Julia's — Restaurant in New York

They were pretty busy for weekend brunch; we went Saturday around noon. Service: The bartender assisted with bringing food to the tables. She was super nice, knew I was waiting for my friend and offered me a jug of water with cups for self-serve. There was a hostess and she was super nice. She was in tune with her customers and brought drinks and food promptly to the table. Now the waitress was another story; she was dressed in all black and seemed to have a chip on her shoulder. Kind of snotty- feel about her. I asked to be seated on the regular tables instead of the bar or high table and she said she would seat us if there was availability but when a table opened, I had to go to her again and she was not proactive to sit us there. Later on, we asked her for extra napkins, and she never brought it. We ended up asking the hostess who was super nice and brought it right away. Service was 4/5 Food: we ordered the arepas, the biscuit, the lox sandwich and mimosas. All were pretty good but prices a little higher. Total bill including tips/tax: $90. Service size was on the smaller side, only gave 1-2 pieces of salmon for $20. 4/5 due to pricing Ambiance: it was a nice relaxed atmosphere, we stayed for a bit after our meals were done and they were getting ready for a private party. We were not rushed to leave until they informed us we could go outside to continue to chat. The outside patio was nice. 5/5 Overall: 4/5, would either have larger serving size or reduce prices by $2. And the waitress needs...

The waiter was extremely rude, I visited the restaurant on march 22, 2024 and here’s what happened.

We came in, she greeted us but didn’t say us, so we just went ahead and sat ourselves. Got the menus and a bit after she came to take our order, during such time she didn’t explained the menu at all and rapidly took our food order without even waiting to take our drinks order. She never came back so I had to go to the bar directly and ask for my drinks.

The waitress never came back to check in on us or to see if we needed anything else while we were eating. No service whatsoever, but at the end she came with the payment device that only took 20% gratuity as a minimum.

We left tip but I believe she didn’t earned that gratuity at all. The whole time she was taking care of other tables and neglected us completely.

Will not go back to the restaurant because the service is not there to provide a good atmosphere but rather to drive away clients. There was a line to the restroom and I needed to urgently use the restroom, I asked her to see if I could use the other bathroom that was clearly available but she refused because that was only for staff. Mind you it was an emergency for me and was neglect from her part. Very saddening to witness this happening in our first visit...

This place has significantly gone down in quality this year. Used to be a pretty decent brunch option. Not sure what’s changed recently at Julia’s but I’ve had two, back to back poor experiences here that have changed view. Last month my friends and I were served severely under cooked bacon in our meals. We brought this to our servers attention, who took their time investigating it but then brought us a fresh plate of cooked bacon and assured it would be “on the house”. Sure enough, we were billed for 3 extra sides of bacon. We only realized after leaving and contemplating the steep bill + tip. Didn’t feel great. And just this week after having gone to Julia’s again despite that, we found they’ve changed their core menu items and dining experience. It’s even more expensive and smaller portions than prior. Food comes out in baskets instead of on plates. Service was seriously lacking.. With both recent experiences. I won’t be flipping the bill at this place any longer. We kept saying we shoulda jus got bodega BECs instead for 1/3 the price...