Essence Bar and Grill — Restaurant in New York

This is one of the worst experiences I've ever had at a bar ...ever. My friend and I get there ..at 8:05pm the other night ..there are a lot of people there at the bar watching baseball etc so I get when we aren't acknowledged in the first 5 mins..okay..10minutes..now it's 15 minutes of standing at the bar we are finally acknowledged and our order taken. The order was a simple TO GO order--after 50mins she brings out the order in a plate..apparently forgetting it's a to go order. Okay fine, then forgets that we ordered an appetizer...simple order of mozzarella sticks. That is the very FIRST thing we ordered. Then says she didn't charge us for it BUT charged us for the free sides that come with the meal. The catfish meal says it comes with two sides so on our receipt it says our 1st side with no charge then the 2nd side with $4.00 next to it. We didn't notice at first until we didn't get our mozzarella sticks. Her explanation was "oh I'm sorry I didn't know".

We ordered two drinks while we waited and Lashauna (I think that's her name) did not fill the glass up, it was literally half way full. I asked her why my cranberry and vodka is only half way full and she said the cameras watch her pour--so she can't put more cranberry juice in the glass. I get the vodka --I wasn't asking for more but the glass seemed so small to not put more cranberry in. (At least for it to look aesthetically pleasing) The whole experience was very time consuming as well as extremely frustrating. We ended up leaving and getting our money back without bothering with the food because we...

Disappointing Takeout! I live out of state and wanted to make my aunt's (who lives in Bklyn) birthday special. I read the reviews and ordered a meal for her and my mom on 5/1/21 to be delivered 5/2/21. While the delivery process went well, arriving during the slated time on Sunday (thru DoorDash) and the food was fresh, there wasn't much else positively noteworthy about the meals. I did request that no additional salt be added to the food and I appreciate they adhered to that. However, the 2 side orders of plantains were totally burned and could NOT be eaten. Refrying charred plantains is an easy fix and those sent to my aunt's home should have never made it out the restaurant. It was also disappointing that the amount of rice and peas accompanying the snapper entree wasn't enough to feed a child. The codfish fritters were mostly dough with barely a taste of codfish in them. I understand everyone's regrouping after a difficult year, but I also can't afford a pricey meal that missed it on...

I recently visited Essence Bar & Grill for a casual co-worker hangout, and unfortunately, the experience left a lot to be desired.

First off, the location is in a rougher area, which we already knew — but we’ve frequented this spot before, hoping the service and vibe would make up for it. Sadly, that wasn’t the case this time.

Their “happy hour” was misleading. There were no real happy hour prices, and the drinks were overpriced and underwhelming. I paid $12 for a cocktail that wasn’t even strong. Later, I ordered four chocolate martinis and was shocked to see a $112 charge — apparently, they weren’t part of the package we had already paid for, which was never clearly explained. On top of that, they charged $12 for a single shot of Baileys — an ingredient already included in the martini.

To make matters worse, they added a $20 tip automatically on a bar tab, which felt excessive considering the poor service and lack of...