and it’s a nice theme

To start, spill’n the beans is the best place to get coffee in Troy… But that’s about the only thing they’re ‘the best’ at. Breakfast, which is only served until 11:30, is consistently good. Some of the breakfast specials are really great and worth the money. Lunch, starting at 11:30, seems to be an absolute joke. The menu is full of items that are described beautifully and sound as though they might be very good, but ultimately have pretty poor execution.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a polite and smiling Barista, and the usual female front of house manager/​owner (?). I’ve never had a polite or pleasant experience with the manager, as she seems abrasive and unwilling to engage with neither her counter staff nor non-​regular customers. Her voice, barking orders at the other employees, carries through the entire restaurant and really destroys the ‘comfortable coffee shop’ atmosphere they are trying so hard to achieve.
I ordered the Grilled Chicken Sandwich (mislabeled as a burger on the menu) with sautéed onions, Swiss cheese, and an over-​salted barbecue sauce. Being gluten-​free, I ordered no bun, but that request was not respected upon the arrival of my food. The overall flavor of the grilled chicken was good, but the quality of the chicken breast felt as though I had bitten into a piece of leather. Each layer of the chicken separated from the others into a striated, sinewy, mass. Initially, I thought the chicken may have been undercooked, but, really, it was just cheap, hormone filled, chicken. My friend ordered the ‘house-​made’ veggie burger, which seemed more like a patty of cooked hummus than an actual veggie burger. On top of everything, the kettle chips, proudly marked as ‘our kettle chips’ on the menu, were inedibly stale. So, all-​in-​all, everything was a disappointment.
Quality of food, plus a rude manager/​owner (?) would truly give this visit to Spill’n the Beans a 1 or 2 star rating. However, bearing in mind the fact that I will probably return for coffee and breakfast, as I’ve had positive experiences with both in past visits, I would give the establishment 3-​stars overall.

My FAVORITE café in Troy! I am so thankful that this place exists… During grad study at RPI, Spill’n the Beans contributed to the retention of my sanity.
First; what. a friendly. staff. The ladies who run the counter are the sweetest and best; and fast! …necessary for such a café that’s usually very busy.
GREAT coffee, always, whether you’re hankering for a latte, capp, or drip. If you like chai, try the SOY CHAI TEA LATTE w/​a shot (or two) of espresso; this is my personal delight! #dirtychai
Aaand the food; YES. Though my most common reason for swinging by STB is coffee, I will occasionally do so for food.
‘The Camembert’ is my favorite sandwich, and I almost always add roasted turkey! …there’s something magical about camembert, avocado, and roasted turkey on a fresh baguette.
Check the specials board! …once, I was blessed to pop in for lunch on ‘crab panini special’ day; oh. my. sweet Jesus. so. much. crab. (this panini definitely made it to my list of ‘best sandwiches eaten in this lifetime.’)

Absolutely love this place. The breakfast options are delicious and filling, the drink options are diverse, and the service is amazing. And I dare say that there is nowhere else in Troy where you can watch a guy make lattes with a gun holstered to his hip.

Great coffee and great service. Everyone that works here is really friendly. There’s plenty of seating with a few outlets around and free wifi. It’s a perfect spot to get some work done. They have partial service, so food and drinks are ordered at the counter and brought out to you. I like the coffee here a lot. Every blend I’ve tried has been great. The iced coffee is just ok-​nothing special. My husband and I stopped in for some breakfast yesterday and we were both really pleased with our food. I ordered an egg and cheese on a croissant and my husband ordered a bagel with lox. The croissant sandwich was great. A generous amount of scrambled eggs and cheese were piled onto the grilled croissant. Really tasty. The lox was surprisingly good. Not too salty. We also split a plate of corned beef hash. The hash was pretty basic, but seasoned well. No refills on coffee for a sit down breakfast after 11:30 am.

Another complete coffee shop in Troy. By complete I mean you can get just coffee, coffee and a danish, a full lunch, etc.
Needed a quick pick me up while touring RPI. Dropped in with three people. Ordered three coffees and a triple slider. Also nabbed a day old danish. More than enough for the three of us (not every meal needs to be a huge two servings of starch, three servings of veg, 2 servings of meat per person!).
Coffee was fine, sliders were just OK, danish was exactly what I expected. The main pluses were speed of service, ease of seating, and a nice woodsy, dinerish feel. I could do without the TV. As a middleaged reader I still don’t understand the need for TVs in public places.
I will go back if the son decides on RPI for undergrad.

One of my favorite coffee shops in the area! Always get a chai tea latte with almond milk and their cookies, breads, scones pair beautifully with all of their drinks. This place is one of my weekend staples before or after the farmers market. The staff are awesome and friendly too!

While Spillin’ the Beans was unbelievably busy on a Friday late-​morning, I found that even though the line was almost out the door, it was worth the wait. The coffee is excellent. I had a regular old drip of whatever their lightest roast is and it was very tasty; not burnt, not too hot, not too cool, just right.

The breakfast at Spiilin is awesome… never fail specials on the board. Had a family breakfast there and the corned beef hash was as good as it gets… crispy surface… well seasoned and even a kick of spicy surprise. My Sonja’s the peanut butter and banana pancakes and they were super tasty… and raves from other end of the table for the southern style Benedict with biscuit, sausage and a twist on hollandaise.
Not a huge fan of their coffee but the food alone is well worth the visit.

What a great 500^th review!
We went around lunch hour so I was expecting it to be busy but it surprisingly wasn’t. Only about 3 or 4 other tables. Staff was friendly and knew frequent customers by name. They seemed to have different brews of coffee everyday. The Burgers were not up on the menu board so my boyfriend was disappointed until he picked up the paper menu in front of the register. You order at the register then they bring your food to your table. There was a lot of seating.
I got a 20oz iced coffee which was really good (you put it together yourself), and the Portabella Panini with salad on the side. I enjoyed the salad and the dressing a lot. I thought there could have been more sliced Portobello mushrooms in the panini. They put some kind of mayo on it, which if I knew that before hand would have asked for it without it, but I’m glad I didn’t Totally completed the sandwich.
We went on empty stomaches and I had a hard time finishing my plate, which I consider a good thing.
My boyfriend however ate everything. He got the Tuscany Burger which came with chips and a pickle, and a few mixed greens to add to his burger if he wanted. He said it was really good. He also commented that he thought the price would have been more fair if it came with fries, but then again he did order a pretty gourmet style burger.
All that with a bottled drink, around $ 25.
We got to see the chefs though the window, and with no one really waiting in front of us, food came out in a decent amount of time.
Will be returning. Loved the atmopshere but can’t say I’ll love it when it’s busy.

The food is really good, I’ve had their quiche, salads, omelets, home fries, and various drinks. I usually get one of the daily specials, the baristas are amazing. They can even do the foam leaf thing.
They offer whole, skim, and soy for their drinks. You order lattes as single, double, or triple. And all the other drinks are small, medium, large. They offer several different roasts of coffees each day. As well as baked goods, brownies, cookies, muffins, scones etc.
Good place to pick up the Metroland, and other free magazines/​flyers.
Breakfast is from 7 – 11:30 M-​F, 8 – 11:30 Sat and all day on Sundays. Weekends can be crowded and you may have to wait for a table. A very relaxed atmosphere.