Lé Chai Steakhouse & Restaurant Brooklyn — Restaurant in New York

This is the worst restaurant in the whole of United States. Nobody should ever spend their hard earned money in this organization. Their staff will make you feel like garbage and like you’re there to beg for food. They are very unprofessional and have zero respect for their customers. The security guy/doorman is also always ready to get physical with the customers. He kept pushing my friend back from the receptionist when we were trying to communicate with her. We were neither hostile nor rude to the receptionist. Also, if they can’t spell your name to look up your reservation, instead of asking you to spell it for them, they will lie and insist that you don’t have a reservation with them. I’m gonna give a quick rundown of what transpired between my friends and the staff of this restaurant yesterday, 15th of March, 2025.

Yesterday, March 15th, 2025 was my friend’s birthday so we decided to go to this restaurant for dinner. We are Muslims and were all fasting. So we deliberately chose a 7pm reservation for the 15th of March, 2025. I attached a screenshot of the confirmation email we received and also a picture of myself that I took outside of this restaurant with the time showing on the picture and it says 7:09pm. I and my 2 friends arrived at this restaurant at 6:55pm so two of us got out to wait at the restaurant while our 3rd friend went to look for a parking. So while he was looking for parking which was a hassle, me and our other friend were taking pictures outside the restaurant. I attached one of the pictures with the time so anybody reading this can see that I’m not lying. My friends arrived who went to look for parking joined us in front of the restaurant at 7:10pm, mind you we had a 15mins grace period and 7:10 was still within our 15mins grace window. My friend quickly took some pictures too cause it was his birthday so we went in at exactly 7:13pm and when we go in we saw few people waiting in line to be seen and probably checked in by the receptionist. So we had to wait for our turn. By the time the receptionist got to us, it was 4mins later which was 7:17pm(meaning 2mins past our grace period) but that wasn’t our fault since we were already waiting in line before 7:15. Fastfoward, the receptionist as for the name on our reservation and we told her the name. Only for her to tell us she couldn’t find that name on their last, we let her know that’s not possible since we have a text confirmation. We showed her the text they sent to us earlier that day at 5 or 6pm, I can’t remember the specific time, the text says “your table is ready in few hours”. After showing her that, she still insisted she couldn’t find us in her list. All this while it was around 7:25pm. Lo and behold my friend got a message on his phone that said “you have a reservation for Sunday the 16th of March”. Our guess is they overbooked and tried to play smart by rescheduling us for tomorrow but luckily for us they couldn’t do anything to the email we’ve received since the first day we made our reservation so that was our saving grace. Unfortunately for us, my friend didn’t think of checking his email for the old confirmation email we received.and since they sent him a text that said the 16th, we felt defeated and agreed it was our fault so we asked the receptionist if she could please make a compromise and squeeze us in since we were already there and she said she couldn’t that we have to leave. So we left, but when we got to the car, it occurred to my friend to check the old confirmation email since he was sure he made the reservation for the 15th, lo and behold on the confirmation email, it said the 15th at 7pm boldly written in the email so we drove back there,it was 7:40pm at this time. We went in and showed her the email which apparently showed my friend’s name and that was how she could see how to spell the name but instead of apologizing for her mistake and getting us in, this lady told us that we’ve exceeded our grace period so they couldn’t let us in anymore. Don’t ever go here. They are...

I dined here a few weeks ago with my family after an emergency cancellation at another restaurant. We were really happy to get a last minute reservation as we were celebrating a birthday. I'll start by saying that the food is good! My review is based on the customer service, which is just important for an overall experience. We were a table of 5, and 4 of us showed up together. The hostess was on a facetime call when we arrived and shared that we couldn't be seated without the full party. Understanding that is their policy we went to sit at the bar. After checking with the last person in my party, they let me know they were running a little later than they expected. I went back to the hostess who was still on the facetime call, and asked if there was any way possible to make an exception to their policy of the whole party being there. As there wasn't enough room for the four of us at the bar but we were planning to order drinks and apps. By the time our last person arrived we could order food and still be within the hour and 30 min time frame we were allotted and if we had to order ahead for the last person we could. Too busy to listen, she let me know there was no way possible. I let her know that I didn't want to make a big deal of the situation but if I could please speak with a manager to see if an exception could be made for our party. Not that we are special but we were celebrating a birthday, had an elderly person with us and majority of us were there. She opted to speak with the manager directly instead allowing me to meet with her. The hostess came back and shared that the manager had also said there's no way possible. I then asked again if I could speak with the manager. I saw her speaking with someone, not sure if that was the manager I just waited around. After a few minutes of seeing that same person she spoke with roam around doing other things, not looking for me, I ended up walking over and asking if she was the manager. She was. After explaining the same thing I told the hostess she told me she would see what she could do. She then told me the table was being prepared, which we were grateful for. I went to close out the bill at the bar, while my family went to be seated. I noticed on the bill that the pricing on the menu for the drinks were different than I was charged, I asked the bartender about it and he shared that the prices have changed but he would deduct the difference for me. I was appreciative of this although he didn't deduct the full difference just a portion. It took him a few minutes to do this. By the time I got to the table the last person in my party was there. My group had been seated for about 10mins and no one had been over to provide menus. When we asked about menus the same hostess, came back with three and dropped them on the table. Again we are a table of five. I walked over to the manager to share that our experience with the hostess has been less than pleasant and it's a real shame as she's the introduction to the establishment. Between the facetime calls and now what seemed to be an attitude it was negatively impacting our experience. I also shared that I asked to speak with the manager previously and was just checking if she ever notified the manager. The manager acknowledged that she was told. At that point, I realized that my concerns would not be taken seriously if the manager was aware and did not come to speak to me, instead I had to go to her. The manager apologized and let me know she would come back to our table to check in. That was the last time for the night that we had seen the manger. Again, the food was great. We did have one other issue as we had a shell fish allergy at the table that we made the waitress aware of. After ordering a chicken rice for the table, we did receive a shrimp rice which was caught by the person who brought it out, they need to really be grateful for him! All of this to share that if all you care about is the food, you would enjoy this spot. If you care about an overall...

I wish I could say our Valentine’s Day dinner at Le Chai was anything short of a disaster, but that would be generous. My husband and I alternate planning Valentine’s Day each year, and this year, I made our reservation on January 8, 2025, excited to try their menu based on the dishes listed on their website. What we arrived to was an overpriced, mismanaged, and outright disappointing experience that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

To start, the restaurant failed to disclose that they were offering a pre-fixe menu, meaning none of the dishes I had looked forward to were even an option. Their website still made no mention of this, and when I brought it up to the manager, she casually brushed it off, claiming it was “advertised on Instagram.” Excuse me? Since when is an Instagram post—uploaded just two days before Valentine’s Day—a sufficient way to inform paying customers of major menu changes?

And this was just the beginning.

We waited over 1.5 hours before receiving our entrées. Drinks? Took a painful 20 minutes per order. No one bothered to refill our water, and when we finally got to dessert, the pre-sliced cake somehow took 40 minutes to reach our table. The incompetence was astounding.

But let’s talk about the atmosphere—if you could call it that. The restaurant was cramped and hazardous, with tables squeezed together in a way that was both uncomfortable and unsafe. Glasses, plates, and even photo frames shattered throughout the night, left unattended or cleaned so sloppily that chunks of glass remained scattered across the dimly lit floor. A safety hazard for both guests and staff.

As for the drinks, I asked for a mocktail and was given nothing more than cranberry juice with ice—at a restaurant charging $145 per person with an automatic 18% gratuity. And let’s be clear—spending the money was never the issue, but when you're paying a premium price, the quality of service and experience should match. Here, it absolutely did not.

At the end of this debacle, we voiced our concerns to the manager, who showed not an ounce of concern. She was satisfied that we had paid in full and had no intention of making things right. Apparently, the only compensation she could offer for this disaster was 20% off our next visit. 20% off what exactly? The tip? A laughable attempt at damage control.

Le Chai Brooklyn has made one thing abundantly clear: they are more interested in taking your money than in providing anything close to a quality dining experience. They may have designed a visually appealing space, but aesthetics alone can’t cover up their disastrous service, poor management, and complete lack of hospitality. I wouldn’t return if the next meal were free.

Avoid this place...