For the last few summers, Dango’s has been one of the hottest late-night bars in Saratoga, with the line to get in often stretching down Caroline Street late into the evening. Its regular live music, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd and multiple bars made it quite literally the place to be in “the summer place to be.” And it just got even better.
Last year, Dango’s was purchased by Loudonville native Lucas White, who brought Siro’s General Manager Kevin Decker onto the project. This past spring, the duo began renovations on the space, which, despite the popularity of its expansive patio, was falling into disrepair. (If you’ve been in the women’s bathroom, you know.) At press time, the bar’s patio was open on weekend nights, but the inside was still under construction. Its new name? The Wild Horse.
“Right now, Caroline Street’s decimated, with Gaffney’s gone and Sperry’s gone,” Decker told me in early June. “We’re bringing something that the street needs. We’ve done $1.5 million in renovations to the building. That alone makes it a nicer atmosphere to be in. We now have usable bathrooms, which they didn’t have before.”
In addition to the bathroom renovation—which alone cost a whopping $30,000—Decker and White gutted the dining room, adding a VIP room with a terrace that overlooks the patio. After this summer, the patio itself will get a refresh. While Dango’s focused mainly on selling chicken wings and Miller Lite—it was an Irish pub, after all—The Wild Horse has a more upscale vibe, with a menu Decker says is more aligned with local restaurants like Seneca and a cocktail menu that nods to Madame Jumel’s, the “dining emporium” that previously occupied the building.
“We’re opening the dining room as an alternative for somebody that might not be 21, or doesn’t want to be stuck in a crowd with a bunch of kids,” Decker says. “They can come in and have dinner.” And if you want to be right in the thick of it, sweating and singing “Mr. Brightside” with 300 of Saratoga’s most ardent late-night warriors? Well, the live music’s not going anywhere. “It’s almost surreal when you go down the patio steps and into the band area,” Decker says. “It’s a unique experience
for Saratoga.”