Bobby T’s Sports Grill

Excellent dive bar in Albany
I come to albany on business once every 4 months or so. Doesn’t look like much but the bartenders treat me like a regular every time I come up… tall jack and coke for $ 5 Giddy up
The Wings and sliders are top notch
They have a lottery machine with keno and numbers
Plenty of tv’s to pass the time
Pool tables and foosball
All in all an excellent locals bar

Went there for a Paint Nite. The Paint nite was fun, downstairs and in a back room. NOt fancy at ALL, but it’s paint, so, you know. It’s more of a ‘belly up to the bar and toss a few back’ kind of place. Nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn’t plan a dinner there or get mixed drinks etc. (I did try one mixed drink… only one).

They have made some improvements to the food. The neighborhood isn’t great, but there are always drink and food specials, which makes for a cheap night out.

Did not honor contract.

A few months ago I received a message from a bartender at Bobby T’s letting me know they made some changes to the place and inviting me back to give the place another try. A friend of mine and I were planning to go out for a few drinks, and he lives even closer to Bobby T’s than I do so we decided to give it a go.
I was pretty stunned by how much the place had changed. The floors, tables, bar, everything looked brand new. They opened up the layout quite a bit too. The bar area itself was very comfortable for me. I like a place to step up to make it easier to find my spot on a stool, but I also like having a place to keep my feet once I am seated. The way the bar was laid out was perfect for me. Most importantly, the maple syrup and wine smell was completely gone.
The beers on tap were rather diverse. I ended up getting some Sam’s seasonal spring since I was planning to be here a while, but they did have Guinness on tap for my beer of choice.
The evening we were there was the night of the $ 600 million mega lotto jackpot, and the friend I was with had never played any lottery game before. We decided to go half on a ticket, and if we won we were going to buy the fire station at the intersection where Washington and Western meet and turn it into a bar and smoke house. This has nothing to do with the review but I am telling you anyway.
We decided to get something to eat, but I do not like eating at the bar itself. I think I do not like eating where people can walk up behind me. That was when I realized, most of the tables in the place were inconvenient for me. They were rather tall and had stools which were probably going to be an issue. But I noticed there were a couple of booths in the back and the waitress was more than happy to clear one off for us.
We started off with some wings. More accurately, Willie’s Wings. Seriously, how could I resist? Wings were pretty good. Breaded lightly with a fair amount of seasoning and since we weren’t 100% certain on the amount of heat my friend could take, our waitress brought the buffalo sauce on the side. Seeing the wings without sauce did make us want to try a bite on their own, and they were pretty good both ways.
Later that evening I had a meatball sub. It was not my favorite thing. Not much flavor from the meatball, the sauce was rather bland, and just not my thing overall. My friend got a hand tossed pizza, and he devoured it. Said it was pretty good in between grunts. I never got a bite.
At some point in the evening I had to call the wife to come get us. While we were deciding if we should go, she ended up ordering a grilled chicken salad. This meant another round of beer! DeAnna liked the salad overall. Once DeAnna realized she was invited out to drive us home, I had to appease her with a couple bucks for the jukebox. I did not realize just how expensive the jukebox would be, but DeAnna did get to meet Bobby T himself while she was over there and he gave her an extra song.
Overall, I like the changes to the place. The place isn’t perfect, but sometimes you just want a local place to go for a quick beer with a friend. It is convenience, relatively inexpensive, and the service is very attentive. I have to admit, they probably earned the extra star by naming their wings after me.