Burger & Lobster Bryant Park — Restaurant in New York

On Saturday August 10, 2024 I had a reservation set for a friend for his birthday at the Bryant Park location. I arrived at approximately 6:23. I got to the host stand alone. I left all my guest downstairs in the waiting area, as this is not my first time at this location so I know there is limited space upstairs for my party. At the time of checking in the host asked was my party complete. I told him 4 out of 5 guest are here, one guest is looking for parking. We didnt know that there was a street fair going on which caused for overcrowding and we eventually had instructed our friend to place her car in a garage that cost $50 and to head to the resturant.

The host then said for me to call 4 of 5 my guest and have them come upstairs and he will seat us. As I am calling another female hostess walks over and whispers something to the host that I was initially speaking to.

Rudely she says “You guys have to leave by 8pm. We have another party.” I then responded may we be seated. She aggressively responded “you have to leave by 8.” At this point it grew so loud I felt attacked in front of the other customers. I instantly asked for a manager.

After arguing with the host, the manager finally arrived and I explained EVERYTHING to him about the host. Then he assigns us a server and never once does anything to reconcile the issue. Eventually at 6:35 we were assigned one waiter who was very friendly and he bought us over a bottle of still water that we requested. He said he would be right back. At 6:43 pm the manager returns to the table and says he found us another table that we would could be moved to. When we get to the table it was a 4 top that they tried to turn into a 5 top. Eventually I asked for an additional chair to place at the end of the table so we could all sit comfortably. At 6:44pm the new server comes over, and she then took our drink orders.

6:47 pm the manager finally returns back with our opened bottle of Aqua Pana, and then he brings one additional bottle for us, I guess for “the inconvenience.”

At 6:58 pm Maddie comes back over and tells us her name and begins to take our orders. At 7:04 now we are just receiving our drinks. One drink glass was sticky, but we made do with it.

Our order was very large, we came to have a great time. We ordered two mac and cheeses, one with lobster, and 5 burger and lobster combos, with multiple cocktails.

At 7:23 the first appetizers arrived. They were ok. At 7:27 our food sat in the window and i felt like the other servers started noticing me watching at this point because I did snap a photo of the food sitting in the window and no one assisting Maddie the server.

As the food arrived we began to dig in, except for two of us. Our lobsters were OLD, STALE & DIRTY. One plate was filled with Tamally that was not cleaned, and the other which was my plate was filled with water. I ordered a grilled lobster why is there water in my lobster?

I then called the manager over again. I told him this has been the worst experience ever. He said that he was trying to help us out by taking the food back, removing it from the bill? I responded and said thats not helping us out because we are refusing to pay for it. You gave us a bottle of water and thought that was exceptable for the experience so far.

Eventually anger grew on, and we were ready to go so at 8:07 pm we asked for the cake. Keep in mind its 8:07 and we were told that we were supposed to be out by 8 because a party was scheduled for that time. At 8:22 pm 2 of the 18 people walked in “early” but late with birthday balloons. At 8:28 the remainder of the party came in. Im only mentioning this because we came in 8 minutes late, but this party was over 22 minutes late. Did they receive the same experience?

At 8:34 pm the cake arrived to the table IN THE BOX STILL.!!!! It was a birthday cake that they had lit. We knew we wanted slices, so WHY BRING THE CAKE IN A BOX? We sung Happy Birthday and asked for the cake to be sliced. Slices came back around 8:40 without forks. 8:42 forks arrived. We asked for the...

First time coming to this restaurant. Cute decorations, lobster traps everywhere with plants in some of them. They have a brunch special for four people, four entrees and four drinks for $100 which wasn't bad for the price. The problem was that the servers were rude and then when I ask for small things like hot water or even just tap water it took over 20mins.... I never even got my tap water and different people kept asking! We had over 20 people and I brought two cakes. They charge a 5$ per person fee for cutting the cake and washing or something which I was fine with. They brought out one cake and placed their own one candle on it....which was nice....but I had a set of nicer candles that was right on top of the cake box. They never even asked if we wanted to use our candles or not. Then the birthday boy blew out the cake, the server told him that he had two cakes and if he would like them to serve both of the cakes. He said yes but he would like to blow out the candle for the second cake.....5mins later the second cake is all cut up and being served. He never got the chance to even see it. Midway in I told one of the cake servers that the two other people in my table didn't get cake, he looked super annoyed at me and said yes there's three other servers with cake right after me. I said ok thank you. One more cake server came by and ignored our table again and that was it! It was only till our waiter came back around to do final checks on everyone's meal that the other two got cakes. Very small issues but when the food is mediocre, expensive, delayed and the staff is rude, this just took the cake. I liked our waiter, he seemed like he really tried, but because of the other staff members and everything else that happened I would never come back here. PS I got my candles back in the end after having to ask...

The Burger & Lobster restaurant is an amazing casual dining chain restaurant that offers guests delicious and well made burgers, whole lobsters, lobster rolls and other side dishes. It was first established in London, England and has expanded to various countries around the world.

In August of 2025, I brought and treated my wife and myself for dinner at the Burger & Lobster Bryant Park, located in Midtown Manhattan, right near Bryant Park. We very much enjoyed our dining experience!!!

The restaurant’s staff were very kind and welcoming and quickly provided us with a comfortable dining table. Both my wife and I were impressed with the restaurant’s cozy and intimate features, and we definitely enjoyed viewing it’s soaring ceiling and beautiful and distinct artwork. Its elegant and spacious setting, dim lighting, along with the playing of contemporary music helped produce a very casual and relaxed dining atmosphere.

Our server, Marjorie was very friendly and professional and always checked in on us to make sure that we were having a great time. She along with an additional hostess, made sure that our orders were properly noted, provided a great overview on the menu options, and perfectly addressed our menu inquiries. We thank Marjorie and her colleague for their exceptional service and great hospitality!!!

Last, but certainly not least, both my wife and I absolutely loved our meals. We ordered and enjoyed the “Chili Garlic Shrimp” appetizer and the “Burger & Lobster Combo For 2” which consists of a whole lobster, original burger, fries and salad. We found everything to be well cooked, superbly seasoned and delightfully delicious!!!

If you are fan of burgers and lobster entrees along with receiving great service, then you should definitely visit and dine at the Burger & Lobster...