freebird kitchen and bar — Restaurant in City of White Plains

It’s a shame I have to write this and will never go back to a spot my friend and I used to love. Is it racism? Not sure… but the last 3 times we went, the service was THE WORST. Once, the server just flat out ignored us but catered to the every need of the group of ladies at the table next to us (yes, we had opposite complexions of the women seated right next to us). Their table didn’t go 5 minutes without his attention, smiles, refills. My friend and I received no smiles, short, rude behavior - had to basically beg for service. My friend finally spoke with the manager, Suzanne (??… I think that was her name… mature white woman, blonde hair). She appeased us… apologized, but blamed everything on the server’s “weirdness”. My friend and her daughter returned another day. They weren’t even allowed to sit at booths that were clearly vacant - given excuse after excuse as to why they could not be seated. They left. Third visit: New Year’s Eve brunch. It was my suggestion - my friend reluctantly agreed, given her last experience. I now regret convincing her to give Freebird another try. Service was AWFUL. We sat forever without even getting water. No server greeted us. We finally had to ask the hostess to send a server over - please. He came, he was unapologetic and very dry. He wanted to just bring water and come back later to take our order. We insisted we’d order everything immediately. After that, we waited an HOUR. No food. We spoke to the manager again (Suzanne? ). She said the server forgot to put in our order. We were ready to leave at that point. She insisted that the server was just “out of it” and was just not good help ( again, throwing her servers under the bus but taking no accountability herself. She just kept laughing a little and saying she’ll have to call her husband. It was so inappropriate). We only agreed to stay because she offered to rush the food and discount the bill 50%. Now listen, my friend and I are not cheap and could easily afford any bill (we are college professors), but we still felt she should have comp’d the whole check. She refused. Instead she just kept returning, asking if we were ok and trash talking her servers. Then the server who ignored us 2 visits prior kept returning every 3 minutes to top off our mimosas, whether empty or not. She must have instructed him to “just get them drunk”. That didn’t help. The mimosas and food aren’t good enough to forget or return. It’s a shame. Again, she blamed the servers but the servers didn’t seem to treat the “other, more fair-skinned patrons” with the same...

Visit: Sunday, February 16th - 2:00pm

White Plains has an abundance of restaurants, but searching for a good brunch spot, we settled on freebird. If I could give freebird 10 stars, 100 stars, I would.

The restaurant is cavernous, an open concept allowing you to see completely to the back of the restaurant from the front. Table Seating is well spaced, close enough to seat quite a few patrons, but allowing enough elbow room. Bar seating is the same.

Restaurant is very clean. The front entrance is a ceiling-to-floor window. Despite the restaurant’s popularity no smudges, or fog on the windows. You could see your reflection in the dark marble-like floor.

The Cocktail and Draft selection is just as long as the bar. You’ll definitely find something to your liking. The Music is up-to-date and varied.

There is few things more important to me than Customer Service. When someone pays their hard earned money for an experience/service they deserve to get maximum return. The staff here was extremely attentive, from the hostess, to the waiter, to the busboys. Finished plates were on the table for no more than 5 minutes. Our water mugs stayed full. Our waiter made sure we were well attended.

Must give a special shoutout to Susie, the vivacious owner of the freebird. This woman made sure her customers were being cared for, actively took feedback on how the restaurant could improve, and even bussed tables. There’s no doubt that the energy, and love her and her family show, is the reason why the freebird will continue to thrive.

Susie, thank you for the hospitality, and we can’t wait to come back.

Fan from Brooklyn

Recommended Brunch Items:

$18 Brunch Drink Special - Unlimited Mimosas, Bellinis, House Red or White Wine, Select Drafts for 2.5 hrs with purchase of an entree.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts - Written Word. Sliced Bread. The Internet. These Sprouts. One of the best dishes ever. EVER.

Smoked Wings - Various Sauces available. BBQ was on point.

Biscuit with Seasonal Jam - On our visit, we were given the Apricot & Strawberry Jam, both were delicious.

Shrimp with Grits - Legit Cheesy Grits. 8 Large Shrimp. Truly...

A lot to cover here. Women’s bathrooms: only one stall has a lock, barely any soap, lights too dim over the toilets to see anything. But locks are the biggest issue. Please fix. Service/Wait times. Holy smokes was this bad. After we got our food we had to wait forever to get our bottomless drinks filled (at one point we went 30/40 mins in our paid 2 hour time limit without any drink service). At one point we also asked for a dessert menu and that took another 30 (asking 4 different staff members) to even get a menu. Then we ordered the desserts and it took a WHILE to get. Everything we asked for took 20-30 mins to hear back on. We got here at 11:30, and stayed until 3:30pm (since everything took so long) and the last time I saw an employee with water coming around was 1pm. Also once we got our food, it was hard to flag down any staff members or get anyone to help us. Our original waiter wouldn’t make eye contact, the runners were the most helpful but could only do so much without a waiter. Management: I brought up my concerns to management and the man walked away, never came back, never said sorry, never gave any kind of good communication on why this was happening or what they would do to fix it. Completely embarrassing behavior. With people like this in charge this restaurant will not improve and will only decline, I’m sorry to say. Allergens not noted: I guess the cheesecake has nuts in it but that is NOT advertised on the dessert menu. Be VERY, VERY careful with allergies here!! Food: I had the mac & cheese and the home fries. Home fries were good. Mac and cheese was flavorless and absolutely needs more seasoning.

Overall, this restaurant was not worth my money. The way it was impossible to flag down any wait staff made it feel like we were being ignored. Like when I say they wouldn’t even make eye contact with us…it was borderline disrespectful. I understand staff shortages are a thing right now but then you shouldn’t be admitting more people than you can serve. Improve conditions or this business will not be around...