Bird Pepper — Restaurant in New York

This started out as a nice celebration of my 50th birthday. We arrived on time for our 7pm reservation on a Saturday. Party of 6. We were seated immediately and our server was attentive from the start. So far so good right? She gave us a few minutes and we were ready to order. Everyone at the table ordered something like fish or pasta. No steak or short ribs or anything that could potentially take a while. After about 20-30 mins, SOME of our food came out. Staggered one by one but not spaced so far apart that we would complain. We were questioning what was taking so long, but we knew Saturday was probably a busy day so we managed our expectations. So far other than the food taking a little long, we were having a nice time. Let me add, this was my 2nd time visiting Bird Pepper and both times the food took a while to come out.

All but ONE of us got our food. He patiently waits... and waits... and waits... AND WAITS. Another 20 mins later (while the rest of us are eating and almost done), our server comes by to check on us and realizes he STILL does not have his food and goes to check on it. 5-10 mins later she comes back with his plate and apologizes (which was the one and only apology we received for the night). At this point the server has already started bringing us to-go boxes requested by my friend because everyone else was done eating.

We got a piece of cake to celebrate and spent a while after that taking in the ambiance and talking (say about 20 mins). Then, someone comes over and tells us that they need the table...

This is where is started to go left... because WHY oh WHY would you tell us that?? There's a lot of ways to handle a table full of people without making us feel unwelcome. We just spent so much money in your establishment AND we had to wait almost an hour for someone's food.

We graciously said ok and stayed for about 5-10 mins more while we were discussing the invitation to leave. Then ANOTHER person who claimed to be the manager comes over and tells us that while they realize we are having a good time, they need the table. It was at this point that my friend felt it necessary to tell this woman about her poor customer service and the fact that someone in our party waited almost an hour for their food. Not only did she NOT apologize at any point during this interaction, she decided to have a back and forth with my friend who rightfully so, was angry at the unfolding events. The manager walked away to "investigate" why our food took so long, and while she was gone, we gathered our things to leave. On the way out, she was talking to our server and we had to let her know that our server was great and we didn't blame her. She continued to argue back and forth with us and in a roundabout way, blame the server. But it was the manager's poor customer service skills and the way she handled the situation that has made it a certainty that we will NEVER visit this restaurant again. It's a pity too because the food was great. Ever since then, anyone that asks me about the restaurant, I let them know my experience and recommend other places that value and respect...

I took my boyfriend here last night .. we originally was trying to go to a soul food spot 10 mins away but they were packed so we went here as a backup plan & I wish we didn’t .. long story short our server did not check on us once she took our order & brought our drinks we didn’t see her again literally until it was time for the bill. The male busser & other male servers were the ones checking on us & taking any requests we had if it was a refill on a drink or needed more napkins they took care of us all night which is what your server is supposed to do. Let’s get to the BAD PART ; our meal comes out we’re taking photos / videos .. it’s nicely put together looks so appealing right ? Tell me why my man bites into his burger & starts spitting out his food on the table .. I’m confused & asking him what’s wrong?? He removes the bread & shows me a long black curly hair sticking out of the meat so called the first person we saw walk by us to notify him of the issue. He was a server for another table but because again we can’t find out waitress & she never returned we had to notify someone . We shined light on the burger & there’s more curly black hair found all over the burger. I’m not sure if it was weave I felt like it’s a possibility because I don’t really think all that hair is just dropping out of someone’s head like that unless they’re struggling with some bad breakage.. these hairs are longgg okay? The server apologized & removed the meal from our table..he told the chef what happened & they tried to remake it but we declined. Why would we want another meal prepared by a careless kitchen who doesn’t check food as it’s being prepared to go out? Clearly staff aren’t wearing hairnets in that kitchen & overall with handling the food. I’m not sure if it was just a bad night but I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the first complaint so we will not be returning. Imagine biting into your food & your really eating someone’s hair from their head & have to pull it out of your mouth It’s trifling 😩 ..keep in mind it’s the man’s birthday & this was my place of choosing for us so I felt extremely guilty & embarrassed for bringing us here.. if not for that situation I would’ve recommended because the aesthetic is cute & the other items ordered was fine. Besides that thank you to the male busser who helped us all night we wanted to tip him off the strength of being so attentive but once the hair incident happened we were OUT OF THERE from being turned off. We stayed for only an hour or less. Oh & the waitress finally checked on us when it was time to give the bill to ask how was our food like girl please be fr. Apparently she had no knowledge but she would’ve if she had customer service skills & was attentive to her tables. But honestly when GRATUITY is included a lot of these servers don’t give a damn quite frankly because they’re getting their tip regardless. It’s unfortunate please do better & know the staff you are hiring as it is a reflection of your BUSINESS. As West Indians we want to support our own community, situations like this is so embarrassing truly. In the end wasn’t...

My cousin and I had a kid free night and decided to start our night at Bird Pepper as we liked the menu and the reviews. When we arrived (around 10:40pm), we were told they weren’t taking anymore reservations for the evening and we can try to wait at the bar for someone to leave. As we waited there were several tables of people leaving but we didn’t pay it any mind and waited for the bar like instructed. I was able to go on Open Table and make a reservation while we waited, which I did in case the bar remained full. Within maybe 10 mins space opened at the bar and we decided to remain there.

However, this is when our experience unfortunately went downhill. There were several people behind the bar, but not one of them asked us if we needed help, needed menus, anything. We were definitely getting eye contact from staff, but no one came over. After about 10 mins, we noticed an iPad on the counter and grabbed it to figure out what we would order . A few mins later, a male bartender asked us if we needed help so we gave him our drink orders. That took another almost 10 minutes for us to get, so at this point we decided to put in our appetizer and entree orders so as not to miss the kitchen (kitchen is said to close around 11:45pm). So we put in the orders and get our drinks and wait. The male bartender was pleasant.

We both had the rum punch (which are STRONGGG), so for those that want a strong drink to start with this is definitely that, with a good taste. As an appetizer, we ordered the Pineapple Patron wings, which came out maybe 15 mins or so after we ordered. Now here’s the issue, the bar wasn’t crowded at this point as quite a few people left, and then we couldn’t find the bartender that was helping us place our orders. We had no plates and was looking for our original bartender for a few minutes, and never saw him again. Another male bartender helps us and brings the plates. The wings were okay but could’ve been cooked a bit longer. We never see our original bartender again, and apparently it’s because he went home for the night along with other staff we didn’t see after a while behind the bar. The other male bartender continues to help us and was pleasant as well.

Our entrees come out: I ordered the ribeye with mashed potatoes and asparagus, and my cousin ordered the short rib. Unfortunately at this point, we have no steak knives 😩, so there was a wait for that as well. However, once we told the bartender he retrieved them for us immediately. My cousin liked her short rib entree. The ribeye entree was okay, I asked for the steak medium well but it was well done and slightly overcooked along with the asparagus. Due to the time of night and our wait, I didn’t send back or ask for anything else as I was starving.

Ambiance and vibe was dope! Definitely 5 out of 5. There was a DJ but this particular night he left around 11pm. Unfortunately, the service wasn’t great at all this night which affected our experience overall. Not sure if I...