Hair of the Dog — Restaurant in New York

Do not support this bar. They are incredibly racist and rude to their black patrons even in the face of their far and few between employees of color.

A friend and I attended this establishment last night/this morning as per someone's recommendation. At first site and upon entry, the place was packed and the atmosphere had vibes. We immediately thought we were in for an amazing time. We then went to the bar toward the right of the entrance to order a few drinks. The bartender serving us, Isabella, was incredibly and immediately surly. Any question my friend asked - may it have been to order a drink or asking for clarification about ingredients in a drink - was responded back with a great deal of annoyance. I then asked, "are you having a long night" and Isabella responded "yes". I stated that I can tell.

My friend then ordered another shot from Isabella and was told no. We were trying to understand why but she (the bartender) and the other bartender working closely by/with her refused to answer us or even acknowledge our questions. After many instances of being ignored I was sternly told that I had to wait my turn. After waiting and waiting and waiting, I asked if it was my turn yet. I was answered with disgust and yet more rudeness. I asked for the manager.

I was directed to John Ford, one of the managers for Hair of the Dog. It was clear at the initial point of the conversation that John was not going to assist us or reprimand his employees. He immediately sided with them stating that we were rude to the employees and accused us of being drunk (we wish we were!).

Another patron bumped into me and I turned and said that she can say excuse me. She stated that she did and I simply said, "ok, I didn't hear you" and resumed my conversation with the bouncer. The owner, who was standing nearby and witnessed the exchange, looked me straight in my face and said that I had in fact pushed this woman (not the other way around) and me and my friend had to leave the bar. I was shocked and hurt that he would blatantly lie. I admit to calling him a racist XXXX before being proceeded out of the bar by a bouncer and another manager.

Thank you to the bouncer who did his job properly and managed the situation professionally. You are appreciated.

For everyone else, you should be ashamed of yourself. There is an apparent issue with discrimination against a subset of your customers, dishonesty and a blatant level of unprofessionalism that need to be addressed in the now. I as well as my friend have been jaded by this experience and would never visit this establishment again. For anyone who claims to care about human rights and would actually like to be served with a level of decency (if you are a black person), I would recommend you...

Great all day happy hour up to 7pm plus specials even after 7pm. Best bar for specials. Recommended.

Have limited food special as well as extensive drinks specials.

Wish opened early during football (ok soccer for Americans) season and if had English grub as a British shop close by even better.

Most bartenders are good but some better than others. A few are very clique with bar staff having favorites but some are not-clique great staff.

Probably like others strange they in evening they scan your ID that other bars in the area do not do. But I am probably not the first to mention about this.

Great for sports.

Need to stop being clique though to be even better.

Update Thursday 13th March 2025:- today's daytime bartender Lauren was extremely polite and respectful plus a great bartender even though I only drink goose island and today's evening petite waitress was friendly too. There is a new bartender Monday day shift who is great too.

The other bartenders good too though noticed the others will buy you a shot for free with them as a keep customers happy buyback but does not help customers like myself that try to avoid liquor and sick with beer or wine (not sure if this bar has wine specials.

Update 17th March 2025 St Patrick's Day but No normal daily specials. Hence once 8 customers to start then got more customers occupy 12 tables where normal Monday around 7 tables would be occupied. But stopping Monday Specials in the hope that people would come in for St Patrick's Day but that backfired as guess regulars left. Makes No sense making your regulars unhappy in the hope of a one day windfall that did not happen.

Wish seats had padding!

Overall a great place that I recommend. Hope my constructive ideas help them be even better as good reviews are great by I give word of mouth too that this bar has always mostly been very positive.

Would improve my rating based on great positive experiences but Google reviews won't let me or they have very hard to find out how to do. So I improving my stars this...

This review is for the food and service we received. We got to this location and don’t get me wrong the music and atmosphere was great, but we decided we wanted to food and as we were exiting the security guard lets us know hey we sell food here so we go sit down and I see him grab a waiter short young lady with a bob cut she had on jeans with a cropped top. As she approached the table she didn’t look comfortable servicing us. She takes everyone’s order and being I don’t wat chicken I ordered a steak Ceasar salad with my steak cooked well. Everyone’s food is brought to the table and then a staff member from the kitchen comes out and explains that my steak is still being prepared so it’s taking a bit longer. When I get the plate and start eating I noticed that my steak had a bit of brightness to it so I take my phone and turn the light on only to find that my meat was still pink after specifically asking for well done. When she comes to the table I tell her my food isn’t correct and that’s when she looks at me and says well I can take 30% off and I in return tell her no I want what I ordered and have been waiting for. She then takes my salad and comes back and tell me kitchen is closed I took it off. Mind you I still see the cook that came out to my table in the kitchen door window. My party also was able to eat. She offered the table a round of shots that was never even brought over and that I honestly didn’t want in the first place because I’m not a drinker and she also was giving me attitude when I’m the one that didn’t eat anything. It was obvious she was upset that I complained about my salad as if I’m not supposed to get what I not only asked for but would have been paying for. It was a very uncomfortable experience and I was actually excited to be there because the place was a vibe. I think she needs more training on servicing “other people”. If she isn’t comfortable serving “other people” she shouldn’t work in places where...