Joey Roses — Restaurant in New York

I am a big fan of Joe DeRosa, so when I was thinking about driving from Baltimore to New York city (3 hours), coming to Joey Roses for the first time was half the reason I decided to make the trip. The other reason was that I wanted to do some comic book shopping at the New York Comic-Con.

I got to NYC at about 9:10am and I finished all my important comic shopping by 12:30pm. I decided to get an Uber from the Javits Convention Center to Joey Roses (4.4 miles) because it was raining.

Johnny was tending the bar that day and he was fantastic! I was alone and I felt like he spent the perfect amount of time engaging with me without neglecting anyone else. When he found out I was from Baltimore, he brought up the directorial genius of John Waters. The name sounded familiar, but I had never heard of or seen any of the movies that Johnny was naming. Maybe its because I lived in Iowa until about 2005. After a few moments I realized why the name was familiar. I know John Waters from the beginning and end of the song The Creep by Lonely Island.

I ordered The Babe and the The Beefie because I wanted to try multiple sandwiches while I was there. They came cut in half, which was perfect because I planned to eat half of each and then take the other halves with me.

The bread was soft, flavorful and crispy on the outside. I have never had the "real" bread that they serve over in Europe (without all the sugar and preservatives) so I am not sure if their bread was just really good American bread or if it is more like the bread the rest of the world enjoys. It was definitely the best sandwich bread that I have had in the US.

The Beefie was a very solid and yummy sandwich. In the words of Sal, "It didn't blow my balls off". I don't recall tasting the horseradish, so I would probably ask them to put some more on of it on next time.

Now the Babe was the star of the show. I was intrigued by the Hot Honey that was listed in the ingredients and sure enough, that's what made my taste buds fall in love. I chewed that half of the Babe so slowly so that I could savor it and I was really looking forward to eating the other half. I ate the second half of both sandwiched about 5 hours later. They were wrapped in white deli paper and in a plastic bag inside my backpack for all 5 hours and they were both still so very tasty!

The other customers were also great company. During the first half of my stay, I talked to a local named Teddy. At one point I brought up the recent fire that happened at Joey Roses. I was curious about how the fire began and what time of day it occurred. We asked Johnny about it and it turns out that he was THE perfect guy to tell the tale. Twas "Saint Johnny" that smelled the nefarious odor of an electrical fire as he was about to lock up the bar at 2am. I don't want to share the rest of the story here because I am hoping that Joe interviews Johnny and one of the firemen who responded on a short podcast.

After Teddy left I enjoyed some more pleasant and stimulating conversation with a new arrival on my left. We didn't exchange names but I am glad that he was there.

At one point I got up to look around the joint. While looking at the tile Joey Roses sign I decided to buy a shirt that Joe recently sported on a podcast. It was only available in XL, but that is the perfect size for me. When Johnny gave me the bill I noticed that he only charged me $30 for it, even though the post it note on the display shirt said $35. As a man of honor, I asked Johnny to fix the error and charge me the correct amount, which he did.

When I checked Uber to see how much my return ride to the Javits would cost, it was like $15 more expensive than my earlier trip. Johnny and the man to my left highly recommended that I take the subway, since it would only cost me like $3. They were very patient with me and answered all my dumb questions (because I've never used the NYC subway before). With Google Maps' help, I took the F train 7 stops and the 7 train 2 stops without...

Sandwiches are great.

Bad review is for their ordering and overall service which they need to fix. Ordered pickup through Grubhub twice and estimated pickup time was 70 minutes both times. That’s absurd and most likely an issue with the way they setup their profile in Grubhub. It needs to be addressed and fixed.

First time, not an issue. Waited about 30 minutes…sandwich was ready by the time I walked there to pick it up. 2nd time, waited same amount of time before walking there (30 minutes) and ended up waiting 30 minutes inside bar. An hour total to pickup a freaking sandwich. This is type of stuff that prevents repeat business. Unacceptable in New York. Too many options. People just won’t tolerate waiting like that here.

People who showed up after me and sat at the bar, ordered received their food before me. Meanwhile, person behind the bar was distracted by his phone, had to ask for my name multiple times. I followed up with him once while I was waiting and it took another 15 minutes to receive the order. Obviously he didn’t address the order with whoever was making the sandwich in the kitchen. Person behind bar also didn’t ensure order was complete as I had to remind him I ordered chips as well. Not a big deal on its own but combine it with other things and just completes every aspect of a Bad experience.

I find myself wanting to order the sandwiches because I think they are good but I simply won’t do it because I don’t want to deal with the hassle of a really bad service experience. This experience was about a month ago and I’m writing it now because I want to order the sandwich and was reminded of what happened last time and won’t do it. Hopefully mgmt gets message and does something about it.

I’ve been there when the service experience has been good so it’s not all of the staff but they really need to do a better job with training. I’ve been in there on one other occasion late night where the bartender was a bit of an a-hole. Just rude and didn’t seem like she wanted to be bothered.

Good sandwich though, good prices. Really need to ensure consistency in service experience. I’ll give it one more shot sometime in the future. If they don’t fix it by then it will be the last time I give them...

CUSTOMERS BEWARE: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR BANK STATEMENTS!!!

This review isn't about the food. I came in to pick up a to-go order a few days ago. I ordered The Skinny Boy and The Dad ($10 dollars each; totaling to $21.78 after tax). The following day after checking my bank statements I see a charge for $26.78. Miraculously $5 dollars was just added to my bill with no explanation. I came in the next day to ask for my receipt from one of the bartenders, and yet they couldn't give it to me. Instead they informed me I have to wait until the manager comes (which they also don't know when). So you're telling me if a bartender messes up my order... I can't even get a print out of my receipt or let alone a refund unless the manager comes? THAT IS HORRIBLE and bad for business!

I vividly remember signing off of the merchant copy and did not receive a customer copy. This is something that I won't do again.

What surprises me most is how people feel entitled to receive a tip on a TO-GO ORDER. Who the hell tips on a to-go order? Certainly not me. For the manager of this place - please check in on your staff. Who knows how many people walk away from this place with money stolen? This is a bar... people will go home intoxicated at times and that means "write me a big o'l tip".. I caught this on a to-go order sober... isn't that crazy?

To the Asian lady bartender who took my order - shame on you and do better. It is not about the fact that it's a $5 dollar overcharge -this is fraud. I am writing this because I did not AUTHORIZE you to check a box to give you a tip and yet you did. Given how down bad you were to falsify a tip, I need to show people that this can happen...