Kimoto Rooftop Restaurant & Garden Lounge — Restaurant in New York

This is a long one.

Based on the reviews it seems like management don’t consider the criticism but I’m sharing my piece on why I would never return to this establishment.

Unfortunately we came here before reading any reviews.

In the year 2024 at this big age I don’t understand how this place is still open. After a beautiful morning attending the breast cancer walk for my cousin who is a survivor we decided to come here to continue the celebration.

Red flag number one was the $10 cover to enter an establishment where I’m paying to eat brunch. Make it make sense. We are the first group to arrive and be seated around 1pm on Sunday. A few minutes have now passed by and I get up to let the host stand that we are ready to order and at the least get some water. With attitude our server replied she will be there shortly. Sun was out and the sky was blue. The attitude couldn’t have been meant for me because I just met you two seconds ago. Red flag #2.

Upon ordering there is a long list of what you can and cannot do. For instance, I along with one other party member isn’t interested in drinking so we would like to order one off drinks. The other guests are interested in the bottomless mimosas deal for $35 each but because two members of the party isn’t interested in drinking the table isn’t allowed to order the mimosa deal. The reason being as they can’t keep track of who is drinking or not. Apparently instead of doing the job of a waitress and replenishing glasses as they empty they place a pitcher on the table and you are to serve yourself. Carafes are also not allowed for mimosas and mimosas alone. Weird but whatever. We place our order with the waitress one by one ready to continue with the afternoon. Red flag #3.

The entree now comes out for 4 of the 6 guests. As normal we are waiting for the rest to get their meals so we can begin. Time is passing and no one is checking on our table to see if everything is alright. By this time it is only 3 tables including ours in the entire establishment. We flag down a server to inquire about the missing entrees. He notifies the waitress. Come to find out she never put in the other two orders. As an apology she brings out 6 shots of idk what. Mind you I said two people isn’t drinking right? Red flag #4.

Eventually they bring the last two entrees. The food isn’t even worth a review. No one has checked on us. We had to flag down personal and head to the hostess stand to inquire about condiments. Red flag #5.

This experience has more flags than the United Nations.

It is now time to go and guess what? No one has come to the table to even cash the check. I gather my party and decided that I’ll settle the check on the way out and now for the first time entering the establishment I’m experiencing professionalism.

For an establishment that assigns automatic gratuity the lest I expect is someone making sure the table is ok. A $250 tab on breakfast food at that should be met with politeness and reasonable ccommodation. Get out of the service industry if you’re not in the business...

First of all when you need to modify a reservation they make you call them, on a line which they NEVER pick up. They also give you an option to email them with the promise of returning your email within 24hrs. I needed to add one more person to my reservation (in total, 3 people). I called and emailed them well over 24hrs of my reservation. I get to Kimoto and tell them I took every precaution to modify my reservation. The hostess proceeds to tell me that they are booked and would have to “find” a CHAIR for my third guest. Not a problem! We’ll wait for a chair. As time went by I asked my server about the chair and she told me she can not help with that, the hostess has the seating chart and only she can supply a chair. The hostess, who tried to ignore me every time she walked past my table, finally told me there were no chairs available and my guest would have to stand. Meanwhile, there were two tables next to me with zero people occupying them. When I inquired about those seats she told me they are already reserved. About an hour goes by and still no one was in those seats. So I inquire AGAIN. This lady told me nothing is still available because she is giving the chair to someone else. Y’all, she took one chair from a two chair table top and left the other chair there. For my whole two hour brunch not one person sat at the table I asked to borrow a chair from AND she gave the chair away. Eventually, I just took the chair myself and sat in it bc it was just sitting there unattended. The hookah was absolutely terrible. My hose was broken and in order to smoke it we had to hold it up as if it was a wire with a short in it. The coal burned out extremely fast and when I asked the hookah person to let the new coal burn a little longer he responded with an attitude and told me it will not work if the coal sits any longer. As someone who knows how to make hookah, I called his BS (but I digress!). My server was nowhere to be found for the majority of my reservation and I felt like I had to hunt everyone down just to get serviced. The food was mid and lacked seasoning but I did not complain to them about that. Mimosas also gross! The Dj played chicken noodle soup, wobble and other songs of that nature (I need not to go any further lol). The MC was cool though. So all in all the only good thing about Kimoto rooftops brunch was the MC and the aesthetic. If there was an option to leave zero stars I swear I would. I gave thought about maybe going back to see the vibes for dinner but I’m so turned off from them I don’t think I ever will. Kimoto count your days. Y’all were...

The sheer number of 4- and 5-star reviews is baffling. Are there two Kimoto Rooftop Restaurants?? The entire experience was disappointing from start to finish. The security check-in process was odd – the attendant not only scanned our IDs but also took photos of them. When questioned about this redundancy, he cited protocol, which seemed unnecessary since the age was already verified by the scan.

Upon arriving at the first reservation desk (yes, there were two), we were surprised to learn about a $10 entry fee, which was not disclosed on the website or mentioned when the reservation was made (handled by a family member). Moving to the second desk for check-in, the process was straightforward, with a reminder that our 2-hour seating timer would start upon being seated. We were a party of 10+, but the area we were given seemed more suited for 8. I guess some of us were supposed to stand or use our laps as makeshift tables. We asked for another table and chair and surprisingly, they agreed to provide it. However, despite repeated requests, it took several reminders to finally receive the additional table and chair.

As for the food, the appetizers were mediocre, most entrees were passable, the fruit was soggy. The French Toast was the only decent item. Another weird mention, utensils were provided only after requesting them for our larger party.

Regarding drinks, the rules for ordering "endless" mimosas changed by the second hour. Initially, we were told that everyone had to agree on a single flavor. So, if some in your group doesn’t like strawberry and the others do… too bad! Luckily, we were able to agree on one and we started with Mango. When we noticed that our empty pitcher sat on the table for a while, we asked if another pitcher was coming out. The server informed us that they will not bring out a refill unless we specifically ask for another pitcher. So semi-unlimited?? Then when some guests then opted for bottle service, the original mimosa rule was out the window, they could mix flavors, and the server focused her attention on them for the rest of the reservation.

On the upside, the music was good. The DJ said some out-of-pocket things at times but, hey, I guess he’s going for shock value. Ultimately, maybe I went on the wrong day. Maybe it’s better on a weeknight or Saturday. Guess I’ll never find out as I have zero intention of...