Fresno’s on the River is a casual dining bar and grill in Troy on River Street. The building is situated—you guessed it—right on the Hudson River. Upon arriving, we were seated immediately; it was a Saturday night, so this surprised me. In fact, the place was more than half empty. We were seated at a table near the bar and started looking over the menu. Since I was there at peak time, I would say you could probably go there whenever the heck you feel like it and not have a problem getting a seat.

When you walk into Fresno’s, you see that the nautical theme is everywhere. The bar had those statues of women you see at the fronts of boats. There were also ship steering wheels and fishing nets strewn about. The only thing missing was that stupid singing fish that Jeff Foxworthy loves so much. It really makes you want to talk like a pirate and order some grog. Okay, maybe not, but it was definitely like dining on a boat especially when you look out the windows and see the Hudson River.

As I said before, Fresno’s is a casual dining restaurant. They have foods in all different price ranges with most dishes very affordable. Appetizers range from about $5-9. The entrees get a bit pricier. Most meals, like burgers and fajitas, cost anywhere from $6-10 whereas anything with steak can cost as much as $15.

When we were seated, our waitress found her way to the table after about five minutes and asked us for our drink order. She then left us to think about the entrees and to get the drinks. When she returned, she somehow happened to serve us our drinks in cracked glasses. I noticed this when a puddle formed under my glass, and I knew it couldn’t be from the ice. Every side of my glass had a crack in it, and my friend’s glass also had a few cracks in it. I was most disturbed that when I pointed it out to the waitress, she was just like, “Oh, Okay,” as if it was a common occurrence. That did not sit well with me.

After the glass ordeal, we gave her our dinner orders. I ordered the Nachos Grande as an appetizer and the Steak and Chicken Combination as an entrée. My friend ordered the pound of buffalo chicken wings as an appetizer and the T-bone steak as the entrée. The problem was, it took them 20 minutes to bring out our appetizers. Then the meals came out less than 10 minutes after that. It seemed like we waited forever to get the food. Then we were flooded by it all at once. Anyways, about the food: the nachos were a very large appetizer, yet they left a lot to be desired. We found them to be rather bland, and even the jalapeño peppers did nothing to add taste. The wings, on the other hand, were very good, but you would think that there would be more than 10 wings in a pound. The entrées were both very good, though. The Steak and Chicken was a thick sirloin steak and a large boneless chicken breast covered in sautéed onions and mushrooms with cheese melted on top. I must say it was pretty good and very filling. The T-bone was an 18-ounce steak that my friend said was well prepared but wasn’t anything special. Both meals came with large servings of mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and a biscuit. I must say that they were both rather large meals.

Overall, I’d say Fresno’s was a decent place to eat. The atmosphere was nice if you like the bar and grill scene. If it wasn’t for the ordeal with the cracked glasses and the long wait, I probably would have enjoyed my time a bit more. I must say it is a respectable and very close place for the RPI community to go. All things considered, I’d give Fresno’s a 5 out of 10. To get to Fresno’s, take Peoples Avenue down almost to the Green Island Bridge. Take a left at the light before the bridge onto River Street and you are there.