Prohibition Asia — Restaurant in Jakarta

Place is easy to find. Hidden behind a secret door. But that's where it all ends. Small place 90% of the seating is reserved for people who buy bottles. What about customers who like to drink cocktails? Are they going to just stand. The manager was very pretentious as if it is a New York underground secret bar with lots of award winning spirit. I am a vodka drinker so I go to the bar, see the menu and order for a vodka. To my surprise half of the vodkas on their menu is unavailable. Guess what, only the expensive ones are available. I ordered for a dirty Martini. The bartender tool about 15 mins to prepare one. And I can tell you I was ready to spit it out the moment I tasted it. 300,000 IDR well spent. My friends arrived so I looked around for empty seats. Saw three tables empty. Two had reserved sign. So I took the third one. Few mins later an army of wait staff, manager, supervisor, security came to my table which was rather intimidating to me and my friends. The first question they asked me " Who got you inside*? I said the manager. Second question " Who have you this table?"

At this point I was feeling rather embarrassed and intimidated as there were atleast 10 guys hovering around us. I said there was no reservation sign in this table so I sat here. I was told there is a minimum spend and I need to buy a bottle. I confirmed I am the only alcoholic drinker in the group. But we will having food as well. After a lot of drama and going back and forth they finally allowed us to sit. My sat night felt ruined not to mention the embarassment. Moving on now it was service time. And this is were the fun starts. To question a customer they had an army available. However to give us the menu it took them 20 mins, then to serve the drinks another 20 mins which is 40 mins. Food was served on time and tasted Okay. But what really got me was the other reserved tables around me had guests who were either having beers or cocktails or soft drinks. Not a single table ordered any food. There was no fuss, no 10 people army coming to question them and I felt very highly discriminated. Mind you I am a Bule ( Aussie) and that could be the case. The jazz music was honestly sad. The DJ was much better and this is one of the best jazz clubs in town. In the end my bill was 2 million IDR which was well more than the other tables who had a beer and a cocktail. One of the worst experiences in hospitality. On a Saturday night they had just 2 wait staff, no stock of liquor, poor guest management, poor communication skills, tastless cocktails and a very average jazz band. Not to mention they discriminated against me and my friends​. There was no apologies or smiles or any kind of acknowledgement during my 3 hours in the bar. Needless to say avoid this bar at all costs and spend your money somewhere else.

On a positive note their bootleg concept of serving 250 ml of spirit, if you don't want to buy a bottle is unique and the only silver lining in an evening filled...

Not even know where to start, I should actually left when you see a restaurant absolutely empty at 8pm on a Saturday night. Anyway since I am a fan of prohibition era I decided to give a shoot, after I made a reservation already. Service poor, waiter kind of not knowing what they were doing, menu full of stickers advertising new prices, so poor quality. The lights very bright look like I was on a supermarket, no ambiance at all.Than come the food, and that was bad, chicken winds maybe cooked in old oil with a nasty flavor , the salmon was so so, but the Tenderloin was horrible, ask MR and come raw, flavor bad like old piece of meat, and very tough what's not normal consider I order Tenderloin....simply ridiculous, left almost every in the plate and paid, but will not return....definitely will...

Place is nice. Idea is good. Lack of management. 8 guys to serve. Get the order wrong. 3 or 4 playing with their phones behind the bar. Food is expensive and very average. French fries, frozen and like carton box, so cheap to do fresh one, especially at that price. Escargot a ton of breading on it, no taste. Mussels 185k++ for 6 pieces. Well expensive for nothing. A pity for such a location but F&B is a real business, here looks like managed by amateur. Will clearly...