Gayle's Broadway Rose — Restaurant in New York

Alright, I’m going to be honest here.I loved the concept of live performances, I always have. And I’ve loved broadway too, so when I heard about this restaurant from a friend, I knew I had to go. First off, the reservations take forever to place. I originally scheduled for me and a few friends a few weeks in advance to take another broadway loving friend’s birthday. It took us 2 MONTHS. FOR ANYONE TO GRT BACK TO US. We were a party of 7. Ridiculous, so we celebrated her birthday somewhere else. Disappointing. Even canceling a reservation takes forever to do. But I still wanted to go!! I’ve seen so many great reviews on the food and singing that I didn’t care about the wait. Finally after a few months, I had a spot and I was astounded by the scenery! Very pretty but also extremely loud with lots of people. Love the hanging garments. I ordered a milkshake and had a small table to myself, nothing special..yet the wait for a small milkshake seemed like hours. I get how busy it is, but I advise if you’re going to bring a family or a date to here, it will take a long time because for me it was almost 45 MINUTES to have a single milkshake. The service was terrible and the waiters had attitudes. The music was.. okay. The male singers are a little pitchy . They sang a little bit of West Side Story and Dear Evan Hansen. Classics, am I right? But I felt like the guys were competing to be heard so I heard lots of strain and voice cracks and the crowd could clearer hear, judging by their looks.. overall, 4-5/10 performance for the guys, I didn’t want to wait all this time just for a mediocre performance. Then, a few waitresses began to sing Ex-Wives from Six, so I got a bit excited. I’ve sent be original broadway cast live and- WOW. The harmonies were great. So expectations were a little high. Oh yeah. The milkshake was decent enough.

I would like to just point out the girl who sang Katherine H, however. Constantly trying to riff and belt and clearly isn’t a trained singer and was just hired on the spot. While doing the bridge high harmonies, you could clearly hear her at her breaking point because she had a MASSIVE voice crack. Even the other waiters stared her. Honestly I get having a crack in your voice but this girl could not keep a pitch and overall was just inexperienced and I feel bad for the people who hired her for putting her in a rough position.but.. she ran out the exit and ruined the performance. A few other workers followed her but that was my cue to leave because I didn’t want anymore drama. Kind of a big fiasco and bummer but whatever. I hope some other broadway lover found this...

Gayle's is fun but it doesn't quite compare to the experience of the other singing restaurant (Ellen's). The atmosphere inside of Gayle's is a little more buttoned up (read: less fun) and the menu matches.

Pros: Easy location (inside a hotel) and they take reservations. This is huge because it means you aren't standing outside in a line looping around the block with no clue how quickly you might be seated. It's much easier to hit Gayle's on the way to a show since you can control the timing for the most part.

The talent inside is OUTSTANDING. Lots of duets and group numbers and everyone really put their all into the performances. Gayle herself is also milling about and talking to customers.

We didn't have dessert but the milkshakes looked phenomenal.

Cons: The menu is somewhat limited and not super friendly if you're picky -- some decent veggie options for those who need them but somewhat limited options if you're just looking for comfort food.

The layout of the restaurant makes it tough to see the singers. We were tucked in a corner and one seat literally faced a wall; I had to turn around to see anything. Sound was good but that's not really the point of singing servers. Even those seated in the middle had difficulty seeing everything since there are large pillars all around the center so you'll miss entire sections of songs depending on where the singers are. They do a good job trying to work the room, moving and dancing, but it's a chore to take in an entire performance.

Our server was super talented and sweet but we didn't get our drinks until we were already finished with both our apps and entrees (not his fault -- we saw him approach the bar numerous times to grab them but they weren't there. He even comped one since they didn't arrive in a timely manner, and he certainly didn't have to do that). Additionally, the hostess wasn't particularly friendly. Borderline rude, actually, but everyone has rough days and I can only imagine how hard it is to deal with walk-ins at a tourist attraction like this all day.

Overall, the experience was closer to 3.5 stars than 4 but I'd rather round up since the servers were truly wonderful. If you have the choice between Gayle's and Ellen's, choose Ellen's -- but if you've done Ellen's and want something new OR if you need to structure your day based on a timeline and still want to see some singing servers, Gayle's a nice addition to...

Service and food quality were really bad. Made us fully regret going to Gayles. Tragically the random tables to our left and right had similar experiences. All 3 tables had more than one part of our order screwed up, omelettes without the cheese (that had to be special requested with upcharge) at 2 of three tables. My daughter never got maple syrup for her French toast order, despite it obviously should have been brought to the table with the plate or at least as a quick grab after setting it down. But nope, and we asked bussers multiple times (our waiter Jesse returned only to give us the check). Our food was cold and taste was barely mediocre. Two of our three entrees were brought together while the third took 10 extra mins. Table to our right had to ask multiple times for three of their four orders as the first was brought a full 15 minutes before the other three. We only got one glass of water the entire visit yet I was thirsty enough to consume mine entirely well before the entree was served. We, along with the two tables near us, were told “the kitchen is having troubles tonight.” The main host (her name was Gayle, so likely the namesake) asked us how things were and we were polite but didn’t hide the truth, we said “we’re fairly disappointed because Jesse never came back, two of 3 entees were cold, timing was poor with one 10 minutes after the other two and never got maple syrup for the French toast.” The unsatisfactory excuse of the kitchen was delivered again. Nothing apologetic, no sincere concern. By the way, gratuity is included at 20% and they come around with hat in hand for extra tips for the singing waiters. It would have been fine if the food and service weren’t atrocious.

In terms of the singing waiters, they were good and tried to engage folks (only reason I gave 2 stars). But nowhere near good enough to bring us back or even standby if friends consider going to Gayles. I recommend going to the original singing waiter spot a couple blocks away. This copycat isn’t worth anything.

Lastly, we were there at 7pm on a Thursday night and the restaurant was probably only 50-60% occupied, which should tell everyone...