The Garden Restaurant and Lounge — Restaurant in Elizabeth

First just want to state that my partner and I traveled from Brooklyn to come here. When we arrived, we had to wait in line to get in. The host working, Valerie, told everyone at one point that it would be a 25-minute wait but then came back to tell us 10 minutes later and said it would be an hour wait. We are very understanding, so we were okay with the change, but then she came back 15 mins later and said it would be $50 per person to sit and that would cover food and drinks, which is still okay, I guess because we came to eat and drink anyway! But literally, 10 mins later, she came back and said that guests with two people would have to buy a bottle AND pay $50pp or get off of the line. Now, why would two people buy a bottle of hard liquor to finish by themselves? Did they want us to die there? Not to mention the bottle prices were, of course, exaggerated. At that point, we’ve already been waiting over 40 mins... that didn’t even make sense. I tried to get an explanation, but Valerie walked away. Everyone online became upset because we were confused with all the unfair changes. When the next hostess, Isabella, came out, I tried to speak with her to see what’s going on, and instead, she dismissed my questions and asked me if I was on line because I stepped off the line to get their attention. I said yes, I was on the line, and I just had a question. She proceeded to say, “get back over there,” I said, excuse me? Because that was rude. She said “step back” very rudely. Valerie then came back outside and said the line is closed and that they aren’t accepting any more guests while; there were over ten people on the line that she told had to wait an hour for seating and stayed at that point an hour for the seating. I went to Valerie to express my concerns, and she closed the door in my face. Wow. Not only did this feel like a waste of time, but I also felt disrespected. I asked to speak to the manager and talked to Camilo. He was so understanding and accommodating he could get my partner and me a table, BUT we had to share a table with the next couple behind us to be seated. We didn’t mind because they seemed nice and we were just over it, so we all agreed. When we were being seated, it wasn’t bad. We actually had enough space from the other couple to the point it didn’t even feel like we were actually seated together. From there the food was okay, the hookah was not worth the $35, the server was friendly, but we had to ask for Utensils and had to request twice for the hookah to be changed because it was terrible. Honestly, I...

I give this place 3 stars because it has a lot of potential. I really enjoyed the vibe of the lounge. It is a beautiful place. Pretty small (The watier butt was in my face everytime he would talk to the person at the table across from us) but nice. I enjoyed the robot that comes out here n there and dances. The party packages are expensive. (We did not have a Party package) We were a party of four which would have been $350 if we had a package. It was a birthday celebration I'm not sure as to why every person who got seated after us was served before us. The tables are a lil to close together for my comfort. We had to wait so long for a drink refill or to even place a order. The food took so long to come out I would say at least 30-45 minutes. I asked the waitress if she can find out about our food because it seemed like our waiter forgot about us. He barely came by to see if we were okay or anything. We constantly had to wave another employee down to help us with the hookah flavors and everything. Then our waiter had the nerve to tell me while I'm asking another employee a question that he is the one we order with. First of all sir had you been tending to your table as much as you could we would not be asking another employee anything. The waitress later came back and explained why the food was taking so long. She said that something happened in the kitchen so they were getting it together back there our food would come out once everywhere was good. Okay copy cool. Why wasn't we informed by our waiter???. The drinks are okay nothing to write home about. Some of the food is tasteless. The place is expensive for just the look because the service is lacking and so is the food. The music is extremely loud. You can not have a conversation at your table without almost yelling. They play Spanish music mostly with a lil mixbof everything else but you will only get a snippet of other music genres. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who just wants a cool scene and some drinks. Definitely not a place for a first date. Group of friends cool. Also they send you a message about a dress code but when you get there you see everyone wearing fitted hats and sneakers. When the text says no baseball hats or tennis shoes. People came up in there wearing whatever they wanted. Would I go back?. Ummm probably it will just be a while or maybe on a less busy night. Oh and when you come be ready to be patted down and make sure you...

Would not recommend working here or supporting this business. As a former employee this restaurant was by far the worst place I’ve worked at as a server. On busy days the amount of people that were allowed inside is alarming and considered a safety hazard. There was no space to walk through people to attend and serve my tables. Management is terrible and very biased. There were obviously favorites among the people that worked there. Ive first handedly experience management commenting on their employees appearance/physical assets and making a joke out of it which I found highly inappropriate and gross given the age gap.The pay and hours there were very sketchy. I worked 12+ hours with no break and found out I was being clocked out early while still doing side work and on the clock. It took me a month to get my full paycheck which I had to go to great lengths to get and threatened to get the Better Business Bureau involved due to the fact they initially payed me 10% of what was supposed to be my full check. When I confronted them about the matter they were still trying to underpay me and find a loophole around it. When I finally got my check a month after I walked out due to the work environment and morals, they added a couple hundred dollars which I assume was my “hush money.” The morals and standards within the workplace were by far the worst I've ever witnessed. Almost all, if not all employees are people with no legal papers that they take advantage of which I was not aware of when I first started the job. Service wise it was obvious who got priority and the racial separation within the restaurant. 90% of the time I’d notice they attend white people/their own race before anyone else. Definitely some weird and sketchy things that go on behind the scene. They make themselves look good by gathering all employees from all the restaurants they own and making each one write 5 star reviews to outweigh all the negative reviews they receive. The loud music and free shots cover up the complaints and negative experience most people...