Gage & Tollner — Restaurant in New York

We had high expectations considering this is a Michelin rated and a revered restaurant with a pedigree. Unfortunately, that status did not hold up with the new management for us. We were greeted by an older woman, who was very polite and professional. We came for an early dinner Monday night for a birthday celebration. We were seated in a booth, which helped a small amount from the blasts of cold air that coming thru the restaurant every time diners opened the revolving door. It was very uncomfortable at times. Our waiter, B, seemed to be engaged but it soon became apparent that he was either new or overwhelmed, which regardless of the reason should not have interfered with our service. We started with a couple of items from the happy hour menu. (the HH cocktails are a scam- you pay less because you get less- not fair!) We ordered another beer and it was twice the size! Our classic cocktails were perfection! The oysters arrived and he put the tray down and left. We waited and called him over explain the 4 varieties on the tray. I've never ordered mixed oysters and not told the varieties. He was in a rush. They were delicious and well presented. The parker rolls were buttery and tasty. The caesar salad $18 was awful. It was not traditional and was bland. There was so much radicchio, which was so bitter that we could not eat it. The she-crab soup was average but had no additional crab meat sprinkled on top, as we've had at other places. At $23, was not worth it. We ordered the pork chop $58, strip steak and onion rings $16. The strip steak was so small for $71, we could not understand how they can justify the price. It was cooked perfectly. My son who had been to the restaurant before even commented that it was much smaller than he'd seen his last visit. Highly overpriced. Since our waiter never came over to ask how our entrees were, we did not get the opportunity to question him. When he finally did appear after we were done eating and waiting for him, he apologize saying he was "slammed with a big table". Regardless that is no excuse and did not absolve him of his responsibility to us. There is a hierarchy and it failed us. We did see a man who appeared to be a maitre de passing our table a few times but he never engaged us or inquired about our dining experience. BIG MISS doing his job! There is a hierarchy and it failed us. However, I do want to mention the young man who cleared our dishes, cleaned the crumbs from the table and filled our waters. He was friendly, attentive and did his job excellently! We ordered the baked alaska and asked that candles be put on it. We really did enjoy this dessert and it was just heavenly. This was the highlight of our dinner. What sealed the fate of our review was how we were treated at the end of our time. Our waiter came over and just tossed the bill in the center of the table and walked away. No thank you or any courtesy comment like Happy Birthday! He immediately went and attended the table right behind us. We were so shocked that we paid the bill at the bar and left. On our way out, one of us did tell a young woman at the hostess desk that service was terrible and we could not give them a glowing review. She did not seem interested. A last opportunity to ask about our experience- missed! Based on our experience, the food and service is not the same restaurant that many of the older reviews are based on. Gage & Tollner have slid. The recent reviews echo the same service/food as we experienced. The food is not that phenomenal to warrant these prices and there are other well deserving restaurants worth exploring in Brooklyn! I hope we caution other potential diners. We should have heeded the recent reviews here and other websites. The new management...

First, let me just say that this place is absolutely stunning. I was so excited to come and try a variety of menu options after doing some research and watching a few YouTube videos.

We arrived a bit early so we sat at the bar, where we met THE MOST WONDERFUL bartender, named Lucky. She not only greeted us with a smile, but really made us feel welcomed and took the time to provide us with history about the restaurant while we waited for our table. After talking to her we just couldn't wait to be seated so that we can order. In my request for a reservation, I requested a larger booth table, and informed them of my plan to order quite a few items to try. The lady at the front let us know that she had us taken care of and it wouldn't be a problem.

Finally our table was ready and we were seated. A few minutes later our server came by, vaguely greeted us and immediately I noticed that he was uninterested in serving us. After bringing our drinks to the table, he asked if we were ready to order, I said yes and proceeded to order appetizers. I ordered a few and then he asked if I knew what else we wanted. I said yes and proceeded to order..mid way he says...let me stop you...u have enough already... I informed him of oir intentions to basically order multiple items so that we can taste them....then he collects the menus and walks away. My husband never has a bad thing to say about anyone or anything, but even he was like "wth is wrong with him". Honestly I felt like he didn't want to serve us and even seemed agitated. I'm not sure if it's just his personality or what, but when you are prepared to spend a few hundred on food, it would be nice to feel welcomed. The end really took the cake...so now it's time for dessert...he sat the dessert menu down, told us they were out of cheesecake, and said something else real quick, before I could even ask a question, he was walking away. At this point, I was just ready to go. I wanted dessert, but just really was bummed out by the service. I flew up to New York from Alabama to try this restaurant and it's a shame that he acted that way. This was just some of what happened with the server, not all.

On my way out we were asked about the experience, because I guess you could see the disappointment on my face. I was able to speak to someone and they seemed very concerned and apologized. Even though the service we had from the server sucked, the FOOD IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, from taste to presentation. All amazing. I would suggest this restaurant to anyone. All of the staff we encountered other than our server was awesome. I would go back, I just will never forget that server and how he made us feel, and will make sure if he is there next time, to ask not to be seated on...

This was one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had in my life. We had reservations, but had to wait for our table with no apology or even acknowledgment we had to wait. Once we were seated our server took several minutes before even giving us menus. After about ten minutes we finally put in drink orders, where I had to specify twice I wanted a Gin martini with a twist, and I was brought a dirty martini. Our server clearly didn’t want to be there, which was uncomfortable and unwelcoming. We were treated like we didn’t matter.

Our cold dishes came out before our drinks were even done, and still, no acknowledgement or apology for how slow the service was despite it not being busy. The food was also bland and the salad was WET as in not dried before dressing it, it was dripping with water.

We typically don’t complain or send food back but after ordering our steak medium rare and it came out well done it was so inedible we had to say something (how do you overcook steak when it is 1/6 of your whole menu?!). Our mashed potatoes were cold, dry, and unseasoned. Our tartare came with disgusting overseeded stale crackers that we had to spit out they were so disgusting. At this point we had taken one bite of our entree and it was all so disgusting we couldn’t eat it. When the manager came to our table we explained the situation and how the food had all come out cold, unseasoned, or overdone, and all she did was take our barely touched food away and told us it was a misconception that G&T is a steakhouse (somehow justifying it was okay the steak was cooked incorrectly?) and that we wouldn’t be charged for the steak.

She then sent chocolate ice cream over to our table - which my husband can’t have, and tried to rectify it by sending vanilla ice cream instead. At this point we were both so uncomfortable and disappointed and felt like we had to try the ice cream and after one bite it was clear it was just Breyers or any other general ice cream.

We had high hopes for this experience and were let down with the quality of both the food and service. We got a sense that there was some discrimination involved because we felt ignored and dismissed (my partner is Black) and after reading other reviews this seems to be the case.

We didn’t let their poor behavior ruin our anniversary, but I would never recommend this place unless you want to be overcharged and ignored...