Emerald Cocktail Kitchen & The Coffee Lounge — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

I have been wanting to take my husband here for some time. I finally decided to take him for a Father’s Day/ Birthday surprise brunch as I was browsing their website and saw they had some open spots that day I made a reservation around 12am the very morning of. Excited to go I call on the way to ask details of parking and make sure I’m all set when i get there. The girl on the phone tells me the reservation is only for the second floor dining. I say so we cannot eat on the roof then, she says you can be it will be a small fee ($10/PP). I reply, well I refuse to pay $20 to cancel a reservation that I showed up for just chose to eat in a different spot. So upon arrival we go in, there’s a hostess stand but no one there to greet you. We wait a moment but I didn’t want to be considered late so we decide to go upstairs. When we get up there the waitress greeted us and asked if I was there for the 11:30 reservation, I say yes and I ask again about eating on the rooftop. She says I can speak to the manager about it. Ok. Manager comes out, states she’s the owner and explains her end of things. Argues with me in front of other customers in the dining room. Says that it states in the “fine print” that it’s for the second floor only. Like seriously, I have to read “fine print” to make a reservation at a restaurant now. What kind of business is this. And if I fail to do so I will be charged against my will because I have to put my credit info in to make the reservation. All because I wanted to sit on the roof and not inside for my husband’s special brunch without our kids! She asked me what she could’ve done better. I explained she could’ve put that info where it was clear to see and NOT in “fine print”. And I even showed her a screen shot of what I read and that it states nothing about just being on the second floor. She explained I had to agree to it upon putting in my payment info. I admit, I did not read the “fine print” to make a restaurant reservation especially within a 5 minute window, otherwise you lose the spot. So after all the argument in front of others to my embarrassment. She says that I can either go somewhere else and not be charged or I can eat on the roof. I declined, stayed on the second floor. We ordered our food, the waitress was great but I wasn’t very impressed with the food. The steak in my breakfast burrito was dry like it was reheated from a day or two ago. It had potential, but the potatoes had no flavor and it lacked flavor in general. My husband enjoyed his croissant dish, but said his home fries lacked flavor as well. We also shared the blueberry French toast. It was alright, the compote was good but it lacked the cream filling. The French toast itself had no flavor. And it was served with plain syrup which did not compliment the dish at all. It’s unfortunate, I really wanted to love this place but the whole experience was a turn off. We likely...

My cousin and I came here to celebrate my birthday- I made a reservation for Friday 6/28. We were seated in the downstairs second floor dining area. It was so hot in there with no AC and we couldn’t take it so we decided to go onto the roof. We stayed and ordered drinks and meals and dined up there instead.

Days later I was given a $20 cancellation fee because I ate on the roof instead of the dining area in the same establishment. I’ve dined in NYC, LA, and ATL and I’ve never seen such a thing.

It’s obviously very bad business and makes absolutely 0 sense. Especially when the reason we went to the roof was because it was unbearably hot and stuffy on the second floor. There was no AC and no music stuffed other large parties and honestly it was just plain awkward.

I could of course understand the cancellation fee if we left entirely but we didn’t and still spent money at your place of business.

The server was a very rude woman and one of the bartenders on the roof was extremely unfriendly as well.

The food portion was small and the pork tacos barely had any toppings on them.

Honestly I gave it a 1 star because the roof is pretty and that’s...

Made reservations and when we walked in no one was in the entry to address us. After going to the rooftop we found the person to seat us. While it was not busy at all there was only one waitress who was nice but seems to be frazzled. I ordered the chicken and biscuits, it was a quarter bone in piece of meat that was still bleeding, I pressed on it with my fork and more blood came out. When I addressed this with the waitress I was informed that this is how it is cooked and that it’s ok because it’s dark meat. She offered for the chef to come out and speak to me which I declined. The waitress seemed taken aback when I stated I would not be eating it and would not like to order anything else. My husband ordered a cat fish po boy but it was a piece of catfish on a baguette. When I asked for a box and the check it appeared that the waitress was annoyed and snarky remarked I took it off the bill. Being newly back in central New York from south Florida, I am very disgusted. I will not be recommending anyone to come to that...