Fifth Avenue Diner — Restaurant in New York

This diner seriously needs to reconsider who they hire to represent their business. My daughter called a few days ahead to request permission to use the space for a high school video project. The gentleman who answered the phone was kind, understanding, and gave permission. Unfortunately, the experience on the actual day was the complete opposite of that kindness.

When my daughter and her friends arrived, the waitress who greeted them was not welcoming at all. Instead, she was rude and dismissive, claiming she had no idea about any arrangements. She called the manager, and after my daughter explained the situation, the manager granted them permission to use the space for two hours, as long as they ordered food.

The students, being teenagers, ordered what they could afford: some cheesecake, mozzarella sticks, and a milkshake. They paid for their meal, packed up their equipment, and even left what they could as a tip — $3. That’s when the situation turned truly unacceptable.

The waitress publicly humiliated these kids in front of everyone in the diner, complaining loudly about the small tip. She even went so far as to threaten them by pointing to the cameras, telling them they were on video and should not come back. This was completely unprofessional, unnecessary, and hostile — especially toward respectful high school students who had already gotten prior approval and were paying customers.

No employee should ever treat customers, let alone young students, with that kind of disrespect. A single rude and confrontational employee can undo all the good will a business has built. If this diner wants to succeed, they need to seriously address their staff’s behavior and training. Hospitality is the heart of this business, and without it, customers will simply stop coming.

This was truly unacceptable, and I hope management takes a hard look at how situations like this are handled...

My friends and I wanted to film a short film here so we called ahead of time and asked for permission which we were granted over the phone. We said we would buy food and even offered to pay to rent out the space but they said it wasn’t necessary. As soon as we entered the woman working the counter said that she didn’t know we were coming into film even though we called in advance. She immediately greeted us with an attitude and reluctantly said we could film. When we arrived we ordered food as promised, mozzarella sticks, cheesecake and a milkshake. After eating half of the cheesecake my friend discovered mold in her food (attached below). When I told the woman that there was mold in the food she didn’t apologize all she said was hmm but she did take the food off the bill. In total we paid $20.15 for our food. When we went to pay she made a point to say tip wasn’t included so I did add tip. Standard tip is 20% which would have been $4 but I tipped $3 since I am a high school student and my friends are too and I don’t have income. The woman then made a scene and said “$3 tip really? After barely ordering anything” to which I responded there was mold in my friends food. She then said we weren’t little kids we were probably 30 and acting this way (which is false) and continued to yell at us for not giving her enough tip (extremely rude and unprofessional). The entire time we were there a woman kept going in and out of the bathroom in front of us and they would continually side eye us and try to communicate about us in front of us. This was the worst service experience I’ve ever had, if you’re low on money and can’t provide a tip don’t come here because it will...

Terrible customer service. I had made a pick up order and about 10 minutes after pick up I returned because what I ordered was not what I recieved. I ordered a well done chopped steak but was given a chopped up hamburger that did not appear to be well done. When I tried to ask the manager for a different order to get a steak, he said thats what a chopped steak is and that they are closing up (this is 2 hours before they have advertised that they would be closing but you now things can happen where you close early). Anyway, he immediately walked away from me. I tried to talk to him for a refund because I can understand if they will not be cooking anything more because they may have cleaned the kitchen or had started to do so. He shows me the menu and just said you said chopped steak and thats how we make it so it is not his fault that I didnt understand. As I proceeded to explain to him a hamburger is not a steak, so I couldn't have known that he turned his back to me and started doing something else other than providing the customer his full attention. I had to call his attention back. He said he couldnt do anything and walked away. I was not given a refund nor any sort of remedy to the situation. It is absolutely ridiculous the lack of respect for a customer that I experienced. I can understand and let go the closing up and cleaning as an excuse for no refund or new order being made, however, the fact he attempted to ignore my complaint in the manner he did prompted me to write this review and warn other people incase they have an issue with a take out order being incorrect that this...