Café Carlyle — Restaurant in New York

The decoration, the history of the artist is all I will give a positive to. The wait to get in to this bar makes the experience so much less than it should be. They should consider making it reservation based, no one likes to wait in a line and by the time people get seated, they are frustrated and creates a tense energy. If you stay at the hotel it’s probably fine i don’t have that experience to tell you, but if you’re here to enjoy jazz and have a nice evening, you'll have to stand for 45 min at least, in a line like a child in a hallway looking through a glass door as others who chose to not sit at the jazz bar drink their drinks. I stood for an hour because I was really curious what the hype was about. After a long wait you expect to be seated but are directed to stand again near the bar awkwardly unless you are persistent and give off an annoyed, “‘entitled vibe”, in which case you may be eventually seated in a corner of the bar. The service understands this place is high demand so they don’t care to be nice or patient with you so be prepared with a quick order and don’t expect to be treated graciously if you have any questions about the cocktails. The first time coming here as a 29 year old woman who loves jazz and was genuinely interested in a good ambiance and music, I left before entering the bar because an 89 year old man came up to me and my friends sizing us as if we wanted to come sit at his table. He said something like turn around let me look at you to approve you getting in faster. We were dressed conservatively yet he had the audacity to address us as if we were working women. We ignored him and left the bar because his disgusting assumptions left us with a sour impression of the place. So I decided to return because a friend recommended this place and I came back to try it again with my mother dressing even more conservatively, making sure I would not give off the impression I was looking for a man just because I was either young or good looking. I was sized by every entitled 40year old woman who thought I was about to steal her husband or date. I have never felt so uncomfortable at an establishment where I am ready, willing and excited to give my money in order to have a nice classy night out. If I must be old blonde or a man to enjoy this bar, then I’m sorry but I’d like to try out some other places. What an entirely entitled bar. Maybe when I’m wrinkled or walking in with a man will I be treated better, because clearly kindness, patience, and class did not work for me two times in a row.though I’ll likely never come back and give my money to this...

Lapin and I came here to celebrate a milestone. We made reservations almost a month ahead but when we arrived the place was empty. We were seated right near the entrance way but was okay because it gave us the prime spot to people watch. While I was dressed nicely, Lapin just wore a button down and fancy pants/shoes. We read that he needed a jacket but didn’t remember the day of. However, the host just waved us in and said it was okay and not to worry. Perhaps, they assumed the worst of us that day but Lapin was just happy he didn’t have to wear a jacket in the heat. Although, there was a private party in one of the adjacent room and there were teenagers wearing hoodies, sneakers and clearly clothes meant for the club/streetwear along with men who just wore polo t-shirts. To be honest, we felt a bit out of place it was mostly older couples, people who look loaded (anyone single? :P), and some of the people gave a pretentious air about them.

Lapin ordered the Cured Foie Gras Torchon ($28). He never had foies gras and was excited to try it and it turns out he isn’t much of a fan. He also ordered the Escargots à la Bourguignonne ($25). It was a decently sized portion but he liked the escargots at Deux Amis the best. I ordered the Brown Butter Crusted Halibut ($39), which was decently sized and tasted okay. It need a bit more salt and flavor but the sauce it was served with made the halibut taste a bit better. Lapin got the Roasted Filet Mignon (8 oz. - $54). He said it was okay but he could make better at home. I find that hard to believe that he can make anything...let alone better than a restaurant. Either way though, he said he didn’t enjoy his steak for the price and wished he ordered something else. For dessert, I ordered the Cheesecake ($17) and the Chocolate Mousse Tower ($16). Both were delicious, decently sized, and beautifully displayed. Sadly though they were not exceptionally noteworthy which I would have expected from this restaurant. We also ordered two glasses of Prosecco, which was good. Lapin finished his shortly after we ordered it and received it.

They charged us an automatic 20% ( 15% for the wait staff and 5% for the service captain -- I didn’t see a captain?!). The service was absolutely impeccable. They checked in every couple of minutes, refill our glasses without asking, and also let us sit back and talk after the meal without rushing us (most of the tables were empty, but still nice not to be rushed). While the service is impeccable, I just wished the food was more on point especially...

My wife and I snatched up the Travel Zoo deal for our visit to NYC from Charleston, SC. We love to eat out and the food at home is always incredible so we were looking forward to some high end NYC Restaurants. We had the Travel Zoo prefix menu which had pretty much everything on it that we wanted. We ordered the Muscles & Shrimp Cocktail as an app. They were both just OK. Shortly after finishing our Appetizers we had both polished off our first round of drinks and were looking for more. One of the SA's came by and took our empty glasses but did not offer another round and walked away before we could ask... Then our entrees came out. For our entrees we chose Lobster & Steak. The lobster was drowned in a rich buttery sauce & cheese. It was extremely hard to eat given all of the butter.. The steak I got was burnt on the outside and med-rare in the middle. It was also hard to eat given the nasty charred taste. I eventually started cutting the outside off to eat the middle. By the time we picked at our entrees till we didn't want anymore we still hadn't seen our captain or waiter. No drinks. No one even came by to ask how our food was. We then sat at our table for another fifteen minutes in disbelief as our captain repeatedly looked at us and kept walking. It was blatantly obvious that we were done with our meals & had absolutely nothing to drink. He even made eye contact with me a couple of times. Finally after awhile I was able to lock eyes with the manager who immediately came over. I told him that we had been forgotten about and he apologized. A few minutes later our captain came over and offered coffee with our deserts, totally ignoring the fact that we had just had an awful experience. The deserts were good. The captain offered us 4 chocolate chip cookies for our troubles....