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Dirty bathrooms, a few crumbs here and there, spacey staff, these are things Gothamist can forgive if the food is good. But stories about cockroaches and unapologetic staff - those are turnoffs. Our friend Tamara reports on her visit to East Village Thai restaurant, Elephant:
Living in NY you understand that roaches do live among us, however it is NOT something you want to see crawl across your table, your friend's shirt and up the wall when dining. Unfortunately that was the case at Elephant last Saturday evening. The worst part of the situation was the host's unapologetic way of handling the incident. We received an insincere apology and confirmation that the incident had been "taken care of." Nothing was comped - not even the martini that spilled during the shuffle. The food may have been good, but certainly not good enough for me to return to this establishment.
Yikes. The Elephant's own website proclaims "Our funky East Village bistro has French and Thai fusion cuisine," so therefore, funky = cockroach-infested. Good to know. And how come these things never seem to happen when food critics are around?
The only legitimately cool use of a cockroach we can remember is from three years ago, as a fashion accessory. And by cool, Gothamist means "insane."
The Elephant is not listed in the city's searchable database of restaurants (so you can check violations) but we'll be keeping our eye out for what the Department of Health says. Gothamist on NYC restaurant violations.
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I'll be taking Tamara out for a martini somewhere that is less roach infested. Maybe the corner of Bowery and Bleecker. Like on the sidewalk, near a gutter.
I never post comments anywhere, but when I read this I had to say that when I went to this place with four friends I found the service and atmosphere reproachable.
Here's our tale: We'd been waiting for a table outside. Once it was ready the two fellows we were with stood outside to finish their cigarettes. The rest of us were seated at a sweltering table so close to the kitchen you could almost see the kind of bleary mirages you get on desert roads.
The music was eurotrash techno and blaring so loud we couldn't hear each other. Now I'm all for a loud and raucous night out, but at 7 pm on a cool summer evening nothing will make me lose my appetite faster than high-decibel drum and base. And, in the final injustice visited on us, the waiter came to our table and curtly told us that the longer our friends stayed outside to smoke, the longer the restaurant would have to wait to turn over the table, therefore we would have to hurry up and eat faster to make up for our misbehavior! (He delivered the same absurd message to the two of us still outside)
Sick of being roasted by the kitchen, assaulted aurally, and treated like dirt by the wait staff, we left for another restaurant with little more than a perfunctory glance at the uninspired menu. I can't remember the name of the restaurant we ended up at, otherwise I'd recommend it. Good food, good wine and friendly service.
Haha, that sounds like a plan. I think I should have known not to eat there by the extremely attractive host with a slight french accent that escorted us to our table. The only reason restaurants hire hosts that attractive is because they are trying to cover something up. New York, don't be fooled by the pretty face - it will only lead to disease wielding vermin!
Thank you for the heads up on this place. Have passed it many times and usually someone in the group says something positive about it. I tend to make the vague committal "I'll have to check it out" remark and was intending on going but not anymore.
It makes sense...the biggest cockroaches I've ever seen were in Bangkok, and the locals don't seem to mind them too much. (And no joke, they make NYC cockroaches look like ants.)
It seems that some critics do catch missteps - this mini review of Elephant in New York uses the words "sleazy" and "chaotic" and does point out the bad service. No word on infestation, though.
This is nonsense. I live in the east village and have drinks at Elephant often. I have also used their bathroom. What makes the place so charming is that it's always open to the sidewalk, and the roach probably walked in through the open french doors, like people do. Get over yourself. And the bartenders are charming, foreign and fun. It's a place one can talk and even sneak a cigarette. I can see a group of khakis and blue-shirt Goldman Sachs philistines being mistreated there - that's part of the appeal.