Downstairs Wine Bar — Restaurant in New York

(update: management contacted me and we’re more than gracious to address this issue. I must say, they handled it impressively & we’re beyond disappointed to hear about my experience. I will update by rating based off of my next visit.)

To preface, I live in the neighborhood and frequent Milos as well as USED TO recommend it. Not anymore. Modifying my review given my last few experiences downstairs.

Milos has lost it’s touch, they no longer care about customers, and have a cleanliness problem. To start, I entered the restaurant for appetizers as I waited for a friend for a later dinner. I sat at the downstairs bar.

As I walked into the bar, the waiter Danny was picking his noise. Yes, completely picking his noise & coughing in his hands, then proceeded to grab me a water glass and menu. I was so grossed out I told him and asked for redo. You would think, he would wash his hands- No. he asked me to grab my own glass.

Fast forward, I asked if it was possible to get grilled peppers since they were taken off the menu. The manager Lefteris said no without explanation or offering an option. Fine. I explained how much I loved them but also understood. He is not the friendliest.

While speaking to Lefteris, I could see that my hummus was ready. I knew this because the chef told Danny that my dish was ready and pointed at me and Danny looked at him and said no he wouldn’t take it. He didn’t realize I could see this. I’ve been interrupted Lefteris and asked him to please check if that was my hummus. Yep. It was. So disgusting & rude.

At that moment I didn’t tell Lefteris what I had witnessed. I cancelled the rest of my meal with Steph. Who was ok. She wasn’t concerned with what I had experienced. She didn’t offer even an apology. Quite Luke warm.

This must be a theme of the restaurant because I’ve been asked to speak to the manager to make him aware of why I cancelled my order & interrupted our conversation. Lefteris didn’t seem to care the least with my experience. At one point he chuckled and never offered an apology.

I’m embarrassed because I still tipped them even with this deplorable experience.

I’m still in shock of what I just experienced and disgustingly disappointed.

I would like someone from the restaurant to contact me and address...

I have been to Manhattan many times, and have always been impressed by the quality of their restaurants. Service, quality of food, presentation, taste…. Milos FAILED in every way. We first ordered a bottle of wine, and when I tasted the wine, it tasted vinegary to me, which I told the waiter. He immediately picked up the bottle, smelled it, and said he didn’t smell vinegar, but a hint of Tomato. Really? Since when does a red wine smell like a tomato? Any quality restaurant would have immediately taken that bottle of wine and offered us something else, but in this case the waiter tried to deny what was clearly evident to me. We then toured their beautiful fish market, they gave us a huge sales pitch to get you to have the FAGRI fish because it’s so special and flavorful with “subtle notes of sweetness”. Ours (when it finally came out as the service was extremely slow) was dry, nothing special, and most definitely not as flavorful as we were led to believe. The presentation of the mushroom appetizer was flat, it didn’t scream at you to try it, it kind of made you wonder how could they have served something so plain. But in spite of the presentation, it did taste good, better than the FAGRI! When our waiter asked us about for our honest review, even with our desire to offer a genuine honest and helpful review, he got defensive and starter making excuses about how the hospitality industry in NYC had never excelled in gastronomy, and had suffered since COVID-19. Please if you can’t offer good service to all, reduce the number of tables. This was a major disappointment of a dining experience and a total waste for...

This seems to be the theme at this location, it seems to cater to tourist and locals can just catch how terrible the service is and know that no one should be treated this way. After getting three rounds of drinks, we just asked for a couple of cups of water and the waitress actually had a goal to say what’s the magic word? Are you serious? This is after we asked for Water four times, pleading to different bartenders and always using what she called the ‘The magic word’, what a douche bag. It seems like the entire location only caters to tourist, thinking they can be as rude as they wish and a tourist would not understand any better. While we are locals from New York and I’ve lived all our life and there’s no way we should have to wait around for a couple of glasses of water and asked to jump through multiple hoops. It’s not over yet. She then proceeded to swap out the water from the two glass cups to two plastic cups, and then refused to hand them over because she could only hand them over to me at the end of the bar with more water could be poured by myself. I mean, I wanna talk about egotistical. These people care more about their ego Than actually serving customers. If you can’t do your job and don’t like all the tips you’re making, just leave because no one stopping you as it is, being over 40 and tending bar that you can no longer manage is kind of like a losing...