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We had a lunch date down at Lucky Strike yesterday, but unfortunately, they were closed for renovations. Instead, we went across the street to Felix, a bistro on the corner of Grand and West Broadway. BIG MISTAKE. No one told us, but Felix is the home of the most polluted glass of water in lower Manhattan. The picture above shows the second glass we received after sending back the first round-- note the grime and unsettlingly large pieces of crud floating in the glass. If only we had known what Citysearch said about the place before we set out:
Decent food BUT the service was horrible. We had reservations and were seated immediately - good start. But then we were completely forgotten. Requests for drinks were repeated over and over (including water); then after waiting well over an hour we were told that they forgot to put our order in! Their desserts were limited - I mean REALLY limited to 2 items (nothing like the online menu). And then, after being treated like we were invisible, after our bill was paid for, the hostess came down on our table like a hawk and told us that we had to leave immediately as there were others waiting. Others waiting. All of a sudden we were visible and not even given the courtesy of 5 minutes to get our coats on. I wonder if those people waiting had to WAIT well over an hour for their food, too!
Oh, and it took them 35 minutes to locate the check. And the hamburgers cost $15/each.
Related: the Amateur Gourmet had a bad experience at Orchid. If you want to join us in this bitchfest, put your latest crappy restaurant experience in the comments.
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I love it when people trash restaurants!!!
Lobo, on Fifth Street in Park Slope. Chicken-fried steak served 'rare' (bleeding). Plus the snittiest waiter ever (whose shirt was open one button too many - we didn't need your chest hair in our food.)
It's quite possible that their regular dishwashers attended the strike instead of coming into work yesterday.
Lucky Strike rocks!
According to the city's restaurant inspection website, Felix barely passed its inspection with 24 violation points (28 points is the limit).
I would have walked out upon receiving the nasty water; I hope that you didn't bother to leave a tip.
Ate at Le Streghe on West Broadway over the weekend. the appetizers were pretty good and that is where the compliments end. Talk about bad service, we got 4 appetizers, 3 came out together and one took an additional 10 minutes, had to ask for the fresh pepper to come back to the table. No one asked if we wanted more drinks after our first ones were finished so we only had water throughout the meal. In fact once the main course came to the table we never saw the waiter again until he asked if we wanted to see dessert menus (after the bus boy had already brought them to us). for a $200+ meal for 4 I would not eat there again nor would I recommend it.
Plus, the food itself wasn't very good
French Culinary Institute down the street has a great deal; 3 course dinner menu for around $35. Need to book in advance though.
All of the breathless comments about the newly reopened Morgan Library fail to note that if you want to eat at the cafe or restaurant you now have to pay the $12 per head admission fee. Doesn't seem right- I miss the good old days of crumbling architecture and humble afternoon tea.
Honestly though, would Mr. Morgan have it any other way?
I encountered the crappiest service EVER at Mexicana Mama about 1 year ago. After myself and my boyfriend sat down we immediately ordered margaritas and guacamole. Despite this, the waitress approached us three times over ten minutes to take our orders. When my boyfriend only ordered an appetizer we were told that ordering a main dish was a requirement (yes yes I know they are small). We told them that we thought that was a lame rule and ordered his main dish to go! After this it went completely downhill when the waitress and manager continuously gave us dirty looks and nearly threw our second drinks on the table. We were then rushed out when finished dining. I've never encountered ANYTHING like this (not even in Miami). I was so upset that I don't even remember how the food tasted, but it was nothing spectacular!!! Never go there. Seriously.
What constantly amazes me in this city is not just how bad the service at some restaurants can be, but how much people are willing to tolerate bad service. It makes no sense. Especially nowadays in restaurant crazed NYC.
A few years ago I was with friends at Dojo on Saint Marks and a rat ran casually through the outdoor eating area. We saw it, said "What the fuck?!??!", asked no questions, and leaved. Sure, the waitstaff glowered at us. But who cares? The waiter we had snottily asked as "Oh, don't like us..." and we responded, "It's not you, it's your rats..."
If the place can't provide basic service, complain and leave. If you get the water before your meal and it's filled with junk, stand up and leave. It's the food service industry. There's a reason why restaurants in this city fold quickly; lots of style and crappy service. You don't necessarily need to be a jerk, but just assert your rights as a customer... Or as Wonder Mike sad...
"I got to leave this place/I don't care what these people think/I'm just sittin here makin myself nauseous/with this ugly food that stinks"
As per the above poster, L'Ecole at FCI (right down the street
from Lucky Strike) has an incredible lunch deal, 3 courses for $24. A wine pairing is also extremely cheap, something like $10-15 for 3 glasses. Not the best if you want to be productive during the rest of the afternoon though....
Experienced the rudest waiter/bartender on the planet at Bar-B-Q in Park Slope last week. The place was EMPTY, so my girl and I decided to sit at the bar. You think we would get some attention? Wrong. This dude had to do just about anything in the restaurant besides attend to us. He took about 5-10 to order our drinks/give us menus. He then gave us about 30 seconds for us to order our food. The wait for our food in the desolate restaurant was over a half hour. Food arrived. It fucking sucked. Their board thats out front said its the best BBQ in the city according to citysearch.com? WTF? He was unattentive. Didn't care about our empty pint glasses in front of us. Worthless. So we ask for our check. He says "okay." He goes to the bathroom. Dude was in there well over the time it takes to go pee. I should have left, but being the idiot I am I stayed, paid, and gave him the 10% he didnt deserve. I hate that place and I do not advise anybody to go there again. Fuck Bar B Q.
Melo> Is this Mexican Mama on Hudson?
Kevin> Yes, it's Mecixana Mama on Hudson between 10th and Charles.
I agree (somewhat) with Ian. I've been to Bar B Q in Brooklyn twice in the past month. The food's fine, but the service has already gone down since the place opened, and they've only been open for about a year. The guy behind the bar is an out-of-work-musician/wannabe-punk-rocker and doesn't give a rat's ass about serving the customers. Plus, apparently the owners' kids or their friends' kids were there, yelling and crawling all over the place, including across the bar! Of course, at the time, the bartender was in the bathroom for a good 15 minutes. My date and I were enjoying watching "The Godfather" on the TV, but then one of the owners/cooks came out and changed it to "Spongebob Squarepants" for the kids. In a bar. On a Saturday night.