Albany, NY Bar Scene: Cafe Hollywood

Café Hollywood sits on Lark Street, the main strip of the happening nightlife in Albany, NY. The bars along this stretch are largely the same, with just a few minor details that set them apart. Hollywood goes along with the vibe, but definitely is a great place for a couple of reasons.

As far as Lark Street goes Café Hollywood is a little less crowded. It has a fairly large indoor space with an upstairs which allows you and your group a little more room to congregate. Most of the time I am even lucky enough to find a table for the whole group (a rare thing in this area).

Aside from the generous mount of space indoors there is also an awesome patio. It's huge for this area and has plenty of tables. The sad thing is it closes pretty early (At 11:00) due to noise ordinances. It is, however, the best patio on Lark Street, so if you're looking to relax and have a few drinks outdoors on a beautiful summer night defiantly stop by.

Inside they do have darts (upstairs) and a single pool table (usually very crowded and in use at all times downstairs), so you have something to do if you get bored. The place is a little dingy, but that goes without saying around here. The bathrooms are not the worst on Lark Street and the glasses always seem to be clean.

The one downside I have seen about Hollywood is that there are no servers and the bar always seems to be so crowded that it's hard to get a drink. If you're in early or if you get really lucky you can get a drink within just a few minutes. I have definitely spent a good fifteen minutes edging my way in and trying to get the bartenders attention here though, so don't expect an easy journey for your beer.

That's about it, I believe they serve some appetizers but I have never seen anyone order them. It's really pretty standard ambiance for lark street; loud music, crowds, crappy food, a little bit of dirt, and a lot of long islanders when schools in season. Other than those minor downfalls (sorry to those of you from Long Island) it has a few great features that make it a very nice place to spend an evening with a group, certainly not a date place, but somewhere you can hang out with some good friends and have a good time.