Bar Primi Bowery — Restaurant in New York

We flew in from Chicago to North Jersey to celebrate my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. Despite numerous dining options in Jersey and New York, we opted for a one-hour drive to the city, choosing Bar Primi for our party of six. Given our 2-year-old, we intentionally selected a more casual setting over a formal one.

Upon arrival, the restaurant, with its laid-back ambiance, seated us upstairs where few patrons were present, creating an ideal environment. While enjoying appetizers and awaiting our entrees, our son, engaged with his iPad, displayed occasional bursts of excitement—typical for a toddler. Considering the venue's bar atmosphere and kid-friendly policy, we saw no cause for concern.

However, just before our entrees arrived, a manager (a brunette woman whose name eluded us) approached, citing complaints of noise. She implied we should quiet our son, despite the restaurant's casual setting with background music. We promptly explained he is a toddler and our efforts to manage his excited bursts.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable about the manager's approach, we expressed that if having an excited child was an issue, perhaps the establishment shouldn't welcome kids. The manager insisted on ensuring everything was okay, claiming she would address noise complaints regardless of age. We emphasized that the issue was not an adult causing disruption but a toddler behaving typically. If he were disruptive or unruly by throwing things or running around, we would understand, but a couple of excited bursts shouldn't spoil the experience. They ended up comping the meal, but the special occasion was ruined by her approach and response and we just decided to leave immediately before finishing our entrees.

Fortunately, our waiter and the hostess were the silver lining, exhibiting professionalism and courtesy. The waiter reassured us, apologized for the situation, and the hostess echoed these sentiments. Other staff members appeared supportive, and we hope the owner takes note, offering guidance to the manager on approaching such situations with more...

Loved this place on a weekly basis in 2018 and 2019. Still enjoyed it during 2020. Was looking forward this evening to the beginning of a summer term of gustatory enjoyment when the following incidents took us from surprise to shock and then to indignation.

It started with the arrival of the bottled still water. Ostensibly imported Italian water (Oh, stop it. You commit the same Carbon Footprint sin with wine or chocolate or travel or whatever.)

We learned from living overseas that if the server doesn't bring an unopened bottle of water to the table then you're paying for tap water. And that's what the Bar Primi server did. Thinking we're just tourists, he had no idea that we know what NYC water tastes like. Shame, shame, shame! I shudder to think what they may be doing with wine.

Then came the 'Hey, how come we aren't getting any bread and olive oil this time?' Sigh.

And after forty minutes, the arrival of an order of spaghetti pomodoro and one of linguini with garlic. The pasta on both was cold. Not room temperature, cold.

The spaghetti was palatable only because the sauce had been at a near-boiling temperature. The linguini had no sauce and no heat. Also, no taste. The addition of seventeen shaved membranes of browned garlic does not add taste; it adds a nasty metallic pang. Not flavor.

We would've loved to have mentioned this to a server but for 15 minutes, there were none within hailing distance. I suspect they knew there was a problem and avoided us in case we decided to give them some hail.

Want to know how to have a good time at Bar Primi? Come with at least three other people, finish at least two bottles of wine and you'll never notice what's wrong. You have my blessing and my envy.

P.S. The outside seating is painfully loud. We were so bored from lack of service that both of us downloaded a decibel meter app and discovered that on a Monday evening, it never dipped below 68 and was...

Let me start off by saying, when my group and I went, the hostess and waitstaff were kind, unpretentious, and helpful, and my review in no way reflects them specifically, though I rate the service poorly. I’ve also heard good things about Bar Primi’s food, which did not disappoint! So what’s the problem?

🚩#1: My group and I did not make a reservation on Friday night (last night). We knew it’d be a long shot, but jumped at the opportunity for outdoor dining when it was offered. 🚩#2: Keep in mind it’s roughly 50F degrees outside, and covered outdoor seating with heat lamps are available for reservations-only. For a party of 6, we ordered 2 appetizers, 6 entrees, and 2 drinks. 🚩#3: While we received our first app relatively quickly, the drinks and second app never came until we followed up with our waiter 30 minutes later. At this point, 50F is starting to feel like 30F. 🚩#4: 30 minutes of waiting turns into over an hour of sitting in the cold with shoddy service due to clearly overwhelmed waitstaff. Our entrees still have not come out. I watch a frazzled waiter break a glass against another group’s table, pieces dropping onto the sidewalk. One of my friends goes inside to ask how much longer we have to wait, to which the manager comes out to assure us “10 more minutes”. After 1.5 hrs of waiting, finally we receive our entrees and scarf it down in a rush as to not let them go cold, and so we can get out of the cold as well.

Please learn from our mistake and do not go to Bar Primi on a busy night without reservations, because that “miracle” seating will turn into your nightmare. There is clearly some mismanagement going on at this restaurant. Why accept so many customers when your kitchen and waiters are in short supply? They were not ready to give us the high level of service we expected/heard about. We really wanted to love this experience, but it...