Bro-central here. Seems like a multi-story Greek party annex, though it draws in townie types as well. There's a dance party on the top floors and more typical bar activities on the lower floors. The first floor is particularly crowded. We didn't stay very long, but if you're 21-25, it's definitely a scene.
Review Source:Had a party at the Saratoga City Tavern last week and I was very impressed. Â Food was great (not the usual pub fair), service was outstanding and the beer selection was unreal. Â They let me choose all the beers I wanted to have on-tap and based on their selection I got everything I wanted. Â Definitely a 5 star in my book.
Review Source:ALERT: Males can not wear tank tops here. hah I know, It's pretty bad... apparently the owner is unaware of how uncomfortably hot his own bar is. Â I really don't know why people are praising this place at all.
Besides a dress code that screams "we have a terrible crowd of douche bags that come here" the bar also has a lineup of cover bands that pretty much only play DMB (typical of saratoga) and it reeks like beer and piss on all 5 floors, even the absurd "swanky" floor with leather chairs (fyi don't sit on them) smells like a locker room.
For me all my experiences here have been the same, a crowded smelly mess of oddly themed floors with little or no concern for customers. Â If your bar needs a dress code, it's attracting the wrong crowd.
Great selection of beer- I'll give 'em that. Â During the late-night hours, it can get packed (not necessarily a bad thing) but it can also smell like fermented/spilled beer on the first floor.
Cool building, good ambiance (and variety of said ambiance from floor-to-floor), and live music is a big plus.
Went to this place for lunch and loved it.
It has a huge number of taps. Â I was told by the bartender that they have the most taps in Saratoga Springs. Â I tried a Harpoon Raspberry UFO and that was the only tap I cared about. Â For a snack I had the buffalo tater tots. Â They were awesome, Â covered in buffalo sauce and cheese with a blue cheese dip. Â Awful for you...yes, but delicious.
The bartenders themselves were great. Â Very personable and informative. Â They gave us great recommendations for dinner and were really nice people. Â We had such a good time, we came back after dinner. Â The band was playing great covers and a good time was had by all.
Opinions on this place seem pretty polarized ... I find it especially amusing that some complain that it gets too ridiculously packed, while others say that it's eerily dead. Â Seems to be the kind of place that can provide very different experiences depending on the night you go.
We went on a Saturday for a late dinner and drinks, and it started off empty and got more lively as the night progressed. Â We scoped out the rooftop bar, and while it looked like it would be a fun place to hang out, we ended up on the first floor so we could get some grub.
We ordered some loaded tots for an appetizer, and I had the Buffalo burger for my main. Â The tots themselves tasted like your standard Ore-Ida freezer fare, though the toppings rendered them tasty. Â My burger was delicious--juicy, and so thick you can barely get your mouth around it, then topped with the best parts of a hot wing (Buffalo sauce and bleu cheese). Â I wish I could remember the name of the beer I had (with 54 taps, there are plenty of options to choose from) ... it was delicious, and only $5 a glass (I find that reasonable for draft premium/import/microbrew, though I suppose value is in the eye of the imbiber). Â
We caught most of the Red Sox-Yankees game, then watched a little live music. Â Our server stopped by often enough to keep our drinks refreshed, but never hovered or felt like an interruption. Â
I'm curious to go back and see what the other floors have to offer.
Solid bar, can be very cramped on the lower levels, good thing there are 5 floors!!!! Â And all of them have a different feel, which is really cool. Â One floor feels like a club, while another is a drive bar, then another a classier bar, with the final as a rooftop bar. Â Have live music here at time, and there is always a crowd on Fri, Sat nights. Â Will be going back when I am in town again.
Review Source:I don't get the issues people on here have with this place. I was here all last night (4/16) for a friends bacholorette party and we all had an awesome time! We spent several hours on the 1st floor eating and drinking, and listening to the live blues band they had. We eventually moved to the 3rd floor for a little while which was more chill. Finally we made our way to the 4th floor and had a blast dancing. We had no issues with bouncers, the bathrooms were typical bar bathrooms, and drink prices seemed normal to me for a bar. I also liked the wide range of age groups there. This place is hands down better than anything you'd find in downtown Albany. Will def go back!
Review Source:Up until about 4 years ago I had always felt really uncomfortable in dance clubs. They always looked like fun and that's where all the girls were, but it was way outside my element.
Flash forward a few years and every weekend is punctuated with a least some time on the "Whoreth Floor". Dubbed that because entering the  nexus of the 4th floor of city tavern will turn you into a slut with all manor of bumping grinding.
Why does hip hop sounds so cute and fitting for Easter, when in fact is more like a pagan pre-sex rhythm designed to make women loose inhibitions and show that shadow side of themselves locked away during their 9-5.
There is no elegance in the whoreth floor. This is the power of suggestion times bass. I will maintain from earlier posts that explored sexuality is often safer than if it's kept pent up waiting to burst at the seams when your ready to loose control. However not everybody is as pure of thought and soul as your author and time on the Whoreth floor could be time of lost control.
Overrated. Drinks are overpriced and there's nothing special about the 4 different floors. Crowd demographic ranges from late 20s to 40s. I feel bad for my male friends since the women there are puma/cougar status.
The bouncers are the worst part. They have such poor judgment and may be borderline racist. A friend of mine so generously helped escort out another friend who was very inebriated and helped get him a taxi home. When the former tried to re-enter the tavern to meet up with the rest of our group, he was denied by the 2 bouncers because they mistakenly claimed he was too drunk when he was not at all. I attempted to explain to the bouncers that they were wrong and that they were probably confusing him with the other friend, but they refused to listen to one word I had to say. They are insulting and have the audacity to stare down and threaten a petite young girl. Despicable.
There is nothing appealing to me about this place. Sure, it appears large because it's four floors and then has a rooftop bar. However, there is usually a huge line to get into the place and then no room to move once you actually get in there. Their drinks are horribly priced. The fourth floor (dance floor) is always so crowded that you can't possibly squeeze in there to dance unless you want to bump and grind with some strangers. It's a good concept, but gets way too crowded for hot summer nights. Not a fan. I'd rather go to Thirteen to go dancing or to Gaffney's for their outdoor patio.
Review Source:I think this place represents the overall feel of Saratoga night life: dying. Â What's with the pretention? Â Look, I know you Skidmore students are pissed because Union and Cornell rejected you, but seriously, dress and act better. Â bartenders, please make the drinks a little stronger if you're going to charge $8 (some NYC places charge that for bigger and stronger drinks, jeez).
Also, I found a lot of 'cougars' here....meow!
I'm so confused. I've been here once with my boyfriend for a night out. He said he called this place "The four floors of whores." What the hell? When we went that night, there was no one on the fourth floor. The bottom three floors didn't have music that I liked and the fourth floor was the closest, but still pretty whack music. I was not amused. There weren't even people! There were like 2 weird guys along with lots of scary looking girls that were dancing on something. Were they trying to strip? Anyway, it's sketchy. Don't want to be there.
Review Source:The ground floor of the Tavern is nice on a summer day when the windows are all open, though this is not a bar that does well with a crowd. (There's a huge staircase in the middle of the building and if you're on the far side, getting to the bar to get a drink is a hassle.)
On nights that aren't busy (read: anytime of the year other than racing season), the bar closes VERY early. I've walked by at 10 pm and seen everything dark and the doors closed more than once.
I've also had much better experiences when accompanied by men than when going in alone or with my mom. I'm not sure why, and maybe they were just having a bad day (four or five times in a row), but the bartenders seemed very dismissive of me unless I had an older man with me (boyfriend, father, friend).
I was going to give this place 5 stars for the rooftop bar alone. Â It's stunning. Â Saratoga Springs is hilly, and the view from this 5 story building is sublime. Â The hills are all twinkly and pretty at night.
Minus one star for no smoking on the outside patio, anywhere. Â Bleah. Â Okay, it's a good thing for most people but who wants to go down 5 floors for a smoke break? Â In the old school rickety elevator?
On my way out, I was challenged by some guy to a dance off. Â I love a good dance off. Â The DJ voted me the winner, of course. Â I gots the skillz!
City Tavern is really what you make of it. It has many personalities itself, and if you choose wisely, you will have a fabulous night.
By choosing wisely, I mean choosing the right floor in this establishment. The entire place is composed of 5 floors, and while there is an elevator, it's often finnicky, slow, or downright broken. No worries though, there's a stairwell right ahead and it's quite fun to round the stairs and make your way up to see what is behind each door.
The first floor (through the main entrance) is the 'Tavern' floor, which often gets a bit crowded, yet maintains the feeling of a regular bar. I could dare compare it the ambiance of a Gramercy area pub with it's mahogany bar, beer signs, dart boards and professional crowd, but that might be stretching it. They do serve in actual glasses on this floor, which is nicer than most places in this area. Around the staircase (which separates the bar and "dining area" and goes straight up the center of this floor, unlike others) are some booths and I believe you can order simple food, though I never have and you're not required to. Also, there will usually be some form of live music performance going on here.
The second floor is supposedly a sports bar, but I am going to assume that it's not very exciting, because out of the dozens of times I've been to this place, we've NEVER stopped on 2 except maybe to pee or use the ATM (which doesn't always work...beware). I couldn't even tell you what this entire floor looks like.
On to the third floor. Totally classy! Exposed brick walls and ENOURMOUS windows - you feel like you're in someone's apartment. There's an old fashioned pocket pool table near the fireplace, which you may play for free...and you won't see people fighting over who gets next game. Cozy chairs and a small bar with nice accents finish this floor off. This is my favorite place to stop when I'm at Tavern. The music is also a winning point for 3...always mellow and cool - never too loud or poppy.
Fourth Floor. BLEH. Well, that depends on what mood you're in. The fourth floor is the Dance Club and has the feel of a warehouse with rough hardwood floors, white painted exposed brick, and odd shaped large windows. To be fair, I'm just not that into dance club scenes anymore. Looking back on my prime Saratoga days, that is the floor I flocked to...but why? It's jam-packed, LOUD, sweaty and full of men who you really don't want near you (and some women). The bar is very busy (but usually extremely attentive and quick with requests) and I'm fairly sure it's plastic service here (trust me, this is a good thing). It's dark with lots of clubby lights, too and there is a DJ in the corner who always played pretty good music (well, if you like that kind of thing). I shudder to think that this was once my scene.
Fifth floor! This is a rooftop bar, and the ONLY one in Saratoga. The views are beautiful up there (virtually 360 degree). There is plenty of seating, it has it's own bar and usually attracts a more mature (and not in a bad way) crowd. If you can make it up there for a sunset, do it. I just wish I had spent more time up there.
If you can't tell, this place is a winner. It gets damn crowded for a reason. Just choose your floor wisely.
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