The Forbidden Llama — Restaurant in Middletown

I have to start by saying me and my friend had very high hopes for this spot due to seeing girls post it on tiktok and seeing instagram reels that made this spot look good. Me and my friend got to this spot this past Saturday late afternoon and when we walked in we first noticed the music to be BLARING loud with the DJ, when there was barely anyone sitting inside eating or having drinks which should have been the first sign something wasn’t going to be good. It took a minute for someone to come and seat us but when they did they were pleasant and say us in the swinging chairs. We took a look at the menu and knew we wanted drinks to start. Our server came over to take our order which we each got one martini each and decided to order our food at the same time, still expecting our drinks to be out first. About 20 minutes go by and me and my friend have not received our drinks and we are next to the bar so we can see everything plus the place has barely any customers as is. The bartender the whole time was sitting on her phone and no drinks were being made. Me and my friend finally got our waiters attention and said we had to go and wanted to cancel our order. At this time he said we couldn’t and our food was already done (which still didn’t come out and no drinks were made). He proceeds to bring our food and asks if we still wanted our drinks, which at this point we were so annoyed we said yes and asked for the bill at the same time. He didn’t say sorry or offer anything to be covered, acted like it wasn’t a big deal we never received anything until we mentioned it to him. I can honestly see this place closing if they don’t do something about there staff and service. I will not be going back and recommended no one go unless you want a very...

I want to preface this by saying this is not our waiter's fault. He was great. But our experience wasn't unfortunately. I only saw two waiters running for every table in the place, so service understandably took a hit. Waiter was MIA so couldn't even order food until they came back with our drinks. Food took an additional hour to arrive. By the time food arrived, mine was missing. Was told mine was on its way. Waited another hour before a plate that I did not order arrived. When I told the waiter this was not my order, he offered to run another order to remedy the issue, but at this point, I was not about to wait another hour to eat and keep everyone else in my party waiting. Honestly this place has potential but I would not recommend. I am sympathetic to the staff for doing their best, but from an organizational standpoint, this place failed too many times in a row for this to be an anomaly. Clearly they lack the organization and discipline to properly serve their customers. Can't even comment on the food since I did not get to eat, but the rest of my party was not impressed. If you are willing to wait, or have a nice podcast that you can kill an hour with, I recommend the pisco sour. Otherwise, please don't waste your time. They are more concerned with creating Instagramable backdrops and birthday shout outs to provide decent service. Again, cannot comment on food as mine never arrived, but secondhand, my peers were not impressed. If I could leave 0 stars I would.

Ps. Bathroom had no soap or paper towels??? Do they expect people not to wash their hands???

2nd ps. They charged us for the food they did not bring me. Please do not bother with...

I have never in my life written a review of anything, but I hope that my experience keeps others from going through the same thing.

Last weekend, I ubered an hour with a group of 10 to visit what appeared to be a fun new spot. When we arrived, there were a few people waiting outside, who eventually decided to get out of line. We were then the first group in line for over an HOUR. During our hour wait in 20 degree weather, I lost count of the amount of people who went right up to the door, said they were either "VIP" or "had a reservation", and were let right in, while we stood there freezing. I asked the bouncer how you get on this list since it wasn't on their website, and he did not have an answer for me. I kept asking the him if/when we would get in, and he assured me we would get in soon. I then spoke to both managers, who told us that we would be let in "in 5 minutes" for about 45 minutes, eventually ignoring me completely. Then, I asked if one person in our group could just be let in to use the bathroom, and they would not allow it. Eventually, after over an hour of waiting in a line of which ZERO people had been let inside from in the hour we were there, we decided to visit the bar next door.

I would absolutely NOT recommend visiting the Forbidden Llama if you value warmth, being treated like a human being, and actually having a good night. Can't speak to the food, drinks, or atmosphere (would have loved to lol) but I personally would never give money to owners who value favoritism...