For a city its size, Troy has an impressive collection of restaurants, and when nothing immediately at hand strikes my fancy, I tend to head down to Albany. But there is a notable cache of eateries much closer to hand: just across the river in Watervliet. In particular, this blue-collar town has a passel of Italian restaurants, and recently I decided to bring my wife and a friend to one called Papa’s Corner.
Strictly speaking, Papa’s Corner is more of an Italian-American restaurant—they serve pasta and pizza, most of the Italian staples like veal parm and chicken marsala, several seafood dishes, and a collection of dishes that aren’t particularly Italian. Some would turn their noses up at the lack of authenticity. I’m not that picky—if it tastes good, I don’t care about it being authentic.
Being affordable also helps, and Papa’s Corner scores well enough in that category. Dinners range from eight bucks up to around 20 for some of the steak and seafood items.
What Papa’s really has going for it, though, is atmosphere: This is an extremely comfortable place to dine. I can’t really put my finger on why, as there’s no single item that is particularly outstanding. The tables and chairs are perfectly ordinary. The art depicting the Capital Region of decades past is a nice touch, but hardly the work of a master. The service is friendly and efficient, but no more so than most of my other favorite restaurants. Somehow, though, it all comes together to provide an excellent dinner environment.
The food makes the grade as well, though my wife wishes to warn folks off of the fettucine alfredo. My meal (pollo sulmona) involved chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, and cheese all baked together—I was quite happy with it, and got to take half of it home for the next night. Nothing remained of our colleague’s meat lasagna, which I assume means he approved.
We also split a potato skins appetizer that had a bit more potato than most similar dishes elsewhere—an improvement in our book. For dessert, my wife and I shared a slice of peanut butter cup pie, which was delicious. And, throughout the meal the water glasses were kept full and we were well supplied with Italian bread. On the whole, an enjoyable meal.
Good food, decent prices, comfortable atmosphere, and—best of all—close by. All of these are good reasons to cross the river and pay Papa’s Corner a visit.
Papa’s Corner is located at the corner (surprise!) of Broadway and 13th St. in Watervliet. To get there, go south from campus until you hit Congress St. (Rt. 2). Turn right and drive through downtown Troy. Congress St. will cross a bridge into Watervliet; at the end of the bridge, turn left onto Second Ave. At the end of the road (five blocks), turn left onto 13th St., which ends at Broadway, Papa’s Corner is on the right.
Editor’s Note: Please send comments or suggestions for new restaurants to The Poly at restaurants@poly.rpi.edu.
