Prime No. 7 x Ugly Chicken — Restaurant in Mahwah

Let me begin with this: the food was very good.

So, why the two stars, then?

We had been looking forward to this place since the moment they opened doors, it just took us a while to get everyone together to finally go.

Our group of ten (10) had a reservation last night, for 6:30PM. Our group showed up promptly on-time, minus two people who were 3 minutes behind. Before we could even explain that we had two people behind we had two hosts firmly state that regardless of the size of the group the only way we could order all-you-can-eat was if everyone was choosing it, else we would need to all order from the standard items menu. We were seated and our additional two people arrived only to be standing by the hostess desk with no one so much as looking at them, I had to go and get them.

This was minor. Our table was given two in-house menus and two paper-printed to-go menus and were once again told - repeatedly - that our party order had to be either all you can eat for everyone (only ONE of two, so either chicken or BBQ) or the standard menu items. Almost half an hour later the waitress was finally at our table to take the order. It took a while - and a number of trips to the kitchen to double-check - to make sure we could address food allergy concerns for one member of our party; The menu is NOT particularly friendly to food allergies and the restaurant staff was not flexible when we asked whether it was possible to substitute certain ingredients in some specific items and that everything would only come as-is which limited our person of allergies to strictly certain items on the premium steaks portion of the menu. After the order was placed it was over a half an hour more until staff came back with the food which was to be prepared at the table, minus a few individual items which took ANOTHER half an hour to wait for until everyone was pretty much done; as the result we had some unfinished food and wanted to take it with us, but when we had mentioned it to the waiter we were immediately told "you can't take food home with you". We had to then explain - to the same people who took our order - that the leftovers were from standard orders and not from all-you-can-eat before they finally agreed to bring some boxes.

Our overall experience was over two hours long and was packed with what seemed like almost hostility from some staff members who seemed to carry animosity toward our party from the moment we walked in. I don't know whether it was something about our group that just rubbed them the wrong way or they treat all customers like that but as a summary I can safely say that while this was our first visit it has also been our last.

To the owners and staff: a part of our group are in the restaurant business. If you have some concerns about any specific clientele about potentially taking advantage of your business perks - they're your concerns. When you resolve them by treated all - or even some - of your customers with this kind of hostility like everyone's a potential con-artist and they need you more than you need them - that's an enormous "turn-off" for the customer, but you do you and continue to disrespect your customers as much as you want. There are plenty of other restaurants to enjoy in the area.

To potential customers: while the food is once again good avoid unless you have a small party, aren't particular about your choices, and don't care how...

If I could leave zero stars for my nightmarish experience at Prime No. 7 x Ugly BBQ, I certainly would. An all-you-can-eat affair should evoke delight, not regret, but regret was what my party of six and I left with. Our tumultuous journey began when we were informed that we could only order five items despite our group size—a bizarre decree for an all-you-can-eat establishment and one that automatically set a negative tone for the evening. The restaurant was poorly transparent about their closing hours, not mentioning that they'd be closing at 8:30 pm while accepting our 8 pm reservation. This abrupt news thrust us into a rushed and deeply unsatisfying dining experience. All this during the first round. The billing procedure was equally disturbing. Not only were we charged a service fee for our party size, but an unwarranted soda charge mysteriously appeared on our bill—a beverage we didn't order or receive. As for the food, the situation was dismal. We ordered a range of dishes, many of which never graced our table. For a bill surpassing $350, we left the restaurant still riddled with hunger, a stark indictment of the promise of 'all you can eat'. Despite being a supposed 'BBQ' restaurant, we were inexplicably prohibited from ordering premium meats. The meats that were served were disappointingly poor in quality: excessively fatty, chewy, and simply unappetizing. To add to the woes, the portion sizes were far from satisfactory, more in line with a light snack than a hearty feast. To top off the disaster, we were not given the option to cook our own food—a typical and enjoyed feature of most Korean BBQ experiences. Instead, our waiter remained at our table, coughing distressingly close to our food and making the entire process anything but enjoyable. I raised our concerns with the waiter, hoping to rectify the situation or at least reach a compromise. To my astonishment, not a single solution was offered—an appalling lack of customer service that perfectly encapsulated the mismanagement we experienced throughout the night. All in all, Prime No. 7 x Ugly BBQ was a massive letdown: lacking transparency, questionable policies, subpar food, and disconcerting service without an apology. I urge potential patrons to reconsider and spare themselves the disappointment and financial drain that we unfortunately experienced. The only thing 'ugly' about this BBQ was the entire experience. Never...

We came as a sort of large group, so I understand if that caused confusion. But we were not given many of the foods we ordered. It was through the all you can eat option, so they were unwilling to reduce the bill at all. We had to ask multiple times to get the amount we did get. The staff, minus the blonde boy I didn’t catch the name of, were not willing to hear us out on our issues. We arrived and were seated by 8 pm, under the knowledge that they close at 9:30. Not until 8:38 were we told that the kitchen closes at 8:45. The waiter ignored us until about 8:30 I think. We rushed to order as much as we could, but it was for nothing considering we didn’t get it. At 9:15, another waitress came up to us and said that we could stay as long as we wanted, but they needed us to pay the bill now. She was the one we asked if some could be taken off the bill, but she didn’t even let me finish my sentence before saying no. It’s a shame, because the food was pretty good. The service and the way the menu was set up however was not. The all you can eat option had more food options. The menu was otherwise very limited in options. To get the all you can eat option, every single person at the table had to order it. We had a young child with us. We were fine with everyone else paying the price, but we asked if the child could just order a soup separately, because that’s all she was willing to eat. They said no, and did not even charge the child price for her. It was a disappointing experience to say the least, but I understand that some of it had to do with us being a large group and coming in 1 1/2 hours before close. But these seemed like easily fixable issues. I’ve quite literally never written a review on a place, and usually try to tip well considering I work in a restaurant as well. But this place made me upset enough to write this novel. We still tipped obviously, because large groups have an automatic gratuity. But for the price of the bill, we were not given adequate...