‘Messy House’ owner plans restaurant at former Dango’s

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

Robert Neuweiler plans to open The Messenger House restaurant at the former Dango’s at 156 Maple Street, Glens Falls. He formerly operated the Messy House bar on South Street from 2010 to 2023, and he currently also operates Spirits Tavern in Warrensburg since 1998.

“If I get the chance to open up on St. Patrick’s Day, there’ll be free corned beef and cabbage all day if you come and try our food,” Mr. Neuweiler said. “It’s gonna be a nice restaurant.

The project was to go before the Glens Falls Planning Board on March 5 for site plan review. Mr. Neuweiler is leasing 156 Maple from owner Salman Khushnood.

“I want to do breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s something that no one has, really. At 10 o’clock [at night], you can go anywhere, you can’t get food. Plus I do DoorDash, I do Uber Eats, I do all those too. I’ll cook food until 2:30 in the morning, which nobody does. If we’re busy, I’ll stay.”

He said The Messenger House will probably stay open “until 1 or 2 a.m., opening in the morning at 7 or 8 a.m.”

Mr. Neuweiler, who calls himself a “work machine,” said, “I’ll get there at 8 o’clock in the morning and not go home until 5 o’clock in the morning, you know? I’m one of those people. It keeps me young, I’ll tell you that right now. I’m 73.”

The Messenger House is named after a restaurant Mr. Neuweiler’s family operated in Warrensburg from 1956 until it burned down in 1988.

Messenger House was the official name of the South Street spot, though most everyone called it the Messy House.

“Cleanliness is one of the most important things,” Mr. Neuwiler said. “It’s going to be a very clean bar, restaurant. Everything is going to be spotless.

He said the restaurant will serve “chicken cutlet parmesan, lasagna, pizzas, burgers, shrimp cocktails, there’s gonna be a lot of different things that I’m working on now.”

“Everything’s homemade,” he said, and “I’m very reasonable” in terms of price.

“People love my food,” he asserted. “I tell ya, I make good food.” Mr. Neuweiler will be the chef, as he is at his Spirits Tavern in Warrensburg.

Mr. Neuweiler also owned a bar called The Comfort Zone in Hudson Falls for a year after The Messy House shuttered.

In the 1990s Mr. Neuweiler said he owned five restaurants in Queens.

“I’ve been in business 56 years,” Mr. Neuwirth said. “I’m not a young whippersnapper just looking for a bar life, you know? I’m looking for a life that’s going to really make people wanna come and bring their family. It’s going to be a family operated place.

“On Sundays we’re going to do 75 cent chicken wings. We have 10 TVs in there. We’ll have all sports, any kind of sport you want, pay-per-view, everything.”

He said the restaurant will have between 10 and 20 tables, maybe more, and has a 60-car parking lot outside. He said he’ll have between 12 and 15 employees.

“The place is gorgeous. It’s really going to be a nice place to come. I’ve been looking for a place, but everything was either too small or whatever. But this place is perfect.”

Mr. Neuweiler said he plans to put in about $5,000 in renovations.