Amity Hall Downtown — Restaurant in New York

Hey you all. I don’t write reviews often unless something was abruptly nasty. I’m not here to provoke anything.

Let’s talk about an experience I had on Monday, September 8th for a founders and investors mix that was hosted by Amity Hall.

Full disclosure: I am a minor and this may have affected my experience.

There are two people that I won’t “point fingers” at but were certainly guilty of mistreatment. Not to sound entitled, but the service was abysmal. This was a networking event for entrepreneurs and investors alike. I first, leave the area to take a call within the proximity of hostess, we will call her H. I come back down with another 2 friends, both of which have tickets to the event, and were inside the lower half of the restaurant prior to leaving with me and coming back. We are asked for our ID. We question this, considering we had no intention of ordering alcohol nor trapping the establishment to do so. We were here for the event and event only. One of our friends, over 21, explains that we are here as a group, not tagging along, because we all had valid tickets. H, complains that since we don’t have our ID’s, we can’t come close to the bar. According to Section 260.21 of the Penal Law, persons under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to enter an on premises (bar/restaurant versus grocer which is off premisses) establishment. A friend and I were both over the age of 16 at the time and were accompanied by a guardian over the legal drinking age. If you think you’ll lose your liquor license, you have some of your own research to do. There were 200+ people event in a 100 sqft area, maybe you should check the fire code instead. We asked if we could put name tags on (which most other people had besides me and one of my other friends) and write “Under 21, Do Not Serve Alcohol” to comply with them “fearing to lose their liquor license.” First of all, if you serve us alcohol and we comply, it is a Lose Lose situation. No one wins and we had no intention of doing so. Next, we as customers reserve all rights of sitting in proximity of said bar that we have access to because of an event, and the Penal Code does not restrict us from accessing the area. H says we were “being too hostile”. Not one of us had raised our voice. If you feel intimidated because of a young adult, you have some work to do as hostess, because apparently “you were doing your job”. So were we.

Either way, we complied with H’s demands, who asked us to “sit down” in a seated area. So we did, which is obviously forbidding us from doing said networking. A few minutes later, our guardian asks the manager, Manaan (I believe his name was) if my friend and I can participate in networking. He gives us the thumbs up to all three of us, before immediately being shut down by H, who then asks Manaan to tell us to sit back down.

I’m not here to provoke anything, but I would like a sincere apology from the poor management that occurred. I don’t want to be entitled to anything, but neither is the restaurant entitled to my respect. Do better, and take your...

I think the best part about coming to this place is their Tuesday deal of $1 cheeseburgers. No you did not read this wrong, $1 cheeseburgers.

I know, I know you are probably thinking these are probably some White Castle imitation burgers, that is something you'd probably regret eating the minute you finished stuffing it in your mouth.

And I would have to break the news to you that, these burgers are PRETTY EFFING GOOD.

Size wise they are slightly larger than McDonald's cheeseburgers and WAAAY better quality. I mean they come out with a long toothpick stuck into the burger on a wooden serving plate. That's some presentation.

The burgers were delish I mean well cooked, the seasoning was a bit light but with the additional things I put in it such as pickles, jalapenos which you have to pay 25 cents to 50 cents extra for, that still brings your burger to roughly around $1.50-$2.00 per burger. All of the other condiments you also have to pay extra for to your heart's content.

Now if you are NOT here on a Tuesday, they do have some other things that might interest you.

For example, sports night on the 2nd floor is where you want to be. 7 medium TVs and 1 Mega TV all playing different games/sports. Get live. Yeah. Communal wooden tables and high top tables + bar seats AND enough space in the center to dance or try to dance or just get piss off drunk.

1st floor is smaller but intimate and they have live music playing on different days and on Tuesdays I believe they have the best talent, vocally. And they have TVs downstairs as well.

Bathrooms are accessible enter by going downstairs from the 2nd floor using the BACK STAIRCASE or just simply being on the 1st floor and going straight to the back.

There beers are $7-$8 a pop which is quite steep imo comparing to places where I can get the same beer for $4. During Happy Hour I believe they are priced at $5.

I stand by the theory that burgers tastes better with a beer. I've yet to be proven wrong.

Good bar to stop by if you are...

this is a review for anyone interested in hosting an open bar at Amity Hall

I planned an open bar with Amity Hall for ~70 people. Leading up to the event I called multiple times to confirm with the coordinators, Tim and Randy, to ensure there would be enough space in the upstairs bar for my party. Every time I called it seemed there was zero communication between the two coordinators and I had to keep repeating myself with each phone call. When I mentioned this to Randy he gaslighted me and said "You're wrong, we're rock solid" very dismissively, which is simply a joke. Tim told me I wouldn't have to pay for my own open bar since I was bringing them so much business, and that he even had a "surprise" for my party, which was not followed through by Randy on the day of the event — just one example of their lacking communication with one another.

When my party and I arrived there was a tiny roped off area in the upstairs back bar for all of us. While our open bar deal allowed us to use any bar in the space, the point of a party is for us to be together celebrating, not spread out all over Amity Hall. It was absolutely absurd that they expected 70 people to squeeze into a space that would be more appropriate for ~30 people. After some argument, they moved back the rope that confined our party a whopping 2 feet. They also only gave us 1 bartender at the smaller back bar for all 70 people when I had asked and been given confirmation there would be 2.

Overall I was excited to hold my party at Amity Hall. I've been there many times, the food is great and it has a really fun atmosphere. I had held a smaller open bar with them years before with no issue. They simply are unwilling to appropriately accommodate larger parties because they don't want to give up the space for other customers, even though they made roughly $4000 in cash off my party alone. I'm frustrated that they fooled me over the phone and absolutely will not be doing business with them...