Birdland Jazz Club — Restaurant in New York

Part Two: However, as easily impressed we were with the music and food, we were immediately turned off and disappointed by the service we received upstairs. In one word - disgusted. We were purposely ignored by our waiter and after an hour and a half of performance, our cups of water weren’t filled not even once. As the only Afro Latinas sitting in our section (and maybe the only ones there despite a handful who were seated with white guests), we were deliberately ignored and denied service while the waiter catered to White guests seated beside us. The table right next to us got their water filled 3 times when the waiter had to walk past our table to serve them. Not to mention, the manager personally came to our table minutes after the band started to shush us, while other guest were talking and being disruptive. When the performance ended we spoke to the waiter and asked to speak to her manager because the service was disheartening. She apologized and noted the manager gave her instruction not to serve us. We were dumbfounded and asked to speak to her immediately. The manager’s lame excuse for poor service, or lack-there-of, was because she was under the impression we weren’t going to purchase anything because we had ordered downstairs. I expressed to her my confusion with her excuse when the policy is $20 minimum per person at the table. I also emphasized that despite her thought whether we were purchasing or not, she is in the business of service and at minimum we should have at least had our cups filled with water. That is good customer service. But this is where it be your own people that immediately stereotype you. Because we are Afro-Latinas, we were extremely casually dressed (I wore a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers) it was assumed by the manager that we were going to be disruptive (that’s why she made sure to personally shush us in the beginning) and that we were not going to pay our table. Every table around us received service, but we were treated like uninvited guests. I let her know that I knew her lack of service to our table was due to her prejudice and biased thoughts of us because we were not White. She assumed we didn’t have money to pay for the table and therefore assumed we didn’t deserve minimal service. I expressed my disappointment in her in being a Black woman like us, to treat us indifferent and less-than the White patrons. She was dishonestly apologetic and offered us free tickets to another event and free drinks. All of a sudden, everything was free. We let her know we didn’t want anything free. We didn’t come to freeload and we have sufficient money to pay for any event, drinks, or food. What we deserved as humans were to be treated with dignity and equitably. Would I recommend Birdland? Would I return? I don’t know. The music was great, the service downstairs was as it should be, but upstairs….what a turn off. Please train your waiters on inclusive hospitality and equitable customer service. No customer in your establishment should ever walk out feeling embarrassed and...

So I went to one of the Monday night open mic event “castparty” and drove 2.5 hours each way because of a friend who spoke highly about this particular event and me and my husband met at a jazz concert when we very first met and to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of being married figured this spot would be so romantic,fun and beautiful because of how she described it. This place was definitely pretty but from the moment we got seated we had to nonstop look for our server and the event start way later then the tickets mentioned and no one took our order they served everyone around us but us. We were the only minorities in the room that night besides the staff which felt odd because I figure nyc would be a huge meeting pot but this establishment was not. The staff seemed not so happy to be there and the waitress also brought out beers an hour after we were seated just to be clear those were not not our beers but figure we would have to pay because they were opened and had them and did agree to pay .The attitude towards us just like the other servers was very rude.That night I told my husband if the waitress left another hour we were going to have to leave we were starving ….Also not to mention she then served us a piece of cake with blue fuzz in it not sure if it was mold but I got really sick the following day ….. this cake too we did not order….we had to ask the host of the show for assistance in between someone’s set which he too was rude and said that’s not my job I’m just the host for the stage (mc) but I just wanted to tab closed which later the door host tried to charge us for items we didn’t receive nor ordered ….she finally fixed it with the waitress and gave us a b.s receipt with her number to come back with comped seating “call us we will arrange it” but never picked up the calls nor responded to the voicemails. Clearly this was a waste of my time and honestly feel offended. I feel it was not worth the drive and the horrible anniversary date costs us a little over 350$ in expenses and a sick day at work from getting food poisoning from this cake for a 1 star quality experience. I waited this long to post this because the girl said she would call me and I never got a call nor response so now I can be open about how...

So sorry. I don't think it even deserve one star. I have been to Birdland numerous times. Most of the times, I have had an experience which was fantastic, reliably good music.

This St. Patrick's day. No problem paying cover charge amounting to $30 per person. We came in 5 min late for 9:30pm session. We called ahead, and was well-received on phone. Fantastic music by all female band Maqueque. Especially soprano sax leader, Jane, rhythm section solid with drum, bass, excellent Latin percussion as well as keyboard. Cuban Jazz it is!

Then, so-called 'owner' stormed toward the end of the session around 10:30pm without any prior warning. Saying we ruined the live streaming. What? Does this guy understand jazz? Yes. We were enthusiastic on clapping and supporting improvisations, but nothing out of the ordinary. We asked whether we were out-of-line or not to our female server, and she says, not really, but says 'he is the boss.' Wow. Yes, it is the private business. Proprietor has right to ask his patron to leave if unruly. But, enthusiastic applause causes this? That's just not right, unjust.

Totally dumb-founded. What is even more confusing is that we were kicked out. As we were shoved outside, few musicians alike Yissy Drums looking at us... why are they leaving? Were the best audience. Another male employee claiming he was our bartender says he has to pay for our drinks, asking us to pay more. Really? Isn't the first drink included in cover charge? We sat at the bar, not table.

Jazz is good for our soul. I self-claim myself as amateur jazz musician, and, artists need to support each other. Spontaneous crowd reactions I believe is what makes Jazz great. We are not going back to smoke-filled room,, but at least a vibe for Cuban Jazz should be lively, dancing, Caliente. There has never been an instance that my reaction was received out-of-the-line.... whether that was at Blue Note, Dizzy's... in NY, Chicago, New Orleans, Lincoln Center, other concert halls, wheresoever... I am still very confounded.

For namesake Birdland, I don't know what it stands for. Truly bizarre. Perhaps the owner doesn't know who he is, what the place stands for, what jazz is... Charlie Parker, will want to have his name...