Shaker Shed

Reviews

• Matt W.

  star star star star star_border 12 June 2026

  This review is going to be a bit all over the place, as we have three distinct types of business here: a greenhouse/nursery specializing in vegetables and flowers; a craft store and farm stand; and a counter-service sandwich place. They're all pretty decent.
  
  The setting: this is an actual former Shaker farm. You can see the Shaker buildings to the rear of the farm stand; they're among a handful of surviving structures from the once-extensive Shaker settlements stretching from what is now the airport to the Mohawk north of Niska Isle. Even better, unlike the "official" Shaker historical site, you can sort of get a sense for the relationship of the buildings to actual agriculture.
  
  The café: it's counter service, where you order in the main store, pay, take your ticket over to the window in the adjoining eating space, and they bring your sandwich or salad out to you. The sandwiches are fresh, tasty, and use a lot of the fresh vegetable ingredients grown on the farm. They have home-made iced tea and lemonade. The cafe section has country-style decor around a dozen or so tables, and there are both picnic tables out front and metal cafe tables on the side if you want to eat al fresco.
  
  The store: they have a nice selection of vegetables, nothing exotic, and the lettuce always seems to be particularly scrumptious. There's some knick-knacky gifts, sort of a miscellaneous collections of gifts for your Aunt Marge ranging from jellies to little crafty things and country-kitchen art. There's local honey and a few other local products from nearby purveyors.
  
  The greenhouse: this time of year they have a great abundance of stuff, I suspect they locally source almost everything in their own greenhouses and farm because it's far more sparse in winter. There are herbs and lots of vegetable starters, and small garden ornamentals and perennials up to the large rose bush size. It's not a full-on nursery or landscaping place but if you're picking up some small things for the side garden, you can do a lot worse. Herbs seem a little pricey but the tomato plants with pots seem cheaper than elsewhere for the same size/quality. They don't have a ton of varieties but what they have is healthy-looking.
  
  Four stars for the package, and the constituent parts, particularly the little café, are four star range on their own anyway. A pretty decent diversion into the countryside not too far from the chaos of Central and Wolf and the airport.

• Eleanor M.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 8 June 2026

  Not the same since George's bought it circa 2016.
  
  Watch out for baked goods! They sell stale muffins at full price - get them home & you can hardly eat them. Pies made of canned filling - might as well go to grocery store! Except these are $14.
  
  Chicken salad just awful.
  
  Plus they don't like to use the A/C, so its HOT in here!
  
  Can't recommend it.

• Deb G.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 23 May 2026

  I have always enjoyed the food at the Shaker Shed. It all seemed to go downhill when it became George's. Maybe it is just me but the food isn't nearly as good, the staff are bordering on rude and it just is no longer a pleasant experience. I tried it again just to see if things changed but it hasn't. I ordered 2 turkey sandwiches on hard rolls. 2 soups and 3 drinks. My hard roll looked like it had been handled a dozen times with the top being all cracked and crumbly. The turkey didn't taste fresh and the soup was just average. Still cold even after asking for it to be reheated. The experience was only enhanced by staff cleaning the dining room with bleach while we ate. The topper was when we refilled our beverage the staff behind the register loudly proclaimed to my daughter and I that the drinks are not refillable. That sealed the deal for me. I don't need to go back there. I can find much better food in the area with drinks that are refillable as this is typically a courtesy at many restaurants. There is really never an excuse for being rude to customers. A sign on the soda fountain would have gone a long way.

• Ian W.

  star star star star_border star_border 19 May 2026

  This review is based on the cafe at George's Market & Cafe (formerly Shaker Shed).
  
  George's Market & Cafe (formerly Shaker Shed) is a roadside farm market and cafe in Colonie located on Route 155 just west of Albany International Airport. The Shaker Shed has several greenhouses and stocks a good selection of potted plants, mums, and flowers.
  
  The indoor farm market offers fresh produce, pottery, homemade jams & jellies, honey, scented candles, Amish goods, fresh bakery goods, and more. The onsite cafe is open for breakfast and lunch serving up breakfast sandwiches, deli sandwiches, grilled sandwiches, burgers, salads, soups, coffee, and cold drinks (bottled and self serve fountain). The prices for most sandwiches (with a small deli salad & pickle) are $4.95-$7.25. There are several small tables in the cafe dining room.
  
  I thought I would post a brief review of George's (Shaker Shed) since I've been here several times for lunch takeout with my former coworkers when I worked in Colonie over 13 years ago. I've enjoyed the chicken salad wraps, turkey & bacon sandwiches and steak & cheese sandwiches (no longer on the menu) at the Shaker Shed.
  
  I did stop back in here again for lunch takeout very recently, but I got here around 2:50PM, 10 minutes before the cafe closed up. The grill had already been shut down, so my choices were limited to deli sandwiches and salads.
  
  For lunch takeout, I decided on a Turkey & Bacon Sandwich ($6.95 plus tax) with mayo on a croissant, served with a small cup of pasta salad and a dill pickle spear. The food was made quickly to order in the back kitchen. The sandwich was pretty decent and average size which had plenty of thin sliced deli turkey breast with crispy bacon strips on a butter croissant. The pasta salad in a small cup had firm tri-color rotini with chopped green peppers, carrots, red onions & cheese in Italian dressing, a tasty cold side! The crunchy dill pickle was big and longer than the sandwich.
  
  I would very likely return here again for lunch as I did recently, but I'd try to arrive here earlier so I can order a grilled tuna melt and soup too!