FancyFree — Restaurant in New York

Ive lived in New York for just over 2 years now and have been to many bars. I went to Fancyfree last night to watch a basketball game with friends, and we did not have a good experience. When we first arrived, there no tables. So we asked a server about the tables in the back, but she said they were reserved. We decide to stand while waiting for the game to start. Eventually, we got a table and noticed a server walking by several times. She was delivering drinks, food, and removing glasses and plates. She even stopped at other tables to take orders. We expected her to come by our table to take an order at some point. 15minutes of waiting later, a friend goes to the bar to order instead. While theyre at the bar, the server finally stops by. We tell her, we were going to order from you, but a friend is ordering at the bar instead. She says ok, and walks off. After 10mins , the friend comes back from the bar and mentions the bartenders are completely ignoring people, so they were unable to place an order. So, we have to wait for the server again. Unfortunately, shes busy... again. We arrived before the game, and the drinks we were finally able to order arrived at halftime. That should give you an idea of wait time. Not one drink during the first half of the game.

We ordered food too, which took a bit longer. We ordered nachos, wings x2, and a hamburger. The wings were the best option, except for the hidden valley ranch that was served with them. The nachos were ok. The $21 hamburger was a joke. Worst hamburger ive had in a long time. The whole table agreed. I wouldnt even pay $10 for it. It had two thin overcooked patties, a leaf of lettuce, few raw onion stings, a pickle spear, and thats it, for $21. We were literally laughing at how bad it was. It was so dry, and the bun was huge. The burger came with like a dozen bland fries and ketchup. We couldnt even mention it to the server bc she was too busy to bother asking. We asked for silverware and napkins as well. After about 15mins, we finally got napkins, but no silverware. We had to cut the hamburger with the wooden skewer that was served with the burger. She saw us cutting the burger with the skewer and instead of grabbing the silverware we asked for, she instead asks if we still need them. "No thanks. We have this wooden skewer. All set. Thanks"

The drinks were fine, but the fact that we had to wait soooo long for them, ruined the vibe. Then again, we mostly got beer, so its difficult to mess that up. At the next round, we each ordered two drinks to avoid more waiting.

Im assuming they were understaffed bc the place wasnt even full. The server was nice, but she couldve made better attempts to check in on tables and take orders sooner. I could see most of the tables, even occupied ones, had dirty dishes on them that needed bussing. Also, the reserved tables in the back were never used.

As much as id like to give this place another try or recommend it, I cant. the long waits and poor food options are enough for me to try another bar. There are too many bars here to continue going to one that gives you a...

Popped in here once or twice for drinks but this was a first for food ever since they reopened as FancyFree. I just got a pedicure after a crazy long day and wanted a drink and a snack.

My one star to give is for the bartender because he was working like crazy and still made time to help me out. That’s the only good of tonight’s experience.

He specifically asked another server if the elote came on the cob (I have extremely sensitive gums) and was told no it comes off. Elote comes out and it’s on the cob. Okay, no worries he offers to swap it out.

30+ mins later I am waiting for nachos ($12) with chicken (+$4). When I finally let him know I think I am ready to leave because I’m so hungry and I need to eat he manages to catch the runner and ask to check on my food.

A few mins later my nachos come out cold, soggy, barely any cheese (maybe that’s why the chips were soggy?) with the smallest amount of chicken. I mean it was literally cut into 5 bite sized pieces. I saw someone else’s nachos come out shortly after and it was a world of a difference.

I ate a bit because I was so hungry but it was definitely not worth the $16 + tax. I didn’t want to cause an issue so I just paid and let the bartender know that the kitchen should be aware folks can tell when nachos have been sitting for at least 10 minutes.

The management was way more concerned with the event they had going on to even realize I was sitting there in front of them for 30 mins with no food and my drink not refilled because the bartender was so busy with the entire bar on his own plus service bar for the restaurant.

Rarely do I take the time to write this kind of review but I want the management here to know, service industry to service industry, this is not acceptable. It’s okay to be busy, it’s okay to fall behind on orders, but don’t expect folks to eat cold food that...

I want to like FancyFree but it seems like they have some kitchen issues they need to sort. Visited twice and had problems both times. First time they burned our Fried Pickles appetizer and had to remake them so they barely came out before our entrees, leaving a large gap between when our cocktails arrived and actually got food. Server explained and apologized but still... The second visit they served our appetizer with our entrees, also not cool. Cocktails, appetizers, then entrees, it's not hard. Having said all that, the food and cocktails are pretty good. In spite of not timing them right, the Fried Pickles are tasty. Fried Chicken entree was surprisingly boneless and the chicken was quite good. The waffle less so, the dough was weirdly dense, not airy and light as you'd expect. A&W Old Fashioned cocktail had great flavor and was not too sweet. Fish and Chips entree from our first visit was also pretty good. Staff were friendly and helpful on both visits. Overall, I'm on the fence. If they can sort out the kitchen issues, they could easily be a four or five star experience but based on what we've seen so far, gotta...