1925 Curry Road, Rotterdam
Food 3.5 C’s (out of 5)
Service 3.5 C’s
Family friendliness 4 C’s
When the temperatures drop and daylight dwindles, the Family Chow searches for fun ways to hibernate. We decided to marry our love of sports with our love of food and try the Recovery Sports Grill in Rotterdam. The Grill started as a single establishment across from Albany Medical Center but has since expanded to eight locations in New York and three other states.
We arrived on a frigid mid-week night to a mostly empty restaurant. We were ushered to a booth pronto by a friendly host and noticed the TVs and sports memorabilia covering every inch of wall space. The gleaming, well-stocked bar in the middle of the restaurant had a nice view into the open kitchen. Our booth had a speaker at one end so we could tune in to the sports action. Daughter approved of the background music and Son noticed the video games lining one wall of the restaurant.
Our server brought us menus right away and took drink orders. The restaurant is in the middle of switching its drink menu, but we were told that there were over 50 beers offered and that the bar could whip up “anything.” After a quick glance at the menu, we put in an order of wings to start ($9.99 for 10).
The menu had a good deal of variety but was not so wide-ranging as to be suspicious. We expected the heavy emphasis on appetizers and noticed some slight variations on the usual offerings including a roasted veggie quesadilla and calamari “fries.” There were 8 salads of the standard type and a chicken wing and tender section. Burgers and sandwiches were followed by entrees, covering everything from steaks to salmon and pasta. The kids’ menu included seven options, none of which took us by surprise. The price, however, was pleasantly low just $2.99 for the meal including a drink and cookie for dessert.
Our wings arrived piping hot, covered in a delicious blue cheese wing sauce mixture. Not too spicy or saucy, with a juicy interior and crisp exterior. We had just enough time to finish the wings as our main dishes arrived.
Mom was in the mood for veggies and liked the description of the Veggie Club Sandwich ($8.49). The stacked club was filled with thin slices of peppery zucchini, havarti cheese, fresh tomato and lettuce and was dressed with a good amount of Dijon mustard. It lacked the advertised avocado, however, which was sorely missed. The side of chips were not too salty and tasted freshly “kettled”.
Dad ordered the Southwest Chop Salad ($9.99). He described the salad as “huge, not skimpy,” though it did include a number of hard romaine lettuce hearts which, in his opinion, should not make it to the plate. The flavors and dressing were excellent, but instead of using whole tortilla chips around the periphery of the salad, shredded tortilla chips within the salad would have made it a home run.
Daughter played it safe and ordered the Home Run Burger ($8.99), which she described as average. Mom and Dad both tried a bite and liked the charred flavor. Everyone agreed her fries were very good. Son covered his bases by ordering two kids’ meals (at $2.99 each, still a bargain) and went with the chicken tenders and pizza. He liked the personal pizza with its puffy crust and light tomato sauce, but thumbed his nose at the tenders. Mom felt compelled to try a bite since the tenders looked better than most, and noticed that the batter tasted faintly of beer which she liked.
For dessert, we ordered the Lava Bundt Cake ($5.99) to share. It arrived pleasantly warm with a cold side of vanilla ice cream. It clearly wasn’t homemade, but provided a nice bit of chocolate goodness to round out our meal.
Overall, we found the Recovery Grill fulfilled its mission of providing a fun place to come watch the game and grab some munchies. The service was friendly and despite a few missed items (Mom’s avocado and Son’s cookies), we enjoyed the atmosphere and food. We give the Recovery Grill 3.5 C’s for service, 4 C’s for family friendliness and 3.5 C’s for food.
The Family Chow hails from the Capital District and will be contributing regular reviews of area restaurants based on service, food and family friendliness.