Bubble Bath Back Bay — Restaurant in Boston

Nothing says ‘happy birthday’ like being told ‘the exit is that way

We had a reservation for my friend’s birthday celebration and were genuinely excited to try out this “new” rooftop. The birthday girl arrived on time, and the rest of us followed shortly after. Our server greeted us promptly, we ordered drinks and a few small plates. Just a note, if you’re hungry, this is not the place for you. The food here is very limited and very much tapas-style, literal finger food.

The trouble began when it was time to pay (well, technically, it started when the first unexpected mini portion plate arrived). Our bill was just over $299 and we asked to split it five ways. Instead of dividing evenly, one friend was charged around $70 plus tip, and another was charged $277+. I noticed the mistake and told the server about it. Our server admitted he didn’t know what happened, panicked, and left to get his manager. He came back and stated that he didn’t know he had to continue pressing the button so that the bill can continue splitting, that made no sense.

That’s when “General Manager” Aaron magically appeared and things quickly went downhill. From the moment he arrived, he had an attitude, visibly annoyed that we were questioning the charges. He insisted that nothing had been charged (which was a lie, since the pending charges were already showing on our cards). He then re-ran the transactions, but when we asked for receipts, he told us we’d need to wait 20+ minutes because he had “over 2000 transactions” to go through. Extremely rude and zero etiquette.

We explained we weren’t leaving without proof of refund, so eventually Aaron came back with his laptop, slammed it down on our table, and said the receipts didn’t print so he would “just text them.” Completely unprofessional. When one of us calmly tried to express how discouraging and unpleasant this whole experience had been, Aaron cut her off, pointed at the door, and said, “The exit is that way, have a good night.”

For a rooftop bar that markets itself as chic and upscale, this was hands down one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in any restaurant (and I’ve had my share). Between the tiny food portions (which is fine if the food was good), sloppy billing mistakes, ice cubes in my drink that kept hitting me in the face (hard to drink), and the outright rude treatment from management, lacked basic hospitality.

I’m a firm believer that if you’re in a field where customer service is what drives your business, you need to try a little harder. A night that was supposed to be a celebration of life left a sour taste in our mouths. Definitely not the experience portrayed in their pictures and videos. Lots of potential here, but not while it’s being run...

Okay, Bubble Bath sounds fun, like a porcelain container full of suds and warm water, but I wouldn’t say it was exactly what I expected.

We arrived with no reservation on a Friday night around 9p and surprisingly got a table pretty fluidly. I did avoid helping our hostess when she dropped all the menus in front of us but I needed to keep my hands squeaky clean. When we sat down, we had amazing views with the Pru in the foreground and views of the of sudsy Charles River, telescopes complementing each in-door table. Our server came by pretty quickly and we ordered our spick-and-span cocktails. I tried asking the server for his preference between two drinks, but he kind of just described the drinks to me, unbiased and scrubbed. The drinks were good, nothing too bubbly. After getting our drinks, I asked if we could walk around the tub and he gave me a semi-curt “yup” to which we took our cocktails, leaving our waters on the table.

When walked over to the outdoor balcony, I nearly started foaming at an even better view around Hynes down Newbury Street, with all the buildings complementing the view. After about 5 minutes (in bath-time, about an hour), another server came by to ask a quote “weird question” which was what our server looked like. I said he had a clean-cut beard, but when we went got back in, I saw despite our server having stumble, every other server had a fully grown, aseptic beards. I deserve a proper waterboarding for that one.

When we came back to our table for a dunk, there was another couple sitting there and our waters were gone. We were practically just stripped of our clothes and not even given a towel. We took the table behind them in the same section and proceed to get ignored by our server until we asked for the check, like he cleansed his mind of us.

Overall, a great hygienic spot! Small suggestion, add...

We went twice during opening weekend. The first night was horrible. We waited quite a while for a table outside only to be given a terrible table facing the building while many other tables sat empty. We asked a manager if we could move and he apologized stating that we shouldn't have been sat there and that he would go check in with the hostess We were hopeful but he never returned, despite walking by us several more times. We appreciated that management had friends in attendance, but we felt absolutely ignored. We ordered two aperol spritzes and an order of fries, and both took over an hour to arrive. We left extremely disappointed and if not for guests coming into town the next day who specifically requested to visit, we would not have been back.

We visited once again the next day and I think the only reason we were seated at a better table was because the manager recognized us from the night before and knew that we had a negative experience. Even so, drinks felt like a half pour and were extremely overpriced for what you were getting.

Besides the view, the place overall is not as advertised. They advertise snacks and bubbles, and what you get is overcomplicated snack food and overpriced cocktails not served correctly. We had high hopes for this place as we live down the street, but giving it two chances we are very...