The Bier Abbey

How did it take me so long to sit down and eat here? The food is great here, and the old church house feel to the place is very cool. The mussels are very good, and the portions are big, even the small order was plenty to eat. I’ve tried their mushroom stroganoff and their garlic kale, both good. My favorite was a special that was basically their signature burger with pork belly, plus the beer cheese fondue, so good! The fries are awesome here, and lots of Belgian-​style dishes on the menu I’d love to go back and try.
It’s not a popular complaint with this place, but what drops it to 4 stars for me is the beer selection… I expected Belgian and European imports, but they only tend to offer American microbrews. I’m not a fan of most American craft beers, since we always put too much sugar and flavors into it… Not here to drink a beer that’s more like a chocolate milkshake or a lemon drop candy. It’s actually really easy to brew pale ales and stouts because the flavors are so strong, but it’s difficult to make a good lager or Pilsner since the flavors needs to be more balanced. Again, not a common complaint here, but I feel like a Belgian themed restaurant should come with some selection of imports.

Beer wow. I mean, wow wow. They’ve got some great stuff here in a region where we’re lucky to have a handful of bars with great stuff. For a while Hill Farmstead was the great white whale of craft beer, and the Bier Abby was one of the places you could occasionally find it.
I’m not sure what the current obsession among beer geeks is at the moment, but you could certainly find someone to talk about such matters either behind or seated across the bar.
Yes, there is food. Some of it is good. Other stuff is passable. And I really need to get back there to try more of the stuff from the kitchen. That said, I’m happy to give this place five stars on beer alone. That’s just how good they are.
I’d recommend sitting at the bar so you could watch all of those glorious elixirs being drawn from their taps into immaculately clean glassware.
If only I lived closer to Schenectady, I’d be there far more often. The hardest thing is having to drive out there and knowing that I’ll have to drive back home later that evening. Often it means skipping some of the amazing higher alcohol beers, and limiting myself to one or two of the lower octane brews.
One day, perhaps we’ll have a regional rail that will connect Albany to Schenectady. Although we may have self driving cars before that ever gets built. Anyway, dare to dream. I just hope that whenever that comes to pass, I’ll be alive to see it, and that The Bier Abbey will still be around.

Good beer (and lots of it, changing seasonally). Good food (pretty standard pub fare, but cooked really, really, well). Nice staff. Cool old building. What more could you possibly ask for?

It is well established by now that The Bier Abbey is THE place to go in Schenectady for the greatest variety of unique, limited production, worldly, and quality craft beer. The staff are knowledgeable about what’s on tap and are sure to introduce you to a new brew that is likely to please your inner beer geek. But the kitchen, by all means, should not be overlooked.
On a recent visit, our first in a couple of years, in addition to the main menu with apps, soup, mussels, burgers, etc., we were given an additional menu with Specials on one side and Small Plates on the other. There were several «Small Plates» that caught our attention so we initially decided to start there.
Roasted Beets ($ 8) — both red and gold with R&G goat cheese (Cohoes), and sage butter.
Butternut Squash Cassoulet ($ 8) — roasted squash with Edamame, roasted garlic, rosemary, and a carrot demi-​glacé.
Mushroom Stroganoff ($ 8) — Oyster/​Bolete/​& Trumpet mushrooms with sour cream and egg noodles.
Expecting «Small Plates» to be… small, we also ordered a Small ($ 9) portion of the Red Devil PEI Mussels made with Garafalo’s chorizo (Schenectady), house chili oil, and bier. And of course what would Moules be without Frites? So we had to add an order of Belgian Frites ($ 5) and from the seven choices of sauces, the two we chose to come with our frites were Ancho Mayo and BierBQ Mayo.
Now if that sounds like a lot of food for two people, you’re right! And the only complaint we had for the entire evening was that all the food was brought to our two-​seat high-​top at the same time. Each of the «Small Plates» was large enough to be an entrée for one person. And all the food we ordered could have comfortably fed four. After taking a quick taste of the Beets, Squash, and Stroganoff, we concentrated on the moules & frites since we knew we could always box the rest to take it home.
The frites were excellent, among the best I’ve had in the Capital District. The mussels were nice and tender and if we didn’t already have so much food I might have asked for more of the toasted baguette to soak up all of that delicious broth. We managed to also finish off the really delicious mushroom stroganoff so the only food that came home with us was about half of the Cassoulet and half of the beets. Both of those were excellent reheated the next day.
Oh, and what did we drink? My wife had an 8.5 oz. Kent Falls Sweatpants Pale Ale ($ 6.50) while I had a pint of Rushing Duck Beanhead Coffee Porter ($ 6.50). I thought the porter lacked some body, but really enjoyed the creamy nitro head. I did manage to finish off the evening with an 8.5 oz. Siren/​Cigar City Caribbean Chocolate Cake Stout ($ 11). That was EXCELLENT!

Pastrami sandwich is awesome! I don’t even drink beer, but for my beer loving friends and family this is the go to spot, and the food is definitely worth the trip. Plus they have a nice selection of house wines so a great spot for lunch or dinner.

I’ve been loving the Bier Abbey. This has become my go to beer and burger dinner place over the last year or so.
They have a huge variety of beers on tap (30 something I think) and the beers are rotated out fairly regularly. Lots of imported beers from Belgium, France, Germany and a nice selection of us craft beers.
Beers are usually available in a small and a larger pour size, with the sizes varying a bit depending on the style and strength of the beer.
The food has been excellent every time I have been here, and is basically what I wish the Van Dyck was like. You can tell they use fresh ingredients for everything, no frozen burger patties, fries or vegetables here. The Abbey Burger is my go to, with beer cheese and bacon on it — make sure you get the fries too, as they are probably the best in Schenectady, and also have fun dipping sauces available.
There are also a number of interesting healthy options on the menu like beets with goat cheese, kale etc. I’ve had the beets and they were delicious!
The restaurant space itself was well designed when it was remodeled, with a small room of tables in the front, the bar space fairly well separated in the middle, and then a large room of tables in the back, with a sunken area of large tables below a big projection screen television.
Service has so far always been great, with servers that tend to know their beer (which is important for a place like this) and timely refills etc.
The only bad thing, is that with my taste for imported strong Belgian beers, if you have more than one the tab accumulates rather quickly!

Came here based on some Unilocal Reviews! My husband and I are in the area looking for a home to buy in the area. The food was good, both of us ordered the Abbey Burger ($ 11 each without fries, fries is an extra $ 2.00), bier cheese and bacon on it was wonderful! They gave a slice of a pickle only I wanted more! I just degree #19 Hefe Weisse German beer and loved my 16.5 oz of beer. Hubby got the Red IPL (MA) beer. Our bill came to $ 41 with two beers and two burgers he had the fries added they were good nothing spectacular. I would come back to try more beer that’s hard to find. Parking also was not hard to come. It wasn’t crowded for a Sunday which had surprised me but then again everywhere else seemed dead too on Union Street. Servers were hospitable, we’ll visit again soon.

Bier Abbey is great! Great food and great variety of beer!

If you like good fries come here. They aren’t stingy on the portion either. My burger was accompanied with a huge pile of fries. When I first saw them I thought to myself that there was no way I could eat all of those. After tasting one I proceeded to stuff myself to the brim, finishing every last fry… That’s how good they were. I think my mouth is watering just writing about them…
I had the Abbey burger which was also quite large and delicious. It was cooked exactly how I wanted it medium rare, not a minute overdone. The burger was thick and juicy topped with a pile of caramelized onions, bacon and cheese. Be prepared to eat!
The only negative was that the service was a little slow but it was our waitresses first week so il give her a pass on that one.
They also have quite the extensive beer menu!

One of my favorite places to go and whine down. Great staff and the beer choices are awesome. The Bier Abby Burger it’s to die for!

Excellent place I love the menu options, my girlfriend loves the atmosphere, and I love the beer!
It’s a great place to just relax and I love it.

Nice atmosphere, friendly service, and a wonderful pastrami burger. The coleslaw was lacking, to be honest, and the frites (as well as their accompanying sauces) are certainly not the best I’ve ever had, but overall it was a good experience and I would definitely give them another chance to impress me as I am a sucker for a great draft list (the beer and the burger pushed me to 4 stars, although the sides and frites app was just «eh»).

I came here right before a show at Proctors one night. I had a couple of friends with me and we were sat outdoors on the patio. The patio area is great for days with nice weather, as you can enjoy the outdoors while sipping on your craft beer and also watch people on the street if you get bored of your present company.
This place receives three stars because of the mediocre food and poor operations. The service from our waitress was excellent, as she was aware that food was coming out slowly and would check in on our table and the table next to us frequently for any drink refills. We waited a good hour after ordering to receive our food, and the table next to us was waiting the same. I overheard our waitress tell them that the food was slow because two large reservations had arrived right before them and the kitchen was overwhelmed. I am thinking that if you cannot handle a full house, there is something wrong with how you’re handling the kitchen. We noted to our waitress that we had a show to catch, and she made every effort to get us our food as soon as possible.
In comparison to the beer quality, the food we got was just not as good as the menu made it seem. I ordered the Abbey Burger, which was a normal burger and overcooked (I ordered medium rare, and there was no pink in the middle). It did not come with a side, so I ordered sriracha brussel sprouts, which were nice and spicy but were still a bit raw in the middle due to being pan roasted. To me, the pricing is not on par with the quality of food, which is why I am giving it this rating.
If I were to come back, I would stick to their beer list and a side of fries.

Talk about mixed feelings… Great beer selection with 30 different beers on draught. They don’t have flights but they do offer 4oz pours to make up for it.
The ambience is dimly lit pub which lives up to it he name Bier Abbey so it fits perfectly. They do have an outdoor area which looks great for a sunny summer day!
The food was eh, I love chicken so I was so excited to see the description of their chicken sandwich. Let’s just say the finished product came short of the description: marinated chicken high, fontina, pickled onion, roasted red pepper coulis, spinach on brioche? I was ready! Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. The best part was the pickled onion which was sweet and crunchy but the chicken could have used more flavor.
The fries were good and came with a choice of 2 dipping sauces. My husband got the chicken tenders and he liked them, I tried it and was less than impressed.
I give them a 3 solely on the beer selection but they need to step up their game in the food department. I would come back to sit outside and try the mussels!

The Bier Abbey is my wife and I’s default destination. We know the beer is going to be awesome and the food very good. We also really like the quaint little area of town it is located. Only once were we a bit disappointed with the food, but it did not stop us from returning.
The menu is typically small but specialized. The muscles are very good and half the cost of you go to Saratoga. The sandwiches are great. Don’t be afraid to try the brussel sprouts, they are spot on delicious!

I come here every 3 months because of the beer selection. It really is an awesome place as far as beer knowledge and selection go. I always come here with a group of beer lovers and the beer has always pleased. This past visit though, saw our beers sit on a counter for 5 minutes until we flagged down the bartender and inquired if these were ours.
The food in the past was awesome, and had me heading for this place twice a month. Especially the beer battered chicken tenders. Sadly, over the past two visits, (I hold on) what use to be juicy, with a thick coating of light flavorful beer batter, is now tough, with a thick coating of flavorless concrete… Gone are all the little specs of obvious seasoning. (and the added flavor of using a good beer in the batter?)
Finally, I told our server that food has changed (a friend also had a serving of wings that was fried beyond crispy, a forgivable error if there’s meat on them to begin with). The manager came to the table and adjusted the 2 orders of tenders by discounting them 10%…
I’m hoping that this place returns to the greatness that use to get my 4 stars.

I’m due for an update on this bar. It’s still 5 stars but I have more to add to my original thoughts.
Beer Menu: Still amazing. Still every changing, Still the best in Schenectady. Better than just having a good beer menu they only hire people who KNOW what they are talking about. They don’t just hire cute faces, they hire cute faces that know their shit. Not sure what sort of beer you like? I bet they can find you one you’ll love!
Food Menu: Their fries are the best. I mean I dream of these fries. They also have incredible everything else. They have delicious Kale and Broccoli Rabe. They only use fresh ingredients and it’s important that everything be high quality. They have a few vegan options as well. They have a veggie sandwich, and a veggie burger that you can get on a different bun to make vegan! DELICIOUS. The veggie sandwich is my favorite. The Veggie burger is good but it tastes a little too oily for me. If you are not a vegan they have a bunch of delicious sides to dip your fries or wings in TRY THEM!
I don’t get to Schenectady too often anymore, but it’s hard to drive by this place.

My wife and I had a wonderful time at The Bier Abbey on a warm spring late afternoon. The Bier Abbey has a great outdoor seating area, especially the balcony portion. Combined with a warm sunny day, beer and good food, it can’t be beat.
When we got there we were quickly greeted and sat. Service was relatively good and fast except for dessert for some odd reason (it took a while) I had the pastrami burger (recommend) with fries and the wife had the veggie burger bites (liked) and the butternut squash (liked it but thought it was a odd combination dish). The beer menu was very good — an excellent selection from the US and abroad. I liked there were 4 to 16 oz pours. No local brews though…
Dessert was a warm brownie (gigantic — too much for even 2 people) drizzled with raspberry sauce and served with ice cream. Good but not great.
Overall, a really nice time. Would definitely go back.

The Bier Abbey is one of my favorite places. They have a great beer selection filled with an ever changing list of great beers. Every trip is a new experience in the world of beer. They even had my favorite Raison D’ Etre an award winning beer made by Dogfish Head.
I have a favorite dish there too. The BLT. Just extraordinary. Beautifully cooked bacon and lettuce, tomato and their own version of mayo on a lovely baguette kind of roll. There are times when I actually crave it. Just yummy!
The staff rounds out the review, very knowledgable and always available for a recommendation.

What a find! With a classy interior and front porch, this is great for a group to grab a beer off tap or an easy afternoon off. Service is spectacular and the food is delish. If you save enough room for dessert, then order one dish for three people!
Try the chicken sandwhich and chicken tenders, with frittes on the side.