Central Park Boathouse — Restaurant in New York

I always had wonderful experiences when this restaurant was the iconic Loeb Boathouse, so I was eager to see how Legends Hospitality would handle the space. The Central Park setting is undeniably beautiful, but it quickly became clear that Legends has a lot to learn about fine dining service.

I made a reservation weeks in advance for “Restaurant Week” and specified that in the booking. Oddly, I received a message the day before saying they would “do their very best to accommodate” my request, which made it seem like I didn’t have a guaranteed reservation. This was surprising, given the restaurant’s relatively open availability on Resy.

When we arrived at 7:30pm, no host was at the concierge desk. Staff at the patio podium checked us in and offered indoor or outdoor seating. I said we were happy to sit wherever, and the hostess chose the patio.

We were given standard menus, and when we asked about Restaurant Week, our server seemed confused. After checking with staff (who also seemed unsure), she returned with a single copy of the menu, claiming Restaurant Week "just started today"—which was incorrect, per the Boathouse and Restaurant Week websites.

We placed our 3-course orders, and appetizers arrived unusually fast—before our drinks. Only after I pointed it out did the waitress go to the bar. Midway through appetizers, a runner asked if we were done. We said no, but he returned moments later with our entrees and placed them on a tray nearby. Staff hovered until we agreed to take our mains, sacrificing half-eaten appetizers (which weren’t offered to-go).

All four of us ordered steak frites—three medium rare, one rare. All were overcooked and chewy, and the fries were cold. It was obvious the entrees were prepped too early and sat under heat lamps.

Before we finished our first drinks, our server told us it was “last call” and we needed to order any additional cocktails now. We did, despite feeling rushed. Our second round arrived while we were still drinking the first.

Halfway through the mains, our server asked if we were ready for dessert. We requested more time, and began clearly expressing disappointment with how rushed we felt. Minutes later, she returned with boxes anyway, and said desserts were coming. Shortly thereafter, a manager approached and gave us a “two-minute warning” to wrap up. This was wildly inappropriate, especially since it was barely 8:30pm—only an hour after our reservation—and plenty of diners remained seated. We also had yet to receive our desserts.

We explained that we’d been rushed through our courses and hadn’t had time to enjoy our food or drinks. The manager apologized, said the patio closes at sunset, and offered us a round of drinks on the house. I reminded her it was their staff’s decision to seat us outside, and requested to be moved indoors so we could finish our experience at a normal pace.

Inside, things didn’t improve much. No one brought fresh waters, silverware, or napkins. Desserts eventually came, but no one checked in again, including the manager. Staff cleaning up the patio were locked out and kept knocking on windows, prompting nearby diners to repeatedly get up and let them in.

When we were halfway through dessert, our check arrived, with the second round of drinks comped. This was generous, but we expected a third round of complimentary drinks, since our primary complaint was being so rushed. (Also, we were surprised to see a 20% gratuity automatically added to the bill, especially given the circumstances.)

While some of the food was decent, the service was chaotic and uncoordinated. Seating a party outside an hour before patio closure, staff unaware of a major promotional menu, and a manager not following up on complaints all suggest poor FOH training. I sincerely hope Legends Hospitality reconsiders their approach to managing such a landmark...

We loved the ambience of the Loeb Boathouse! THE GOOD: We looked forward for almost 3 years to go there since we tried in November 2019, during our last Manhattan visit, when it was closed for an event. The setting is beautiful, and the service was almost excellent. The rest of the good: I had the Bordeaux (interesting that it jumped from $12 to 17 since a year ago, but they must have chosen a better one - Chateau Lafitte Grand Vin - recommended) and it was worth it because I went after the petit filet (which came with different sides than the web menu), and this was an extraordinary memorable pairing worthy of home. The jumbo crab cake was delicious, and a lot of real crab, in a day of fillers. THE BAD: the other appetizers. First, the heirloom tomato and burrata. The tomato was not an heirloom (search on google). Heirlooms are so soft, ripe and extraordinarily fresh and flavorful one thinks it must have been hand carried from Mexico to arrive way up north, but this tomato with the burrata tasted refrigerated shipped and then refrigerated, hard and bland, definitely like an unripe beefsteak. Like comparing burrata (which was excellent in this case) to hard mozzarella. This doesn't have to be cheapened. Better to use organic hierlooms from Mexico and bring it up to a Loeb's standard. The waiter argued with me saying that he buys these exact tomatoes in the store, and they are indeed heirlooms? Maybe he purchases the gassed $2 kind at Walmart. Why does the waiter argue twice, when in other restaurants, if someone is dissatisfied the chef comes out or is at least engaged? Second, the pressed octopus. My mistake: I can't pass up octopus. The dressing was excellent, reminding me of open air restaurants with octopus salad in Lisbon. But why should the Loeb call it pressed when it is octopus carpaccio? This cheapens the name and the effect. Also n this case it was tasty but was only 3 slices as thin as prosciutto, with such little volume I could only think about how much money the Loeb made. Any online search turns portion options more acceptably at any other establishment. It's not that hard to see how you're doing relative to your competition. Even in web search pictures slicing so thin there are at least 6 slices, or 3 thicker slices. I suggest going back to the previous octopus app, or try serving the octopus salad Portugese style.

The desserts we saw, cookies randomly thrown on a plate (aptly named "cookies on a plate") and the unimpressive truffle cake display led us to choose sharing the caramelized banana split, and that was a beautiful presentation and absolutely delicious.

I would give five stars for the entree, crab cakes, caramelized banana split and the restaurant's choice of a Bordeaux glass pour, but a star off for the cheapening of the apps and another for the argument by the waiter.  I would not have even written this directly, as I love to see a business thrive, so I voiced my concerns directly through e-mail and their website and never heard back. However they are tied to Google evidenced by the great reply, so Iived to 4...

Rude Staff

The food here was alright, it was expensive which is expected from a place like this. The fries were bland and nothing special and the stuffed mushrooms were not very good. The location and atmosphere was nice, but we felt uncomfortable and unwelcome due to our experience with the staff. We came in and admittedly looked a little out of place, by no means were we dressed inappropriately but others did dress nicer. We were most definitely judged due to our appearance. Especially by our waitress. We were seated and the waitress came up to us flipping over our cups and tossing menus down onto our table. She did not introduce herself to us like she did the other tables. She treated us very different compared to others there. She was not attentive to our table. We were a table of 4 but were only given enough chairs and placement for 3 never coming to help us with that. One of us got up to order a drink from the bar and she came over to us telling us that that’s not how this place worked, which is fine. But after that she went up to three of her coworkers and started talking about us to them. Pointing and looking at us. I , very clearly under the legal drinking age, asked for a drink menu because I wanted too see the options. Tara, our waitress whose name we only know after overhearing her introduce herself to other tables, gave me a weird a rude look for having asked for the drink menu. She said something along the lines of “you sure?” in a snarky way before she left and came back slamming it on our table. It was only alcoholic drinks on the menu which she handed to a 16 year old. She didn’t tell me it was that type of drink menu, she only looked at me rude. She came to ‘check up’ on us but walked away when we were responding to her. This whole time Tara was rude and dismissive to us treating other kindly but not us. Most of the staff was very rude and entitled, judging us based off how we looked even though we are l well mannered. So unless you have an 850 credit score, are willing to put down a loan for mediocre food, and want to deal with rude staff,...