Berlin — Restaurant in New York

I was supposed to go here for my birthday on 6/29, as I spoke with their booking agent who was going to give us the VIP room. When we arrived, the bouncer said we could not enter because a few girls in our group of 40 people were wearing sandals (who were visiting from out of town nonetheless)... other people throughout the group were wearing open-toed shoes, platform sandals, heels - all that were deemed "OK" by the bouncer since they had even less than a 1 inch heel, except for flat shoes / sandals.

He kept saying "flat shoes aren't allowed" then changed his story to "Well flat sandals aren't allowed, you can't come in"

Not only was I shocked by this because I have been living in NYC for the past 2 years and have NEVER had this issue but I was also shocked at how rude the bouncer was being. This rule was never mentioned to me when I decided to have my birthday party here and it was not noted on any type of sign outside the bar - it's almost like they made it up on the spot.

Quite frankly, when the manager (Ryan) came upstairs to assess the situation he immediately said the bouncer was correct AS girls were exiting the bar wearing the SAME types of shoes they were not allowing from our group.

He told me he had more power over the booking agent and had no problem denying us entry. I tried to explain how we were given the VIP room so we would be in a more secluded space and he simply said, "Yeah I'm not sure why the booking agent was letting you use this room" which I found pretty rude.

I have never been more disappointed in a bar - one, because they were turning away 40-45 people who were willing to spend money on drinks / shots the entire night and because they were so incredibly rude to us. They also mentioned they had been turning people away due to how packed it was, however, it was 11pm on Saturday night and there was no line when we arrived / most people in NYC don't go to the bars until 11:30pm-12am.

If I were one of the owners of this bar, I would truly rethink the way their staff treats others and their rule to not allow women to wear flat sandals into their bar. Especially in the summer in the city. I wear flat sandals all the time and have never had this issue.

A sign noting this, warning people to enter at their own risk of cutting themselves on broken glass would suffice - as again, I have never heard of this rule in my entire life. I am truly beside myself at how my group was treated and how rude their staff was.

Thankfully, the booking agent showed up and was nice enough to walk us to her other venue - Coney Island Baby where all types of shoes were accepted (ha!) and the staff was very nice and accommodating. We ended up spending the whole night there and they played great music!

As someone who goes out almost every week, living in the city - I have made sure to tell people to avoid this bar and strongly suggest the owners take a look at their staff and lay down some basic, humane guidelines on how to treat individuals, especially a group of 24-26 year olds who were only trying to have a fun night and not trying to start a fight.

It's truly unfortunate they lost money from a group of 40-45 people over SHOES - it's actually...

What should have been a safe and joyful birthday celebration at Berlin Under NYC became one of the most frightening and dangerous nights of my life.

After only one drink at the bar, I became violently ill, blacked out, and was found unconscious in the bathroom with the door unlocked, covered in vomit. I have no memory beyond that first drink. My friends told me that management gave me water and a quiet place to recover, but I was unable to walk or talk and ultimately had to be carried out of the venue. About an hour later, my co-host also became suddenly and unusually sick — disoriented, vomiting, and experiencing a complete memory blackout. My doctor later confirmed that my symptoms strongly suggested I was drugged with rohypnol (roofied). Given this, I filed a police report with the NYPD Special Victims Unit to ensure I had not been sexually assaulted.

While my co-host and I were incapacitated and leaving the venue, Berlin staff unilaterally decided to close our bar tab nearly two hours early, stopped issuing wristbands, and failed to track guest spending toward our $2,500 minimum — despite a signed contract guaranteeing service until 3:00 AM. The contract contained no clause explaining what would happen if the hosts had to leave for a medical emergency. Dozens of guests who stayed and continued ordering were ignored, new guests who arrived throughout the night were not counted, and people who weren’t invited were even allowed into the reserved area. Yet my card was still charged the full $2,000 minimum in clear violation of the agreement. I cannot help but feel that someone affiliated with the venue may have been responsible for drugging us, given that we were the only two to experience these symptoms and I was surrounded only by close friends upon arrival.

When I confronted management, their only “solution” was to offer that the hosts return with a couple of friends for free drinks — while refusing to review the itemized receipts from our highest-spending guests, which showed totals greater than what Berlin reported. Security footage was only released after I filed a Special Victims report. For months since, I have repeatedly reached out to resolve this fairly, but I have been met with silence.

As a young woman, I feel severely taken advantage of. My health, safety, and finances were all compromised, and management not only failed to take responsibility but actively dismissed, deflected, and ignored the truth.

Berlin has failed to handle this in a fair or ethical way. I am deeply traumatized by what happened, and the silence I have experienced has made it clear that Berlin only cares about money, not the safety or well-being of its customers. Until this venue takes accountability and refunds my card, I strongly caution everyone — especially women —...

Garbage place. Rude staff, disrespectful, I recommend not coming here or playing here. One of my bands played there recently. My crew and friends tend to be very respectful and polite so this was such a disappointment in how they treat paying customers and people who bring business to them. The sound is 6/10.

A man with white/grey hair, glasses and tattoos was the main culprit. We were going to soundcheck, so I grabbed food since I didn’t eat at all. Was going to bring my food downstairs to eat before soundcheck. This man stops us and says we can’t eat down there, I politely asked to make sure if this rule only applied to customers and not bands playing so I asked “wait, even if we’re playing?” He then rudely responds with “ I don’t care if you’re playing here and slams the door on my face. Instead of simply saying no like an adult he went out of his way to be emotionally immature. He also kicked out my friend for no reason at all. As well as later on, another friend was drinking outside in the outside area where they have seats, with a drink he had gotten from the bar and a female worker politely tells him if he could move down the block, and he then politely replies with “okay, I’m sorry, I was waiting for my friends, I’ll move”. To which the same man with glasses from earlier comes out of nowhere a second later and just has his arms crossed, without saying anything, right behind him, taunting him, harassing him as he was walking down the street and says “yeah stay behind those trees and don’t come back”. Just completely unnecessary and lack of respect for your neighbor.

Not to mention the last time I played there with a different band, almost about a year prior. Our friend from the UK came down to play a show with us, I’m not sure what it was but it was like their set was sabotaged on purpose, the monitors didn’t work mid set, etc it’s like the sound guy wasn’t even trying. He was much nicer this time around. As well as we were supposed to have a dj that night, the poor dj brought their equipment and everything and came from Connecticut. But as the last band finished, the staff was wrapping things up, so we were confused. The vocalist in my band asks the bartender “we’re supposed to have a dj set after the show” the bartender replies with “no you’re not we’re closing”. To which then immediately my vocalist tries to politely show him the email chain he had exchanged with the person who booked the show to show proof but before he could even show him, the bartender just laughs at his face and completely ignores him. Now that same bartender was a little nicer this time around but be wary...