Rusch’s Bar & Grill

I’ve been to Rusch’s many times since my boyfriend moved to the area (he lives right across the street so it could not be more convenient) and I have never been disappointed. Good bar food, awesome service, tons of tvs, quick draw, what more could you ask for from a neighborhood bar?

While staying at the nearby Lebanon Reservoir Campground in our RV, we wanted to explore the town of Hamilton. We parked near the park in the center of town and proceeded to walk the historic streets.
After making an earlier stop at a local brewery, we got to the far end of town and were ready for a second beer and felt the draw of Rusch’s Bar & Tavern. Great choice!
Although I thought I was going to find more bar than grill, the exterior may be a little confusing. What we found was a crowded dining room of locals enjoying a Friday Night meal out on the town — many were families with children, I was confused because there was a shuffle board table pushed into a corner with tables right next to it.
Not to worry, a quick turn to the right and we found the bar with numerous large screen TV’s, all with different sporting events taking place — even got to see the Dodgers score their first run against the local favorite Met’s, ultimately delivering a 7 – 2 victory — Go Dodgers!
The bartender was a friendly guy. When asked about IPA’s we told him what we like and he found one that was very close to our favorite California IPA — Stones (which he was surprisingly familiar with). The conversation was great, talking about everything from local attractions, things to see and do and some of the differences between NY & CA. We were engaged by several locals and were made to feel right at home.
I wanted to know about ‘local’ dishes and was told about their greens. Hmmm, I wish I had taken a picture and some notes, but we were just having a good time I do remember there was garlic, Pancetta and Parmesan cheese. I’ll have to go back and try it again, it was awesome and I understand all of the restaurants in the area have their own version — but if you are here you got to check out Rusch’s Greens!
After a while, the owner joined us at the bar. Turns out he is a local REALTOR, so he was able to satisfy my REALTOR brain about some of the questions I had on local real estate practices… for example, whats with the Villages and Towns? What is a City in NY — well, thats another topic for another post. Just know we had a great time. Food was good, Beer was Cold and Ambiance was incredibly friendly… Highly recommended!
Oh, and they have daily specials — the only place I saw them was posted on the restroom wall — lol. I’ll be back on Tuesday when they have $ 0.50 wings. Love my wings! ! !

Not great, but it is cheap. It’s just your typical bar that doesn’t really take pride in the food that they serve over the drinks that they’ll pour you. Went here after a recommendation from the Wendt Inn just up the road, and came to find that all the food everyone ordered was just filled with grease.
Not bad if you want that kind of thing, but I’d rather have something a bit tastier. This place can do better at the same price point.

This place is awesome. I had raspberry ale which was delicious along with the California panini and sweet potato fries. The portions are a good size and the food was really good!!! And our waitress was excellent. I will definitely come back when I’m in the area.

Good sports bar food, quick service, friendly staff… Salads are good size, good variety of specials. Sweet potato fries are yummy.

Eat here every-​time we come up to Colgate, the food and service are also quite good and the prices are very reasonable. The owner is always their watching to make sure things are on the mark.

Friendly food with lots of TV screens.

Had a burger and beer for lunch on my way through town. Clean restaurant. Friendly staff.

Visiting Colgate. What a nice suprise! Home made delicious soup, great sandwiches. Bright, clean, great service!

If Rusches were a baseball player we would have had a good night. However going 1 for 3 with our meals won’t keep you in the big leagues. The salad was particularly bad and reminded me of why you would avoid an order involving fresh ingredients at a restaurant that is a bar first. The service was good and friendly. If only the food matched the server’s efforts.

I haven’t really watched any sports here yet, or ate here yet. But with Scott behind the bar, its a sold 4 stars. I drank some sort of IPA that was really good. I will definitely be back when I’m in town.