Bevacco — Restaurant in New York

Fellow Brits, Aussies and avid world travellers please take care to avoid...

What should have been a family reunion to celebrate a lifetime of memories after attending our mother's funeral was tarnished by our two servers behaviour. We were a party of 12, each departing the next day to different parts of the globe, London, Queensland, California and more. The day had been fairly emotional and we were tired and looking forward to meeting up after an afternoon in a cemetery.

We reserved for 7:30, but given the day's events some of us arrived later than others, which initially seemed fine. But strangely as members began arriving and sat down, our server thought it was best to visibly display her annoyance at the staggered arrival by snatching the menus from the hands of some family members and walking with such speed when by our table (we were set apart from the bar and main restaurant) that it was obvious she didn't want to attend. On member waited 15 minutes to order after someone else requested a menu a second time be brought over. Disappointing and unprofessional. Why?

One of the pizzas ordered with anchovies was so salty that it caused our family member to choke after a single bite and on mentioning it to the waitress, she made a point to say, "Well, that's what YOU ordered. We will make another but it will be LATE". Maybe it's because we're accustomed to politeness and manners, but that was blatantly rude. From that moment on, she ramped up the speed walking, menu grabbing, and then added the most disappointing behaviour - she and her colleague stood within earshot of our table and began discussing how "that family needs to leave". At one point early in our meal, the air conditioning kicked in, ceiling fans in motion (which seemed odd given it was -10C outside) . Kids at the table began shivering, and adults were putting on scarves. We asked her if they could turn it down as it was cold, and was told while she couldn't turn off the fans, she'd turn on the heat. Her male colleague server then quipped, deliberately loud enough to be overheard "Well, let's turn on the cold air, that would get them to leave". It filled them with laughter and they nodded to each other, satisfied that it was heard. It was at that precise moment another relative was sharing her account of her time at the cemetery, so no one interrupted her and we tried our best to ignore it. Disappointing and distressing. Why? Why behave like this?

Collectively our table of 12 spent in excess of $800 USD on food and drinks and after being advised we could only split it three ways, I began to calculate everyone's expenses. Remember, we're a group of 12 from different currencies so we had to regroup and divide and calculate who would manage the bill for others. As I tallied up who would pay for what, the male server decided that this was his moment to announce he needed to clean the restaurant and that they were now closed. Yet, sat on the other side of the restaurant was a group of four friends with drinks, enjoying conversation and laughter as well, undisturbed and uninterrupted. At our end, the waitress stood over and watched as we put on our scarves, hats etc. Given the earlier events of the day, we decided it was best to leave. Disappointing and upsetting. Why?

The food was fair, the venue moderate. The behaviour of the staff went from lesser strength to strength : indifferent to odd to dismissive to blatantly rude. I cannot justify spending that sum of money to be insulted and wouldn't want anyone else to experience...

I am writing to share my recent experience at your restaurant on June 13, 2024, as I believe it is important for you to be aware of the service we received during our visit.

My two friends and I were looking forward to enjoying a nice dinner together, having made a reservation in advance. However, upon our arrival, we encountered a series of issues that left us feeling quite disappointed. After arriving, my friend and I waited outside for our third party member to join us. Once we entered, we were met with an awkward silence as we stood by the entrance, waiting for someone to greet us. After a few moments, we were approached by our waitress, who asked if we were a party of three and if we had a reservation, but her tone felt somewhat aggressive.

It was disheartening to observe that multiple other parties were seated and greeted with warmth and friendliness, while we seemed to be treated differently. Additionally, it was noticeable that we were the only African American guests in the restaurant that evening, which added to our discomfort.

Once seated, we were given three menus but only two drink menus. Shortly thereafter, a different waiter took one of our drink menus to give to another table, leaving us with just one menu to share among three people. The waiter waked passed multiple table with drink menus to take ours.When the waitress returned to take our orders, I inquired about mocktails, as I hadn’t had the chance to look at the menu yet. Instead of offering assistance, she curtly informed me that everything was in the menu. I began to look for the mocktails, but without the ingredients listed, I sought her recommendations. However, she abruptly stated she would come back and walked away before I could finish my question.

Throughout our meal, we noticed that the waitress frequently checked on the guests seated next to us, offering them recommendations and asking if they needed more time. In contrast, she only checked in on our table in passing, never stopping to ask if everything was okay. We felt uncomfortable voicing our concerns, as we did not want to appear problematic.

When the check arrived, we felt compelled to leave a small tip, as the service did not meet our expectations. However, shortly after we paid, the waitress approached us in a loud and aggressive manner, questioning why we did not leave at least a 15% tip on a $200 bill. She loudly asked was there a problem with my services. This confrontation drew the attention of other diners, and we felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. My colleague attempted to explain our experience, highlighting the waitress’s tone and the disparity in service we received compared to other guests. While she offered a couple of apologies, they felt insincere and condescending.

While we appreciated the quality of the food, the service we received overshadowed our dining experience. As a Black woman, I felt particularly unwelcome, and it was disheartening to see such a stark contrast in treatment based on race.

I believe that feedback is essential for improvement, and I hope you take this message into consideration. It is my sincere hope that future guests will have a more positive experience at your...

Last night my boo treated me to dindin here. It's a small place with a U-shaped bar at the center of the room and seating all around the wall's edges. To the rear on the left as you walk in is the access to and from the kitchen, storage, and bathroom areas.

We had a reservation for 5:45pm (a tad early as we had an event later that evening). There was barely anyone there, as far as eaters go. Our server was kind and possibly bored, so we got great service, especially with water refills. :)

We got to sit at the rear right corner, which was really nice because I love sitting next to my boo vs. across from him. :)

We ordered a starter and two entrees. The starter was the "Parmesan crème brulee, balsamic reduction, grilled sourdough." It was really tasty. They also brought out small bread pieces with olive oil to dip as part of the gratis. Both were delicious. We dipped our sourdoughs into the parmesan creme brulee, but there was plenty more cheese left over, which we then dipped the scrumptious small bread pieces into. It might be wiser to spread it on your bread slices instead.

My boo had the "Roasted duck breast, fingerling potatoes, kale, blueberries, pistachios." He ate every last bite. It looked and smelled good. I didn't try any of the duck because he ordered Medium instead of Well, so perhaps another time I'll revisit to try it a different way.

I got the "Organic salmon, roasted radicchio, fennel, orange, almonds, shallot vinaigrette." The salmon was tasty along with the orange bits. The roasted radicchio was too bitter and salty for my taste-buds! The fennel was pretty good and the skin of the salmon was on top of the fish -- I recommend you (the customer) move the orange bits away, peel off the layer of the skin (very fishy) and then mix and mingle the fish with the orange bits. There were barely any almonds on my dish (I only saw 2 almond slices), so it's a bit tricky for me to comment on that tidbit.

When we started to finish up our meals, the space became more and more occupied by clientele. We looked at the dessert menu. There were some eye catchers, but we didn't order anything.

We got the tab fairly quickly upon request, and it was paid via cc and we didn't have a long wait for the return of the...