Ainslie Bowery — Restaurant in New York

We were here for a birthday dinner so we were a large group but we had made reservations in advance. First of all, when we arrived we were seated at a skinny long high top table right next to the bar in the front room. This room was noisy and the table was good for having just drinks, not a full dinner. We politely asked to be seated at a different table, in the back room, where it was much quieter and there were multiple open tables that were bigger. They were not able to accommodate us, which on its own would have been fine, but they had terrible customer service as well. When asked about the table, the hostess or whoever she was was dismissive and just walked off, not even bothering to hear us out about why we wanted a different table. When our food arrived it was hard to make space for everything on the table, and the servers weren't even clearing up the empty plates/glasses in a timely manner. It did not feel like a sit-down dinner, it felt chaotic as if we were just having drinks and food at the bar. The dinner package included unlimited drinks for a certain time period. There was only one waiter we were able to order drinks with, and he was not coming by often. Therefore, when he did come by, some of us would order a drink pre-emptively, while we were still finishing our current one, because we knew he would not be back by the time we were finished with our drink. Upon noticing that we were doing this, he didn't politely tell us it wasn't allowed; instead, he said "relax! you guys need to relax. You can't pile drinks." Nobody was "piling" multiple drinks, we were just ordering one drink ahead and everyone was finishing their drinks so they weren't even being wasted. Never have I been told to "relax" at a restaurant where we were not even being impolite or rowdy. The food was alright. Cauliflower tasted like nothing, cacio e pepe sauce was watery, penne with red sauce was alright. I'm not sure if the bad service was because our party was brown, but I have never been treated in such a dismissive manner at a place that considers it self to be a "nice, upscale" restaurant. Would never...

If you’ve ever been scammed by Ticketmaster, imagine the NYE party version of that as Ainslie Bowery.

My friends and I decided to go to the NYE party here because we go to Ainslie often and figured it’d be a good time. 2 of my friends and myself bought the cash bar ticket for $30 and 3 of my friends bought the open bar ticket for $85. We assumed we would be in the same general restaurant/bar area and would just have different wristbands for our ticket levels. WRONG.

After entering in 2 different lines, we quickly realized that the cash bar ticket was for the basement and the open bar ticket was for the main area. If we wanted to be with our friends, we were told we would have to pay $160 (tickets were now “sold out” so they were more expensive) to upgrade to the open bar. NOWHERE on the site or on our tickets did it ever say that the different ticket prices were for SEPARATE parties. We tried explaining this to the manager, and he literally told us that “if we used our brains we would realize that the different prices were for different parties” and that nowhere on the ticket did it say the parties were combined, so it was fine. I have never experienced a more condescending and disrespectful person in a service setting, which is especially disappointing because I’ve always loved Ainslie.

My friends and I with the cash bar tickets decided to stay for a bit until our friends up above could come down and join us, but the atmosphere in the basement was dismal at best. It genuinely felt like a middle school dance party. We talked to many other people who were in the same boat as us and extremely annoyed that the separation of parties wasn’t disclosed on the tickets.

Additionally, my friends and I overheard an employee saying that “all of the backlash was exciting” and who was making fun of everyone who was being split up from their friends. I’ve been going to Ainslie for 4 years, but this whole night was an extreme disappointment and I feel like I can no longer return in...

Reviewing for Yelp Elite Event: I was only able to stop by here for a half hour, as I had a Men's League game to absolutely dominate at 7pm.

These non +1 Yelp Elite Events are always interesting ahahaha as you have to mingle with people you don't know. I feel like I'm back in my Freshman year of college. If you're like me, you're really shy, insecure, and introverted and the game of social dynamics doesn't come natural to you. I feel like Shaq shooting a free throw at times.

The name of the game is to find one person who is in the same boat as you and latch onto them like a buoy in open water...Ok I know there are likely no buoys in open water but work with me here ahahaa. Shoutout to my boy Andy R. who became my life raft for the night!

Andy and I stood there about 10 steps away from the DJ in the beautiful open space of the Ainslie Bowery, taking in the sheer demographics of Yelp Elites in NYC. Seemingly every age and every race represented it was actually kinda beautiful I can't even lie.

We went up a few stairs to go get some food, and I just went with 2 slices of pizza as I needed to carbo-load for the upcoming game I needed to dominate.

The pizza was honestly not good, as I couldn't even really bite through it lol but I completely understand how hard cooking in bulk is and who knows how long it had been sitting there. I saw some fresh pizza being served to people at tables while I was walking in and it looked GAS.

Ainslie Bowery was a FANTASTIC space to host an event, and I always love these big open restaurants with a lot of square footage in NYC, as they are few and far between.

And no, we didn't win our Men's League game. It was a bitter, bitter pill to swallow and I'm still licking my wounds tbh, but this will only make us stronger as a group and as a unit. WE WILL BOUNCE BACK THIS WEEK!

IG...