Cipriani Downtown — Restaurant in New York

On that note we do not mind putting on 8 layers to eat a good meal and have a good experience from restaurant professionals. That being said we showed up to this place expecting amazing food and a great experience. It was far from that. The two stars were for the food. It was delicious but everything else was a zero star rating. Starting from the check in. We booked a table for 4 ppl at 5pm. We picked 5pm as we know it would be less crowded and most likely get a good table and nowadays “good” tables are the ones with the most heat. We arrived and there were about 11 open tables. We asked if it was possible to be seated near the restaurant as it was super cold and those seats had wind barriers so it would be a comfortable meal. The host, which was not to friendly. He informed us that we could have not have those tables because he had a party of 8 coming, so we said ok can we take the table next to it which is also a table of 4 and he said it was reserved . We found that strange as we we made the reservation we asked if we could sit and a seat that had some wind protection near the restaurant and he said they do not take table preferences. Ok so moving forward we took the coldest table they had which had two heat sources in which the gas was running low...with plenty of other open tables around. My friend who is hispanic asked the waiter if he could turn up the heat . He said the gas is running out and also its cold “what do you want me to do about it”. Now I emphasize the race just because it seemed a bit racial especially when a blonde middle aged woman (party of 1) happened to pop in, was going to be seated at a table near ours but requested to be seated somewhere else because she did not like the seat. They quickly escorted her to one of the 4top tables that was “reserved” for a party of 8 . We watched her eat her meal at a 4 top table in a table we requested and were denied due to “a party of 8. Then we watched her ask the staff to add an extra heating source cause she was cold. 4 waiters including the manager which I think was named Melvin proceeded to basically break their backs to get her a heating source and run an extension cord to make sure it was close enough that she wasnt cold. Meanwhile the waiter is telling my friend that “it is cold , what do u want me to do about it” . We even asked him can we just turn one of the many heat sources that were around at empty tables to our table and he said he could not do it. So we sat there eating in the cold. Not to mention the first 15 min we were seated we had to ask for a waiter to take our cocktail order and then flag him down again to place another one. Also off to the left of the main entrance they had a service door in which staff was going in and out, but the service staff. It looked more like a hang out for staff and I am bringing it up because with the door wide open the door made an annoying beeping sound the whole time. My friend asked if he could close the door so the annoying beep could stop. Not to mention everyone in that area that was on break and shuffling inside and out ...was not wearing a mask. The manager came up to us without wearing a mask(Melvin)We asked why we could not be seated in a warmer section especially since the restaurant was not fully booked. Clearly they had open tables. He said sorry it was a new host and its the holidays. Really not sure “what the holidays” ad anything to do about it. We just asked why did he lie about having an 8 top. If the 8 top canceled we would have gladly shifted over to a warmer seating area. We watched two groups of people just walk up and choose their table. We heard them actually ask ppl just the table all good but for us they did not offer this. The staff was latino but were talking to us as if we should just be happy that we are there and do not ask for anything. It was a bit racial. To watch ppl who are not ethnic get to choose their seat and for you to be told to get what you get was a bit off in this point of time...

What a disappointment! We made reservations for 3 ppl to have lunch on a Monday at 1pm with our son before heading out of town. We know NYC is tight on space, but half the restaurant was empty and they sat us so close to the table next to us we could have shared their lunch. We were close to the bar and upstairs service access. The staff must have bumped my wife's chair 20 times in passing and no one ever apologized.

The service was awful and not what you would expect for this level restaurant or any dining experience. Here is a little what happened. We asked for sparkling water and they brought tap water. They brought bread to the table but no olive oil until after we received our appetizers. After our appetizers they removed the bread, salt and pepper, our plates and silverware. Then brought over the day's dessert selections. I said we would prefer to have our entrees first, but no response at all, When they scraped the crumbs from the table the pushed them all onto son's pants. Shortly before or entrees arrived the table next to us got theirs. The one gentleman had to send his pasta back because the server put his fingers right into his pasta as he was serving it. Sure enough, our entrees came and the same server did the same thing to my wife's pasta. The manager came over, apologezed, then got into my wife's face and raising his voice and yelling, repeatedly picking up the plate different ways and putting back down in front of her asking how she would like them to put down the plate and again touching the pasta on her plate. He even had sauce on his thumb from her dish. He said "I have been doing this for 20 years!" He is not even the one that served it originally. Disgusting and gross! At this point my was done and did not want to eat anything else there. The table next to us sent their pasta back too. He said how you "expect much better service when going out for a lunch like this.." He was shocked they did the same thing to our table after he just addressed it with them and canceled two more dishes they had ordered. My son had the sea bass, it was fishy and had an ammonia taste to it. All the while the staff was arguing loudly bickering with each other. Just ridiculous! We go out to eat a lot and this was one the worst experiences ever. The manager threw his card on the table and said he will take care of us next time and took 20% off the bill. I assure you we will never go back and hope you do not go either. How would you feel sitting there and eating while your wife has no food in front of her? The only reason I had my meal was so our son would not eat alone. He was on a tight schedule with an upcoming meeting otherwise all three of us would have gotten up from the table and gone somewhere else. This is most poorly managed and trained front of house staff of any restaurant we have been in. Stay away, NYC has too many other fantastic dining...

So sad that such an institution has stooped so low as to be an overpriced, over salted, overcrowded, and sophomorically serviced waste of a Saturday night. The serving staff handled themselves exactly as one would expect from an establishment that has “gratuity included.” At the price point of Cipriani, I wouldn’t expect to be rushed to order all drinks, courses, and wine so quickly and rudely. In retrospect, the speed at which we were prodded through the meal was probably a blessing to get me away from my hog trough of velveeta-esq risotto that came with my my osso buco which would only be considered well executed when served at 36,000 feet on a Delta flight.

My favorite moment may have been when I asked our waiter, who was handing me drinks with his wrist full of spring break reminiscent bracelets rather than setting them on the table, asked me to “remind him” when I ordered a bottle of wine to come out with our mains. When I order a bottle of wine to be served with the mains after we finish cocktails, I expect that someone knows how to used their pad and pencil if they think that’s too much to remember. (It still did not come out with the mains, but on a positive note- at least the wine was the one thing that came out correctly)

In addition, two of our entrees were prepared incorrectly, drinks and plates were cleared before we had finished them. The waiter was grabbing the bottles of sparkling water to pour them with his fingers practically in the bottle (the wait staff training program is clearly stone age). Notably, the waiter also had ANOTHER TABLE’S wine in a chiller at our table for some time. Coming to our table and sloshing around another table’s white wine was a classy touch. When we ordered appetizers and asked for more time to look at subsequent courses, we were told “we will be very busy, so you may want to decide.” After this, we laughed at a line of 4 waiters standing idle, two yawning at the same time.

Congratulations on taking the worst of soho pricing and arrogance, Times Square level service quality, JFK Airport lounge quality food, and the atmosphere of an upscale sorority party.

Oh…. And when I order a martini, don’t insult me with a shot of mid shelf vodka with two olives with pits. When I spend $1000 on a dinner this bad, I need a martini large enough to hopefully...