Every since the 3rd Birthday Party of All Over Albany, which took place at The Point on Madison Avenue in Albany, I’ve been curious about how the food is and, more specifically, what the food is there. As you enter the restaurant, former home of Alibi’s, you’re immediately thrown into a hodgepodge of decors. To your right, is an area that clearly is made to feel like a bar/pub; to your left is an area that looks more like a finer dining experience. At the back of the restaurant, to the right is a lounge-type area where things seem more relaxed, and to the left is another finer dining areas, slightly more rustic in decor than the other areas. It is definitely difficult to classify.

The menu is equally eclectic.  They offer many things from tapas style appetizers, to pizzas, to full entrees. To further complicate the matter, the knowledgeable wait staff stops by and runs through their elaborate special offerings. Long story short, they have a bunch of things that sound like they’d be amazing, and at least have something that would satisfy the dietary needs of anyone in your party.

I was lucky to find a park right in front of the restaurant on Friday night at 6:01PM. SCORE! (Good thing that wasn’t an issue, right?! RIGHT!?!?)

After being seated, looking over the menu, and speaking with the waiter, it was obvious we needed to order the cheese platter. His description said there was a cranberry coated goat cheese, northern Italian cows milk cheese, and porter crusted cheddar as well as eggplant caponata, sorpresatta, speck (a cold smoked proscuitto spiced with juniper berries), grapes and blackberries, and crackers. Everything on the platter was amazing, and I was particularly thrown by the sweetness of the caponata, which I generally detest. Also the cheeses were very good, and I love a good, dry cows milk cheese.

For dinner I decided on the Pollo, which was described as New York free-range chicken breast, on the bone and brushed with a white balsamic, organic honey glaze topped with a pineapple relish over potatoes. I opted for onion rings instead of potatoes because I’m weird, but I wasn’t sorry. The onion rings were great! The chicken was very nice, slightly under salted. It was spiced well with the overabundance sage jumping right out at you. The pineapple relish was decent but forgettable, and the green beans served on the side were decent (and also slightly under salted).

I didn’t commit to a dessert, but I stole a couple of bites of Cassie’s dessert. She ordered the Starlight Sundae, which was Milky Way ice cream served over a brownie. It was garnished with chocolate syrup and bits of Milky Way ice cream bars, and topped with a decently thick whipped cream, which I suspect consisted of whipped marscapone cheese due to its texture. It was a very fun dessert that I’d love to steal bites of again.

This was a good experience for me overall. Some of the prices seem a little high for what they serve, but, for a place that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be, they put out a decent product. There is some room for improvement in execution, but I’d happily return to sample a different facet of the menu.

MORE derryX Dines!!!!!