FIFTY BAY — Restaurant in New York

When Fifty Bay first opened, their service was decent, food was delicious and for their higher price tag was portioned fairly. It was my go to spot with family and friends at least 2x a month. However, we have noticed their sharp decline in service, food quality and portions which all have slipped beyond passable. Today, was my last visit. I suggest you take your money elsewhere too.

My family and I (12 ppl) came for dimsum today. We waited for 15 minutes just outside their parking lot but the attendant was no where to be found. So we searched for street parking which are few and far from the restaurant. As other reviewers have mentioned, the attendant plays Houdini frequently and despite parking yourselves the attendant will still demand a $3 tip (previously $2). On one occasion, I witnessed him getting into an argument with a guest and hurled some nasty insults.

We asked the hostess for a private room but they required a $400 minimum which seems unreasonable since we have never had one in the past. Instead we were shoved into a table meant for 10. Upon being seated, we requested a high chair but was turned down. The server mentioned our child was too small for it although we have used one in a previous visit. The server was very dismissive. Surveying the room, none of the other 5 toddlers were in high chairs because we were all packed in like sardines.

Then I asked a different waiter for a drink from their bakery, which I have ordered at every visit before, I was told they did not have it. Followed by some bullshit excuse of not having ice. This was a complete lie. My husband went to their bakery to order my iced drink. The server just did not want to make the extra effort.

We dropped a pair of chopsticks and asked four different waiters for a new pair and it took 30 minutes.

We ordered beef chow fun with gravy but got the version without which was very bland with few pieces of beef.

On two occasions the cart ladies added things to our table without any of us ordering. Since we were a large table and it was all our first meal of the day we did not want to go back and forth and just accepted their apologies and continued with our meal.

We noticed the portion sizes have been reduced, overall smaller dumplings and less filling as compared to in the past.

Towards the end of our meal, the waiter came by and took our tally sheet and rang us up but none of us asked for the bill and we were not done eating.

While we were still seated, taking care of the bill another waiter brought dirty dishes from the table over and began bussing our table.

The service was...

THIS RESTAURANT DOES NOT HONOR RESERVATIONS MADE IN PERSON, MONTHS IN ADVANCE . I made a reservation three months in advance for a dinner party of 7 tables as well as our multiple course dinner for the night. I confirmed in person and the date was set. I received a call yesterday asking us to reschedule because a larger party made a reservation the same night and the first floor would not accommodate us due to lack of space. I was told that they would have space in the basement or to reschedule our party to a different date. Not only do we not want to eat in the basement, we confirmed the reservation in person, months in advance for that particular date because most of our party can only make it on the date we reserved. Due to a ‘’mix up” on their end we are going to have to find a different restaurant elsewhere. However, I do wonder if they were hoping we would be able to reschedule or host in their basement when they booked two large parties on the same night, if they booked a larger party on the same date in order to maximize profits, or was it truly a mishap. In that case why not have the other party reschedule? My guess is they want to accommodate the party that will spend more money. Either way, it is a failure on their part as a restaurant. This is a huge disappointment because we have gone to this restaurant several times for dim sum and dinner parties for important events as well as casual meals throughout the last two years and have referred many family members and friends. I hope the extra money they potentially make by favoring a larger party for one night is worth it because they have lost a loyal customer as well as everyone else that I have referred to them. I will be telling everyone I know how they treat customers and what they prioritize ($). In the long run it will cost them far more in the future for cancelling on us, how much we have spent as long time patrons, as well as the people we referred than what they will make that one night as a business that chooses profits over customer loyalty. Shame on Fifty Bay. You are not the only dim sum/Cantonese...

Food was average -- nothing special, but our experience might have been affected by our timing. We came here a little after 1pm, and it was still very busy, but a lot of the food we got was cold/lukewarm. We tried the spring rice rolls, steamed shrimp dumplings, pineapple BBQ pork buns, snow mountain oatmeal buns, spare pork ribs, lotus wrapped sticky rice, and pan-fried chive dumplings. I liked how for the most part, the food wasn't overly sweet or salty. Everything tasted alright, but the temperature of the food was just not ideal. The pineapple roast pork buns were good -- both the bun and filling were not too sweet, and the buns were soft and fresh. The snow mountain oatmeal bun wasn't bad either (also not too sweet). The bun and eggy cream was cold though, which I didn't mind, but we weren't sure if it was supposed to be chilled like that. The pan-fried chive dumplings tasted good too, but the plate we got was already cold. It was pretty greasy, but I like that it had a lot of shrimp in the filling and that the skin wasn't so thick. The shrimp rice rolls we got were lukewarm. I didn't like it as much because there was too much rice paper and not enough shrimp. I only tried a little bit of the spare pork ribs and lotus wrapped sticky rice, but I thought they both tasted good.

The servers are nice. I've been to busy dim sum spots where servers would just be dismissive and rude, but no one here was like that, despite how busy they were.

I wouldn't come out of my way to visit this place, but I think down in the line I wouldn't be opposed to coming back here at an earlier time in the day to hopefully catch them when most of their...