The Chef — Restaurant in Manhattan

Updated review 11/11/23 Our recent visit was honestly so bad in so many ways that I felt compelled to update my review. On our most recent visit we were so incredibly disappointed with both the service from our waitress and the quality of food thay we ordered. The waitress was so incredibly apathetic and had the worst general demeanor that we were immediately put off. And I'm disappointed because I brought a friend with me who had never been before and spent the 45min wait talking up how great it was. When ordering our food we didn't ask for any crazy changes, just that our hash be cooked more crispy. We were told that due to how busy it was, that wouldn't likely happen. But by the time we actually got seated and ordered, there was no longer near the patrons that had been in there. No standing wait, and empty tables at this point. I wouldn't have been too generally disappointed except that they clearly cooked their hashbrowns in a giant square pan and just cut out squares for each order from that pan. The problem is that the hash was still cold in the middle and it's extremely mushy/soggy. At worst, it would have taken 45 seconds to throw that square on the griddle, smash it down and crisp it up. I ate less than 1/3rd of my order and took the rest home for the pets.

During the entire visit, our waitress didn't check on us once until I flagged her down for the check. Instead of asking if we wanted it split, which we've always been asked for, she brought us one and then seemed miffed when asked. But annoyingly, she asked at this time if I wanted another mimosa - though didn't bother to ask if either of us wanted more water when clearly our glasses were empty.

If we go back at any point, I will never go again if they look even remotely busy and I will actively avoid that waitress even if it means getting up and leaving. This was by far the worst experience we've had here. The only reason it retains a few stars on my review is due to past visits and also the hostess was clearly working her butt off. Plus you have a short, blonde haired waitress who was amazingly kind that was sadly not ours but had stopped to answer some questions for us without even being bothered that we had interrupted her.

We really do love this restaurant. There are some quirks that aren't our favorite, but given how good the place is, we overlook the little frustrations. The food is spot on! I'm always craving breakfast for lunch, so when friends say they want to go out, the Chef is usually one of the first places I recommend.

Also, if you haven't tried it yet - ask for a mimosa but substitute pineapple juice for the orange juice ;)

Update: been going periodically for 3yrs and we still enjoy it now the same as the start. Just be prepared for a wait on weekends, and even weekday lunch time. The...

So, I went for my birthday. I was told by some people in town that this place was beyond good. I had my hopes up in all honesty. The plan was for myself and two others to get breakfast. Two of us arrived at The Chef. Upon arrival, you could see that tables were filled. Very promising. We were greeted by our host. They asked how many and we said party of three. Okay, we are asked to wait for fifteen minutes. Perfectly fine. Fifteen minutes pass and our host comes out to tell us that our table is ready. They wanted to know where our third guest was and I said that they were running behind. The host informed us that we could not be seated until our third person arrived. Weird...this is a first for us. We waited some more but ended up just being the two of us. We told our host and they said that we can either sit at the high top table with four seats or the regular table with four seats. Weird. We ended up sitting the entire breakfast at a table with two extra seats after being told that we couldn't wait for our third person.

Now it's time to order. I order a coffee and cranberry juice, my partner orders a soda. It takes a while for the drinks to come out. I pour my cream in and a packet of sugar. Oh, no spoon. After some time, the wait staff comes back and I ask for a spoon. They don't come back for another ten minutes with the spoon. Weird. We order our food. I get the smoked salmon Bennie and a fruit cup. My partner gets eggs, bacon, toast with jam. We get our food about thirty minutes later. The salmon bennie was nothing special. The hollandaise sauce lacked so much flavor. Salmon was not the best. The eggs were cooked nicely. The potatoes were very peppery and looked sad. My food was not hot but warm. My partners food was just what they ordered because how can you mess up on eggs, bacon and toast?

I'm writing this review to say that my experience was basic for a place that tries to conduct itself as an exclusive, arrive with all of your guests, get in, eat, here's the check, now get out because we have so many people waiting to get your table kind of restaurant. But in reality the food is just basic breakfast. A good thing if you just want breakfast but a confusing thing if you are under the impression that The Chef is unlike any other diner you've been to before. IHOP would suffice.

My one true suggestion for the Chef would be to revamp some of their recipes, and think about the quality of their food versus trying to get a bunch of people in real fast and...

Come to The Chef for really bomb breakfast and coffee - but not the service. We frequent this place for breakfast and brunch but it seems like every time we come here, the service is really just...sad. Here are some common things that have happened on repeat. 1. Waiter spills coffee upon bringing it and just apologizes and walks away. This is the third time we've had someone bring the coffee and not try to clean a wild puddle of coffee up after they spill it. I've never had so many spilled drinks than here. 2. Attitude when correcting incorrect orders. Particularly the last time we were here, the four of us ordered our food, and I received homestyle fries and not hashbrowns like I ordered. I didn't make a big deal out of it and wasn't even going to say anything but my friend spoke up for me. The waitress returned with a plate of hashbrowns and basically shoved them in my face. It was an inconvenience that she didn't write our orders down and got them incorrect. This is not the first time we corrected a waiter and have had pushback.

I would like to add that my favorite thing is to get the special. I always ask. The last time we visited, I asked the waiter and her response was, "Oh I literally just got here...I don't know it. I can go look if you want?" and seemed really apprehensive to find out the special, so I just ordered something else. Disappointing. I would say this place is not worth the price, but it's worth the price. I guess the service kind of matches the price. And let me be clear - I am not asking for Michelin-star service. But if I'm leaving a 20% tip (that is expected in the service industry at this point), please just do your job,...