ATLA Noho — Restaurant in New York

One unacceptable and unethical mistake in the professional restaurant industry can turn a five-star experience into a one-star review, even for a Michelin-guided restaurant.

The food and drinks were delicious, the service from Omar was excellent, and the overall dining atmosphere was enjoyable.

We ordered guacamole, mackerel aguachile, beef & onion tacos (the onions were barely noticeable), and fried fish steak (which was dry). The appetizers were flavorful and leaned toward the sour side. However, the tacos and fish fell short of our expectations.

The spicy margarita and skin-contact wine selection were particularly refreshing.

Our server, Omar, was patient, friendly, and professional, answering all my questions with care.

However, while sitting at the bar, I witnessed another server, Many, using the same straw to taste two different cocktails before serving them to customers. He pressed one side of the straw with his finger, lifted it, drank from the other end, and then used the same straw to taste another drink. I immediately informed my server when Many brought the drinks to the customers. Omar later returned to tell me that Many claimed he had flipped the straw to the other side.

To me, whether he flipped it or not, using the same straw on two different drinks is unethical in the restaurant industry. Moreover, he had been drinking himself, which raised concerns about his judgment. Both my friend and I also did not recall seeing him flip the straw.

For the next half hour, he walked past me multiple times but avoided eye contact, further reinforcing my belief that he knew he had acted improperly.

After Omar spoke to the manager, she came to talk to us. However, instead of being honest and addressing the issue directly with the customers who drank the cocktails, they simply offered us a dessert. This felt more like an attempt to dissuade us from writing a review rather than a genuine effort to resolve...

Ok so I don’t even usually write reviews, but I wanted to share my thoughts as I too read reviews and then still decided to go… so I went here solo on a Saturday early afternoon. Very much like some other reviews, I found a similar experience. I am not sure if it was because I came by myself, but after quickly being seated and given water it took a very long time for someone to come to me(I didn’t time it but it had to be at least 20min). Once a staff member came they asked if anyone had ever taken care of me… this goes to show that no one recognized I needed to be taken care of… maybe they thought someone else was coming??? I actually felt like I was forgotten twice(at the beginning and at the end when I waited for the check). I usually don’t make these things a big deal when it’s super busy, but it was not a full house so they need to be better about organizing and keeping up with tables. The few positive things were that when I did order my food it came out within 15min or so.. it was very quick as I was just about to do some work on my laptop. I had chilaquiles verde with chicken and an espresso shot. The flavors of the food were pretty good however I was disappointed in the 4 small shredded chicken pieces added on top. It was basically just sauce, cream, onions, some avocado and chips. So for a $7 up charge I don’t see the value in even adding the chicken if that’s the case. Also one of the shredded pieces was really pink with red.. I was going to ask if they perhaps mixed thigh meat with breast meat, but I didn’t feel like making it a big deal on one small piece so I just took it out my bowl. I get that this is a modern twist but overall the meal was lacking and no comparison to the chilaquiles I had in Mexico. With that said, I may try them again but a different dish and to go. I think if you’re out and not concerned about time nor too hungry you should try it. Other than that save your trip to ATLA for...

TLDR - The host or maitre de ( gentleman with shoulder length hair) was rude and either racist, sexist, arrogant or all of the above and lacked any customer service.

Went to this place after dinner (one male and two women), we were all well dressed well behaved and polite throughout the experience.

As soon as we entered, we were greeted with a “yes?“ we mentioned we were there for a drink and asked if we could set the tables he said table service was closed so we sat at the bar.

We ordered a bottle of wine at the bar. The staff was extremely unhelpful, but we figured it’s late and doesn’t matter. We just order whatever we saw. Not only was the service terrible but in the middle of the night instead of refilling an empty glass. They just took it away while the bottle was not empty.

We saw the host reject a couple but let three drunk man in these three men later broke a glass spilled drinks over the bar, and the host didn’t seem to care.

Our friend wanted to show us a box of cookies she baked for us. Knowing where we are and how we’ve been treated I asked the bartender if it was ok as we were just looking, no one was eating and he just nodded.

The host comes over and in an extremely rude tone and says “I can’t have you eating that in this restaurant! “ again, knowing that would be completely wrong we said we’re not eating it. We’re just looking and putting it away. He didn’t say a word just gave us a look and walked away.

Overall, the service and the treatment was one of the worst I’ve ever experienced the sense of arrogance in the host and the way we were spoken to was extremely disrespectful. We were neither behaving bad or trying to be improper. Even with the cookies a more pleasant or appropriate tone would’ve been appreciated as we were all agreeing.

Every one of us , a different gender, and ethnicity all of us felt mistreated, hostile, and disrespected. I highly recommend avoiding this place...