Gilligan's — Restaurant in New York

TL;DR: Mediocre food, poor service, and an unwelcoming environment—especially for BIPOC guests.

I visited this restaurant on a Saturday night with my partner and our friend. Upon arrival, the manager (or possibly the owner) immediately told us there were no available tables and that we’d have to sit at the bar. When we asked how long the wait might be, he said their 8 PM reservations had just been seated and it would likely be two hours before a table opened up. Moments later, a hostess came from the back, informed us there was space, and promptly seated us at a table. Within 20 minutes, the restaurant began to clear out—making it glaringly obvious that the manager had not been truthful. Considering he was pacing the floor the entire night, it's hard to believe he wasn’t aware of the available seating.

Once seated, it took 20 minutes before a server even acknowledged us. The hostess had to ask on our behalf. The server eventually came to take our order but disappeared after that. She never checked in, refilled our water, or followed up in any way, even as she tended to other tables nearby. We had to flag down another server just to get water and ask for our check. Even then, it took another 20 minutes—and a final passive comment from our original server as she walked past—to finally receive it. By then, the restaurant was nearly empty, so there was no excuse for the delay.

When my friend shared his disappointment with the experience, the server got defensive, citing that they had only just opened the previous Thursday and hadn’t had proper training. Instead of apologizing or listening, she curtly told him, “I heard you the first two times—you don’t need to keep repeating how bad the service was.”

As someone with years of experience in hospitality—as a hostess, server, and bartender—I was shocked by how poorly this was handled. It's baffling that a restaurant in one of the most competitive culinary cities in the world would offer such dismissive service, especially in today’s economy where customer loyalty matters more than ever.

To top it all off, the food was unremarkable—definitely not good enough to justify the attitude or the wait.

I will not be returning. And if anyone from management is reading this, please don’t bother responding with excuses. The time for grace was during the meal, not in a follow-up comment trying...

SERVICE AND STAFF ARE ABSOLUTELY THE WORST.

We came with out a reservation, the hostess went to check if they had tables available. She proceeded to come back and tell us that although there was many tables available, we’d have to wait 30 mins to see if any reservations canceled before being seated. Absolutely ridiculous. She then seats us, we get our order taken - 5 mins later another hostess comes up to us and tells us we have 90 mins to sit and eat, mind you we hadn’t even gotten our food yet and they were already trying to rush us out. The server then forgets to put an order in and we are now sitting there sharing one entree after already feeling rushed before even getting to eat. So now more of our time was wasted waiting on a meal that should have came out together with the rest of our food. We ask to speak with a manager - we wait about 20 mins before the same hostess who seated us comes back and tells us she’s JR manager and that the actual manager wasn’t there. We asked for something on our bill to be taken care of due to how uncomfortable we were made to feel and one of our meals being completely forgotten about. The waiter proceeds to bring out the second entree, we eat and ask for a check when the bill was received we were not compensated for anything. We then ask to speak with a manager again - a server who we seen walking around the restaurant the entire time comes up to us and tells us that he’s the manager. Not only were we rushed to eat but we were lied to by staff about the management. It’s really a shame because the food is so delicious but the service and staff are TERRIBLE. Do not waste your money here if you want be...

Piss poor service and an overall horrible experience. The food is mediocre at best. This backyard hell hole is not worth the money or time of day. In a city of many culinary delights and top notch dining experiences, this place fell so far below the standard. If it were possible to leave a rating of zero that would still some how seem too generous for the level of service experienced here. On a recent outing with some friends we were immediately met with disdain from the front of house(possibly a manager) who blatantly lied about table availability. It was made clear we were not welcomed assumingly as people of color. The only saving grace here was one lovely hostess who quickly attempted to accommodate us after witnessing the microaggressions on full display. Unfortunately the hostess was the ONLY person that acknowledged our existence. The hostess had to flag down other staff constantly as we were completely disregarded as being worthy of even a glass of water. After an unreasonable amount of time requesting the presence of our server, we finally closed out and kindly shared some feedback on our experience. We were immediately met with a defensive attitude and excuses. While I don't expect every experience to be perfect, at bare minimum I expect to be treated in a professional and respectful manner. I will never return to this establishment as they are not deserving of another penny. Do better! 0 out...