Aquamarina — Restaurant in New York

Went here on a Friday night after having the place recommended. Upon walking in I was introduced to club level music volumes.

Sat down and didn't wait to long for service which was nice.

I wouldn't come if you're only in town for a few days and looking to catch up with family or friends due to the music volume.

I had the AquaMojito, figured if they named it after the places it would be a nice signature drink. I wasn't expecting mojito based on the ingredients involved, and I was not disappointed with my assessment. That said, I was expecting something that tasted good. I was disappointed with this assessment. Good amount of alcohol, but the flavors didn't work in a way to make a nice drink.

Starting with the food, the party of 4 I was with ordered dinner, no appetizers. We had two chicken scarpariellos, one veal parm, with a switch to vodka sauce rather than marinara, and one linguine with mushroom dish.

Starting with the chicken scarpariellos... I've never had it without being to taste any tangy flavor, such as lemon, in it. And I've never had it with potatoes, which the menu did mention, but was odd since it came with pasta as well. My chicken was overcooked like crazy and dry. The other was cooked well enough to be ok. Pasta for both was done garlic and oil sauce. Nothing special. Not bad. Just mediocre

The person with the mushroom dish was happy with it all around.

The person with the veal ran into some problems. After requesting vodka as a switch for marinara we were informed that's an upcharge. We verified that was fine. The waiter checked that the switch was both for the veal and the separate pasta. The patron verified yes it was. So begins the breakdown. The veal came out with marinara instead. Waiter argued that he asked and was told the vodka was only for the pasta. Which I feel if the music wasn't set to 11 he might have heard correctly since the whole tabled affirmed the person had asked, and verified, to have the sauce switched on both. I heard no offer to refire it from the waiter after this was pointed out. (Edit, I was informed by someone sitting closer he did ask and the diner declined so as not to hold up dinner. I just couldn't hear over the atmosphere)He just argued that it was only for the pasta. That said the dish was cooked well.

General checkup on the table to top off drinks was average.

Time to wait for them to come back to check if we wanted the check was a bit longer than average.

The last surprises of disappointment of the experience was when we received the check. $3 to switch to the vodka sauce seemed a bit much. It was expected since the waiter mentioned it though. I did wonder if it would have been $6 if it had been swapped on the veal as requested.

And seeing an included gratuity on the bill for a party of 4 caught me like a ball upside the head out of left field since at no point was it mentioned or printed anywhere. No additional tip was left since they reaped the amount they felt due.

All told 2/5. Wouldn't recommend or return. I've been to better Italian, or even fusion, places in NYC. I'll find another...

This one star is based off of my last time here which was 6/29. I come at least 2 to 3 times a week and order the same thing. so much so that when the bartenders see me they know exactly what i want. On this day it was slow i was only one at the bar waiting to be serviced. Not paying attention to any one particular thing i hear " hello hello are you gonna order something" I turn and theres this short white lady who ive seen on my plenty of my visits here ( but never personally interacted with) . what happen to "can i help you" or " what would you be having today''. The entire staff is latin ( from what i see) with the exception of this one white lady which tells me she is the owner or very close to the owners or family of the owner etc. . I usually stay and have a beer while i eat but now im annoyed because of her approach, so i ordered my wings to go. At the same time a young white women walks in and sits at a table by the window thats by the bar. The same short white lady comes from behind the bar and gives her a menu etc. there was no " hello hello are you gonna order something" from across the bar she gave her the up most respect now i feel like its racial and i really wanna leave. ( and yes im a big black guy 6ft 2 240 plus LBS). My food came and i ask the bartender how much he said $10. i gave him my money and left. About 20 seconds later same white lady runs out and tells me i didnt pay i says yes i did he said $10 i gave him $10 she said its $10.83 ....wow.. you chased me down for .83 ? i gave her dollar ...maybe i shouldve chase her down for my .17 cents change. This is not the first time she said something that made me feel uncomfortable. i remember my first day at this place i ordered a hennessy and she came over to me and said "he gave you too much im just letting you know so you dont expect the same amount next time" who does that ?. Carlos is a great server from day one when first heard about the wings ive been here 2 3...

Horrible service. Ordered takeout via their website and showed up 20 mins afterwards as directed by the website. My order was not ready and I was told 5 more minutes. I took a seat and waited. The waiter who took my name passed me several times and reassured me my order what right up. I even asked if a bag with food by the register was mine and he said no, that's delivery, Yours is coming right up. Look, I'm not in the business of making servers lives miserable so I was as patient as possible, I waited 40 mins. This is a Friday night and the place is NOT full (3 seated tables in 3 different sections, 3 servers working). I finally went in (after 40 mins of waiting) and said cancel my order and that is when the server said, I don't know which order is yours? Which app did you order off of? I'm frankly dumbfounded, I thought the kitchen was running behind or a 1 man show but it was front of house that was incompetent. I showed him my confirmation email and he said, I'll get this to you in 5 mins. I said, no, I'm not giving you any of my money (I was paying at pick up) and walked up. He trailed behind me and had a full on argument with me at their gate, attempting to explain away what happened. No apologies at all. I let him know you have horrible customer service. If you couldn't find my order you could have asked me even 20 mins ago what my name was again or checked in. While I sat and waited I saw wait staff laugh and goof around, I don't care about that, people deserve breathers when they can get them, asking ME what my order number is or confirmed my name, would have take all of 2 mins. Horrible, horrible service. I hope the wait staff gets some training on how to treat people. It was unkind and unprofessional to leave me sitting there...