Gitano NYC — Restaurant in New York

Went on a Saturday night to celebrate my friend's 40th birthday (last night). There were 3 of us. The decor and ambiance is absolutely beautiful, but it didn't take long to notice that we weren't going to get good service. Initially we tried our best to make the most of it because we were hungry and excited to have some great food. Our server was a disappointment, I think her name was Jay or something, couldn't hear her over the music. She came to us 5 minutes after we were seated but we weren't ready to order yet. After that It took her over 15 minutes to come get our orders and thought we didn't notice that she was intentionally ignoring us while we tried to get her attention. She was standing in front of the bar for quite some time and looked straight at us a few times and turned away whenever we tried to get her attention. When she finally came back to us the first words out of her mouth were "I got a lot of tables", as though we didn't just watch her standing by the bar the whole time not even pretending to look busy before she turned her face from us and walked away. She then told us that the dishes were in shareable portions, so we only ordered 2 dishes which were under the "Large Plates" section of the menu, which are the entrées. The only thing that was large were the plates themselves because the food was not even a portion that would be enough for a one person, much less 3. I looked around at the other tables and everyone else seemed to have full plates and actual shareable portions. It was glaringly obvious to us that this was intentional. I asked for carne asada , medium well. They brought a steak so rare that it almost looked raw. The fish was good but there was only enough for each of us to enjoy one bite. Everyone else's dishes looked like full entrées, and we knew it had nothing to do with what we decided to order. What they brought us was outright offensive. The waitress ignored us many times throughout the night and pretended she was super busy, but she seemed to have a lot of time to stand behind us for 10 minutes and ear-hustle after she saw we were displeased with our food. It was very clear they wanted us out of there as quickly as possible. I don't know if that is because they curate their crowd (because its a club-like atmosphere with a younger crowd after a certain time of night) or if it was possibly racially motivated, I really don't know, but either way, we didn't deserve that kind of treatment. We were not rude, snobby, or lewd, we were very courteous the entire time. We waited until the end to express our concerns to the manager. He was respectful and kind to us, the only ounce of respect we received the entire evening. He took $100 off the bill even though we stated that it was not about the cost of the bill, it was the service. We are adults, we make good money, we spend good money, and we tip very well, so it wasn't about not affording the bill or trying to get discounts or freebies. It wasn't even just our waitress that was rude either, there were other staff that came to our table occassionally and did wierd stuff with no explanation, no rhyme or reason. There was just a negative energy toward us from the staff in general. It was obvious to us that their intention was to make us uncomfortable, probably so we would leave. The manager offered the birthday girl complimentary dessert which we didn't even stick around for because we know better than to eat anything after you've made a complaint at a restaurant. We still tipped the rude waitress even though she certainly didn't deserve it. If by any chance it was an inconvenience because the kitchen may have been closing soon, we would've understood had it been communicated to us. They ruined a celebratory night that was supposed to be special and we will never go back there again, which is probably what they were trying...

Had my friends birthday dinner here - to summarize my experience with a large party it was one where the waiters are rude, they forget your requests and you need to remind them multiple times for things, management and servers clearer don't care about the customers or service they provide if the tip is automatic.

Our server and busboy Carlos and Jonathan were absolutely horrible and rude. We had a large party so I guess they didn't feel like they needed to provide good service due to the automatic gratuity... When asking about food suggestions and ordering Carlos was very impatient and would roll his eyes if we had a question or request. Given this was all of our first times at the restaurant this was very annoying and inconsiderate to experience. We would have to request things multiple times and remind them while also getting the wrong food sent to our tables. At the end, our friend whose birthday it was tried to pay and when we said we were taking the bill Carlos huffed and puffed over this and got very defensive and resistant. I'm not sure why he thinks it's his place to react in such a way to our request to pay for our friends birthday meal but I just found the whole experience here very bad despite the decent food.

In addition, they need more fans for hotter summer days. They had one/two for the whole restaurant which didn't do much. Given this poor service, the when we notified the manager Nate he did not provide anything other than his condolences. Given the automatic gratuity for the poor service we received, I feel it would've been appropriate to receive a comp of some sort since we bought $500+ worth of food. Clearly they don't care that much about their customers here...

The one person who was helpful our whole nice was Olga. She was great even though she wasn't our server and helped us get the manager Nate when both Jonathan and Carlos tried to avoid getting him. We had waited 20 minutes for the manager (yet another request that they seemed to intentionally forget about) and when it was clear both of them did not want us to speak to the manager Olga was very considerate to our needs and brought Nate...

I’ve been loving Gitano chain since my first visit in tulum back in 2015. Since than I’ve been there numerous amount of times. We’ve also frequented Gitano on governors island last year and in Manhattan 2 years ago. When I heard its opening the doors in Manhattan’s pier 17 this year I was so excited and not disappointed after my first visit this march -drinks are amazing, DJ, atmosphere 🤌🏽. But today I had the worst experience and sharing it to let the management know what’s going on there and why things can go wrong for their business. After spending the day in the city (shopping and eating out) we’ve decided to have a sunset view drinks at Gitano. We’ve first walked around the waterfront to see that the place is not crowded (just a few tables were taken at the moment) and then stopped by the reception asking if we can get a small table or to seat by the bar. Imaging our surprise when we’ve been told that “the place is closed for the private event”. First, there is no sign at the entrance (as it’s supposed to be when it is a real event happening), second, right after we’ve been told sorry, no, we’ve witnessed another couple entering the place. And third -we’ve checked online reservation system right after disappointed left the place -there were plenty available tables at that same time -attaching the proof here. No need but I’d like to mention that we’ve been dressed up very properly and never denied an entrance to the casual place before. It is a huge disappointment and a friendly advise to the management - train your stuff better so if they lie it is not that obvious. Never returning there and advising all my friends not to so they’re safe from disappointment and risk of refusal on a regular Sunday day...